accountable by now whitewashing and erasing the history we have with them. it is a very serious issue to get in bed with the saudis, and then to expect the 9/11 families to certainly not be outraged, and fellow americans. >> i know your husband was a scratch golfer and a phil mickelson fan as i understand it. and now your family is, how would you describe it? >> well, we are all big golf fans and, yes, we have been a fan of phil's for years and that's why it's really disappointing to hear him dismiss us as callously as he does. my youngest was a captain of his golf team and my children are both talented golfers, it is a wonderful sport, i wish every child would have the opportunity to play the game because of the values it has and the integrity it teaches you and the amount of dedication that it takes into being a good golfer. it is a wonderful sport.

and being the saudis now starting up this, you know, tournament of their own, and this sports washing that they're doing, trying to buy respect on the world stage, trying to improve their image, just be truthful, you know, just work with the truth instead of hiding behind lies. that's how you gain respect. you can't buy it. you have to earn it. >> terry, wonderful to have you this morning. thank you so much for speaking with us. >> thank you for having me. >> and "new day" continues right now. welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. it is wednesday, june 15th. i'm john berman with brianna keilar. and new this morning, president biden taking on big oil, demanding immediate action from seven major oil companies to

boost supplies. in a letter to the companies, he slams their high profit margins, and insists they are not acceptable when americans are paying record prices at the pump. >> the president blames the oil companies for blunting the impact of his historic actions to counter vladimir putin's price hikes as he puts it. he's also warning that the federal government is ready to use additional emergency powers to boost refinery capacity and output. gabe cohen joining us now from las vegas, where gas prices are 60 cents higher than the national average, gabe. >> reporter: it is a testament to how gas prices and inflation hit americans with lower wages, even harder. the price of gas here in nevada is second highest in the country. but when you factor in the average salary that workers are making, drivers here have to work longer than anywhere else in the country in order to afford a tank of gas.

elsa's gas budget is up 35 bucks a week. >> can you believe? >> reporter: commuting to her housekeeping job at a las vegas hotel. >> i don't know when it is going to stop. >> reporter: surging gas prices and inflation are eating up more of her salary. >> i need to cut so many expenses. it was my birthday and i couldn't buy a purse. i mean, there are so many things. and it affect me emotionally, of course. >> reporter: at close to $5.70 a gallon, nevadaens face the second steepest gas price in the country, well behind california. but when you factor in average salary, data show drivers here have to work longer than in any other state. on average, more than three hours to afford a single tank of gas. compare that to massachusetts, the other end of the spectrum, where even though gas is more than 5 bucks a gallon, the average driver has to work less than two hours to fill up,

because salaries are higher. >> bottom line i'm spending over 300 bucks a week in gas. >> reporter: john drives for uber here in vegas. >> i'm driving 2 1/2, 3 hours a day to pay for the gas. instead of driving eight, nine hours a day, i'm driving 12, 13 hours a day. >> prices here are so high because it costs a lot of money to get gas to nevada. >> reporter: almost all of nevada's fuel comes from california, where refining oil is more expensive because of stricter environmental regulations. and the cost to transport it is surging. plus, nevada's gas tax is sixth highest in the nation. >> it is very frustrating. >> reporter: chelsea lives in reno, home to some of nevada's most expensive gas. more than 6 bucks a gallon. post pandemic, she hoped her 3-year-old daughter could finally spend time with family this summer. but now she's rethinking those road trips because of the cost. >> there is so much that my daughter has lost out on, and there's a feeling again as a

parent that i am going to have to be limited in what i can offer. >> reporter: in a survey, two-thirds of travelers said rising gas prices would factor into their decision to travel in the next six months. but at this point, u.s. demand for gas keeps rising, up again last week. >> i got to get around. so this is what i got to do. >> reporter: with prices expected to keep climbing, many americans, especially those with lower incomes, will have to work more hours to afford gas. and more drivers nationwide could soon face the same prices leaving elsa desperate for relief. >> we could do something. we can come with a plan to help people like me. >> reporter: now, some economists have also raised concerns about the impact these gas prices could have on tourism in a city like las vegas. though, the main tourism agency here tells me at this point, there is no evidence it has taken a hit, as the number of visitors nearly returns to

