shani -- to our viewers thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in the situation room. you can always follow me on "x" formerly known as twitter. you can instagram me at wolf blitzer, tweet the show, and the situation room is also available as a podcast wherever you get your podcasts. erin burnett out front starts right now. welcome back to the national christmas tree lighting. and to introduce this performance i am honored to welcome a new national park service. out front next, prepared to attack. that's israel's message as the truce is about to expire. fighting ramping back up? fareed zakaria is out front. plus a story you'll see first here tonight, nevada's officials investigating the fake electors

for trump so we track them down, and wait until you see what they did next. and tonight rfk jr. gaining traction. his supporters going to tell you why it's kennedy for them over biden and trump. let's go out front. >> reporter: and good evening. i'm erin burnett. out front tonight, prepared to attack at any hour. that's what israel is saying tonight as hamas says it's at, quote, high combat readiness. both sides preparing for the truce to end tonight if a deal is not reached by midnight eastern. last night the truce was extended for 24 hours at the last minute. today eight hostages were released. right now it's a group of six that arrived in israel. two others were released earlier today. they've now been reunited with their family. the reality is so far women and children and hostages have been primarily released. that was the deal made by israel and hamas. by israel's last count there

aren't very many women and children left in gaza, but there are 118 men still being held by hamas. to continue the truce, the parameters of deal would obviously to boo be changed. it was three palestinian prisoners for every one israeli hostage and those were women and children. as we await word for a possibility of a last minute deal, the reality is violence is already under way at this time. hamas claiming credit for a deadly shooting at a bus stop in jerusalem. you see attackers getting out of the car there and they actually shoot people waiting for the bus. we actually watched that happen and that terror and fear in jerusalem. hamas tonight celebrating the attack that killed three people and injured several more at that bus stop. prime minister netanyahu doubled down on his promise to finish this war. >> translator: we swore, and i swore to eliminate hamas. nothing will stop us. >> matthew chance begins our coverage tonight out front in tel aviv. so, matthew, here we are in these final hours before 7:00

a.m., your time midnight eastern. where do things stand right now in these last minute negotiations? >> yeah, well, there's just five more hours to go before the deadline expires on those negotiations. but the diplomatic effort, we understand, is absolutely intensive, to try to find a way to extend this hostage deal. this, though, as a senior israeli lawmaker tells cnn that he believes we're close to the end of the current phase of this deal, at least, unless hamas can come up with another list of hostages to be released like the ones that have been over the course of the past few hours. the seventh night after a last minute extension, this fragile deal to free hostages in gaza is holding. the latest group of israelis being handed to the red cross includes a 40-year-old and a

21-year-old. israeli-french geonational who appeared earlier in this hamas propaganda video being treated under an injured arm. please get us out of here as soon as possible she pleads to the camera. and now finally her family separated since october 7th were reunited. a glimmer of joy amid israel's horror. but the horror continues. tonight hamas posting video of an israeli hostage whose wife and two children it says were killed by israeli strikes. israeli military says it's investigating, but in a video message, which cnn, isn't airing, calls on the israeli government to bring his family home so they can be buried in israel. and now there are growing concerns at what comes next. the u.s. secretary of state has been meeting israeli officials to discuss the next steps.

this legislator tells cnn we are close to the end of this deal, at least this phase of it. this phase being the release of three palestinian prisoners for the release of every israeli woman or child. when it comes to the men and the israeli soldiers being held, hamas wants to set new terms. they want a different equation, the legislator says. and as long as they can provide hostages, we are willing to talk. indeed, this broad interest in keeping some kind of deal in place not least in gaza where residents are receiving crucial food supplies as well as medicine and fuel during the pause in israeli strikes. we wish this was the last day of the war and that we can be done with this chaos, he says. enough people have died or suffered, he says. it's a sentiment being voiced on

