only for use in research and has not yet been approved by the fda and the spokesman cautioned the product still needs further testing in kwers and representative populations, but wolf, it is a ray of hope. >> very important story indeed, brian todd. thank you very much. dexter scott king, son of martin luther king, jr., has died after a battle with prostate cancer. he worked as chairman of the king center developed by coretta scott king. he is survived by his wife, leah webber, and his brother martin luther king iii and his sister bernice. his sister yolanda died in 2007. deepest condolences to his family, may he rest in peace and his memory be a blessing. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. eastern

i'll be back with special live coverage of the new hampshire primary. until then, thanks for watching. erin burnett "out front" starts right now. ♪ "out front" next, hours away from first votes in new hampshire can nikki haley stop trump's march to the nomination as they're lining up behind the former president, republicans that forgot that they used to hate him. breaking news, israel proposing a two-month ceasefire in exchange for the hostages and the reporter who broke this story is out front and biden scoring a major victory in his border battle with texas. the democratic mayor of denver, he calls his city ground zero for the migrant crisis and why he thinks he has a solution everyone can agree on. let's go out front. good evening. i'm erin burnett and the first primary of 2024 at midnight and the first voters of new hampshire get to go in and cast their votes and this is where it

will happen in dixville notch. it is the first town to vote in the republican primary this time in what is now a two-person race for the gop nomination. trump is about to hold a rally in new hampshire. he will be joined by three of his former rivals turned supporters, senator tim scott, governor doug burgum and vivek ramaswamy. while nikki haily is wrapping up her first, vent of the day she now has the two-person race making this the last chance that she is the support to take trump down and four republicans who loathed trump, it does all come down to hailyley in anything, ba close finish could mean the end of a campaign which raises a big question. could those who were trying to oust trump rally behind him? we've seen them coalesce behind the former president when it finally comes down to it. take ron desantis who made these two comments one week apart.

>> you can be the strongest, most dynamic, successful republican and conservative in america, but if you don't kiss that ring then he'll try to trash you. you know what? you deserve a nominee that will put you first, not himself first. >> trump is superior to the current incumbent, joe biden. he has my endorsement because we can't go back to the old republican guard of yesteryear. >> okay. that's ron desantis, but now i give you the former candidate doug burgum. candidate doug burgum, here he is in july of last year. >> would you ever do business about donald trump? >> i don't think so. >> why? >> i would -- i just think that it's important that you're judged by the company you keep. >> well, tonight you'll get to see the company he keeps because in moments he'll be taking that stage, and he will stand next to

trump whom he is backing and then there's nancy mayes of south carolina. today she endorsed trump even after he said this about her. >> in the first congressional district, you have another horrendous rhino known as crazy nancy mace. she's a terrible person, and she has no idea what she's doing. >> well, i guess he thinks she has an idea what she's doing tonight, and elise stefanik, rising star in the gop who was in the running to become trump's running mate. she is perhaps trump's fiercest defender on capitol hill and that wasn't always the case. she once slammed trum for his lies and attacks on women. >> i think he has been insulting to women. i think in the presidential field there are some candidates who over the long run, and they've started this process, somewhat disqualifying themselves with untruthful statements.

>> well, that was then and this is now. >> i support president trump. he is an important voice in our republican party. >> there you have it. that's how it usually goes. kristen holmes tonight begins our coverage out front in trump's rally in new hampshire where he will be sur rounrounde those individuals. how important is it to have two of his former opponents to have them around him and support him on the stage tonight? >> erin, it's astonishing listening to the clips that you just played because i remember in 2022 after the midterms and it certainly -- the tide was certainly not going that way, but clearly, we have entered into a new era, and it is critical to donald trump to have these three opponents turned supporters up on stable with him because that's his entire message. the message is the pars coalescing around nikki haley. you should do the same.