prepandemic levels. brianna? >> $5.75 behind you there, gabe. wow. thank you so much. ahead, we will speak with white house energy secretary jennifer granholm with much more on the president's letter, the demand to oil companies that he is making this morning. every single region in the u.s. is being hit by extreme weather right now. there is violent storms that is hitting the midwest, even tornado warnings in chicago. and several states are seeing extreme heat. hundreds of thousands in ohio are actually without power right now. and just in this morning, the yellowstone river in billings, montana, has broken a record level. this is all happening as officials are warning that yellowstone national park may remain closed for a substantial amount of time. obviously at its peak season as record rainfall and flooding is hitting the area. and that is where cnn's nick w

watt is live for us. tell us what you're seeing. >> reporter: well, brianna, as you say, the entire park is closed right now. and officials say that this northern entrance to the park could be closed for a lot longer. why? well, there is one road in, and one road out. and that road runs parallel to this river, and this river is causing a lot of damage. nearly three months worth of water flowed down here in the space of just three days. now, one rv park manager here told me that he thinks that, in fact, this could be it for the rest of the season for this, the northern part of the park. now, why is this happening? well, there was a heavy late dump of snow. then there were early high temperatures, which melted that snow, throw in a lot of rain, and this is what has happened. now, this is basically climate change at work, and the problem is a lot of this infrastructure,

you know the road next to the river, was built for the climate of the last century, not built for the strange climate that we are seeing now. now, i'm standing purposefully back from the edge of the river, because here this was where a large house for park staff was located. and we can show you the video now of that house falling into the river. now, we are in gardener, which is at the northern end of the park. the road down here is still closed. we managed to get down because we're pressed. there is a bridg o. it is now possible, but getting into the park there is no chance. that road is just gone. so, 2.2 million acres, 500 geysers, what the oldest national park in the world, a lot of it is not going to be accessible for quite some time. now, the other issue is that there were about 10,000 people in the park at the time, now a

lot of them were airlifted by helicopter from here in gardener, up out of the danger zone. but the problem is going to be that this might not yet be over. because there is still about 12 inches of snow pack up there in the park, and they're expecting higher temperatures this weekend, maybe up in the 60s, and 70s, at high elevation, which could melt a lot of that snow, and make the yellowstone river rise once again. guys? >> we can see the snow pack on those mountains behind you there. so when you're talking about this lasting for a while, obviously this is peak season, how long are we talking? >> reporter: well, brianna, they have to rebuild that entire road that runs parallel to this river. and, i mean, that could take months. so that's the northern part of the park. this part was the hardest hit by the yellowstone river. the southern access to the park,

they're saying that those could open a little sooner, they might have to implement some kind of reservation system down in the south when they do begin to let people in. so that that part of the park doesn't get overwhelmed. you know, a lot of people are on summer vacation. a lot of people are looking forward to getting out and seeing america after being stuck at home for so long. this has caused a major problem. i couldn't believe last night when a guy was telling me he thinks that could be it for the whole season in gardener because the infrastructure is just gone. there is no way to actually get into the park from up here. no way. >> they're talking they may not be able to open it until next fall at this point because of the incredible damage you're seeing. there was a house there and now it's gone. it's just gone. >> unbelievable. nick watt, thank you so much, live for us, from yellowstone. other news this morning, the january 6th committee is setting up tomorrow's hearing, vice chair liz cheney released this

video. >> the select committee will examine president trump's relentless effort on january 6th and in the days beforehand to pressure vice president pence to refuse to count lawful electoral votes. as a federal judge has indicated, this likely violated two federal criminal statutes. >> the committee released an extended portion of video from trump white house attorney eric herschmann's deposition, in which he discussed warning controversial attorney john eastman who was attempting to overturn the 2020 election. >> eventually he said, orderly transition. i said, good, john. now i'm going to give you the best free legal advice you're ever getting in your life, get a great effing criminal defense lawyer, you're going to need it. >> joining us now, the honorable shera shenlen. great to see you again. why does john eastman need a good effing lawyer?

