to make sure there's nothing that can be done or said about him that would cause him to incur additional charges because that's what the russians will do. they will add charges on to your sentence. >> whelan also told cnn he feels threatened because he's an american and the prisoners in his camp don't look fondly. they told him he could go to solitary confinement 24 hours a day. cnn has reached out to the prison for comment. we have not heard back. wolf, he is in serious danger. >> i hope he comes home soon. evan as well. thank you very much for that report. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. "outfront" next, giuliani

bankrupt. he says he's broke, legal bills are piling up while jack smith is pressing the supreme court to rule quickly on trump's case. whether the court act? and new video into cnn this hour of the texas national guard appearing to ignore a mother and her baby as they plead for help in the rio grande river. it shows the reality of what is happening on the u.s. southern border and it has been 16 days since top putin credit navalny went missing. his daughter is my guest tonight. let's go "outfront." and good evening. i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, bankrupt. rudy giuliani filing for bankruptcy today. the move just one day after a federal judge ruled giuliani has to start paying the nearly $150 million that a court, jury ruled, he owes to two georgia women he falsely accused of trying to overturn the election. giuliani is trump's right hand

man. he made himself indispensable to the president so he could stay in power. by the way, trump could have paid giuliani's bills but he isn't helping so here we are. this is giuliani's filing for bankruptcy. it's 24 page, voluntary petition. it says 24 pages and goes through the debts. pretty incredible. details half a billion dollars in debt. i mean, just remember, giuliani in all of this talking about america's mayor and the greatness he once had was worth $52 million at one point. $52 million. he told time magazine he was raking in lucrative consulting fees after he has been mayor of new york because he had quote, done some remarkable things. well, perhaps maybe not humility there, but it was true. now he owes nearly $150 million to two georgia election workers. the bankruptcy filing, nearly half a billion. $1.7 million in legal fees.

nearly a million in back taxes due to the irs and new york state. $30,000 in phone bills. it's all outlined here. again, in these 24 pages of a voluntary filing. it comes as there are developments as well in trump's case. because jack smith again filing with the supreme court, demanding that the court quickly make a decision, a ruling, on trump's claim that he's immune from charges in connection with january 6th. this has to be decided before the case can move forward. so smith is making the argument today that quote, the public interest in a promise resolution in this case favors an immediate, definitive decision by this court. the charges here are of the utmost gravity. this case involves for the first time, criminal charges against a former president based on his actions while in office. so jack smith wants this to move quickly to get it to trial, to get an answer to voters before the election. trump's lawyers are trying to do the opposite. they are asking the court not to intervene. a move that could delay the

start of trump's trial. a move slated for march 4th. and as trump tries to delay that, he is now facing a disgraced former attorney who knows more about where skeletons are than anywhere else. and giuliani's desperation is not just limited to this br bankruptcy filing. he still faces three defamation cases, a lawsuit from hunter biden. he includes possibly having to pay that in his filing. and a lawsuit over unpaid legal bills. so all of this is still out there. there's a lot to break down here tonight. several moving cases this hour. i want to start with cara in new york. you've been going through these 24 pages and there's a lot of information in here. it's really fascinating. what stands out to you? >> well, it has been a mystery what the current state of giuliani's finances are so this document now sheds some light on this. what he is saying in here is that he has debts up to as much

as $500 million but he says his assets are up to $10 million. what we know about his assets is that he owns a condo in palm beach and and apartment he has for sale here in new york for about $6 million. so a lot of this, his assets, could be tied up in these properties. his biggest debt is the nearly $150 million award that the jury gave to the two georgia election workers just last week. but we learned some other details here that he owes nearly $1 million in taxes. that's for two tax years that he hasn't paid. he also owes about $1.7 million in legal fees. $30,000 in phone bills and about $10,000 for financial services work that he had done by a consultant. h the real unknown is just how much more might add to that because this $500 million is an estimate because he has all of these outstanding lawsuits including those three defamation

lawsuits related to the election including ones brought by the voting machine companies. a $2 million lawsuit by a grocery store worker who says that giuliani had him falsely arrested. that hunter biden -- hacked into his laptop and some others that are still outstanding. this is kind of the current state of his finances but he could have more. his lawyers saying this should come as no surprise to anyone that he was filing for bankruptcy. saying it would be unreasonable for anyone to believe that he could make this nearly $150 million payment but the lawyer for those two election workers says that this quote maneuver by giuliani is not going to stop them from getting paid. if you remember on monday, those election workers filed a new defamation lawsuit against giuliani for continuing to spread those lies. so his legal and financial problems continue to mount. >> thank you very much. with all of those details. i want to go now to lawrence,