both sides of this bitter divide. in tel aviv, israeli protesters are calling for efforts to bring the hostages home to be stepped up and for the israeli government to avoid returning to a war that may put more lives at risk. well, aaron, with time running out israel says it will quickly resume its military operations in gaza. if nothing else but to pressure hamas to release more of the hostages now mainly adult males and israeli soldiers that it still holds. back to you. >> all right, thank you very much, matthew. 118 of them according to the last israeli count. a lot. fareed zakaria is with us now, the host of fa"fareed zakaria gps." fareed, what happens when this truce such that it is ends? >> reporter: it's a very good question, erin. i think the israeli government

has a few choices and they're very hard choices. one, it could try to resume the kind of operation it had launched in northern gaza. that operation honestly it's difficult to tell, but does not appear to be that successful. we know for a fact the israeli government, the israeli military, you know, essentially leveled large parts of northern gaza. theinable of bombs that were dropped in that tiny area over the last 45 days is more than the united states military dropped in years in afghanistan. and yet by the israeli government's own numbers, they believe that they have killed a thousand hamas fighters of the 35,000 they believe are around. if you do all that and you kill 1,000 out of 35,000 and your goal is destroy hamas, it feel like either you're going to have to do a lot more -- remember

14,000 civilians have died. so are you going to, you know, go up to the same kind, seems unlikely. so my guess is they're looking at more limited incursions into cern gaza and those will be much narrow, more targeted. it feels, again, like the goal of completely destroying hamas remains elusive. >> as you say by those numbers that's a ratio of 14 civilians to every hamas combatant killed by israel, which of course it says goes to great pains to avoid suvullian death and u.s. secretary of state antony blinken was in israel again and on that he said he has to take further efforts to protect civilians in gaza when it resumes military action, and he says netanyahu agreed. okay, there's words and action. the reality of it is, fareed, how much can the united states even control what netanyahu does

next? >> the united states does have leverage. i do think the biden administration deserves credit for having tried to balance. they essentially adopted the strategy of saying we're going to support israel very strongly, support their right to defend themselves, but then we're going to privately counsel them. they tried initially the biden administration to get them not to launch the all out ground invasion, the kind of shock and awe israel did in northern gaza. that didn't work, put they did succeed in getting these temporary truces. and here we run up against another area where the biden administration has had some success. israel says it has two goals -- destroy hamas and bring the hostages home. but the two are in some contradiction because the only way you get the hostages home is by negotiating with hamas. so which is it? what are you trying to do particularly in the short run?

so i think that the biden administration is trying to press israel to think hard about surely the paramount goal is to get the hostages back. and then you can try this much larger more expansive goal which as i said so far they do not seem to be on a trajectory they will accomplish. >> obviously this truce such that it was, you've had women and children released and it's hugely significant in so many individual lives, but it does come after how so many of families felt as we know netanyahu and the idf had put hamas getting those hostages back. today hamas released a brief hostage video, which in a sense highlights some of this contradiction. we're not going to show it obviously, fareed, one still image. the man says his wife, 10 month old, and 4-year-old children all of them taken captive, he says

they're now dead. his wife and a toddler baby. hamas said they were killed in an israeli air strike. yarden in the video blames netanyahu. he's there, he's a hostage. this was filmed in gaza and released by hamas. israel is calling video itself an act of psychological terror. but it touches on a crucial issue here, and how much of an impact do you think has? >> i think it has a very large human impact. and let's not forget israel is a divided society. and i don't mean that to suggest israel is weak in any way, but i think there are a lot of israeli civilians and citizens who wonder whether the prime minister has had the right strategy from the start. remember bibi netanyahu's strategy was to build up hamas to bifurcate the palestinian movement to make it easy to say there's no juan to talk to and essentially push off the possibility of any palestinian

