call tomorrow with russian president vladimir putin as u.s. intelligence says russia is preparing to invade ukraine. at the same time, the president is imposing a diplomatic boycott on the 2022 winter olympics in beijing. also tonight, a cnn exclusive, we're learning that mark short, the former chief of staff to vice president mike pence is cooperating with the january 6th committee. and actor jussie smollett takes the witness stand in his own defense at his criminal trial where he is accused of staging a fake hate crime and lying to chicago police. i want to bring in cnn white house correspondent, john harwood and ambassador william taylor, the former u.s. ambassador to ukraine. john, the president facing enormous international challenges. in just hours biden will be on a call with the russian president vladimir putin, who right now is amissing russian troops on the ukraine border. the cia director saying that

russia could act in a sweeping way. how high are the stakes for tomorrow's call? >> they're huge, don, for the reason that you just outlined. that is the threat of a russian invasion is very high. they've prepositioned assets in order to carry that out, and that's something that the united states and its western allies very much don't want to happen. that's why they're talking about extremely severe economic sanctions including unplugging russia from the global financial system, which would be a very serious step to take, and you don't know how russia would react to that. but we've seen that it's very difficult given the fact that the united states is not prepared to commit troops to resist russian aggression in ukraine. it's very difficult to stop. george w. bush couldn't stop it. barack obama couldn't stop t donald trump didn't want to stop it, and by the way, that's part of the political backdrop of this call.

remember, russia assisted donald trump's campaign in 2016. donald trump then responded by trying to shield russia by suggesting maybe ukraine was responsible, and he also tried to pressure the ukrainian president who vladimir putin is now trying to destabilize to dig up dirt on joe biden. the president refused, and of course that resulted in president trump's impeachment. so a big political backdrop to the call in addition to the national security issues. >> it certainly is. you set it up well for us. ambassador, i want you to weigh in. the u.s. is weighing new sanctions against putin's inner circle if russia invades ukraine. how likely do you think it is that russia will invade, and how would you describe the threat level at this point, at this moment? >> so i'd say the threat level is very high because in answer to your first question, it's hard to say. no one can get inside to mr. putin's mind. he's invaded ukraine before. we know he can do it. he can make that decision.

my bet is he hasn't decided which way to go. he must know that a decision to invade will be very costly, not just in the way that john just described, that is the sanctions that could be -- that probably would be imposed on russia, but also just in terms of soldiers dying, russian soldiers dying. ukrainian military is much stronger now than it was seven years ago when russia first invaded. it is better equipped. it's better trained, it's got better weapons. we have provided lethal weapons to the ukrainians. so it will be bloody if he decides to do that. on the other hand, he sees ukraine kind of slipping out of his grasp, and it's only going in one direction. so time's not on his side. in answer to your first question, i'd say 50/50, and they need to be prepared.

>> interesting. john, the white house is confirming today that the biden administration will have a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 beijing winter olympics over china's human rights abuses, but athletes are still going to be going there. will this really pressure the chinese government and how do you think they're going to respond to this? >> not all that much. you know, it will create some bad publicity for the chinese, but it's not going to fundamentally disrupt the games in a significant way, and i think there's a reason for that. joe biden was in the senate when jimmy carter in 1980 decided to boycott the olympics in moscow over russia's invasion of aggression in afghanistan. that did not work out particularly well for jimmy carter. it became a bit of a political albatross, and i think joe biden's not interest instead that, so you heard jen psaki say we support u.s. athletes.

we're not going to wreck all their years of training. they take the step hof not sending diplomats. that gets noticed. it shines a spotlight on some of those human issues. the u.s. athletes raised those issues as well. i think this is a modest step. >> russia is building up to menace ukraine and china. china is acting more aggressive than ever towards taiwan. do leaders like putin believe that the u.s. is too caught up with domestic issues to step in, and are they right? >> i don't think they believe that the u.s. is diverted to only ndomestic issues. i do think, however, that the chinese are watching the united states' response to president putin's threat against ukraine. i think the chinese will be interested to see how strongly,

what kind of pressure the united states can put. what kind of costs the united states can impose on russia if they do invade because the chinese have this, as we know, have designs on taiwan, and if they see that the united states is trying to accommodate the russians, are trying to appease the russians, the chinese will take a lesson. >> ambassador, thank you. john, i appreciate it. so i want to turn now to cnn's exclusive reporting, the former chief of staff to the vice president, former vice president mike pence mark short is cooperating with the committee investigating january 6th, so joining me now cnn's legal analyst elie honig, and good to see both of you. you say that mark short could end up being a huge witness. he was in the capitol with pence on january 6th and at a key oval office meeting on january 4th where trump tried to convince pence to overturn the election results. what do you think short can tell