the constitutional law professor at harvard law. professor tribe, i appreciate your time. i want to start with you with the move in light of this bankruptcy filing from giuliani. did trump's dirty work for him. trump now is trying to delay this case with the special council. jack smith. and jack smith today asked the supreme court again, move quickly, he says. bypass the appeals process. give a ruling on whether trump is immune from the alleged crimes he committed in office regarding efforts to overturn the 2020 election. the question is, professor, will jack smith prevail? will the supreme court move on this? >> i think he will. whether the supreme court actually leapfrogs the court of appeals or decides that because the court of appeals is now moving on the fastest imaginable track that it can wait a few days, is really beside the point. the question is will jack smith get a final ruling from the

united states supreme court rejecting the quite extreme claims of absolute immunity for essentially everything he did while president. and i think the answer is it will get the ruling because the supreme court, whatever its ideological leanings, recognizes that the people of the united states are entitled to get an answer before the election to the question, are we voting for someone who committed grave crimes while in office. crimes that involve attempting to overturn an election. not just any old crime, but the highest crime of all. essentially awfully close to treason. and the supreme court is undoubtedly going to recognize that the strategy of delay, delay, delay, which is inconsistent with the very fact that donald trump asked for an

appeal on this issue before the trial on the ground that every day that the threat of a trial hangs over him, his rights are violated. he's trying to have it both ways. he's saying i'm entitled to a quick ruling but not so quick as to inform the public of whether i'm guilty. you can't have it both ways. >> i know bankruptcy law is not your area of expertise, but what about the reality that you have a rudy giuliani out there now. dire straits. a desperate man. in this sort of a situation who knows what he knows about trump. does that play a role here? is there more that could come out of giuliani? >> i don't think it plays much of a role. nobody's going to believe him. he's lost all credibility. jack smith has an overwhelming case without calling a liar to the stand. but maybe giuliani will make some kind of deal and maybe that will add to the pressure on

trump. but i think that's a side show. in fact, however, enjoyable or interesting it is from a point of view to watch america's mayor go down in flames. that's a side show. that's not what's critical. what's critical is whether someone who tried to overturn an election so he could stay in power is going to come to power again without anyone ultimately knowing whether he's going to be held accountable for crimes. >> professor, stay with me. stay with me if you will. i just, i know, please stay with me. we have more breaking news right now that i know the professor is going to want to respond to. the detroit news has a significant report just crossing that i want to share with you. just coming out saying that then president trump is actually recorded on tape and he is recorded on tape pressuring two republican members of the wayne

county campuser, most populous county in michigan, not to certify the 2020 presidential election. this is a phone call according to a phone call on november 17th, 2020, trump is on the phone call. so trump's on the phone call with just people certifying an election in state. and he's telling the two republicans they'd look quote, terrible, if they signed the certification, adding quote, we've got to fight for our country. we can't let these people take our country away from us. l later saying he'd take care of lawyers for them. according to this report, the chairwoman of the republican national committee was also on the call then told the two canvassers, if you can go home tonight, not sign it, we'll get you attorneys. that's when trump relied quote, we'll take care of that. craig maggert who broke this story joins me on the phone. craig, i just had a chance to read this as you, as this is crossing. your breaking news. i just want to emphasize.

this is, at this time, the president of the united states on tape recorded for four minutes of a longer exchange talking, pressuring these individuals. you heard much of this tape. can you tell us what you hear trump say? >> what i heard listening to the audio of this conversation was the then president of the united states encouraging, pressuring, contending, arguing in favor of these two republican county canvassers not signing the certification of the 2020 election for wayne county. wayne county is a democratic stronghold in michigan. and it's the state's largest county as well. >> so is there anything else that could have happened in the other minutes of the call or are you aware of how long the call was or anything else that you may not have heard that could, i don't know, change the context here or add context?

