the following is a cnn special report.

♪ winston churchill once said of rush yashgs sia, it is a rid wrapped in a mystery. winston churchill, meet have lat mere putin. >> he is really very much the leader. >> he's done an mazing job. so smart. >> he's a kgb agent by definition. he doesn't have a soul. >> he is a thug and murderer and killer. >> he's the richest man in the world. >> hundreds of billions of dollars. >> what does he want from donald trump? >> putin is going to eat him like a sandwich. >> he'd rather have a puppet as president. >> you're a puppet. >> just how powerful is he? >> putin has authority.

>> i don't see checks on his power. >> so powerful, he apparently tried to rig the american election. >> of course putin wanted hillary clinton to lose. he despised hillary clinton. >> putin is not a friend to democracy. he is a crook. >> after the strange summit between vladimir putin and donald trump in helsinki, americans are asking what did putin get and what more does he want? and is he really the most powerful man in the world? december 5th, 1989. it was a cold night in east germany. and it would change the course of putin's life.

the berlin wall had just fallen. all over east germany, angry crowds roam the streets, lashing out at symbols of communist rule. that night in dresden, they found a target. the local kgb headquarters. a mob surrounded the building as the hour grew later, the crowd brew larger. inside peering through the curtains is a young kgb lieutenant colonel named have lat mere putin. >> he was terrified they were going to storm the building. >> putin was a junior officer. but the boss was away. he was in charge. the berlin wall had come down.

and he called for instructions. >> desperate for help, putin dialed kgb headquarters in moscow. over and over again. finally, one official told him simply, moscow is silent. >> i think it felt like a deep betrayal to him. >> putin was on his own. he went down into the boulz of the building and fired up the furnace. >> he finds himself in the basement at a furnace shoveling documents as he hears demonstrations out on the street. >> they are burning the secret files and the furnace is blowing up. >> putin torched thousands of pages of kgb documents and secrets as the crowd closed in.

with the fire still raging, putin went outside and faced the mob. by himself. there are armed gourds inside, he told them. they will shoot you. >> and he's able to bluff his way out of it and tell the crowd, don't try it here. you're going to get hurt. >> putin's threat worked. the mob dispersed. >> this is the drama that stays with putin all the time. the fear of popular uprising. >> vladimir putin quells that fear with absolute control. this is what control looks like.

in one of the world's busiest cities, the streets are empty for putin's motorcade. 12 million people simply disappear on putin's inauguration day. [ speaking russian ] >> in may, putin assumed the presidency of russia for the fourth time. he won the way he always does, overwhelmingly. putin's chief opponent was otherwise occupied. opposition leader alexei navaldi was arrested while leading protests against the russian president. most of this was not seen on national television.

>> for 94% of russians, the main sorgs of ne source of news is television. if it didn't happen on television, it didn't happen. >> putin controls television. >> there is absolutely no critical words about have lavla p putin on the airwaves. f >> i don't see any checks on his power. [ speaking russian ] >> he is able to make singular rapid decisions, the absolutism there is unlike anything i've seen in russia. all that power has been propped up by an astonishing approval rating. at times it reached over 80%. and that's according to american

pollsters. >> donald trump wins the presidency. >> but when the united states elected a new president, it looked like russia had fallen for a new leader. [ speaking russian ] >> there were toasted all over moscow. at the parliament known as the duma. on talk shows. and at bars. ♪ we are the champions of the world ♪ >> but one man seemed utterly unsurprised by trump's victory. >> he's happy to take credit. and that means that he won the u.s. election. the man who is simultaneously president of russia and in

charge of the united states. >> at the heart of all this are some deadly serious questions. does have lavladimir putin have over donald trump? we simply don't know. one reality is crystal clear, american intelligence has established that putin interfered with our election in order to help donald trump. mr. putin did not agree to answer questions about this but his closest aides did. >> the answer is very simple, no. you're humiliating yourselves saying that a country can intervene in your election process. america, huge country, country, the most powerful country in the world, simply impossible. >> we will get at the truth of all this but to do that, we need

to go back to the final days of the country vladimir putin loved. >> i think that down deep in putin there is this sense of extraordinary humiliation over the collapse of the soviet union. because it wasn't just the soviet union, it was the russian empire. >> putin returned home from his kgb posting in 1990 to a country he did not recognize. >> the ussr had had been transformed by gorbachev and his policy of openness known as glasnos. >> a lot of things happen very quickly. >> a romance with things