drop out or go forward and you're seeing all of his multiple -- excuse me, they're doing a prayer right now. that's why i'm talking a little bit lower and i'm seeing kari lake, marjorie tail lor greene and they are all here to support the former president and it is part of the same message which is that donald trump should be the nominee. that's what they want to hear. the term of margins that we talked a lot about. they're not setting expectations for here in new hampshire. they just want a big win and that's what they're focused on, again, as you noted, unless it's a close, close finish for nikki haily a hailey and thank you very much. it was hard for her to speak there. doug burgum, you know, that's a tough one. at least kari lake and byron donalds have always only been on one side of the issue, but nonetheless, here we are. >> they always take the knee. that's what donald trump said about these folks.

he can trash somebody. nancy mace, first district, south carolina. terrible person, he said. to a crowd full of folks, and yet you consistently see the spinelessness, these people just sou supine crawling back to him and they're afraid and it's cowardice and careerism and it's corroding their soul. >> excellent use of supine. >> this is a do or die moment and you know her character for better or for worse. obviously, you were governor and she was lieutenant and she took over. where do you think her head is right now? she knows the moment. >> she followed me. she wasn't my lieutenant governor, but she did follow me. where does it go next? who knows? a, it's do or die. i think that if you look at what

ron desantis did and what nikki may do it is about saving your own political capital and if it doesn't go well in new hampshire i suspect you'll see that white flag go ever nikki. at the end of the thai if you get trounced in your home date, it doesn't look good for another president to run. how well does she have to do tomorrow to stay in? >> i had an opportunity to visit with governor sununu last weak on my pbs program and he said a strong second in a two-person race which to me is not a win, but it seems to me as though -- >> you're either going to come in one or two. >> if you're two -- if you're a two-person race and that's a loss and they're all talking margins and that's how they're mesh urg it. if trump has 12 to 15 points ahead it's hard to see. if she's within four to six i think that is a strong second-place finish which gives her a degree of momentum and

frankly credibility to go back to donors and say help me push this through in south carolina which is admittedly an incredible difficult race for her. >> that's when we talk about these endorsements obviously in the state, right? governor, i know there's no love lost and the governor, wayne wilson, and nancy mayes, scott, it's pretty universal. >> it has the feeling of momentum, particular he to voters who aren't paying attention on talent scouts and all these people are with them 37 many it's ine schettable and that's a mace from if you're trump you do push the inevitability nir tiff@hu heed always be rolling all along.

i think if it's five points or more hard to make an argument to toners to keep yourself alive for a month and it's a month of campaigning that you have to do in south carolina and i the sta is very different than when she was governor and you're seeing that in the polls showing trump so far ahead. >> governor, she did talk about it. she's -- she's not saying pending, but we all know pending and how she does tomorrow, it's he her state and here's how she put it. >> we'll be strong. they talk about oh, new hampshire is good for her because of independents. i won the state twice. >> she did win it twice. how much has it changed? >> on the coast it's changed radically given the influx of folks in the northeast and the upper midwest and same in the other bookend of the state and her industrial hub.

you want to call it that, but the middle part of the stage has changed and it's not changed a lot. there are folks who have been there for a hundred years and you have a lot family history, i would say that 37 it's on the margin, and i just think that you look the at numbers and the entire congressional delegation, minus who. the te leaves in their district and it's decidedly trump? they're terrified of lose the primary. itch you have an extensive history. ? i don't know what happened to the wink-wink, nudge, nudge. >> that's just one generation and that's not very expensive in south carolina.

>> look, i think it's important that she stays in if she can, credibly because less than 1% of americans voted in terms of the population in the respective states. >> yeah. >> nominating donald trump someone who tried to overturn our democrat see indicted on 91 counts and that represents such a radical departure and having an alternative in place is an alternative for the country and the republican party to really assess what they're about to do. >> can we mention something about nikki haley? the other consideration, voters are looking at her and saying do i see that woman as commander in chief? and we haven't talked about the unique challenges that women face particularly when it comes to executive leadership which means do i see her as the commander? chief? could i see her going toe to toe with putin? that's kind why she talks about her experience at the u.n. so