>> you know, we heard four minutes of what could be an up to 11-minute call according to verizon phone records that were previously obtained by the january 6th committee. we don't know what was said during the entirety of the call. we do know that the wayne county canvassers had previously, the two republican canvassers, have previously said that the call was just donald trump thanking them for their service on the canvasser and nothing, they have said they didn't remember anything specifically being stated about the 2020 election. they didn't remember that. the recordings that i have reviewed show that the call was heavily about the 2020 election. very much about the certif certification vote that had just taken place. >> and telling them not to certify. it is pretty stunning. again, that the president of the united states is on the call. how did the canvassers respond

to trump? i know you're saying they say they didn't remember 2020 being a big part of the call. it was what the call was about. how did they respond to him? >> they didn't say a lot on the call. on the recordings i was able to review. i think what they did say was try to argue in favor of what they had just done. if you go back to november 2020, what happened during this very contentious canvassers meeting where the results were certified, the two republican campaigns voted against certifying. there was pressure put on them. arguments made from members of the public and public comment enk enko encouraging them to certify. the republicans agreed to certify it if they could also demand an audit be done of the election. so with that deal, they voted to certify the election. however, after casting that pivotal vote, they left the meeting without signing the statement of votes. you know, confirming what the vote tallies were in wayne

county. after they left the meeting, that is when the phone call with the then president and the chairman of the republican national committee took place. t. >> obviously which would appear that the former president then is involved, right? to make the phone call exactly at the moment when this is happening. it's not a random happenstance just to state the very obvious here. craig, from your reporting and you just mentioned it, the rnc chairwoman was also on the call. so they were the two canvassers, the president of the united states and mcdaniel. what role did she play? >> the call came from mcdaniel. she's from michigan. that's previously been reported there were two calls that night from came from mcdaniel to monica palmer, one of the two republican canvassers. so it appears that the rnc chairwoman kind of facilitated that call, had the president on the call. they were both making arguments

against signing the certification. there was a comment made on the call by mcdaniel where she told them if you sign this certification and don't get this audit, she said something to the effect of we will never, ever know what happened in the 2020 election. that was the pressure that was put on them. if you sign this and don't get the audit, we're not going to know what actually happened. >> should note of course the margin of vigtry in michigan for biden was 154,000 votes. craig, do you know why the call came out now? like why you're getting this information now and whether jack smith's team has this reporting as well? >> i can't answer that. i really can't answer neither of those questions. i know that it took some significant time for us to be able to get our hands on this recording. >> yes. >> there's a lot that went into it. can't really say much more than

that. >> i can only imagine. i want to ask you one other thing, craig. before you go. and that is just listening to it. what was the, what was trump's tone like when he's talking to them and pressuring them in this moment? how would you interpret the tone in his voice? his emotion in it? >> i would say it would appeal to these canvassers. it would a direct appeal to them. he made a lot of comments that are similar to other comments he had made. unproven claims of fraud in the election. arguing there was something extremely improper that happened in detroit, michigan's largest city. he was making a lot of the same arguments he had unleashed on social media, but in this situation, he was making them directly to the canvassers. directly at them. how could you sign this knowing what i'm telling you? how could you sign it and the comment you mentioned earlier really struck me, where he, the president of the united states told these two county canvassers

that they would look terrible if they signed this. according to their reporting. >> yeah, it is important just to think about i, right? they're getting a call, two canvassers in wayne county, michig michigan, from the president of the united states. just the power disparity. the way they would have felt getting such a call. the pressure in and of it. thank you so much. i hope everyone will go see craig's full reporting in the detroit news. professor lawrence tribe is back with me now. professor, what do you take away from this? your two wayne county canvassers. mcdaniel hooks them into the president of the united states and now craig's had an opportunity to hear this call and very clear, direct appeal from the president to two county level employees telling them not to certify the election. >> well, assuming it's all accurate and i just heard this for the first time so i'm not going to make a final judgment

about anything, but assuming it is what it appears to be, it makes you think of all the pressure and defamation directed at shea and ruby moss. it makes you think of the raffensperger call where he's trying to twist arms saying you're going to get in trouble unless you find me the votes i need. this is all part and parcel, it appears, of an extended plot going back way before january 6th and extending right up until the violent insurrection. an attempt to interfere with the central process of democracy. the process of making a peaceful transition to the newly elected president. and i can imagine whether special council jack smith already has this evidence or is in the process of developing it, that the trial we're going to see is supposed to begin on