western. [ speaking russian ] >> freedom came fast and exposed the rock at the heart of the soviet communism. across the soviet union, hundreds of thousands of people gand began demanding democracy and national independence. it was once again what putin feared most. the people rising up. and finally, the people won. >> tonight in moscow at the kremlin, the red flag of the failed soviet union last came down and the flag of russia rose. >> 300 years of history erased. >> soviet institutions like the kgb simply ceased to exist. >> putin views the breakup of the soviet union as he said

himself to be the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th century. >> it whats a traumatic time and it sparked a profound change in vladimir putin. he became a politician, deputy mayor in his hometown of st. petersburg. it was not a big job but putin clearly had big dreams. [ speaking russian ] >> he commissioned this rarely seen documentary about himself presenting vladimir putin the credits read in power. weirdly, the soundtrack is from the broadway show "cats." the ambitious putin may have already been looking towards moscow because the russian

people were desperate for strong leadership. under president boris yeltsin, the new democracy was a mess. >> the entire soviet system, it just collapsed. >> the oligarchs, the men who profited on the spoils of communism, became fantastically rich. >> mercedes benz is selling more of the top line cars in russia than in all of the rest of europe. >> but ordinary russians were sinking into desperate poverty. there were dire food shortages, even starvation. >> translator: i don't know how to feed my kids without milk. i just don't know what we're going to do. >> president boris yeltsin was in charge. but he seemed increasingly

unstable. ♪ >> his drinking -- barely being propped up. >> russians began calling for a new leader. >> they were tired of the embarrassments of yeltsin. >> waiting in the wings was putin. he had taken a job in moscow in the kremlin hierarchy and risen through the ranks with lightning speed. >> kremlin superstar. >> he had just become acting prime minister when it became blindingly clear that country needed a new president. >> so when yeltsin was ready to topple over, they settled on putin because they knew the yeltsin could retire and not be put in jail. >> boris yeltsin was notoriously corrupt. but kremlin powerbrokers wanted to protect him. >> the deal was made.

deal was made. >> december 31st, 1999. >> surprise announcement from boris yeltsin. he is resigning as president and turning over power to his prime minister, vladimir putin. >> in the very first moments of the 21st century, vladimir putin became president of russia. his first words -- we live in a competitive world and we are not among its leaders. and right away, putin began to change his country. he joined soldiers on the front lines of the war in chechnya. he reassured russians that better times were ahead. >> translator: i think we'll get paid and we'll have work. >> the country quickly fell in

love with vladimir putin. ♪ the number one song in russia was called "a man like putin." >> he's just very -- he's a beautiful man, you see. >> but the biggest surprise -- america also loved vladimir putin. president george w. bush thought he found a kinward spirit. >> i looked the man in the eye. i found him to be very straight forward and trustworthy. i was able to get a sense of his soul. ♪ >> even hollywood fell for the

new russian president. ♪ >> he bonded with stars at a charity dinner. ♪ but the honeymoon would soon come to a crashing halt. >> he was a kgb agent. by definition, he descent have a soul. >> so glad to see you. >> next, when vladimir met hillary. >> it's important to remember how much he despised hillary clinton. come away with me barnabas! but i am a simple farmer. my life is here... [telephone ring] ahoy-hoy. alexander graham bell here... no, no, my number is one, you must want two!

two, i say!! like my father before... [telephone ring] like my father before... ahoy-hoy! as long as people talk too loudly on the phone, you can count on geico saving folks money. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. of america, we use diagnostic tools that help us better understand what drives each person's cancer. like christine bray. after battling ovarian cancer for several years, her test results revealed a drug therapy that targeted her tumor. today, christine's metastatic cancer is in remission. we're not just fighting cancer. we're outsmarting it. visit cancercenter.com. appointments available now. this ijust listen.