what are the crimes that they are suggesting he may have committed? >> i'll start with saying not just he, it is the crimes that he and president trump may have committed together. the first one is obstruction of an official proceeding with a corrupt mindset. and i can explain more about what that is, if you would like. but the second one is a conspiracy to defraud the united states, by deceitful or dishonest means. >> by deceitful or dishonest means. and specifically what actions are you talking about and how does the pressuring of pence factor into this. >> that's exactly what the deceitful and dishonest means are. these two met with pence, met with his staff, they kept urging him to reject the electoral votes, or to delay the vote, and he had no power to do that, they knew that, they knew that it would violate the electoral count act, and they went right ahead and did it. so that's why both statutes are

in play here. both the obstruction of the official proceeding, which was the counting of those votes, they would obstruct it by trying to get pence to override the will of the people and prevent the peaceful transfer of power. >> by corrupt means, talk to us about the significance of that word. >> well, it has to mean that you know, you know what you're doing is wrong. that's all it means. you can't even have a good faith view that maybe this is something you can get away with, that won't work. this would violate the law. and they both knew it. they had to have much advice, the president had heard from his advisers that this couldn't be done, eastman had consulted the former judge he clerked for, very conservative judge, said no way this could be done. that's the corrupt means. it is the same as the deceitful and dishonest conduct. >> cheney, when talking about, in that clip we saw, she put it on twitter, she's referring to a

federa federal judge's ruling case from march that trump and eastman likely committed felonies. does that carry weight? how much of a judgment -- does that matter or is she trying to say, look, someone else found this to be the case? >> that's right. i don't think it carries legal weight, but it carries persuasive weight. this is a very fine judge, his issue was whether certain documents could be released in the committee pursuant to subpoena, he had to review the documents and wrote a very careful opinion reviewing all these documents under the attorney client privilege, work product privilege. then he said something called the crime fraud exception. and if this is in furtherance of a crime, it is going to get turned over. and he went through document by document and in the end he focused on one in particular, which laid out this plan, that they had to get pence to override the will of the people, and that, he said, was in furtherance of a crime. he said it is likely, it is

likely that this would be a crime. so it is not that it is controlling, but we call it persuasive. >> judge sheindlin, thank you for being with us and helping us understand what is going on here. >> thank you for having me. capitol police say there is no evidence that a republican congressman led any kind of reconnaissance tour with trump supporters on the eve of january 6th. barry loudermilk's tour had come under scrutiny by the january 6th committee after reviewing security footage, police have concluded that it was simply a visit by constituents. the capitol police chief in a letter saying, quote, we train our officers on being alert for people conducting surveillance or reconnaissance and we do not consider any of the activities we observed as suspicious. january 6th committee leaders asked loudermilk to submit to questioning about the tour, saying they were looking into whether rioters were casing the capitol complex before the insurrection. and we have new details this morning on what a white nationalist group was planning

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front and their derailed plot to start a riot at a pride parade in idaho. there is this new court filing that shows men had proftective gear, well organized with preparations, call locations, drill times, they had two backup plans. cnn's sara sidner is live in salt lake city with more on that. quite well prepared, sara. >> reporter: yeah, and what is interesting is that we are now seeing in their own words what their plans were, because they wrote them down, according to the affidavit that police filed. the document was typed up, according to police, and discussed. the group being there to raise a voice against what they called moral depravity, which permits events like this to take place. what they are referring to, police say, is the pride parade that was about to take place in couer d'alene. and so you are -- it is clear what their intent was, if you look at their own documents, they also talk about anta