this committee? >> well, don, mark short and witnesses like him may be the committee's most realistic chance to get a firsthand full and truthful account of what was happening in those key days and meetings leading up to january 6th and what was happening on january 6th, what it was like to be side by side with mike pence when he was getting ushered out of the senate chamber as that mob attacked. so i think mark short is going to be a crucial witness here. the committee has put a lot of focus on its battles with bannon and jeffrey clark and soon probably michael flynn and roger stone, but let's be realistic here. those people are never going to testify fully and truthfully. it's going to have to fall to people like mark short to tell us the real story here. >> charlie short is a key figure working with the committee. there are so many others who are stone walling, exerting executive privilege or pleeadin the fifth. how important do you think this testimony will be in getting to the truth?

>> i think mark short's testimony will be extraordinarily important. what's most interesting is he seems to be a friendly witness. it also seems to be pretty evident that he's can go this wit -- doing this with the blessing of his boss and friend, mike pence. mark short was in the room in the white house and in the capitol, and of course working with the vice president to make sure that the election was, in fact, certified. i think there's a lot of information to be gotten from mark short. we're going to learn a lot from him and probably learn a lot about the president's state of mind and the actions of john eastman and others in the white house who came up with these crack pot legal theories to try to overturn the outcome of the election. >> more from jamie's reporting here, sources saying that the committee is getting significant cooperation from pence's team. is the committee taking advantage of a rift here? it's kind of similar to what charlie just answered.

>> exactly. that's exactly what i would do, looking at this from a prosecutorial angle or investigative angle. you have to look at really two questions. does the person have access, and when you look at mark short, he was literally in the room on key occasions. and then the second thing was what's the motivation here? clearly mark short and other people around mike pence, their loyalty is to mike pence, and it seems at least some of them, the loyalty is to telling the true story of what happened as opposed to the true die hard maga types who are going to go down in flames or do whatever they have to do to protect donald trump. so there's a key distinction there, and i think the committee is absolutely right to focus on that and try to get whatever information they can out of that rift. >> charlie, i almost called you mark, charlie. >> i got more hair. >> good one. >> do you think short would be cooperating if he didn't get the go ahead from pence? you said you think he's doing it with his blessing.

are you sure about that? >> i can't be completely sure, but i think mark short would do it anyway. i'm just looking at the politics of this situation. i think mike pence, you know, wants to secure his place in history as the guy who stood up and did the right things. >> at times, though, he's speaking up for the president. i'm very proud of what i did, you know, as the lean in and the pence voice, and then go on. >> that's true. i mean, look, yes, he was very obsequious to president trump up until this moment. and then he and mark short and a few of the other advisers, you know, they did the right thing when they had to. they pushed back, and i think they want to get the story out. i think it's pretty evident that mike pence may want to run for president at some point, whether he'll be successful or not, i have no idea. the good news is for him, he can put out a narrative, the truth from his perspective, and there's no better person to do that than a loyalist like mark short who is first loyal to the vice president, far more than to president trump. so i think this is really -- i

absolutely believe that short is doing this with the blessing of the vice president, whether the vice president will admit that or not, we'll probably never know. >> obsequious is the perfect word for pence's relationship with trump. that was actually a perfect definition or description there. listen, charlie, we know pence's aspirations, right, to run for president. most people just -- they want to be president, they want to be vice president, it's good, look at the current president now. a report that points the finger to trump and his allies something that he could be anticipating? >> yeah, rook, i think if you had to run against donald trump for president, especially if you're vice president pence, you have to draw a hard contrast, and i don't think anybody wants to be a mini trump, if they're running. they have to actually draw a hard contrast and say why they're different. and this is one case where the vice president was very different from the president. they were on completely opposite side of the election -- i think

this is a case where pence can show some difference and there's some daylight between trump and pence on this issue, so if i were like pence and i wanted to run, i'm going to need to find some separation issues. >> it's not just separation. don't you think if you're going to, you know, go after the king, you got to wound him pretty good because he's going to come after you, especially this character. >> well, that's what they say. if you're going to kill the king, you better kill the king, right? it's the old saying. >> as a metaphor, figuratively speaking. >> exactly. >> yeah, look, he's got to take it down: all these people running against donald trump in the previous elections in 2016, they really didn't try to lay a glove on him too much. they thought somehow he was going to implode. in a campaign you have to true a sharp contrast and explain why the other guy is unfit and why you are fit. there's no sugar coating this. >> i'll tell you what my prediction is for all of this, i'll tell you off camera. we'll put it in an envelope.