march 4th, it's going to be dynamite. no wonder the president wants absolute immunity. no wonder he wants to delay the trial. no wonder he wants to prevent the american people from learning the details of how he tried to steal an election that he had lost in the name of what he calls the big steal. you couldn't make this stuff up. >> and professor, i understand he'll say that these are things he had said in other settings publicly but when you think back to nixon and it's caught on tape of him directing and now here you are going to hear his voice. that he is on tape. the former president of the united states. can't say somebody else was doing it. he can't say i didn't know what was happening. he did it. he got on the phone with two county level election canvassers in a state he lost by 154,000 votes and said it would be terrible if they signed the documents to approve certification of the election. is there something just significant in that moment? there's no separation if these

tapes are there, that's very clear. >> it suggests that the trial is going to be truly extraordinary. the power and balance as you point out is going to be vivid. you know, when people say golly, i wonder if there are tapes. there are tapes, it appears, and hearing the voice of a desperate man who just refuses to take no for an answer. refuses to admit his loss. and tries to stay in power no matter what. ask yourself is that somebody that you can trust in the next election. that's why the disqualification clause is so important because the whole theory of the constitution is that when someone takes an oath to the constitution, then tries to overturn it, you can't trust that person to run again. if that person manages to win then that person's goeing to hod power and may never let it go.

if he doesn't manage to win, he might figure out a way to make it look like he's won. it's very dangerous and that's what we face. it's the prospect of losing our democracy. that's really a major thing. that's not a small matter. you can talk about rudy giuliani's bankruptcy or gasoline prices. but this is the ball game. if we have a guy who's willing to use the power of the presidency on ordinary people, what's he going to do to you and me? people who want to exercise their freedom? whether it's their reproductive f freedom, their freedom of speech. democracy is not an abstraction. we're dealing with the limitless power of somebody who has no scruples. knows no limits and is willing to do anything to seize and remain in power for his own benefit. that's what we're hearing abnd

ipg we really need to take that into account between now and november. >> professor tribe weighing in on this news. marshall has done extensive reporting on these canvassers. ryan goodman is on the phone as well. but marshall, these canvassers, you have reported extensively on this. and you knew there was a recording. we're finding out what was on it. you hear the president of the united states on it. you hear craig was saying he heard four minutes which included the president of the united states speaking. can you put this in context for us? >> yeah, we knew there was a phone call. this is the first time we're actually hearing what was exactly uttered on the call thanks to this great reporting from the detroit news. put yourself in their shoes. they are local county canvassers. local folks in detroit getting a call from the president of the united states. the highest office in the land. this is unprecedented and it was

at a moment in time when donald trump was trying to do everything in his power to stop the certification of the results in michigan. he lost by over 100,000 votes in that state but he was trying to find any lever of power that he could find to stop it. he had invited the top state officials to washington. met with them in the oval office. the head of the state house and senate. both republicans to try to twist their arms. they put out a statement saying there was not massive fraud then he went to these local officials, got them on the phone. convinced them to rescind. he said we'll take care of that. mcdaniel from the rnc, do not sign it. we'll find you attorneys. don't do it. they ended up trying to take back their votes. it was too late. they voted to certify the results. just shows how trump tried to find anybody anywhere who could gum up the works and overturn a lawful election.

>> and karen, did it himself. directly. and personally. aware of it. was aware of what was happening. was aware that at this moment a vote was happening, was looped in on a phone call to do it himself to exert that pressure on those county level employees and he said from craig's reporting it would be quote, terrible, if these two canvassers signed the documents. he continues to say we've got to fight for our country. we can't let these people take our kocountry away from us. how big of a deal is this recording now that we know some of what's on it? >> for a prosecutor, there's nothing better than a defendant's own words on tape doing and saying the exact thing you accused them of doing. so for jack smith, this is extremely powerful evidence of trump's intention and his pressure campaign on the local level which is part and parcel of what he's charged with in

this sweeping jack smith indictment. the january 6 indictment. there's a whole section on there on the pressure campaign to the states including michigan. and so this is just direct evidence for jack smith and will be front and center at the trial. i also think that the fact that he's saying we'll get you lawyers. we'll pay for your lawyers. in some ways, i would argue that's evidence that he knows what he's asking them to do is illegal. and so i think it's -- >> because you're going to need a lawyer. >> exactly. so this is extremely powerful evidence for a prosecutor. >> ryan, what's your takeaway? >> similarly, i think that this is very damaging information against donald trump. the one line that also stuck out is mcdaniel on that call says quote, do not -- we will get your attorneys, end quote. so who's the we. it's her and she's on the call with somebody else. president trump at the time.