political rights or state. that was a strategy not all israelis agreed with. that was a strategy very much part of a right-wing government. so to a certain extent some of those cracks and cleavages are beginning to emerge. and people are wondering is this the right strategy? are we moving in the right direction. >> fareed just now some of the families i mentioned the six hostages we understand will be released and now on the way to the hospital and will be reunited with their family momentarily. we did see a video of a teen hostage who was released, and she was released with her dog, and this caught a lot of people's attention because the dog was with her when she was taken hostage on october 7th. it's a dog. it captures our attention. and yet it touches on something perhaps bigger, something important. why do you think they let her keep her dog? what do you even make of this? >> i don't know. i don't want to -- i don't have

any sympathy for hamas. i don't have any sympathy for the kind of brutal hostage taking. my guess is to a certain extent there's a pr element to it. they know that, you know, it looks good in a sense. we've seen that a little bit with some of these hostage releases. the hamas fighters trying to demonstrate a certain degree of -- >> with the waving and -- and it also shows they were thinking at the beginning or someone was at the beginning of the propaganda value of it. >> yes, that's what i mean. it's a pr effort to show they were looking after these people well. i mean my own view of these kinds of things is it is barbaric to take civilians hostage. how you treat them, fine. maybe you get a half a brownie point for not brutalizing and killing their pets. but let's not forget these are -- you know, these are war crimes to take people hostage like they did. >> fareed, thank you very much.

and next, a story you'll see first here. officials investigating fake electors in nevada and our kyung lah tracked them down, and here's what happened. >> if you would turn that off. we have nothing to talk about really on that. >> an amazing story. plus, independent presidential candidate rfk jr. not shying away from conspiracy theories as you know, but he is gaining more traction among voters. and the george santos expulsion vote is just hours away. right now too close to call at this hour. santos trying to turn the tables and expel another congressman. the story ahead.

breaking news. the alleged architect of treme trump's fake elector plot in 2020 now cooperating in yet another criminal investigation. cnn confirming that ken chesebro has agreed to work with investigators looking into efforts to overturn the election in the state of nevada. at the center of that investigation, fake electors for trump. so kyung lah went to nevada and she tracked them down. in this story that you will see first here out front. >> reporter: in north west nevada nestled among the mountains and the trucky river

valley, we find in this quiet reno public library two state republican leaders who don't want to answer our questions. you're going to comment whether you've spoken to anybody. you do understand it's -- >> if you would turn that off we have nothing to talk about really on that. i have nothing to say. >> reporter: what about the testimony in georgia, the case that's going on -- this is nevada republican national committeeman and the nevada vice-chairman. they're also known to state investigators as fake electors. this is them on december 14th 2020. >> all right, electors, that is six votes certified for president donald j. trump. >> reporter: but trump lost nevada in 2020 by 33,000 votes. joe biden won nevada's six electoral votes. not that you'd know if you were

watching this livestreamed gathering posing as an official event. >> donald j. trump of the state of florida having received six electoral votes is declared the winner of the electoral votes for the state of nevada. >> reporter: the document they signed that day became part of a charade seeking to undermine voters faith in democracy. now leading up to 2024 --. >> we've been making the road show around the state. >> reporter: crisscrossing the state talking about next year's caucus while nevada's attorney general is investigating their actions in 2020 for possible criminal conduct. a source tells cnn that kenneth chesebro, the attorney who helped orchestrate the trump campaign's fake electors plot, is now cooperating with nevada investigators. chesebro already pleaded guilty in the georgia election subversion case. is there any irony in you going around with to use your wordsthal road show, talking about 2024 when in 2020 you

signed this fake elector document. >> i apologize but, you know, this is not something i will entertain. do you still believe trump won? >> it's irrelevant. the electoral college elects the president, and so the electoral college elected so biden, and so joe biden is the president. >> and how do you explain what happened in 2020, that ceremony you participated in and the document you signed? >> again, no comment on this. >> reporter: we contacted all of nevada's six fake electors about the state attorney general's investigation. i'm looking for sean mehan. and this is mehan in 2020. in the 2020 investigation of the fake electors. >> i have no comment on that. >> reporter: i'm trying to reach mr. mcdonald again. the leader of the fake electors, michael mcdonald. current nevada republican