the committee is engaged in legal and political battles with people like steve bannon and jeffrey clark and may not get anything useful from them. can people like mark short provide enough information to get to real conclusions about who's responsible for that day. >> one of the realities of any complexion investigation, you're never going to get all the facts. i think the committee is right to take on the fights they've taken on and play hardball with steve bannon and jeffrey clark and mark meadows. they can't leet t these folks wriggle away and giver them nothing. you still have people in the key rooms at the key times, who have a sense of toduty, perhaps enou of a fear of being held in contempt, that they're going to do the right thing. we're not going to hear from donald trump. we're not going to hear from mike pence. we're probably not going to hear from john eastman, but the

fourth person in that room was mark short, and he can tell us, he can tell the committee what happened in that room. i do think you can get towards the truth here. >> all right, charlie, elie, thank you very much, sirs. see you soon. obviously from our previous conversation, the warning lights are blinking red for our democracy, and time is running out to make sure the next election is truly secure. if january 6th was a trial run, will they succeed next time? and he gets one-on-one coaching when he needs it. so ben is feeling pretty zen. that's the planning effect from fidelity >> man: what's my safelite story? my truck...is my livelihood. so when my windshield cracked... the experts at safelite autoglass came right to me... with service i could trust. right, girl? >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪

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is the truth. here's more tonight from cnn's sara murray. >> reporter: as donald trump toys with a 2024 run. >> i think if i decide to run, i'll get it very easily. >> reporter: his supporters who wrongly believe the 2020 presidential race were stolen are jockeys for positioning to play a more hands on role in the next election. in michigan, a microcosm of a strategy trump allies like steve bannon hope to deploy in battleground states nationwide. in 2020 wayne county, michigan, briefly spiralled into chaos as republicans on the bipartisan board of canvassers considered refusing to certify the county election results. they eventually did so. now those who made wild claims about 2020 are joining those boards in several michigan counties. like nancy tisio appointed to the mccomb board of canvassers this year. she tweeted that trump should use the insurrection act and delay the electoral college so military tribunals can be set up to investigate fraud claims, and

later urged trump not to concede. >> have you had any experience actually working an election as one of the election workers? >> no, but i actually did help a lot of them. >> reporter: election officials from both parties stood up to trump in 2020, but democracy advocates aren't con viovinced e election skeptics would do the same. >> what we're seeing is the use of out and out lies spreading across the country to change the way elections are run in this country. really, a global model for how elections should be run is now being undermined and in some cases hijacked. >> reporter: when trump hoped state legislatures would seat alternate electors, gop house and senate leaders in michigan refused to go along with the plan. now state representative matt mad dock, a trump acolyte who tried and failed to put forth alt alternate electors in 2020, wants to be the state's gop

leader. >> they're going to be sending a letter to vice president today telling them not to certify the michigan electors. >> reporter: after secretaries of state stood up to trump's effort to meddle in the vote, he's backing election deniers who said trump was the rightful winner in michigan. >> very excited to get president trump's endorsement, unable to talk to him, he's extremely supportive of me for secretary of state. >> reporter: the former president has endorsed backers of his false fraud claims running for secretary of state in two other key battlegrounds. after 18 republican attorney generals rallied behind a lawsuit to upend the 2020 election results, trump is backing matthew depar know for michigan attorney general. >> by extrapolation and based on other data we've seen from other parts of the state, we can say there was fraud throughout the state of michigan. >> reporter: for democrats running for re-election as secretary of state, it's a sign the challenges to democracy are far from over. >> everything we have overcome

this far was truly just the beginning, and it's not hyperbolic to look at 2020 as a prelude to a much bigger, much more significant challenge to our democracy that is looming ahead of us with the 2024 presidential election. >> they either didn't respond to cnn's calls for comment or declined to do an interview, and for these folks who are still running for elected office, a number of them are facing republican primaries. they're still going to face off against democrats in the general election. that's true of these candidates running in michigan, in a number of these other battleground states. >> thank you very much. i appreciate that. i want to turn now to cnn contributor and republican lex lawyer ben ginsburg. thank you for joining us. we heard in sarah my murray's s how experts are concerned they're just the rehearsals to steal the election in 2024. how real is this threat?

