away because of the dapgers around there. . >> really an amazing sight to see that unfold the way it is. be careful over there. good luck to the folks in hawaii. thanks for that report. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in t"the situation room". erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. trz. >> "outfront" next, breaking news. michael cohen's business partner agrees to a plea deal. going to cooperate with prosecutors. does this spell big trouble for cohen and the president of the united states? plus, more breaking news, the president's lawyers trying to put more restrictions on an interview with bob mueller. we've got a big, new demand tonight and reporters blocks from an epa event. one grabbed by her shoulders and shoved out of the building. is the trump administration taking its war on the press to a new level? and good evening, tonight, the breaking news.

michael cohen's long time business partner flips. according to the "new york times", the business partner is a russian immigrant who has been michael cohen's partner for years and has agreed to cooperate with a feds as a witness. this is a potentially explosive development at this hour because it add more pressure on cohen to flip. according to the times, michael cohen's business partners there, his nickname is the taxi king. we're talking about a possible 100-year prison sentence. he could avoid that, prosecutors in state and federal investigations. no saying what he or anyone else would reveal to avoid the fate of a 100-year prison sentence. the president's personal lawyer, friedman knows a whole lot. cohen's taxi cab business is under scrutiny by prosecutors and friedman, the king, 800

cabs. this is according to the new york attorney general. don't forget, cohen is under investigation. even though he has been charged, this all puts major heat on him tonight. raising the likelihood that he could flip on the other man on your screen, donald trump. a man he has protected and praised for more than a decade. >> i protect mr. trump. that's what it is. if there's an issue that relates to mr. trump is of concern to him, it's of course concern to me. and i will use my legal skills within which to protect mr. trump to the best of my ability. >> donald trump is in fact a great unifier. he's a man of great intellect, intuition and abilities. >> the president of the united states.

>> but as the feds turn up the heat on cohen, could he be singing a different tune? if he does, that could be trouble for trump. after all, they are very close. we're "outfront" live in washington and this could end up being significant. what are you learn iing about t plea deal tonight? >> cohen's long time business partner has reached an agreement where he'll plead guilty. he have indicted last year by a new york attorney general for evading $5 million in state taxes. he pled guilty today to one count for just $50,000 in taxes he did not pay. so that's quite a significant deal. under the terms of the agreement, he will not receive jail time. now friedman has been a business partner of michael cohen's for years an the new york prosecutors, the u.s. attorney's office in manhattan, he of

course raided cohen's home this year where one of the things they were looking for was information about cohen's taxi medallion business. so he will know how cohen operated. he's done business with him. helped him manage his fleet of taxis. he'll know how cohen's operated, the financial dealings. whatever he has is something authorities are likely to question him about. >> pretty significant. the reporting here. 100 years in prison and because of this plea deal, you're getting zero. wouldn't think prosecutors would give that deal to somebody unless they had something important. >> john dean joins me. along with former new jersey attorney general and cnn's senior political analyst, mark preston. ann, you're talking about a long time business partner of cohen. the taxi sing. he knows a lot of things about michael cohen. >> no question. he's going to be somebody who knows all the business dealings.

he'll know where the bodies are buried. so if cohen was engaged in criminal activity, he'll be able to talk the prosecutors through it. so critical. it's a critical thing for the government. >> and you know, to the point that ann's making, john dean, it sounds like look, you don't make deal like this with somebody when they could be facinge inin year sentence unless you think they have something that's not sending them to jail for. they think this guy has something on somebody. right? >> that's right. in fact, the key to me in the reporting was what the judge said to them the day when he was taking his plea. he said do you appreciate what your lawyer has done for you, what he's accomplished? taxi king said, yes, he did. what i read that to mean is that his lawyer showed he had a very strong proffer. he had information of interest to both state and federal

prosecutors. and that's the reason they cut the remark bable deal they did. >> i mean, because ann, he was facing four counts of criminal larceny. each a sentence of up to 25 years. and yet he pleads guilty to evading $50,000 in taxes and they say, okay. they know a lot b about what he can give up. they're not taking a risk. >> it's common with a cooperation agreement to take a lesser plea, but a big part of cooperation is knowing that person has information that's valuable to the government and verifying it. it's not uncommon to get a deal like that. what's essential that the government made sure. >> what does this mean for cohen tonight and and where he stands? he has not yet been charged but, he appears to be at the heart of this. >> not good news for cohen.