chairman was center stage just last month. one of trump's closest allies in the west. >> i want to thank michael eastman, fantastic. great from the beginning. >> he's been summoned by both the january 6th grand jury and in the georgia fake electors case, but did not reply to our calls. >> it bothers me to no end, yes. and i know a number of republicans that just wish that they would go away. >> reporter: amy is the former nevada republican chairwoman and is now an appointed advisor with the secretary of state who believes nevada needs to protect democracy. >> it's important to address it because you want to make sure that everyone sees that these people are spreading lies, and it's malicious. there does need to be some repercussions, so it will make people think very, very hard about trying to pull this kind of garbage off ever again. >> kyung is with me now. it's amazing to see that, kyung,

how they didn't want to speak. how one of the men actually now is the one announcing trump won the electoral college in nevada. now saying biden didn't admit it. and just a few weeks ago i know nevada officials said nothing would happen in this investigation. what's change snd. >> we can tell you something very different changed, and that name begins with ken chesebro. in the state of georgia he pled guilty, and after doing that the terms of his plea deal did change. and that allowed him to travel now to nevada and to another state. the state of arizona, where the attorney general in arizona had told previously to cnn that there is a, quote, robust investigation happening there. two sources familiar with the arizona case tells cnn that it does appear that chesebro is now talking to arizona investigators. although, the concrete details of how quickly that case moves along, we just don't know quite

yet, erin. >> kyung, thank you very much. >> so ryan goodman is with me now. you here kyung talking about how ken chesebro is going to cooperate in nevada, obviously pled in georgia, central in arizona. but we'll see where that goes. what's the significance of this? >> i think it's very significant. chesebro is thought of as being a chief architect of the fake electors scheme across the different states. and in nevada in particular, he in fact writes in a memo that nevada is the -- in an extremely problematic state because the meeting of the electors requires the secretary of state to oversee it. and so he's already identified nevada's extremely problematic for them because the law does not allow them to do what they did. so it's there in writing. so he has a lot of legal jeopardy in nevada, and usually prosecutors aren't going to try to flip somebody. if they're a chief architect they're going to go up the chain of command. >> if he's cooperating in all these instances and as the chief architect, then what does that

mean? >> it doesn't -- it shouldn't be that it points downward but point upward, and there are two people above him, donald trump and rudy giuliani. you could say rudy giuliani is on the same plain. >> very significant seeing it in multiple states and different strategies not just in georgia. you saw kyung trying to talk to two fake electors in nevada. and i want to play it again because it really stands out. here it is. >> you're not going to comment -- >> if you would turn that off, we have nothing to talk about really on that yet. i have nothing to say. >> what about your testimony in georgia, the case -- >> i'm not going to comment on that. >> if chesebro is cooperating fully what does it mean for them? >> i think if i were or their attorneys i would be very worried and think themselves of

cooperating because chesebro can seriously implicate them. the dale after that memo he writes where he's the architect and that's the blueprint he reaches out to republicans in nevada and says, okay, i'm the point person on this plan and criminally now turning and cooperating with prosecutors. >> as you say even though it's pointing up most likely a lot of downstream would go down as well. >> absolutely. >> donald trump, the appeals court today reinstated the gag order and this has been going back and forth this gag order but it's back in place now. what the implications of this? >> it's not just him that will enforce the gag order but he has the appeals court behind him saying you're gag order is appropriate. in fact in the courtroom he says i'm going to enforce these gag orders riglerly and vigorously.

what might save him is that his name is donald trump, but otherwise i think he's got to be concerned about that and it also empowers the district court and the court of appeals of in d.c. which is currently deciding whether or not to reimpose the gag order there. they've kind of gotten a boost of legitimacy these thingserize correct. >> ryan, thank you. and next rfk jr. gaining steam now coming that you the first voting. so who are his supporters? >> i think we need someone far outside of the mainstream. >> all right, we're going to be live at his campaign rally next and you're going to hear from those voters. and the george santos expulsion vote, it is now just hours away so what does this actually mean? the vote right now is too close to call.