we'll get you attorneys means they're all aware at minimum, skating the line of illegality, if not going right over it. it fits in with the pattern of conduct that is the theory of the case for jack smith. not only for the indictment in which donald trump is pressuring raffensperger in georgia. pressuring his own house rusty bowers. but also mike pence. which is a key part of the case and here is the same kind of pattern of conduct. what is the president doing? he's pressuring the individual to do something that is completely outside the bounds of their legal authority to throw the election. i think that's the way in which jack smith will present it to the jury and it's as karen said. the fact that it's the defendant himself on audio. makes its incredibly credible. for the jury. >> yes. i will say as ryan said,

mcdaniel says if you can go home tonight, do not sign it. we will get you attorneys, to which trump added, we'll take care of that. making it clear. ryan, karen, marshall, thank you all very much. as we are just getting this breaking ins in. and next, more breaking news. we have some new video tonight. it is from the southern border. and you'll see what it is. it's a woman and a child struggling to stay afloat in the rio grande. soldiers from the texas national guard are there. we'll show you what they do and don't do. and more on the breaking news in michigan. a special investigation into the state's republican party. the leader of the party being called a dumpster fire. fears it could cost him the election with all the breaking news out of the michigan. that is later this hour.

the texas national guard, both appear in danger of drowning as soldiers watch from a boat. the texas national guard denies this allegation. here's some of the video. >> they made it. >> hey!

p priscilla, what more are you learning about this video? >> erin, these are the types of incidents that have caused alarm here at the white house as there has been a surge of migrants at the border. as you wshow in this video, the woman is seen calling for help with a crying baby in her arms in the rio grande as those members of the texas national guard watch but do not intervene. we know eventually t woman with the child was able to get to the mexican side of the border. it's an incident filmed by an immigration activist who was in the area working on a documentary about public safety. the texas military department denies the members didn't help

saying quote, texas national guard soldiers approached by boat and determined that there were no signs of medical distress, injury, or incapacitation and they had the ability to return the short distance back to the mexican shore. the soldiers remained onsite to monitor the situation. but erin, it is situations like this that underscore how untenable a u.s. mexico border has become as more migrants cross on a daily basis and just today, president biden speaking with mexican president about the unfolding situation and placing pressure on his mexican counterpart to provide more assistance to stem the flow of migrants. now, the two agreed that enforcement is needed and senior officials are headed down to mexico in the coming days to continue those discussions. >> thank you very much with all of your reporting. now to basil. this is clearly hurting biden. it's a reality from the polls we

see. so when you look at polling, who better handles border security? basic question. trump and biden were about tied in 2020. trump beats biden by 23 points. i mean, that's a stunning move by anyone's measurement. even as the former president is out saying things like this. >> they're poisoning the blood of our country. they come from prisons. they come from mental institutions. and insane asylums. many are terrorists. what they're doing is destroying our country. >> and he's up by 23 points. >> that's right. it's actually if you remember in 2016 when he first ran, he used rhetoric that was bad and you wouldn't imagine it could get worse and it has. part of i think the lead in on this issue over biden is that the strong man talk. this sort of us versus them. that for a number of republican voters is a winning strategy.

i think it in my view embodies the politics of pain. when you listen to that baby crying, there's no way you could say something so wrong here. something is clearly wrong. these individuals are making this tremendous, treacherous trip leaving some ext extraordinarily treacherous circumstances and instead of trying to help solve the problem on the border, these governors including governor abbott are exacerbating the problem by putting them on a plane or bus. >> the reality of the situation as trump has gained in terms of public views of his handling of this, democrats have attacked biden. the governor of arizona, big biden backer, quote, i'm taking action to fix the migrant crisis where the federal government will not. mark kelly. and kirsten sinema wrote a le letter to biden. they say arizona communities have paid the price for

washington's failure on the border. that's not mincing words. >> it's not. i would add the mayor of new york, a democrat. republicans have used his language. >> telling people to go to d.c. to protest. >> yeah, he's telling average parents, average families who are concerned about the budget cuts he has to make, to go and help him complain to d.c. for his crisis. so, yes, there are democrats that are upset. democrats that are upset. if i'm joe biden, what i have to do, a, is solve the problem. however, we know this is a vexing issue that's not going to get solved in one campaign cycle but he can find a way to assuage the concerns. the mayor of chicago talking today and complaining about this. find a way to assuage the concerns of these leaders so that at least you don't have these folks in your party attacking you. you can't talk about what greg abbott and what governor abbott and others are going to do because they're just going to do what they have been doing. politics and pain.