>> well, there are a lot of pieces that are going in place that means people should be on guard. that includes what sarah was reporting about about trump supporters trying to get into election official roles. who knows for what motive, though there's certainly a lot of speculation about that. and you've got the rules of the game being governed by something called the electoral count act, which is a big antiquated law which would just be a devil's workshop if it ever became outcome determinative in a presidential election. >> you know, ben, we are, as you said, there are things being put into place where we're seeing it all over the country, the republicans passing laws to restrict voting and putting themselves in position where they can tip the scales in their own favor. rejecting electors, appointing their own. i mean, it didn't work in 2020, barely, right? but my question is what happens

next? >> well, i think next time there's going to be a lot of attention paid to these issues that are being surfaced now, and what is true in every election is it's never quite what people think it's going to be three years out. so all these preparations for dealing with election officials in place for the wrong reasons, intimidation of existing election officials, changes to get state legislatures more power, providing accounting and casting to be done by pals instead of pros. all those things are really important. i do think things never turn out the same factually, and look at a couple of things that you know are going to be different. number one, democratic vice president, kamala harris is going to be chairing the senate, not somebody of donald trump or the republican party. there's no way to know at this stage who's going to have m

majorities after the 2024 election to be able to do similar shenanigans. if they're, in fact, are efforts in the states to tilt votes to overturn the popular vote, then that's a situation that is what people really do need to game out. but we've never had two really tight elections in a row in this country. >> listen, i want to get to what you wrote in the national review, but just real quickly, you know, many people are saying this is a break glass moment. you don't seem to be there or convinced that it is at this point. maybe heading in that direction. am i reading that right? >> well, i'm really worried. don't get me wrong. i wouldn't have written that column for the national review if i wasn't nor formed a legal defense network for election officials who are being threatened with prosecution. >> let me tell people what's up there and then let you continue. because this is your new article

about what congress can do to safeguard the 2024 election. so democracy is at stake, but go on, you were saying that you're really concerned, but go on. >> well, it's really concerning just because of all the different pieces that appear to be being put in place by trump forces and by republicans in the states. so that's really important. should it come down to a really close election or one that one side wants to make close because of what happened in the different states, it's all governed by something called the electoral count. that's what republicans on january 6th tried to put in place to help trump and failed this time, but that was a blueprint that trumpy folks did that ought to frighten both sides. again, you don't know the electoral situation in january of 2025. >> ben ginsburg has a great article in the national review

about what congress can do to safeguard the 2024 election. i suggest you pick it up. we thank you for joining us. >> thank you, sir, appreciate it. >> thanks, don. the prosecutor in charge says that the michigan school shooting was preventable, and she is not ruling out charges for school officials. plus, new york city implementing one of the strictest vaccine mandates in the country. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list event. we now find that 85% of individual investors are interested in sustainable investing. among millennials, the interest is even stronger. ♪ one of the big trends in sustainable investing is data,

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executing a search warrant at the home of the man who allegedly helped the parents of the oxford high school shooting suspect before they were arrested on saturday, police say they questioned the man extensively that he is being cooperative and has not been charged with a crime. 15-year-old ethan crumbley is charged with murdering four classmates at his high school. his parents charged with involuntary manslaughter: so i want to bring in law professor and expert on students' rights, katherine j. ross, who is also the author of "at right to lie: presidents, other liars and the first amendment." we're glad to have you, professor, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> let's walk through some red flags, november 29th, a teacher reports that crumbley was looking up ammunition on his phone in class. his mother was contacted, didn't respond. text messages show her telling her son, quote, lol, i'm not mad at you. you have to learn not to get caught. the school was concerned enough

to tell the parent. why did it stop there? they -- the first day there might not have been enough red flags in place, but within 24 hours, one of ethan's teachers saw a very disturbing page that he had doodled on, drawn on, and written on, and it included the words blood everywhere with an illustration of someone who appeared to have been shot at least twice kszed words help me messaging about being unable to control voices, and the teacher was appropriately very disturbed. we don't know publicly whether it was one teacher who was involved in both incidents or whether two teachers were sufficiently aware to flag this behavior. and so both times he was removed