often? >> yeah. >> do i see her as someone who will care about my family and fix the economy and that's part of why she talks about issue areas where women traditional he have weaknesses and men have perceived strength. that's another conversation here her that for women it is a different consideration when voters are looking at that candidate and saying, do i believe she's tough enough. >> you use the word tough and that's what trump has questioned and she's not tough and call her a bird brain she's happy to do it. this is a question before new hampshire voters who delivered surprises in the past and they're happy about doing that. the consequence of a president haley versus a president trump, when it comes to ukraine, when it comes to china, when it comes to the economy, and voters in new hampshire have along with republican voters in new hampshire to make a choice so

america has a choice for president haley versus a president trump. this is the question right now, not south carolina, and i hope they will give us another choice. >> i agree with those things, but they're idealistic in nature and the dream of where we want to end up in the party. i'm reading the tea leaves in south carolina as they are right now and adsadly, they're not particularly for haley. >> 7% turnout for iowa and it's not one of the most populous states and it's such a tiny slice america making a decisions for anybody else. >> that's the nature of modern polling. you look at the sample size of most polls and they give you a read. it may not be perfect and not a full representation, but it gives you a read. >> it's the process the republican party has chosen to make their nominee. frankly chosen in order to

create the strength for candidate. >> there is a primary tomorrow on the democratic side. biden is not on it and dean philips is trying to get in it, and there was a robo call, a voice resembling biden telling people not to vote. pretty terrifying on the macro and they were happy to use this ai call. >> take a big step back and try to separate the urgent from the important and this is one of those important stories that might get missed today. ai, aiding voter suppression, impersonating the president of the united states. that's a harbinger of things to come in a very dark and dystopian way. don't lose sight of that and we'll find out who paid for it and what they were trying to do and those two things are so resonant of the things over. >> it's terrifying. he says lake him where you wouldn't beably to rick

recognize your own child? >> right. >> absolutely upon. we have enough time that, image inthat it was election night and nevada, and pea don't can't have to time on tell people hey, that's the big concern you're seeing some of these ai guys and silicon valley getting in the combim here, they actually need our responsibility to our democracy to help ensure that the technology is not used to subvert subvert democrat sees, and he's the largest newspaper in the state, his endorsement is always highly sought by candidates in the primaries and the conservative-leaning paper has just endorsed nikki haley. i appreciate your time. your endorsement doesn't pull punches in the paper. the dinosaurs from the last two

administrations have indeed had their shot and nikki haley is the fireball from the heavens to wipe them out. we want a better option we've had for the past eight years and nikki haley is that option and to the conversation we've had with the panel you talked about her time as governor and u.n. ambassador and that proves she can lead on the world stage. poll after poll does show donald trump with a significant lead in new hampshire? how do you think nikki haley can prove the polls wrong? >> well, by winning, number one. if she proves that she can prove the polls wrong. to your point, the country deserves a choice, you know, new hampshire is first, but we're not last. so nikki haley staying in this race really shows that there is a chance for people to vote for someone who they can support and not someone they have been told to support for the last year and

a half. >> your paper supported joe biden over donald trump, and this was a tough decision and you did that in the general legz. it was your first democratic endorsement for the paper in a century, 104 years. so have you thought -- you said in that op ed at the time, you said president trump is not always 100% wrong, but he's 100% wrong for america. he is the antithesis of thoughtful and pragmatic and he's failed to earn a second term. would you endorse biden again if it's biden-trump given that logic last time? >> we would be very hopeful for a third-party candidate in that maneuver. i think if you re-read our past editorial supporting joe biden it was that joe biden was supposed to be a president who would serve a term, who would help bring the country back together, who would be more of a uniter than a divider to quick from george bush, and he has

done none of those things and he's now not in a great position to lead our country for four more years so he's not the answer either. the country needs another choice and nikki haley is that choice. >> and our special coverage of the new hampshire primary will begin here at 4:00 eastern tomorrow. israel is posing something h huge, -- the reporter who just got that scoop is out front, next. plus biden winning a major battle at the border and today the supreme court giving agents the okay to destroy what the texas governor put in place to stop the influx of migrants so who actually is the video? terrifying video of a rogue wave at a u.s. military base. the force of the water so powerful. you can see what happens there.