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start today at contracosta.edu tonight you're looking live at robert f. kennedy jr. making his pitch to voters in utah. he's there trying to get enough signatures to get on the ballot as an independent candidate for president. here's some of what he told

supporters just minutes ago. >> the american dream for my generation the essential proposition -- of the fundamental proposition of the american dream is if you worked hard, if you played by the rules, that you would be able to finance a home. you'd be able to take a summer vacation. you can raise a family. you could pay for your retirement on one job. there's nobody in that generation who believes that promise is going to be kept to them. >> kennedy has consistently been polling over 20%, and that to state the obvious is enough to impact the outcome of the election. tonight we went to his supporters to talk about why they want him to be president. out front in salt lake city. >> ready for kennedy '24. >> reporter: robert f kennedy jr. hitting the campaign trail in utah as part of his long shot bid to win the presidency.

>> i'm here to declare myself an independent candidate. >> reporter: now setting his sights on the white house as an independent. >> the democrats are frightened that i'm going to spoil the election for president biden. and the republicans are frightened that i'm going to spoil it for president trump. >> reporter: for some utah voters it's a message that has appeal. >> i'm planning on voting for rfk just because we need a bit of diversity in this political climate nowadays. i think it's gotten too much, you know, red and blue. the world's not black and white. >> reporter: the campaign is hoping to gain traction with young voters. >> we have a whole generation of kids who, you know, from the american dream is just a broken promise. >> i was hesitant to want to vote for another lesser of two evils and all of a sudden rfk jr. popped up on my feed. >> reporter: he voted for trump in the last election, but when kennedy began appearing in some

of his favorite podcasts, he said he was won over by his anti-establishment message. >> he approaches issues with understanding of the grievances that both sides of the anti-establishment movement feel. president trump and president biden are motivated in their candidacies against one another by grievance and vengeance and spite. >> people can disagree and still respect each other. >> reporter: kennedy is controversial candidate known for amplifying baseless conspiracy theories particularly on vaccines. >> if you got vaccinated your more likely to get sick, more likely to get severe illness and more likely to die than if you were unvaccinated. >> reporter: bernie garcia a self-described liberal in the past said he likes how kennedy takes on corporations and causes. >> it's something both the left and right can find common ground on. >> and you don't feel robert kennedy is too far outside the main sfraem?

>> i think we need someone that's outside the main stream. >> he's offering things that appeal to americans without necessarily offering a strict ideology. >> kennedy faces an uphill climb. joe cooke is helping the campaign gather signatures in utah. >> he's not going to appeal to everyone but he's speaking to everyone. >> so, lucy, you talked to people who obviously don't mind kennedy's conspiracy theories, it seems. and he obviously does not seem to be shying away from those, does he? >> reporter: yeah, in fact in an interview posted just today he claimed once again the coronavirus is a bioweapon. it's something he's written an entire book about. take a listen. >> the u.s. intelligence agencies particularly the usa became the biggest funder of bioweapons at the wuhan lab. >> reporter: some of kennedy's

own siblings think of his presidential bid as, quote, dangerous. but his supporters like his name and like what he has to say in terms of his anti-establishment message. they like what he has to say about the environment of housing. and many of them at least the ones we spoke to say they're not getting their news through stream. >> his supporters are getting their information from other places. two latino voters in her reporting who support kennedy obviously a crucial group, and you got a lot of issues at stake right now. so how is kennedy doing with latino voters? >> it didn't surprise me -- i was speaking with your producer beforehand who pointed that out and said is there anything in the numbers before hand that

emblematic of something larger. he's getting 31 in average of the quinnipiac polls. he's doing far better amongst them than he is amongst white voters and slightly better among african american voters. >> when you hear people talk about this race and everyone understands kennedy is playing is role right now, but it's still put forth as a two-horse race and that is not a two-horse race. that is a 30, 30, 30, which is incredible. does kennedy have room to grow his support from here inwe've seen and i remember when the first poll came out people were shocked. then the second and third. it's been eight months. it's been steady, which is incredible. can it go up? >> one of of the things i like to do go under the hood. the net favorable ratings minus ths unfavorable ratings. kennedy is under water, but he's not only slightly under water, he's doing significantly better than donald trump, significantly better than joe biden.