but at least for those who want to try to solve the problem, you can find a way to work with them. >> to stop the friendly fire. thank you very much. appreciate it. and next, top putin critic now missing for 16 days. his daughter is "outfront." she's share with you what she knows about her father, plus we're staying on the breaking news out of michigan. the detroit news reporting menes minutes ago that president trump was caught on tape pressuring two county level republican workers to not certify the state's presidential election.

16 days. that's how long alexei navalny has been missing. he failed to appear they say again for yet another whearing. he's had hearing dates, as ridiculous as that term may seem in the russian justice system, but he's not showing up. they wrote quite the court has no idea where he is. they were told he left the penal colony where he was being held about two weeks ago. they have contacted more than 200 detention centers. they have not found him anywhere. his daughter is with me tonight. so, dasha, i mean, you deal with the uncertainty and the fear that your family deals with every day and your father's supposed to show up for a court date and he doesn't and now 16 days are passed and you're trying to figure out where he is. have you heard anything at all?

my >> nothing. we haven't heard any new information for the past 16 days. which is very concerning and we've been, we started a global campaign of where the navalny. there is multiple cities around the world in russia and in new york as well today i attended a rally in front of the russian embassy with a group of people who were, are asking the same question. where's alexei navalny. we don't know where he is. our team has appealed to the united nations human rights court and granted our appeal to ask the russian government where he is. officially governments around the world has asked where he is and the russian government is refusing to say putin is just hiding my father from us. >> what i find incredible is

that the kremlin just dismisses all of this. peskov told reporters we have neither the opportunity, the right nor the desire to track the fate of prisoners who are serving sentences by court decision. acting like your father is some unknown name, not the lead opposition figure in russia. can you even believe a statement like that? >> it's ridiculous and they are certainly just wasting time. when my father was poisoned two years ago, their main objective was to waste time. not to let people into his hospital room and it's the same thing they're doing right now. and what they're trying to do is they want us to get scared. they want us to stop working. they want the foundation to fall apart without one of his main leaders, my father. it's not going to happen. we're going to continue doing our work.

continue releasing investigations and i'm going to continue coming on cnn and talking about these issues. >> so, you know, we need to talk about how they're trying to make you afraid. he was scheduled to be transferred to another penal colony. technically a worse level on the gradeu gradeuation of the system. but the transfer process can be a long time. people go out of contact. things can happen. you know, vladimir, she recently was talking to me about this time when someone is transferred from one to another and here's how she described it. >> this is a very dangerous period in the life of any prisoner. especially political prisoners in russia. because the russian government is now using a new tactic. a new method of silencing these opposition activists. they tend to lose prisoners during transfer. >> these are the fears i know

that you and your family have. how worried are you about what he might be facing right now in this essentially void that you're in? >> when it comes to political prisoners in russia and especially my father, there's no rules that the russian government obeys. so we knew for a very long time that it's going to be difficult and that he is going to be arrested when he goes back ultimately and whatever the consequences of that, i've accepted those a long time ago. however, my father is an incredibly brave man and i like to think i've gotten that gene from him as well and the courage that he's demonstrated to me my entire life. i am hopeful that he is just being transferred to another prison like you've mentioned. we've reached out to over 250 different colonies around the

country. so far, most of them have responded. it's quite funny. most have responded in caps lock with a lot of exclamation points that he is not here because we keep asking and asking and asking because we want to know where he is and we won't stop until we do. >> dasha, thank you very much. as you say, your father's bravery and fierceness i know you embrace. good to see you. next, more on our breaking news out of michigan. the detroit in news reporting president trump was caught on tape pressuring canvassers not to certify the election. got on the phone and did id himself. plus, cnn is on board as a hehelicopter f flies over r the iceleland volcanano.

we're following the breaking news. the detroit news obtaining audio of president trump pressuring two republican county level canvassers in michigan, pressuring them not to certify the presidential election of 2020. trump saying, quote, on this call according to the report in the detroit news, quote, we can't let these people take our country away from us. it comes as the new cnn investigation reveals the state's republican party is in turmoil. members describing christina curama, an election denier and conspiracy theorist who cherished the state party as a, quote, dumpster fire. jason carol is out front with this investigation.