from class and apparently brought to the guidance office. on the day of the shootings, there was much more to be concerned about because these drawings could be interpreted as a threat of violence directed toward the school and they already had the information that he was looking for bullets the day before. so now we have a context that should have been very alarming. the school officials have emphasized the superintendent said, well, he didn't have a disciplinary record, and that is a rather narrow view of how to assess context in an emerging situation because this is new knowledge about a student. >> so let me jump in here because we do know that it was two different teachers, okay? but the school held a meeting with his parents at this point, professor, and told them to get him into counseling within 48

hours. and then they let him back into clas class after his parents resisted taking him home. why let him back in class? >> that is, to me, the single most shocking aspect of this whole incident. first of all, they had 90 minutes to think about what to do. before the parents arrived. the parents had not been responsive the day before, didn't respond to voice messages about the incident about the ammunition. the participants refused to take him home and the school let the parents abdicate that responsibility. it isn't up to parents to decide whether their children remain in school or not or what penalties a school might impose. that is entirely in the school's discretion, and if the school were to suspend somebody wrongfully, the remedy is later

these parent can follow procedure or demand a lawsuit to demand that is taken off the student's record. the school should have said if you won't voluntarily take him home, we are suspending him. he has to leave the building. that was in their power to do. and you were correct to mention the fact, the very important fact that the school said he must be in counseling within 24 hours, and it wasn't a suggestion -- >> 48 hours it was. >> it was a demand and the school backed it up by saying if we don't know that he's in counseling within 48 hours, we're going to turn the family over to protective services. so it wasn't a casual request, and the thing that really troubles me the most is that it's clear that the school had reason to be concerned that ethan could be a danger to

himself or to others in the school building because that's the oenl only explanation why they said he has to go to counseling. >> before i let you go, the prosecutor said she's not ruling out charging anyone, including school officials. quickly, do you think they'll face charges? >> i would be surprised, and if they do, it would be probably unprecedented if not virtually unprecedented. i haven't been able to find any reported cases in which a school official was criminally charged after a skchool shooting. >> what kind of charges? >> it'd probably be a negligence charge, anything more than that they would have to show intent. i can't imagine a situation in which there would be intent, much less intent that could be proven. that would be -- >> you said it would be tough, right? you don't think they will.

>> very tough. >> yeah. >> well, the prosecutors might do it to make a point. >> yeah, we'll see. i think it would be more productive to focus on the lessons that school officials and parents can learn. >> right on, thank you, professor. >> thank you. >> appreciate your time. i enjoyed having you. thank you. covid cases are on the rise again, and new york city is enacting the most expansive vaccine mandate in the country to fight it. plus, former "empire" star jussie smollett taking the stand today defending himself. coaching when he needs it. so ben is feeling pretty zen. that's the planning effect from fidelity

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new york city is set to implement the most sweeping vaccination mandate in the country, and unease over the omicron variant and rising covid cases are prompting stricter testing laws for international travelers. cnn's jason carol has more now. >> reporter: new york city's mayor has made it official, anyone working in the city will be sunbject to a vaccine mandat. the mayor announcing all private sector employees must be vaccinated by december 27th. public city employees have been under a vaccine mandate since october. >> we got to up the ante here, we've got to encourage people even more get that second dose. that's what gifts you so much more protection. >> while some business organizations say they were caught off guard by the announcement, some medical

experts support the new minnesmandate. >> it is a smart public health move. we should set the right kp expectations about what the purpose of these vaccine mandates are. >> in addition, december 14th children in new york city ages 5 to 11 will be required to show proof of at least one shot before being allowed inside restaurants, gyms or entertainment venues. new nationwide restrictions are in place for international airline passengers arriving to the united states. those travelers must test negative for covid within 24 hours of departure. no test means passengers will be banned from their flight. until now, international travelers heading to the u.s. have three days before their flight to show a negative test. meanwhile, the omicron variant spreads quickly, although emerging evidence showing at this point it may not be as severe as the delta variant, which continues to drive a surge in hospitalizations in the u.s. >> we really got to be careful before we make any determine

nations that it is less severe or really doesn't cause any severe illness comparable to delta, but thus far, the signals are a bit encouraging regarding the severity. >> nationwide cases of coronavirus are rising. for the first time in two months, the u.s. this weekend averaged more than 100,000 new covid-19 cases per day. but an encouraging development on the booster front, a new unpublished study has found using the j&j vaccine as a booster for people initially immunized with the pfizer vaccine produced a strong immune response with patients. this comes as cdc data shows the pace of vaccinations is rising with an average of more than 2.2 million doses being administered daily. >> it's encouraging. we still have tens of millions of people who have chosen not to vaccinate themselves or their children in this country. >> jason carol, cnn, new york. defending himself, former