antagonizing and causing disruption. and how would they do that? well, police say they had plenty of things to do that. they had a smoke bomb, a lot of the guys had things like long poles, yes, they had flags on top of them, but they could certainly use those poles to create violence. they also had metal shields with them, and they had protective gear, much like the gear, police said, they use in riot situations, which is partly why these 31 men, all dressed in similar clothing, with these piled into a u-haul, someone spotted them. when you read some of the things they said, it appears to be a military operation, where they had times and places and dates and gps and everything sort of plotted out as to what they were going to do, where they were going to meet, where they were going to go. it really was disturbing when you think about this small town that is trying to show love to everyone in the town, and to

have this group show up from out of town, by the way, all 31 members are not from couer d'alene, they're from other places, most of them from out of state, not even from idaho, and so this really rattled the community. but it was discovered by a witness who saw these men, who looked like what he referred to as a little army, getting out of this u-haul and standing around in all of these similar outfits. now we know from their own writing, their own plans, they were intending to disrupt and cause a major problem for those who were gathering just to show love to the lgbtq community. guys? >> sara sidner, thank you so much. alarming details there, live for us from salt lake city. joining us now is don lemon, who conveniently anchors a show called "don lemon tonight" on cnn. he's also the author of "this is the fire: what i say to my friends about racism."

nice it see you. >> good morning to both of you. >> you saw sara's report there. what is the big takeaway from you? >> this is what you say, the big takeaway, the equipment they had, that's what separates quite honestly this crazy, which is of another magnitude just from your every average everyday hate-filled bigot. this is beyond. these are people who all came together, 30 some people and i would imagine there are more somewhere else and they're recruiting more people. 30 some young men, who are, you know, people who are trying to celebrate pride, trying to celebrate the joys and freedoms and luxuries of being an american, which is afforded to all of us, and they want to go against that, and create harm and havoc. the thing that got me and sara said it, they want to raise a voice against moral depravity which prevents events like this to take place. not even the -- considering the hypocrisy here, their own moral depravity of trying to disrupt

this event and possibly harm people. this goes against the laws of america, the laws of our society and the laws of any religion i have ever read about, that i know about. so that's their own hypocrisy here. >> the mother of one of the guys, of one of the 31, who is from utah, he's from utah, spoke to the daily beast, and i think we all have a question about what prompts someone to do this, or to join a group like this, and she said this isn't the son i raised, but she felt that he was looking for some kind of brotherhood that he was actually brought in, in part, by the community that this group gave to him after some personal issues that he was having in his life, i wonder what you think about that? >> look, i have empathy for people who are dealing with this, especially a mother, you know, i can only imagine my mother and you as a mother going through this. but i'm always surprised when people say i had no idea or i

didn't know. >> she knew. she had some tip-offs. >> right. >> but she doesn't understand where it came from. >> of course we understand where it comes from. of course we do. look at what happened on january 6th. we understand that people can be co-opted by certain people, certain individuals, certain groups, by the internet. and we should not pretend that does not happen, that people can be co-opted by bigotry and hatred. some of which our country was founded on. and some of which we -- most of which we haven't dealt with in our society. we're talking about now we're dealing with in a very big way, the dangers of not standing up for our democracy. not standing up for what's right in our society. and if you don't do that, then you get an insurrection, then you get a patriot with -- patriot front and the idea that they use the term patriot, that they have co-opted this term patriot to mean something that is -- really just bastardized

the term, patriot, that's not what a patriot is. patriots don't do this. >> she said that pulled him in. >> yeah. that bastardization of the word patriot. >> we have this idea that patriotism is something that we stand up and put our hand over our heart. patriotism is active, every day we have to live up to the ideals of patriotism. it is not just pretending we're patriot because we carry gun, we can walk around looking like we work at a best buy. don't try to harm your fellow americans. >> don, you had an interview with a white house press secretary two nights ago making news this morning. people are still talking about it. it is a terrific interview on a wide range of subjects, but you asked about reports that are now coming out, "the new york times" story, you're hearing it from other democrats as well, who are asking questions about whether president biden, democrats asking questions, about whether