>> michigan is ground zero for the globalest take down for the united states of america. >> reporter: this is the person some are accusing of being behind the trouble plaguing michigan's republican party. >> i saw first-hand systemic election corruption. >> reporter: she's christina curomo, former community college professor, former poll watcher, election denier and conspiracy theorist and the chair person of the michigan republican party. >> she's very charismatic. when you hear her speak, she can get a crowd going. >> reporter: for a time they were among her biggest supporters. now they are some of her biggest critics calling for her to be removed from office. >> i'm sorry because i voted for her. >> she's losing supporters i mean literally hemorrhaging supporters. >> reporter: another state committee member referred to her in an e-mail as a tyrannical, incompetent dumpster fire. curomo lacked much political experience but rose quickly

within a state gop promoting her steadfast support of donald trump and strong christian beliefs. in 2022 she lost the race to be michigan's secretary of state. but in february was elected chair of the state's republican party. since then, her critics say the state party has been bogged down with in-fighting, dysfunction, and according to documents dismal fund-raising. >> we're bankrupt. it's provable. >> you're broke. >> yeah, correct. she ran it into the ground. >> reporter: warren carpenter is a former party district chair and former supporter who shares her election denying views and conservative values, her disdain for the establishment, and lack of political or business experience was also part of her appeal to her supporters. you understand what some of your critics will say. they'll say you got what you asked for. this is the person -- >> i was wrong. yeah, full stop i was wrong. i was on her team until i saw the financial situation. >> reporter: warren shared documents with cnn that appear

to show the party had a net income of about $71,000 between march and november of 2023. compare that to how much curomo said she hoped to raise. >> it will require i believe at least $50 million, and i'm very confident i'll be able to raise that. >> reporter: millions needed and little to show for it. couple that with what critics call spend decisions like one to push a major speaking event to host in september. the situation so dire some members of the party's budget committee has resigned. a member warned the party faced imminent default on it line of credit and now worries the dysfunction in michigan could have broader implications in a state where trump won in 2016, then flipped, and biden won in 2020. both by narrow margins. >> when a state party is falling short on its fund-raising it can have an impact on anybody who's

on that ballot. president, senator, mayor, member of congress. >> reporter: curomo wouldn't speak to cnn. >> we come to the table with almost no political experience, and we don't view that as a bad thing. >> reporter: but her deputy chief of staff and ken beyer, a district chairman, says they've not given her a chance. >> how much have you raised this year? >> far less. it's been a challenge. >> how much? >> i don't know the exact dollar amount, but it's -- i don't know that it's over a million. >> she's not a business person. we knew that when we elect her. >> but is that now starting to come back to sort of bite you because the business of this is not working. it's failing. >> what she's doing is she's motivating a bunch of people within the community to get active inside their own neighborhood. >> reporter: he says the republican establishment set her up to fail by sending their donations to other gop state

organizations. >> these folks are pulling the rug out from christina and blaming her from falling. >> reporter: but they say she's not making enough to reach traditional republicans, arguing he's gone out of her way to alienate with statements like this. >> the michigan republican party operates like a political mafia. >> reporter: it ranked potential volunteers 1 to 4, 1 being patriot to 4 being me first or rino. state committee member brie mogenberg was ranked at 4. >> she's disenfranchised the voters. she's disenfranchised us. that's not how you build up a team and unite the republican party. >> reporter: they took staeps to try to remove her from office in this meeting. too late for former supporters such as warren carpenter. >> i don't want her to do anything except for resign.

and i'll tell you what, if she doesn't, then we'll remove her. >> reporter: jason carroll, cnn, deerburn, michigan. and next cnn gets rare access to that iceland volcano. you'll see it from the air.

. cnn getting a rare look at the iceland volcano from above. our fred pleitgen got a ride on a helicopter to see the extensive lava field. look at this. >> this is an amazing thing to be witnessing from up here. we can see just how active the volcanic zone still is. you can see the lava. you can smell the magma. you can feel the power that our planet is unleashing. >> it's incredible for fred to have seen that and shared it with us. officials warning any tourist to do that obviously to stay away. t