breaking news. something very significant that could signal the beginning of the end of the israel-hamas war. axios is reporting tonight that israel is proposing a two-month pause in fighting in exchange for the release of all remaining hostages. israel believes there are still

132 being held by hamas in gaza. this is the longest ceasefire israel has offered hamas since the start of the war. in two months a transformational period of time to state the obvious. brock broke this story and he is our political analyst, as well. what more can you tell us with your reporting here about a potential two-month pause in this war? >> so, first the proposal is out there already for something like ten days and by out there i mean that the mediators qatar and egypt know about it and they transferred it to hamas, and it was a proposal that was discussed within the israeli war cabinet with after quite strong disagreements inside the war cabinet on how far israel needs to go and the decision was to go pretty far and two months' pause and that's the biggest amount of days israel was ready to give hamas since the war started. >> and two months,

transformational, to say the least. you say that the mediators have been working on this for ten days. obviously, you're breaking this news now and it's the first the world has heard about it, but that timeframe does raise the crucial question. where are the negotiations? is hamas biting on this? >> so, again, i'll tell you what i hear from israeli officials and then maybe i'll tell you my own opinion. so what i hear from israeli officials is that there are much more, let's say optimistic than they were ten days ago or even a week ago or even three days ago because they get the feeling that every day that passes there is more willingness by hamas to agree to start discussing this idea in more detail and basically drop their maximalist position of, you know, end the war, release every palestinian prisoner of israeli prisons and give us immunity for the rest of

our lives and so israeli officials say that they believe that the next 24 to 48 hours they'll be much smarter on whether hamas is ready to engage on this or not. >> the context for this, of course, barak, that israel has come under condemnation from many around the world for the state of the war. when you talk about a two-month pause, it takes away everything and it takes away everything and the people engaged in the war. it's all of. is this possibly the beginning of the end? >> i totally agree with you, and you know, netanyahu refuseded to hamas' main request or demand that israel agrees to end the war, but when he proposes a two-month pause he knows and everybody else who has been workinging on this know very well that after two months of pause, even if the fighting

resumes this way or another it's going to look much different, okay? there will be much fewer israeli soldiers inside gaza, the operations will look differently and the israeli officials are totally aware that it might be very hard, close to impossible to resume the war, to resume the operations in gaza after two months of pause. >> barak, thank you very much, and obviously significantly breaking news headline there from barak. and we have additional breaking news on this, as well. cnn just learning that as part of the ceasefire talks that barak is reporting on, israel spy chief says hamas senior leaders could be allowed to leave gaza. orrin lieberman may hear that and say, allowing them to leave gaza and go where and when? what more are you learning? >> well, the where and the when isn't part of the discussion. that's not what israel is focused on. the key here according to

excellent reporting from my colleague alex marquardt is that hamas' military leaders who israel has failed to find after more than a hundred days of war would leave gaza and that would allow them to claim some sort of victory and it's worth noting that this information is from two officials that have been brief from the the international and ongoing negotiations. israel can claim some sort of victory and hamas' military leaders in planning the october 7th terror attack would be out of gaza and it would weaken hamas' stranglehold on the gaza strip and israel has failed to achieve its military objectives of trying to completely destroy hamas. according to israel's own estimate, hamas contains owe retains something like 70% of its fighting force and we see its continued ability to launch rockets at israel. this proposal and this idea of hamas' senior leaders leaving gaza was brought up at least twice by mossad chief david

barnea. once in warsaw and once in doha this month, but country and officials that have been handling the negotiations and are monitoring is a nonstarter. there a situation in which there is an agreement where hamas' senior military leaders would be willing to leave as part of a ceasefire. they have control of the gaza strip and it doesn't seem that they're ready to relinquish it. this is mohammed def and the senior military leaders there are a critical part of this and would retain a tremendous amount of control and able to manage still an ongoing war. >> which is pretty incredible when you think about 25 miles by six and the decimation that we all see daily on our screens. thank you so much, orrin lieberman for all of that significant reporting on the situation tonight. next, the supreme court citing with biden over text tex when it comes to how the border is secured or not secured as we hear exclusively from vice

president kamala harris. she was once tasked to fix the border crisis on what she thinks should be done. plus new video just coming in of a massive explosion inside russia from a ukrainian drone that managed to fly thousands of miles into putin's territory undetected.