we should note what we saw happen today, michael cohen's name was not mentioned. that in fact, this deal is attached to whatever dealings michael cohen has done, whatever this gentleman can offer up on michael cohen. what i also think is vr important about this and why is that you have state and federal authorities who are working together on this. they're not fighting over turf and they've agreed this is the way forward. they're allowing him off scot-free even though he evaded the tax system in new york and if anyone understands tax system authorities, they don't like that. so they've got to think what's going to happen to them. >> not going speculate, but the simple point is it's something really big. >> yeah, tiananmen square to be significant to get a cooperation

adwreemt of this nature. and remember also that he worked closely with cohen for years so he'll have a lot of information on cohen and it may be related taxi business. also to other things. so we really can't speculate, but u we know he knows a lot. >> so john dean, what does this mean for michael cohen? and what comes next for him in terms of his discussions, whether he is going to use the word flip on somebody else? >> i'm sure he has been think ing about that. and tonight, this action, if he wasn't aware it's going happen, he is now and he's making some decisions talking to his family. and i wouldn't be surprised if he flips. i would probably go 70-30 that he'll flip. >> i go hire. obl because it seems to me that

anyone in that situation would. the nature of the situation the truth of it is the president's been consumed with the investigation. it's made him angry. we showed michael cohen, say i'll do anything for the president. you see them together all the time. they were close. but then the president did this interview on fox and really at the least distanced himself from cohen, but imagine if you'd been working for a guy for 2 year and this close to him then he says this b about you. let me just tell you, that michael is in business. really business man. apparently big businesses, i understand. i don't know his business, but this doesn't have to do with me. michael is a business man. he's got a business. he also practices law. >> mr. president, how much of your legal work was handled by michael cohen? >> as a percentage of my work, a tiny, tiny little fraction, but

my goal would represent me and represent me on some things. >> the president sure smelled something coming. >> he's probably right there was a small fraction of the work, but that little bit michael cohen did seeped as we were start tog learn to be b a lilt l bit out of the ordinary. >> stormy daniel on the list for those who don't remember. when he hears statements like that, he has to be concerned. and the only thing that would prevent him from flipping if federal charges were brought and trump was able to get a message to him, i will pardon you. >> thank you all very much. next, more breaking news. the president's legal team with the newest of demands for a

sit-down interview with bob mueller. what they don't want to talk about could be telling. you're not going to believe what they're trying to take off the table and prurp says his meeting with kim jong-un may not happen. will ripley is on the front lines about to go into the nuclear site and more breaking news out of hawaii. lava bombs sending toxic gas, high into the air. we're live by the volcano. ♪ ♪ raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens ♪ ♪ bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens ♪ ♪ brown paper packages tied up with strings ♪ ♪ these are a few of my favorite things ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ these are a few of my favorite things ♪ ♪ better than all the rest

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president trump's legal team wants actions since taking it off the table in a potential interview with bob mueller's team. and that's not it. they want to take any questions about obstruction of justice off the table. pretty stunning. evan perez is breaking this t news. what else are you learn iing? >> this is part of the negotiation that's been on going between the office and the big thing is they want to limit the scope of the questions that the special counsel can ask during this interview. they want to limit the amount of time this interview would take, but most of all, they say they would want to make sure these are questions that relate to action that is the president took before he took office. things that have to do with obstruction of justice would be off the table. things that have to do with any actions that the president took while in office. would also be off the table. even for the questions that have

to do with russian collusion, which is what they say this interview should be focused on. they say they want a narrow scope of questions. they want to limit what type of questions are going to be asked of the president. >> so all of that then i understand some of it they want to be able to submit in write ing, which means they could write b b who know ifs the president would have anything to do with it. >> that is one of the proposals they've made. in addition to doing a sit-down interview, having a take home test for the president. he can answer questions in writing. mueller has indicated he's not inclined to accept written questions. we don't know where this is going to go. the issue here is to try the make deal so that mueller doesn't have to revert to a -- i

think both sides want to make a deal sometime in the next few weeks and make sure this ve investigation can be wrapped up perhaps before we get to the midterm elections. >> all right. thank you very much. and "outfront" now, angus king of maine. senator, thanks for your time. i want to ask you b about this news that evan was reporting. and maybe some written questions which could be done by a lawyer and not the president. is this something mueller should ever agree to, senator? >> well, i'm really, erin, you're asking the wrong person. we're working on our own investigation and i've really tried to stay out of special counsel's mueller'slane.