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the #1 toothpaste brand in america. crest. jussie smollett, the actor who is accused of lying to police about an alleged hate crime in 2019 testifying in his own defense today. at the time, smollett told police that two men had attacked him in the street, yelling racist anti-gay remarks, put a

noose around his neck and powered bleach on him. smollett has repeatedly denied staging the attack against himself. he is charged with six counts of disorderly conduct on suspicion of making false reports to police. joining me now with the very latest from the trial is cnn correspondent omar jimenez. omar, good evening to you. so smollett was on the stand today for hours, the prosecution pressing him under cross-examination under key details of his story. tell us about that, please. >> yeah, don, so the day ended during cross-examination. jussie smollett denied tampering with the noose around his neck after the attack in 2019 to make it look like a more serious lynching. however, he did tell jurors he took that noose off at one point, but put it back on before police got there, because he and his manager agreed that police should see the evidence he later said right after that it looked less like a noose once he had put it back on the second time.

smollett was also asked about why he didn't turn his cell phone over to police in the initial investigation after the alleged hate crime attack, and the prosecutor specifically pressed him, asking if it was because he was worried that it would show extensive communications with bolla and smollett said no, because at that point, bolla was not a factor in any sort of issue at the time, don. >> you know, it's really risky to put a defendant on the stand. why did the defense do that? and what were they trying to prove, omar? >> well, for one, they were trying to push back on some of the major points in the prosecution's case. for one, they went back, or smollett took jurors back to the car ride where the osendaro brothers where smollett first brought up this alleged scheme. and the defense asked him if that was what happened. smollett said no, all they did is drive around and smoke

blunts. when the defense attorney specifically pushed in and said at any point in time, did you talk to bolla about a hoax,he answered emphatically, no. smollett said he would do this routinely, drive around smoking, sometimes do it by himself with bolla, too many times to count were his words. and simply, after an alleged hate crime letter was sent to empire studios about a week prior, smollett said he was offered security but refused it. the reason that is important is the prosecution has argued one of his main motivators for allegedly staging this hate crime is because he believed empire wasn't taking the threats against him seriously. >> so smollett tried to -- he said that -- he testified i should say that he had the other brother to his trainer, am i correct? but he also asked to be his security guard. what point was he trying to make there? >> that's right. so this goes back to the point of when the alleged hate crime letter was received. and smollett testified that bolla had previously asked

smollett to be his security, so much so to the point that smollett thought it was a running joke, but that after this letter was received, those asks only intensified. and the reason that's important is because the defense has argued that one of the reasons that they believe the osendaro brothers carried out a real attack is because they were trying to intimidate him into hiring them, or at least bolla, for security. >> got it. so he also alleged a relationship with one of the brothers. how does that affect the case? >> well, that was something that came in contrast to what bolla osendaro testified. smollett said he had multiple sexual encounters with bolla, which bolla denied at previous testimony. but the reason that's important is because the defense has argued that one of the motivators for the osendaro brothers doing this, what they

say is a real hate crime attack isola, the brother being homophobic. that may have been one of the drivers of this. so that was really getting to the heart of that argument. smollett said he didn't tell police at the time because he had issues with weaponizing sexuality. but that, of course, in regards to the testimony in this trial was the real significant portion going to the defense theory. >> highways next in the trial, omar? >> well, we finished with closing, or we finished with cross-examination on this day, so that's where we're going to pick things back up in the morning. the judge had told jurors that he was 100% sure the case would be in their hands by tuesday, but now is saying that may get pushed into wednesday. and that came after an initial estimate of this being done in four to five days. yes now past that, don. >> all right, thank you, omar jimenez. we appreciate your reporting. and thank you for watching, everyone. our coverage continues.

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hey, good evening. we begin with breaking news and potentially a big break for the january 6th committee. cooperation of who could not be closer to rope then vice president pence into the president's election scheme. cnn special correspondent, jamie gangel, is part of the team that got this exclusive. she joins us now. so jamie, we're talking about the former chief of staff, who is marc short. what have you learned? >> we have learned that marc short, one of former vice president mike pence's closer advisers, his former chief of staff is cooperating with the january 6 committee. along with my colleagues ryan