tonight, a major victory with president biden with greg abbot over the southern border. the supreme court ruling that border patrol agents can cut through razor wire installed by the texas governor along the rio

grande. the biden administration arguing the agency needs to access the area to be able to rescue and apprehend migrants. this comes as laura coates spoke to kamala harris where there were 20 million illegal border crossings alone. >> democrats and republicans have an unsustainable border what they're calling a crisis. why can't this be accomplished during this administration? >> well, so there's no question that our immigration system is broken, and so much so that we, as the first bill that we offered, after our inauguration was to fix the immigration system which included what we must do to create a pathway for citizenship and to put the resources that are needed into the border, but sadly, people on the other side of the aisle have been playing politics with this

issue. the solutions are at hand, and you know, gone are the days, sadly, where a president bush or john mccain understood that we should have a bipartisan approach to fixing this problem which is a longstanding problem. >> but what are those solutions? >> the solutions include putting resources at border to do what we can to process people effectively and being in place laws that actually allow for a meaningful pathway to citizenship. >> out front now the democratic mayor of denver mike johnston who is dealing with the influx of thousands of migrants bussed into his city by governor abbott. i appreciate your time. your city is the single largest recipient of immigrants per capita in the united states of america. you've had 37,000 of them, hundreds a day and that has added and this gives people watching the perspective, 5% to your city's population over the

past year. a 5% increase in the population because of migrants, illegal migrants coming over the border. can we try to get an understanding for people who live in the city, taxpayers, mayor johnson. how much is this costing your city? >> yeah, thanks for having me. the good news is we know how to manage this problem and we found ways to be successful with those 37,000 people and we managed to get most of them into jobs and into housing and into services. the challenge to do that right were resources. we have spent more than $40 million this year. we are on a path to spend about $180 million in 2024 which would be more than 10% of our city's budget. take that as unsustainable for our city to take on, and so we know that there is a solution here. the clear path is we need federal resources to help folks arrive and get integrated into the system and we need the ability to get access to work and get them into jobs and

support themselveses and pay for their own housing and not have to require taxpayer support and that's what we need to make this effort successful and federal resources. >> i mean, look, this is a really important conversation. 10% of your city's budget, by the way. i hope everyone heard that and it's very serious and significant. i understand, mayor, while you're saying work permits, right? you want them to be able to pay their own way so your other taxpayers don't have to do it. it makes complete sense that you want to do that. the reality is, of course, that when you do that people who are here illegally are less likely to leave, right? they are less likely to go through the process and we know that even if asylum seekers and the white house would say two-thirds of them would not qualify even under current rules for asylum. so what do you say to that, to the fact that migrants could see being -- getting these jobs as an incentive to those coming behind them illegally as, head

for denver. >> yeah. this is one of the reasons why we supported federal supplemental proposal that the president put out and we hope will be included in this bipartisan legislation and it looks like it will be introduced in the senate is that included resources at the border to adjudicate these asylum cases faster. someone arrives in denver and they file for asylum and their court date is for april 23 of the year 2029. it is a six-year wait for an asylum claim. if you could adjudicate that in 30 days or 60 days and we would know who has a valid a siel up claim and folks that don't have an a siel up than have them waiting for four, five, six years before finding out they can't stay. >> there's one thing that you're not equipped to do because it's not your job in any way, shape or form is are there national security threats of people being bussed into your city and that's