this is a different matter. i don't want to dispoint you, but i think this is between the special counsel's office and the president's office and i understand the president's lawyer's wanting to narrow the scope, but i suspect the special counsel will want to broaden it and this is something as you're reporting just said, is going to have to be decided through negotiations or subpoena that will go for the next several months. so this news, about this restricting possibly of the interview, comes as the president has been ramping up his rhetoric over this confidential intelligence source. the spy in his campaign. but this source was used to obtain information during the campaign. again, he calls it a spy. here's the president. >> if they had spies in my campaign, that would be a disgrace. this would be one of the biggest insults that anyone's ever seen. and very illegal aside from everything else. if they had spies in my campaign, during my campaign for political purposes, that would be unprecedented in the history

of our country. >> and now, the white house is saying tonight that the chief of staff is going to brief lawmakers about the highly cl s classified information about this person. again, this is an intelligence source. the president using a word spy, which we are not using here at cnn. our reporting doesn't support it. the white house says no democrats have been invited to the meeting because sarah sanders said today, my understanding is they been the ones requesting the information. is that rationale okay as to why wyou and democrats would not be included? >> i think the it's always better to move in a bipartisan way. that's what we've done on our intelligence committee in senate. a much more effective way. i don't having a meeting like that to brief people about information if you're not going to brief everybody that has an interest in trying to revolve this problem. i think the problem with what the president is saying about the so-called spy is the fbi had

tips. they had information from the russians were trying to work through and be involved in mr. trump's campaign. it would be counterespionage malpractice for them not to follow up on the tips and were they in fact trying to be involved in an improper way with the russians who were trying to influence our election. the, if it were my campaign, i'd want to know that. i'd want to know if there was somebody b else had an improper relation with foreign adversary. so i think he's got this upside down, this wasn't anybody trying to spy on you know, what their debate prep was about. this was about whether the russians were, had infiltrated the campaign. >> but when you say we know the russians know they tried to infiltrate, today, the homeland security secretary was talking to manu and she said she was

unaware russia meddled with the purpose of helping the president. here she is. >> do you have any reason to doubt the intelligence committee when putin tried to meddle in this election to help president trump? >> i do thot believe that i've seen that conclusion. what i do -- the specific intent was to help president trump, i'm not aware of that. >> pretty shocking. because obviously, the report that manurk was quoting from was the national community intelligence assessment. been out for more than 16 months. on page two. zpl that. >> that's report our committee review viewed just last week. richard burr, the vice chair, mark warner, issued a statement saying we find that that report was absolutely done on good trade craft. good analysis and totally accurate. and so i don't know how she came to the conclusion a pretty big

part of that roort. >> trreport. >> central. as you point out, your committee on a bipartisan basis, the conclusion was the russia ben effort was sophisticated. and ordered by president putin himself for the purpose of helping donald trump and hurting hillary clinton. >> is it malpractice? does she not know that? because malpractice. or did she know and lie because she doesn't want the president to hear her admit it. what do you think it is? >> the only thing i can speculate is that perhaps she hasn't looked at the thing in a year or maybe never. this was a pretty important piece of f paper. came out in january of 2017. it was unequivocal in that conclusion and this is an important. here's one of the problems. the real story here is what the russias did. they tried to meddle in our election.

no question of it. they also attempted to help trump and -- has reached that conclusion. the problem is for the president and the administration to deny that is i think just making it more difficult for the american people. the collusion. there was no collusion and my campaign was involved, but that would be helpful to the country because we're never going b to be able to protect ourselves unless they realize what was done to them. >> on some level, he appears it was on some level to even acknowledge that. next, president trump says his meeting with kim jong-un may not happen. this as north korea says reporters can come to the nuclear site and see it disma

dismantle led. wait until you hear about what they have to do to get there. this is out of a spy novel and will ripley is inside north korea "outfront" tonight. and the epa. blocking reporters. shoving a reporter. says a reporter. grabbed, pushed out of the room. what does the white house have to say about it? >> i'm not going to weigh into random hypotheticals that may or may not exist. that skills like teamwork, attention to detail, and customer service are critical to business success. like the ones we teach here, every day. it's abor it isn't. ence in 30,000 precision parts. and customer service are critical to business success. it's inspected by mercedes-benz factory-trained technicians. or it isn't. it's backed by an unlimited mileage warranty, or it isn't. for those who never settle, it's either mercedes-benz certified pre-owned, or it isn't. the mercedes-benz certified pre-owned sales event.