president biden should be the nominee in 2024. i want to play an exchange. >> does the president have the stamina, physically and mentally, do you think, to continue on, even after 2024? >> don, you're asking me this question. oh, my gosh. he's the president of the united states. i can't even keep up with it. we just got back from new mexico. we just got back from california. that is -- that is not a question that we should be even asking. >> what do you think of her response? >> of course we should be asking that question. first of all, i'm a journalist. that's my job, is to ask questions and as the person who represents the administration and the president, it is her job to answer those questions. i would not be doing my job if i didn't ask that. let's just be honest about this. i didn't question whether -- i'm not being ageist and saying that the president of the united states is too old to be president, we can judge that.

i think that's an individual thing, right? but i do think that as a president of the united states, we should know the health history, both physically and mentally, of the united states, the president of the united states, we certainly questioned the former president's capabilities and whether or not he should have the mental capacity, quite frankly, and the physical capacity to be the president of the united states, and we did it a lot. we had covid, can he physically be the president of the united states? it has been said even in these hearings he is unhinged, that, you know, he's out of his mind because of what he -- things he was doing. i'm not comparing the two men. but it is our job as journalists and as americans to know the physical and mental capacity of the president of the united states. and i want to be very clear about this. i think joe biden is a nice man. he's going to be, you know, he's almost 80 years old. i am in my 50s. i have trouble recalling things. i'm not as sharp as i used to be. >> late 50s. >> stop it. we're going to fight about this.

look, but, think about this, 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. maybe he is -- i'm sure he's up to the job, but it is my job as a journalist to ask. and i -- the reason i asked that question is because of the reports coming out, a report in the new york times about what democrats are saying that there are whispers and we know that as journalists, we know there are whispers and we interview the president, we watch him in press conferences, we watch him do interviews on he was on jimmy kimmel the other night, and quite frankly i had trouble following him. he was -- his answers are not succinct. and i understand he is -- he had an issue as a stutterer as a child, i interviewed him several times, leading up to his run for president and as president of the united states i interviewed him and he has trouble sometimes connecting and his answers sometimes don't make sense. and so i want to know as a journalist, as an american, does

this president have the mental and physical stamina to run again as president of the united states considering the reports that are coming out and considering my eyes and my ears, i can hear him, and i can see him every single day. and as someone who is my mother will be 80 this year, i doubt that she would want to be president of the united states and she is a sharp woman. 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. >> i've also seen you on social media, don -- >> wait, and i think liberals -- hold on, you're putting up the lebron thing, liberals need to stop having a double standard when it comes to questions that

we can ask democrats and questions that we can ask republicans. i reported a number of times, many times, on donald trump's fitness for office. and it is okay. and expected for journalists to report on the current president's fitness for office, whether that president is a democrat or a republican. we have to have the same standards for both. sorry. >> look, look, i was trying to give you a promo for the -- >> this is lebron james show "the shop," npr production company, and they asked me to be part of this program called "the shop" and these are conversations i would love to have a lot more of here on cnn, the conversation that we're having now, and it is just no holds barred, and we talk about issues of the day. amy schumer talked about being a comedian in this climate, where people are being canceled just

for making jokes, where people are getting slapped, and attacked on stage, she talked about that. we talked about the role of journalists in the society, and i had to inform them that we no longer live in a walter cronkite society where there three major networks and a few major newspapers around the country, that us as anchors have different roles depending what we do. if i was an anchor on a broadcast network, i would not be able to give my point of view as much. and nor would i feel the need to be able to have to give my point of view as much as i do now. but i'm a cable news anchor and i'm on, unscripted, pretty much for two hours every single day and then eight minutes in the morning which you said -- >> a lot more than eight minutes. >> we're going on nine and a half. >> not giving your point of view and not stating your truth and not standing up for what is right and i think is an imperative. so i would like to be able to have those conversations much more and i also like to inform them that during the time that they were -- the time that people are being so