(vo) there's so much we want to show her. we needed a car that would last long enough to see it all. (avo) subaru outback. 98% are still on the road after 10 years. come on mom, let's go! (avo) right now, get 0% apr financing on the 2018 subaru outback. ron! soh really? going on at schwab. thank you clients? well jd power did just rank them highest in investor satisfaction with full service brokerage firms...again. and online equity trades are only $4.95...

i mean you can't have low cost and be full service. it's impossible. it's like having your cake and eating it too. ask your broker if they offer award-winning full service and low costs. how am i going to explain this? if you don't like their answer, ask again at schwab. schwab, a modern approach to wealth management.

i'm a small business, but i have... big dreams... and big plans. so how do i make the efforts of 8 employees... feel like 50? how can i share new plans virtually? how can i download an e-file? virtual tours? zip-file? really big files? in seconds, not minutes... just like that. like everything... the answer is simple. i'll do what i've always done... dream more, dream faster, and above all... now, i'll dream gig. now more businesses, in more places, can afford to dream gig. comcast, building america's largest gig-speed network.

at the heart of the hacking scandal that rocked the 2016 presidential election -- >> ladies and gentlemen -- >> was an old grudge. >> my mother, my hero, and our next president, hillary clinton. ♪ this is my fight song >> it went beyond ideology. it was personal. ♪ this is my fight song vladimir putin was not a fan of

hillary clinton. >> of course putin wanted hillary clinton to lose. he hated hillary clinton. >> prime minister, we had a lot of problems. >> the tension between the leaders had been brewing for years. in 2001, another american leader george w. bush vouched for putin. >> i was able to get a sense of his soul. >> thank you. thank you. >> but on the campaign trail in 2008, hillary had a different take. >> i could have told him he was a kgb agent by definition he doesn't have a soul. this is a waste of time, right? [ speaking russian ] >> translator: mrs. clinton said you as a former kgb agent by definition can have no soul. >> putin's reply, statesmen shouldn't be guarded by their hearts. they should use their heads. putin had a lot of tough words for putin over the years.

>> he's a very air ganlt person to deal with. >> very to stand up to his bullying. >> he is somebody who will take as much as he possibly can. >> but it was what happened in 2011 that marked a point of no return. it began with the arab spring protests early that year. the kind of popular uprising that putin dreaded. >> he begins to see himself through the eyes of hosni mubarak. >> mubarak of egypt was facing prosecution. syria'sal assad was on the ropes. muammar kadavy met a particularly gruesome fate. brutally killed after begging for his life. putin may have feared the same bloody fate for himself.

just a few weeks later, rebellion arrived in russia. tens of thousands rallied in the streets of moscow. the biggest protests there since the fall of the soviet union. >> people are hanging off lamp posts and hanging in the streets. really shocking. >> putin is living the same nightmare they endoured as a kg officer in 1989. he was prime minister. having handed the presidency over his to his associate medvedev. >> as the winter went longer and longer and got colder and colder, the protests got bigger

and bigger. >> as putin saw people turning against him, hillary clinton weighed in. >> the russian people like people everywhere deserve the right to have their voices heard and their votes counted. >> when putin hears something like that, i imagine he hears bush talking about saddam hussein. he hears that as they're coming for me. >> there he goes! >> they're trying to drag me from power. what the hell do you know about my people and whether they deserve to have their voices heard. i'll tell you if they should have their voices heard. >> russians had a lot of reasons to be angry. [ speaking russian ] >> that fall it was announced that putin would run for president again for a third time. that meant he could potentially rule russia until 2024.

>> some people said oh, my god. i'm going to die with this guy in power. >> a few months later -- the elections for russia's parliament were a farce. >> we do have serious concerns about the conduct of the elections. >> hillary clinton called out the election rating. i don't think she didn't know how badly that was going to go down. >> with his back against the wall, putin turned the tables. he blamed the protests an hillary clinton. claiming she was the one who insighti incited them. >> dl are growing restrictions on the exercise of fundamental

rights. >> she send a signal, that were his words. >> putin's strategy propelled him to victory. in march 2012, he won re-election handedly. fighting back tears after a tense fight to maintain his power. [ speaking russian ] >> he may have won the day -- but vladimir putin never forgot about the woman who had kicked him when he was down. >> do you think he resolved you interfeared with my elections, two can play this game? >> i think that's the line of thinking that led him to the

intervention beginning as early as 2015. >> putin personally ordered a massive influence campaign to sway the 2016 election towards trump according to the cia, the fbi, and the nsa. why? in part because he holds a grudge against clinton for her actions in 2011. the alleged operation was sophisticated and multifaceted. an army of internet trolls, bank rolled by millions of dollars launched attacks against clinton on social media including ads in key swing states. >> they're smart enough to know that social media is the way to touch americans personally. >> 13 russians have been indicted by special counsel robert mueller in connection to the operation. and elite hackers linked to russian intelligence pillage the e-mails of the democratic national committee and the clinton campaign releasing