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so a very b substantial chance won't. doesn't mean it won't work out over a period of time ch may not work out for june 12th. >> pretty significant there. emphasized the word substantial. it comes as journalists are en route to what you're looking at there. mcnorth korea's main test site. the first time foreign reporters have visited the secret site. will ripley is "outfront" and he'll be going to the site. i mean, will, that's pretty incredible you're heading there. the president of the united states today as you're getting ready to go there to the site, you know, comes out and speaks. how are those comments received or going to be received in north korea this morning? >> when we arrived, this is the uncertainty here is palpable. the fact that the north koreans don't really like what they're their seeing and hearing out of

the united states and south korea and given what president trump has just said, it's really uncertain, a, if they want to go through with the summit, but b, if our trip to the nuclear site is uls going take place. we don't know when we're leaving, how long we're going to be there. it's a 20-hour journey to go inside the mountain if we end up going. >> if you end up going, but foreign journalists have never been there before and you're going to be, if you go there, the one with the front row seat. when we talk about denucle denuclearizing, this is what it's going to come down to. on what you might see in the next day or so. you are the one with a seat that could determine what actually happens here. >> it's noteworthy there are no experts, no international experts that are part of our group. initially, it was thought they might be flying in, but it is simply fewer than two dozen of

us journalists with untrained eyes and our cameras be trained at this site. we don't though how much time we're going to be there. satellite images have shown there's a post being set up for us. so after we travel 11 hours by train, four hours by bus and another hour long hike to get to the site, ooel see we'll see what happens. >> an hour long hike then observe. you don't know what you're going to see, but supposedly, some sort of denuclearization, whatever that term may mean? >> yeah. we are expegting the implosion of some of the tunnels including the tunnel where north korea conducted their sixth test last year that triggered a 6.3 earthquake and also to see them take apart some of the buildings. they say they're going to shut off the area in the mountains of north korea. it should be really extraordinary image as. we're going to be out of phone communication, but when we come back, we'll show you and the world what we saw.

>> it is going to be something the whole world is going to be waiting for. thank you so very much and good luck on that journey. now, former senior adviser to the national security adviser during the obama administration and michael anton, who stepped down as spokesman for president trump's national security council. sam, let me start with you. this is pretty stunning, what will's reporting. they don't, thai on their way. maybe they're going to get there. maybe not. you're going to go out of communication for days. then end wup awe hour train ride, four hour drive, one-hour hike. it sounds crazy. >> it does. and this is literally a show for the cameras. pretty telling that kim jong-un is letting in journalists and not letting in weapons inspectors. it's clear this is not a move towards denuclearization. this is a pr move by kim jong-un and to be clear, he has said

he's shutting it down -- he's having a celebration. i don't need this thing anymore so i'm going to shut it down. notspectors verify what i'm doing. i'm going to use this this boost my aimage around the world? what does this say b about kim and his claim? when these images are going to be all american intelligence gets? >> first of all, we haven't even had the meeting yet and when we do have the meeting f we do, whole lot of other sites to be b shut down. all of that will be covered. i wouldn't expect the most successful meeting to go into all of this. this is going to take months and years. this is a publicity stunt, but if the process is going to move forward, get the sanctions

lifted, and he starts to get the things he wants, he's goeng to have to let inspectors in, not zwrous th just to this site. >> you're right. we saw with iran, not willing to fully go there. we'll see what happen, but sam, here's the thing. the president of the united states coming out today and saying substantial doesn't happen and gets moved. he's trying to move the goal post. kim jong-un was the first one to threaten that. but it's clear president trump wants this and he wants it badly. here are some of the flattering things he's been saying or offing to kim jong-un just in recent weeks. here he is. >> i will guarantee his safety. yes. we will guarantee his safety and we've talked about that from the beginning. he will be safe. he will be happy. i'm willing to do a lot and he's willing to i think do a lot. he'll get protections that will be very strong. i want to thank kim jong-un, who