outside of the realm of what you do. i want to ask you in the context of the fact that there were a quarter million illegal border crossings in december alone and i understand almost 40,000 over the past months have come to denver. they're not all going to denver, but nonetheless, these are roll numbers, 10% of the your budget. under president obama, james clapper is worried about it. i asked him specifically, do you buy that this is a national security issue. here's what he said, mayor. >> i've gotten very concerned about it. there are chinese, russians and others so we traditionally thought about it as people coming from central america -- south and central america. well, it's much broader than that. so this is a serious national security concern. >> mayor johnston, does that concern you? do you share that worry? >> i mean, the great majority of folks that we see in denver are asylum seekers from venezuela. it's the woman who was a police officer when was asked to tear

gas people in her home country refused to do and they came to kill her in the middle of the night and she put two of her kids on her back and walked 3,000 miles to get here. school principals and engineers and commercial driver's license-certified individuals who are looking for jobs and want to help. i do know that there are lots of folks that are coming into lots of countries in central america and we're aware that that can be a risk and all the more reason to have more resources at the border to be able to process those folks seeking asylum and right now we don't have the capacity to do that. >> mayor johnston, i appreciate your time and having this conversation with you. thank you. >> thanks so much for having me. all right. everyone, i hope that you will stay up tonight to watch laura's interview with vice president harris in its entirety. it is tonight with laura coates live at 11:00. investigating trump as questions grow over their lavish

trips allegedly funded by taxpayer dollars. new video that we just got in of a massive fire near st. petersburg russia a drone flying miles s successfulully striking major r russian oioil facilityt.

new tonight, fulton county district attorney fani willis on the verge of facing another

investigation. a republican georgia state senator calling to establish a new committee focused on investigating willis. she and nathan wade who are the lead prosecutor in the case against trump facing allegations of misusing taxpayer funds while having an affair, money that was then allegedly used to pay for their lavish vacations together. this is in a series of developments that threaten to derail the case against trump. paula reid is out front. >> embattled fulton county district attorney fani willis will not have to testify in the divorce of nathan wade amid accusations the two engaged in a romantic relationship. >> we are seeking a deposition in the individual capacity as the alleged affair of my client's husband. ? the judge, planning to make more information public, but saying

wade should testify before willis is forced to. >> he would have first-hand knowledge of whether he's engaged in an extra marital affair. >> willis appointed wade in 2021 to oversee the sprawling election interference case against trump and his allies despite wade's sparse criminal law experience. he had been a prosecutor briefly, but mostly handled misdemeanors and never such a high-profile case. >> the defendants engaged in a criminal racketeering enterprise to overturn georgia's presidential election result. >> in 2020, prior to wade's appointment, willis discussed appropriate workplace relationships as she campaigned for office. >> i certainly will not be choosing people to date that work rnd me. let me just say that. >> one of trump's co-defendants mike roman is alleging in court papers that wade had an improper romantic relationship with

willis and used the money he billed the district attorney's office to take her on lavish vacations. >> d.a. lewis does not determine, no matter where it comes from. >> willis and wade have not directly addressed the allegations, but she has suggested they're being unfairly targeted. >> isn't it them who is playing the race card? >> willis' lawyer us sprooed evidence that wade earned more than $650,000 for his work on the case, more than other prosecutors in the office and several years ago he charged the fulton county d.a.'s office $250 per hour for 24 hours in the same day. >> credit card receipts revealed in wade's divorce show he purchased plane tickets to miami and then san francisco for him and willis while he was working for her. now a fulton county commissioner

is investigating whether willis misused county funds or accepted valuable gifts and personal benefits from wade. >> but these accusations don't make the underlying rico case go away. if willis is disqualified, a counsel of prosecutors will decide what to do with that case and it will likely go to another conte. i ierin, this is such a political gift for trump and he's tried so hard to paint every case against him as the product of a corrupt system and here you have what was the most feared kcase with some serious allegations. >> it is incredible and unexpected things that have now occurred. paula, thank you so much. income, i'm going to speak to a reporter who has spent more time with ukraine's president zelenskyy and his inner circle than anyone else and has new details to share with you on zelenskyy's thinking and vid why capturing the terrifying moment

a rorogue wave s slams into an americanan military y base swee pem m away.