embarrassing information with devastating results. >> wikileaks released a new batch -- >> another round of stolen e-mails -- >> the clinton campaign knows this -- >> the latest leak -- >> dream come true. >> several more russians were indicted for that operation. donald trump was delighted by clinton's misfortunes. russia, if you're listening, i hope you're able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing. >> donald trump p become the 45th president of the united states defeating -- >> in the end, america's election went putin's way. >> i just received a call from secretary clinton. >> hillary clinton was negative about our country and our attitude. >> it wouldn't be bad. >> and to the contrary, the other candidates say that donald trump has to find some understanding. >> when people like me, i like

them. even putin. >> who do you like better? >> this is not the outcome we wanted. >> hillary clinton suffered one of the most shocking defeats in american history. >> i know how disappointed you feel because i feel it too. >> at least in part because of the alleged hacking operation. >> this is painful and it will be for a long time. >> putin had apparently avenged his old grudge. >> so help me god. >> congratulations, mr. president. >> and he may have achieved even more. >> the 45th president of the united states. >> if donald trump is in some way kpricompromise, that's a ve serious thing. >> i don't suggest for a second that we have the answer to this question. but we can't just let this

matter drop. >> up next, a prominent russian opposition figure has been shot and killed -- >> four shots hit him in the back. >> right in the open. just blocks from the kremlin. >> the story of have lavladimir want the world to forget. ♪ (daniel jacob) for every hour that you're idling in your car, you're sending about half a gallon of gasoline up in the air. that amounts to about 10 pounds of carbon dioxide every week (malo hutson) growth is good, but when it starts impacting our quality of air and quality of life, that's a problem. so forward-thinking cities like sacramento are investing in streets that are smarter and greener. the solution was right under our feet. asphalt. to be more precise, intelligent asphalt. by embedding sensors into the pavement, as well as installing cameras on traffic lights,

we will be able to analyze the flow of traffic. then that data runs across our network, and we use it to optimize the timing of lights, so that travel times are shorter. who knew asphalt could help save the environment? ♪ the doctor just for a shot. with neulasta onpro patients get their day back... to be with family, or just to sleep in. strong chemo can put you at risk of serious infection. in a key study neulasta reduced the risk of infection from 17% to 1%, a 94% decrease. neulasta onpro is designed to deliver neulasta the day after chemo and is used by most patients today. neulasta is for certain cancer patients receiving strong chemotherapy. do not take neulasta if you're allergic to it or neupogen (filgrastim). an incomplete dose could increase infection risk. ruptured spleen, sometimes fatal as well as serious lung problems, allergic reactions,

kidney injuries and capillary leak syndrome have occurred. report abdominal or shoulder tip pain, trouble breathing or allergic reactions to your doctor right away. in patients with sickle cell disorders, serious, sometimes fatal crises can occur. the most common side effect is bone and muscle ache. ask your doctor about neulasta onpro. pay no more than $5 per dose with copay card.

february 27th, 2015. nearly midnight. a man and woman walk across the bridge. right next to the kremlin. all the cameras but amazingly, this grainy far away video is the only footage that exists of

a critical moment in recent russian history. inside of circle of a moscow tv station reports to be nemsov and his girlfriend. he was a well known russian opposition leader who led the protests in 2011. the station says that while this snow plow hides the two from cameras view, nemsov was killed, shot four times in the back. a prominent russian figure has been shot and killed. >> four of the shots him him in the back. >> right out in the open, just blocks from the kremlin. >> so who murdered boris nemsov? >> putin condemned the killing calling it shameful. and five chechens were found guilty in connection with the murder. but many doubts remain. >> the assassination was extremely professional.