really was excellent to these three incredible people. >> kim jong-un was, he has been open and very honorable from everything we're seeing. >> honorable, safe and happy. not the adjectives i think anybody else in the world would use to describe kim jong-un, but i think this is a sign this was a rushed job and to michael's point, of course there are other nuclear sites we're going to have to look at shutting down. >> we don't know where their sights are. >> we need to inventory their sites. >> what we're seeing is the president play good cop. talk about trade and investment. exactly why we should figure out a stlat rategy for getting kim

the table. it's like we're playing catch up now. >> michael, do you have the president of the united states meet with the north korean leader before you accomplish all these things or after to shake hands? >> you can look, there's no way you can accomplish all of these things. before the meeting, we're talking about years of -- need to be in the mood to give up all of this stuff in advance. you're only going to get them to do this through meeting with them and talking with them and working out a schedule of inspections, of all of it. so and remember, they're the ones that asked for this meeting. the united states did not ask for the meeting. i think probably -- calling into questi question. >> there is one thing that's already out. that's a coin to commemorate the summit. i know you can laugh and say how cig b cant. here it is, it's trump and jim

jongen. it says president trump and the supreme leader kim. not president kim not a term we use this this country. associated was asked, i have to play your response. >> in terms of the coins, this is not something that the white house has anything to do with. we don't have any input on the design, the manufacturer, the process in any capacity. this is a standard procedure by the white house communications agency which has made up of korean military officials. >> all right, this is the white house communications agency. it has white house as part of its title. can she seriously punt this? >> sure, look, this tradition sprung up of make iing these ths called challenge coins. individual units make them. they're privately funded, made, designed. i just, i think you know, this is a something that military units do all the time to commemorate events. their unit.

this the agency would play a key role. i swrus -- i have those coins, we all do. but none the less, white house communications agency, we're talking about kim jong-un as a leader. >> i agree. i like these coins. i have a lot of them. i think it's great we want to commemorate something if it happens, but let's try to keep them to ourselves. john kelly talked to our white house communication's agent i about the timing and what it says. >> sprum leader. seems a bit much. >> thank you much. next, the epa physically blocking removing reporters from scott pruitt today. we're going talk to one of the reporters barred from the event and a playboy model mistress. dealings with convicted pedophi pedophile.

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new tonight, access denied. blocking cnn from attending a speech given by scott pruitt, the chief of the epa today. they were told there wasn't enough room, but that wasn't true. inside, they show there was space for more cameras in the back. one camera you see a whole flotilla of them.

the ap reporter wasn't just turned away. here's her response. >> you approve of how that was handled and why you're speaking to the press office? >> we'll look into the matter. i know epa has put out a statement at this point i'd refer you the them as we look into the incident. i don't have a lot of visibility since we weren't there. >> is there a situation in which you feel the white house feels it's appropriate to physically touch or handle -- >> i'm not going weigh into random hypotheticals that may or may not exist. i don't know any information about this specific incident. >> it wasn't a random hypothetical, it had happen and it did today. renee, you arrived at the event. you were there representing cnn. you were also told to that.

you can't attend, then what happened? >> that's right. it's worth noting this was an event about harmful chemicals in drinking water. cnn was there to cover it. cnn didn't learn b about it from the learned about it from a subscription service. so a cnn photographer arrived nearly two hours early. he was told he was not invited and he had to leave. that ap reporter was on her way in. and just about five minutes later, our photographer says that all he saw was the doors at the epa swing open, an arm of the security guard shoving the reporter out of the door. forceful enough that she was having trouble keeping up with her steps. that reporter told her crew that she told security she wanted to speak to the press office about why she couldn't go. myself and my producer, we tried to enter through a different

do door. we were told we were not allowed to be there because we were not invited. i want to get in the epa telling us in a statement this was an issue of capacity. however, you point out there that there were vacant seats. >> vacant seats and of course, you weren't invited. others were. it's a pattern. this isn't the first time the epa has had an incident with the press like this. right? >> right. so today's incident it fits into a pattern of scott pruitt trying to avoid journalist's questions and a lack of transparency at the e p pa. it's something that reporters covering this agency, they're essentially aware of. but when we got documents from internal communications within the agency, it essentially confirms what reporters know. which is when they plan logistics for these events, they

plan it in such a way to avoid scott peruruitt having to answe any questions from reporters and you know, really becomes an issue of trying to cover these events and trying cover policy because you don't get access to the information. >> all right. thank you very much. and i want to go to the white house correspondent for playboy. brian, you were there in the briefing room today when sarah sanders face questions. wouldn't say this was wrong if it happened. >> they'll guarantee the safety of north korea, but not of report ners the united states in an event before a member of this government.