into out front. a massive fire at a russian oil

terminal. it traveled nearly 1,000 miles undetected and successfully struck the facility near st. petersburg. we have more video that shows a russian tank erupting in a fireball after a ukrainian strike as the fight on the front lines continues. coming down, as kyiv says, they will not cede territory to end the warle. no sign of a negotiation. tonight we are learning about president zelenskyy's strategy from a book whose author had more access than any other reporter. simon shuster joins me, the author of "the show man." the product of so much reporting and time with him. you have got this video. ukrainian attacks on russian territory, it they send a drone in a thousand miles, successfully cause explosions in st. petersburg. you have had unprecedented access to zelenskyy as he has navigated this, made decisions, and you have seen the defense become much more brazen in terms of -- remember when it happened,

right? everyone thought, oh no, what will the response be from russia? now it's constant in russian territory. you have got insight into his thinking. what can you ctell us? >> they have been seeing decline in support from the united states, from the west, and they have been hedging, preparing a strategy of, first of all, ramping up their domestic weapons production. you know, these drones we are seeing, these are for the most part homemade. they are made in ukraine. they have ramped up their production of missiles and these long-range attack drones. and these are the things responsible for these very dramatic attacks that we are seeing and they point to the fact that if anyone in the west thinks that they can kind of come in and turn off the tap and force zelenskyy and the ukrainians to negotiate or end the war in 24 hours as donald trump suggested, you know, that's naive. the ukrainians are preparing

weaponry to continue the fight as long as they feel it's necessary. >> and so you also delve into an apparent rift -- sorry, started to see in the public realm. president zelenskyy and valery, the chief. they talked about the concept of there being a stalemate. some said he was misinterpreted. after that time, there has been a noticeable sidelining of him by zelenskyy, at least it appeared that way in the public eye. and you lay out in here some true simmering tension between those two who are really, i mean you can't have daylight between those two figures. >> it's crucial to understanding the way ukraine has prosecuted this war and the future of the war. that relationship. and i think that's something that i really tried to focus on in the book. one of the most important relationships that i cover and i sort of describe the evolution that began early in the invasion with an enormous amount of

admiration and respect on the part of president zelenskyy to him. but over time what you see is the president forming his own military priorities, getting more confident as a military commander and sometimes his priorities, his ideas what needed to happen didn't align with the general. so they began to have disagreements behind the scenes. one of the first times we really saw it break out was over this discussion, is there a stalemate at the front or not? >> and i spoke to president zelenskyy. it was interesting. it was his first outdoor television interview in odesa. he looked up and he talked about the birds, that he could hear birds, and see a blue sky. i don't know. for me it was profound, a realization of what his life is like driving around in a bl u bulletproof car when he is even outside. he talked about how he spent his moments alone, whether he sb exercises are not. here is part of the exchange.

>> what music do you like? >> oh, i like ac/dc. ukrainian music. of course, i like ukrainian music a lot because ukrainian, native language, eric clapton. a lot of guns n' roses. maybe it's too old music for -- >> i understand. we're the same. >> so you spent so much time with him. you have seen that. it was a moment of him being human in a way that any of us could, you know, respond to him. you talk at one point in the about those around him saying he looked like a walking corpse. what else did you see in him? >> yeah, the exhaustion was there. he saw it in the early days case of the invangs. they were working around the to clock and living in the boston underneath the presidential compound. he realized they needed ways to unwind. the book describes how their

lifestyle evolves. this clip about the music he likes me minds me of the movies they watch down there. lively debate about what movies to watch. president zelenskyy even though he grew up watching soviet comedies, refused to watch them. they watched new release frs hollywood much more than the soviet one. >> did he give any other examples? >> well, one of the movies they watched was 13 hours, which is an interesting one. it describes the siege of the compound american embassy in 2012, a situation somewhat similar to what they were experiencing. >> thank you so much. i hope everyone reads this book. based on your fantastic indefatigable reporting. next, wild footage of a rogue wave crashing into an american base. people were swept awayay. we wilill tell youou what happp.

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