>> russian born journalist says that only one group could be that professional. >> nemsov's girlfriend didn't realize he had been shot until the car was already driving off. it was quick and professional. and nobody has that kind of training outside the government. >> in 2016, senator john mccain took it one step further. >> vladimir putin is a thug and murderer and killer and a kgb agent. he had boris nemsov murdered in the shadow of the kremlin. >> this special insult. this is lousy behavior from a politician. >> that is putin's top aide and spokesman. >> it's nonsense. it's nonsense. there is nothing to comment on. >> over the course of putin's time in power, his regime has been accused of involvement in the deaths of many of the critics including the journalist and the former kgb agent.

some russia experts say there are dozens more like them. and then there are those who live to tell. the man seen in this surveillance footage at a uk convenience store is sergei skripal, a ex-russian spy. he moved here to salisburiening glanld eight years ago after being repoliced from prison in moscow where he was convicted of selling secrets to britain's mi 6. in march xripal and his daughter julia were found unconscious on a shopping center bench in salisbury. police concluded that the pair had been poisoned with a military grade nerve agent and while both managed to survive, u.k. authorities place the blame squarely on one person. >> it is tragic that president

putin has chosen to act in this way. >> putin shot back calling the accusations complete dribble and rubbish. pro kremlin tv went even further blaming the former double agent himself. [ speaking russian ] >> back to that night on the bridge, the allegation that's putin might have played a role in boris nemsov's murder may stem in part from the evidence that nemsov had been accumulating against president putin. >> he was about to reveal information that would prove russia's involvement in the conflict in ukraine. >> that ukraine report was released a few months after nemsov's murder. but there was an earlier nemsov report published in 2012 that

also was embarrassing for putin. it claimed he had 43 planes, 15 helicopters and four yachts at his disposal including one super yacht. then there are the palaces. nemsov's report says that there were 20 presidential palaces available to putin at any time. one of the palaces known in the press simply as putin's palace, was set to be worth $1 billion. >> this is not true. this is actually perverted commanding reality. >> putin's spokesman says every world leader, especially the leader of a nuclear power like russia or the united states has access to state owned homes and planes and helicopters that are safe and have secure communications. >> of course he uses this vehicles, this plane, this residences but it's not his property. the rumors about his wealth, the

rumors about the palaces has nothing to do with reality. it's just lies. >> the rumors of putin's wealth, well, some of them are simply stagger. >> some people including myself believe that he's the richest man in the world or one of the richest men in the world. >> bill braddo was the largest foreign investor in rush yachlt now he's one of putin's toughest critics. we talked to him in 2015. >> you really think putin is the richest man in the world? >> i really think that. and i'm not just saying that crazily. >> can you estimate the net worth? >> $200 billion. >> really? >> i believe that it's $200 billion. >> that would make putin wealthier than the man who forbes says is the world's wealthiest, jeff bezos. >> all the rumors of acquisitions of billions of dollars of his fortune this is not true. don't believe in that.

he's got nothing. he's got what he rides in his personal financial declaration every year. >> putin's most recent financial declaration says that he personally owns less than half an acre of land, rough live 900 square foot apartment and a 200 square foot garage into which maybe he puts the vehicles listed in that document. two vintage russian sedans, a russian four by four and a trailer like this one. former top u.s. treasury official adam zubin talked to the bbc. >> i'm not in a position to give you figures. but what i can say is that he's supposedly draws a state salary of something like $110,000 a year. that is not an accurate statement of the man's wealth. >> we may not know exactly how much putin is worth but we do know this.

putin is remarkably popular in russia. why? we'll tell you when we come back.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

the most powerful man in the world is also the most popular. >> vladimir putin's approval rating soared as high as 86% in recent years. consider that american presidents are happy when they break the 50% mark. ♪ >> how has he done it? partly it's the cult of putin. he has mastered the art of the manly photo-op. he rides horse back bare chested, finds ainge enlt treasures underwater, he rides a submarine to the bottom of the sea, he fights flames. >> ridiculous about a middle age world leader riding around shirtless on a horse like konan the barbarian after a dozen donuts. who thinks this looks good?