the fact is as more people get to know about rfc jr., it wouldn't be surprising to me if his numbers went up because the people who know about him are actually split on him as opposed to trump voters. >> they're settled at least at this point in those two cases on the numbers. then it comes out to a matter you've got to grow it and then you have to have turnout. you talk to a lot of voters as lucy says they're getting information from alternative source. are they going to show up on election day? >> i'm not sure. this is probably the most negative number for rfk jr. amongst those we see in fact he's getting a much lower share of the vote than he is getting amongst those voters who say they're less motivated. 27% amongst those who say they're less motivated voters versus just 10% of those extremely motivated voters. so the fact is this to me is the big question going forward for rfk. can you get those folks less

motivated to vote against those traditional voters? >> i'm sure biden or trump would say they're less motivated, they're just angry with the other choices and maybe they'll come around, but we don't know. fascinating. harry, thank you very much. and next george santos going down fighting. his expulsion vote now just hours away. >> yes, witch hunting george santos is great right there. i remember that on the top line of the commitment to america. >> and russian state television openly mocking the poisoning of ukraine's top spies, openly mocking it. and there's a reasonon that t p may want t this revevenge. we h have a spececial reportrt front.

tonight, hours away from a historic house vote on a resolution to expel the republican congressman george santos after the house ethics committee had issued an absolutely scathing report that found evidence that he broke multiple federal laws, stole from his campaign, and pushed a constant series of lies as they say about himself to voters and to donors.

and many of which, frankly, santos refused to explain here on this show when he appeared. the push to boot santos creating a sharp divide among republicans on the house floor among people supporting and opposing the vote. >> george santos is a liar. in fact, he's admitted to many of them. >> whatever mr. santos did with botox or onlyfans is far less concerning to me than the indictment against senator menendez who's holding gold bars inscribed with arabic on them from egypt while he's still getting classified briefings today. >> congressman santos for his part vowing not to go quietly and if he does go down, he'll take some of his colleagues with him. >> if i leave, they win.

i will be filing a slew of complaints in the coming ours today and tomorrow to make sure we keep the playing field even. >> melanie muzona is out front on capitol hill. an incredible time to be in such a moment and not exactly know how it will go. >> yeah, i don't think anyone on capitol hill truly knows how this vote will go down tomorrow, and it could be a close vote. there is enough momentum in the gop. they would need around 80 republicans assuming all democrats back this effort, and there is a divide inside the gop right now. there are probably dozens of republicans who say this damning house ethics committee is enough for them and it's time for santos to go. but there are plenty of republicans including speaker mike johnson and steve culease

who say they're concerned about the idea of expelling someone who has yet to be convicted in a court of law. and they might not be saying it out loud but thinking, there's also concern about narrowing their already thin majority. it's going to be a histakes vote tomorrow. it's going to be a dramatic a rare step if they do move to expel george santos. a lot of people hoping he'll resign. santos saying he won't. >> it is going to be an incredible moment. also right there in that -- when he was on the steps outside the capitol today, melanie, he says he will be filing a slew of complaints against his colleagues, one of which was a motion to expel the democratic congressman jamal bowman who pled guilty to pulling a fire alarm. >> that resolution to expel bowman would be null and void if santos is expelled. i think a lot of these are empty threats from the congressman. i think he's trying to projects