romanticizing about journalists, there were no journalists on television who even looked like me. we live in a different time now, where it is okay to give your point of view, but one must be factual about the things that we are telling the american people and putting in front of the american people. >> compelling discussion that you had with them. you are my favorite character in that show, just to be clear. >> even more than lebron james? >> yes. >> one thing we did come to consensus about -- >> we need to explore that. >> it says more about my affection for don. we'll leave it there. >> i know. but let me tell you -- >> we're not leaving it there, to be clear. >> we cannot have a false sense of equivalency about what is happening when it comes to politics in our country. there is one party, right now, that is not operating in fact. that has been misleading the american people and that is the republican party, sadly, which i used to be a member of the republican party. years ago. i'm not a member of any party right now. but we have to -- we cannot pretend as journalists, it is equal. it is not. democrats are doing their democrat thing and being liberal

and want all these things. that's the way normal politics operates. we can deal with those things. what the republican party is doing now and not standing up for our democracy and being quiet, that is very dangerous. we cannot have all -- we cannot fight all of these things and make a better world and do what larry summers told me last night about getting our economy together if we don't have a functioning democracy. so we as journalists need to stand up for that and not pretend it is -- that we can both sides it. this is not a both sides. >> want to hear a lot more of this. right? you can watch don lemon on don lemon tonight at 10:00 p.m. right here. >> are we going to leave it there? >> we left it there before. we tried to leave it there before, but that didn't work out. >> you didn't get off the train. >> don, listen, thank you. >> love you guys, you guys are the best. so good to see you. you, you know. new this morning, president biden penning a letter to the major oil refinery companies in an effort to address rising gas

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new this morning, cnn has obtained a letter president biden sent to the major oil companies, shell, exxon, bp, trying to pressure them to help reduce prices and the implication seems to be do it or else. he writes, refinery profit margins well above normal being passed directly on to american families are not acceptable. he also writes, i am prepared to use all tools at my disposal as appropriate to address barriers to providing americans affordable, secure energy supply. joining me now is energy secretary jennifer granholm, all tools at his disposal, what tools specifically? >> well, john, i mean, you have heard talk about a variety of actions that congress could take. the defense production act has been on the table that the president has been using in other context, but he wants to

hear, the reason he wrote this letter is because he wants to hear from these refining entities about why was it, for example, when oil was $120 a barrel in march, and we paid about $4.25 a gallon, but today when oil is the same price on a global market, we're paying over $5 a gallon? what's causing that 75-cent delta? we know that as you noted earlier in the show the capacity has come offline, refining capacity. but even between march and today, we are seeing these massive profit taking on the part of refiners. and so the president is calling both the production oil to increase in the united states, and around the world, and he's calling upon refinery capacity to increase and he's calling them to a meeting to say what can we do to help make that happen? >> we talk about the tools, you mentioned some of the proposals being discussed in congress.

senator ron widen, democrat, has suggested a 21% surtax on excess profits from the oil companies. is that one of the tools the president supports? >> it is a tool, i'm not saying the president has made a decision about what he would support. he wants to hear from the companies first, but we note that has happened, obviously in the uk. let me remind everybody who is watching that this question of refining capacity and oil production are both global issues. global refining capacity has come offline. and we know that due to the war in ukraine, russia's ability to export millions of barrels of oil has also come offline because countries like the united states have rightfully said we're not going to buy russian oil. so the president has -- is looking at every tool always, and the biggest tool he has, of course, is the strategic petroleum reserve. and he has released 1 million barrels per day. but it is not enough to account for the amount of oil that has been pulled offline, due to the invasion of ukraine.