>> everything that we find ridiculous about vladimir putin is very appealing in a media universe that he controls absolutely everything. >> perhaps the foundation of the putin juggernaut is a truism no mat wrer you liv matter where you live, it's the economy, stupid. >> after the chaotic years of yeltsin, putin stepped in and stabilized the country. and he rode the wave of ever rising oil prices which in russia's resource rich economy translated into rising wages and soaring stock indices. then in late 2014, the party stopped. oil prices slumped and soon after came western economic sanctions. putin has navigated hard times well. he has slashed social spending, implemented an austerity program, allowed the ruble to fall and central bank kept

inflation in check. putin is a fiscal conservative. >> the outward seeming aspect of wealth looks closer to dubai than it does to mass he could 30 years ago. just an amazing transformation. >> add to the economics putin's nationalism. and it surged in 2014 after an invasion that shocked the world. >> bigger nations must not be allowed to bully the small. >> vladimir putin grabbed a piece of ukraine for russia. the west was horrified. >> that's what adolf hitler did in the 1930s. we thought those days were gone. >> but it all looked very different through russian eyes. >> i have never met a russian who accepted the notion of ukraine as a totally separate state. >> of course, many ukrainians deeply resented the invasion. but not russians.

they see it as a revival of a deep sense of power and national destiny. >> putin has given them their pride back. russia is once again a great power. >> all -- he has a proven way to rally supporters. putinism is an ideology, social conservatism, anti-westernism, but above all, national power. putin might say he has made russia great again. sound familiar? >> we will make america great again! >> usa! usa! >> like putin, trump has used nationalism to boost his support. but many believe that donald

trump is no vladimir putin. >> putin is a much more practiced, subtle, cunning, player. he's playing in poker terms a couple of deuces at the highest level. he has reasserted russia on the world stage, from a position of relative weakness like nobody i can think of. that's an amazing feat of geopolitics. a bulb of light?!? aha ha ha! a flying machine? impossible! a personal' computer?! ha! smart neighborhoods running on a microgrid. a stadium powered with solar. a hospital that doesn't lose power. amazing. i like it. never gonna happen.

i'm a small business, but i have... big dreams... and big plans. so how do i make the efforts of 8 employees... feel like 50? how can i share new plans virtually? how can i download an e-file? virtual tours? zip-file? really big files? in seconds, not minutes... just like that. like everything... the answer is simple. i'll do what i've always done... dream more, dream faster, and above all... now, i'll dream gig. now more businesses, in more places, can afford to dream gig. comcast, building america's largest gig-speed network.

finally, here are my thoughts on he whom we have called the most powerful man in the world. first, let me explain the title. the united states and china for that matter are more powerful countries than russia, of course, but the power of a head of state is determined both by the country's strength and the capacity he or she has to exercise that power. unilaterally, unconstrained by other institutions, parties or political forces. and combining those two metrics, it is easy to see why vladimir putin rises to the top. he's created what he calls a vertical of power unlike any we have seen in other great nations. as the russian chess grandmaster

garry kasparov noted, the entire structure of russian political power now rests on one man. when the czar died, after all, you knew the process by which a successor, his son, would be elevated. when the general secretary of the soviet communist party died, the standing committee in the politburo would select his successor. when putin dies, i almost said if, what will happen? no one knows. to understand putin you have to understand russia. the last 100 years for that country have seen revolution, war, communism, collapse. and then comes vladimir putin, who ushers in almost two decades of stability and popular perception, rising standards of living and increasing prominence in the world.

russians have immense national pride. russia is, after all, the largest country on the planet. 48 times larger than germany. it encompasses 11 time zones and straddles europe, asia and the middle east. it craves a prominent place on the world stage. after the strange summit in helsinki, putin seems to have accomplished that, and much more. after the summit, donald trump ga gave perhaps the most embarrassing performance i've seen from an american president. >> i should have said, i don't see why it wouldn't be russia, sort of a double negative. >> but what has been obscured by this disastrous performance, is

the other strain in donald trump's russia narrative. >> wouldn't it be a great thing for us to get along with russia? >> he's not alone. barack obama and hillary clinton both embraced warmer relations with russia. it was one of many efforts for conciliati conciliation. but every one failed. it's time to recognize that russia is not seeking to integrate itself into the international order, it seeks to destabilize it. putin understands the vulnerabilities of free societies, their discord and gaping openness. he understands the fragility of

the european union and nato. in other words, vladimir putin understands us very well. the question is, do we? does donald trump really understand him? ♪ it could be a big flipping deal for the president. john berman here in for anderson. the man who for decades kept donald trump's books, ran his charity, even signed his tax returns, is now cooperating with federal authorities in the michael cohen investigation. there may be no human being on earth who knows more about the president's finances and he's been talking to the feds. let that sink in because you know president trump has. that's obviously major news. even as we're reporting our thoughts are with senator mccain and his family. today they announced he has decided to discontinue medical treatment for brain cancer.