an imnl he wants to go down swinging if he's expelled tomorrow. our reporter is also saying he was going to try to file some ethics complaints about some members. he says he's going to potentially write a tell-all book. he did not rule out the idea of participate in reality tv like dancing with star. there is a moment where he said he is concerned and worried about going to jail. he said he's made peace with the fact that might be his ultimate fate and he did admit he let down his constituents in some ways. >> very rare. having spoken to him, it is very rare to have a moment like that. so interesting it actually happened today. thank you so much, melanie. and next russian state tv speculating on how and who could have poisoned ukraine's top spy's wife. as ukraine and the west point to vladimir putin as the suspect. and senator rand paul uses

the heimlich maneuver on a fellow senator in trouble today.

tonight, a desperate race against time. this is what's left of an apartment building after a deadly russian missile strike series in eastern ukraine. crews searching for a family that may still be trapped inside the rubble that includes an 8-year-old girl. this video also showing a 6-month-old boy named eli who was rescued, given urgent medical care. this comes as the wife of ukraine's top spy chief is also recovering after a suspected poisoning by russia. it is the latest in a long list of enemies of the russian leader vladimir putin likely poisoned. fred pleitgen is out front. >> reporter: ukraine's military intelligence wages war in the shadows, but it is hitting the russians hard. orchestrating cruise missile attacks on vladimir putin's black sea fleet, ousting moscow's forces from oil and gas drilling platforms off the coast of occupied crimea in a daring amphibious assault, and

attacking the russian capital with long-distance combat drones while maintaining deniability. the man leading the intelligence service gur is lubdanov, one of russia's most feared enemies "i appeal to russian soldiers, to those who got lucky enough to survive in destroyed trenches," he recently said. "it will be even worse. you have a choice. die or save your life." but now ukraine believes the russians may have struck back. kyiv saying his wife has been poisoned by what they say is, quote, a heavy metal. a ukrainian source telling cnn budanova tested positive for mercury poisoning. officials believe the kremlin could be behind it, like the foreign minister right here on "outfront." >> definitely our intelligence chief is the enemy of russia, as

all of us are. all those who are fighting against russia. so it's highly likely that russia is behind it. >> reporter: kremlin-controlled media already in a feeding frenzy, rejoicing in the news, while seemingly brushing off the allegation. "maybe she just broke a thermometer during one of the parties with her husband's colleagues. not very sensational, but ukrainians and their western owners literally screamed from such news and began to blame putin." >> reporter: but in a different episode, they brought in a russian parliamentarian accused of poisoning and killing a former russian agent in london in 2006 to explain how it would be done. "with something slipped in her tea, and she drank it." >> there is no other way to poison food and drink other than to pour it in and slip it somehow. >> reporter: in the past, the u.s. and others have accused

vladimir putin of ordering poison attacks on his opponents. and few groups have enraged the russian leader more than ukraine's military intelligence led by budanov. >> i believe this is a personal revenge from putin, personal revenge for all the shame personal intelligences under the leadership of s ne to him, that precedes. >> they do seem to be trying to brush them off as well. the kremlin spokesperson dmitry peskov came out and said ukraine blames russia for everything, all as budanov's wife is battling the effects of the poisoning. >> thank you very much, fred ple pleitgen. next, senator rand paul does the heimlich maneuver, saving a fellow senator.

senator rand paul and the heimlich maneuver. the senator from kentucky, who is an ophthalmologist, sprang into action during a republican party lunch today. it was an iowa-day themed lunch. so iowa senator joey ernst was there. you see her there with chuck grassley, and they were hosting everyone with rib eyes. he posted a picture of the food. so ernst starts choking on the food. paul jumps in, performs a heimlich maneuver on her, successfully dislodging the food. i mean, look, i don't want to make light of it, it is very serious. she was very grateful. she did joke about it later. he did step in when it mattered. lindsey graham was not at the lunch, but when he heard about what happened, he jumped in with the humor, god bless rand paul. i never thought i would say that. well, thank you so much for watching. we appreciate it. "ac 360" starts right now. tonight on