and now it is summer driving season, john, as you know historically during summer driving season, prices have gone up because demand has increased. we're also seeing that with china coming out of covid, we will see another increase in demand globally. but if you were in -- if you were in brazil, you would be paying the same amount for gas at the pump, over $5. if you were in canada, you would be paying over $6. if you were in germany, you would be paying over $8. >> but we're talking about the united states, though. we're talking about the united states, what the president can do. i want to be crystal clear about this, it is possible you're saying he would support a surtax on excess profits from oil companies? >> i'm saying no tool has been taken off the table and he wants to hear from the refineries, the companies who are doing refining to see what is the bottleneck and how we can increase supply. and he's also asking, of course, for the oil and gas industry to increase supply as well, by drilling more. they are about 100 rigs shy of what they were before covid. they need to increase supply.

there was a study -- there was a study yesterday that came out of reuters and it said that while the profits -- >> can i ask -- >> -- record profits, were record profits, we also know that they returned about $9.5 billion to shareholders. if they had even taken half of that, we're not against profit, obviously, they have taken just half of that and reinvested it in supply, we would see hundreds more rigs, we would see hundreds of thousands more barrels of oil. we're asking them to be in this era, where we're on a war footing to consider increasing supply, domestically and internationally. >> do you want five years from now, ten years from now, are you telling me you want them drilling for more oil? you want the refineries putting out more gasoline in five or ten years? >> what we're saying is today we need that supply increased. of course in five or ten years, actually in the immediate, we're also pressing on the accelerator, if you will, to

move toward clean energy, so we don't have to be under the thumb of petro dictators like putin or at the whim of the volatility of fossil fuels. ultimately america will be most secure when we can rely upon our own clean domestic production of energy. >> that's the problem for these companies. these companies are saying, you know, you're asking me to do more now, invest more now, when in fact five or ten years from now we don't think that demand will there be, and the administration doesn't even necessarily want it to be there. just one last question on saudi arabia, the president is going to saudi arabia, where we understand he will be meeting with the crown prince mohammed bin salman. is there any kind of promise beforehand that the saudis will increase production? >> no. no, there's no promise beforehand. no. there's not. let me just say, john, we really want to see us move to clean energy, but we also need to see this increase right now and we're asking oil and gas companies as well to diversify, and make sure that part of the -- that they become

diversified energy companies, to be able to produce other means of clean energy because they have huge deep pockets, they have a big ability to invest in the future, as well as investing right now so that we don't see oil and gas causing the inflation numbers and people being hurt every day. >> energy secretary jennifer granholm, i appreciate you being with us this morning. thank you very much. >> you bet. we will hear more testimony from some of former president trump's closest allies directly undercutting his claims about election fraud. a reality check is next. hybrid work is here. it's there. it's everywhere. but for someone to be able to work from here, there hato be someone here making sure everything is safe. secure.

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many of former president trump's closest allies turning on him in testimony before the january 6th committee, so why did they wait so long to tell the truth about the 2020 election? john avlon with our reality check. >> so, there's a classic chris buckley novel called "thank you for smoking," about a lobbyist for big tobacco named nick daler who goes on tv and lies to

defend his clients. it sounds like you actually believe this stuff, he's asked. it pays the mortgage, nick says. he offered this rationalization so many times now that it was starting to take on the ring of a nuremberg defense, i was only paying the mortgage, chris buckley writes. it is a timely reminder to follow the money, whenever self-interest collides with the facts. which brings us back to the january 6th committee. now, we have seen multiple senior trump officials testify that the ex-president that lost the election, getting to the point that the only people defending trump's baseless claims are the folks who refuse to testify under oath. but it is worth noting that even some of the trumpists who dubbed themselves team normal for recognizing the reality of the election in private were often amplifying the big lie in public, just days after the election. for example, campaign manager bill stepien testified he told trump there was just a 5% to 10% chance of flipping enough key states to win the election. but here's what he said on a