i'm going give the white house the benefit of the u tout. i swrus think they don't get it and i think that the problem, i went back. you have to come out and say, i think they believe, any way, they've told me on a number of occasions because i've had hands laid on me at the white house and so has jim acosta and so has other reporters and they say look, that wasn't right, we're sorry. it shouldn't have happened. but they don't come out publicly and say look, this is not acceptable. that's because the president of the united states has already declared us the enemy of the people and fake media, so it plays into thiz narrative to rough up reporters. the simple fact of the matter,

this guy, pruitt, he is he is the head to have epa. he should be open to the public, but he's one of the most corrupt people on the planet and needs to be held accountable. >> thank you very much for your time. i appreciate it. >> you're welcome. next, growing questions about trump, ally elliot brodie. new details about how he reportedly profited, we're talking about a billion dollars in contracts. all by access to the president. and breaking news hawaii tonight. these are the lava bombs exploding out of the volcano. more toxic gas exploding tonight. ♪ ♪ ♪ raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens ♪ ♪ bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens ♪ ♪ brown paper packages tied up with strings ♪ ♪ these are a few of my favorite things ♪ ♪ ♪

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and after trump won, serious money started rolling into his pockets, via his business consulting firm in virginia. hundreds of millions in contracts, most from the middle east and some from the pentagon, too. according to reports by the associated press and the daily beast. so what's wrong with that? >> we want to thank you and saudi arabia. but hundreds of billions of investment sent to the united states and jobs, jobs, jobs. >> reporter: other reports have said the fund-raiser broady held out access to trump as the prize for customers for his private business, all while the ap says e-mails show he was lobbying the president, pushing policies favorable to the saudis, the united arab emirates and more. his attorney denies he did so on behalf of any foreign governments and this picture of his business partner with trump, which would bolster their claim

of close ties, was taken after he gave $189,000 to the republican party. never mind that nader once pled guilty in a child pornography case or called jared kushner the clown prince. it's all very complicated and messy, and his lawyer says it's also all wrong. telling cnn the ap story is based on false and fabricated documents. as i informed ap, their inaccurate reporting is also based on false and misleading statements. >> we are going to drain the swamp. >> reporter: still, it's bad optics in the wake of trump's pledge to wipe out murky back room deals in washington. throw in the fact that broidy was a client of michael cohen, it gets even sloppier.

broidy once pled guilts for illegal gifts in exchange for a $250 million contract. it's his partner, george nader, who seems to have caught the attention of the special counsel. he's been cooperating since january. >> tom, thank you very much. nader, the one with the pedophilia conviction, who was in a photo with the president. next, new concerns in hawaii. these are live pictures, the erupting volcano. it's now rocketing lava bombs into the air, striking homes. it's absolute confidence in 30,000 precision parts. or it isn't. it's inspected by mercedes-benz factory-trained technicians. or it isn't. it's backed by an unlimited mileage warranty, or it isn't. for those who never settle, it's either mercedes-benz certified pre-owned,

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land. >> reporter: right. and if you see the force with which they're forced out of the earth, erin, you would know you have to steer clear. there's one place not far from here, you can see them launched out of these holes in the earth several hundred feet into the air. that's just one concern. that is somewhat localized. that is one of the very few people that has been hurt in this disaster happening here from the kilauea eruption. now, what we do know is at 3:45 local time in the morning, there was an eruption of esche frash kilauea sending that into the sky at 8,000 feet. it causes difficulty in breathing, and that is one thing they're worried about. the other is the very active lava that is flowing out of the earth, out of these fissures. and some have come back to life. we've seen one of those fissures

rolling their lava down toward the ocean floor. so all of that is what they're dealing with here, as well as those toxic gases in the air. so it's a very tenuous situation here. >> thank you very much. just incredible to see that over your shoulder. thanks so much for that report. thanks to all of you. anderson starts now. good evening. two big breaking stories tonight. one on narrowing the questions robert mueller can ask the president, and the other deepening legal quick sand for michael cohen. one of his business partners, the man known as the taxi plea, copping a plea, agreeing to help prosecutors, which means talking to team mueller potentially. evgeni freeman was accused of failing to pay more than $5 million in taxes and faced four counts of criminal tax fraud and