conference call, the night after trump falsely claimed victory in pennsylvania. >> numbers and data, not gut or spin, we did it yesterday, we'll do it today. we will win pennsylvania. i have as much confidence today as i had yesterday as i had last week. >> likewise, senior adviser jason miller testified he brought in the campaign data guy to tell trump the jig was up, but that didn't stop him from fluffing the big lie on fox. >> whether it is in the recount process or as we go through the constitutionality of some of the elections that were held at the state level, that absolutely some of these states could change. >> so why would someone tell the truth in private, but lie in public? well, the answer at least in large part is the partisan economy. now, keep in mine that the total cost of the 2020 elections was 14.4 billion, that's more than double the amount from four

years before, according to the watchdog group open secrets. you see, it is dolled out along partisan lines, meaning that political operatives livelihood depends on picking a side and sticking to it. causing group think to congeal. it is their party, right or wrong. which was a convenient rationalization during the trump years because it turns out that the big lie is big business. now, according to the january 6th committee, trump raised more than a quarter billion dollars by treating his true believers like roofs, donating to an election defense fund, which apparently never existed. $5 million went to event planners, more than $200,000 on trump hotels, little spent on proving nonexistent mass voter fraud. the doj has been cracking down on the scam pacs lately, but there is no telling whether the same legal standards will be extended to the ex-president.

the main point is that the promise of cashing in on this partisan gravy train was enough to stop most people from speaking out, until they were compelled to do it. so bill stepien testified that he separated from trump after the election because his actions were not honest or professional. but stepien still pockets 10k a month from the save america pac and 12 of his 15 federal candidates this cycle are vocal backers of the big lie. that's one high profile example, right? the big lie is self-reinforcing. it has been sold to the base, which controls most partisan primaries, and so candidates and consultants alike continue to coddle the big lie, even though most know it's boeingus and dangerous to our democracy. it is not surprising that more are backers of the big lie. the incentive structure is all screwed up. fear and greed are driving our democracy in a ditch and

professional partisans are content to let it happen so long as they get paid. not just party over country, it's money over country. and that's your reality check. >> it is big business. john avlon, thank you so much for that. soon the federal reserve is expected to take its most aggressive step to tame inflation. the fda meets today on covid vaccines for children younger than 5. what parents need to know ahead. it's still the eat fresh refresh, and now subway's refreshing their italians. like the new supreme meats, topped high with new italian-style capicola. th's one handsome italian. uh... thanks. not you, garoppolo! ♪ subway keeps refreshing and refreshing and refres-

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new this morning, president biden taking aim at big oil, demanding immediate action from seven major oil companies to boost supply. chilling words from former russian president dmitried me v medvedev, saying who said in two years ukraine will even exist on the world map. and police say the man charged with plotting to kill supreme court justice brett kavanaugh was convinced to call 911 on himself by his sister as he stood nearby kavanaugh's home in maryland. fda advisers meeting today on expanding the covid vaccines to include children as young as 6 months old. at this point, children under 5 are the only u.s. age group not eligible to get the vaccine. so those are "5 things" to know for your "new day." we'll have more on these stories all day on cnn and cnn.com, and don't forget to download the "5 things" podcast every morning. just go to cnn.com/5things and find it wherever you get your podcasts. >> i know someone who has been

waiting for cthe covid vaccines for those younger than 5. >> i've been ready forever. i have the strategy, three, and i'm ready to go. 99 cents hot wheels, that's how we're getting through it. cnn's coverage continues right now. good morning. i'm alex marquardt in for jim sciutto. >> good morning, everyone. alex, we're glad to have you. i'm poppy harlow. we have a packed show ahead. we're following a series of big stories this morning, hours from now, the federal reserve is set to potentially make its biggest interest rate hike in decades. experts now pretty much consensus the fed will hike rates three quarters of a percent, 75 basis points, in an effort to tamp down the soaring price increases hitting consumers with inflation at