a warm welcome to our virs in viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm max foster this london. just ahead -- >> as an american, i was disgusted. it was unpatriotic, it was unamerican. we were watching the capitol building get defaced over a lie. >> he is now in legal jeopardy i think of a different order than he was say 24 hours ago. >> history will be very kind to the cassidy hutchinsons, those

that hide behind phony claims of privilege or hide because they feel that they can get away with it i think will be damned by history. we're ready to face threats of russian aggression because quite frankly, there is no choice. >> in light of the log progress the progress we've together, we support them joining nato. >> pretty big win for president biden saying the enlargement of that i to is exactly the opposite of what president putin wanted to see. we begin with a remarkable string of revelations in washington. the committee investigating the january 6 riots has presented new damning testimony offering crucial details about president trump's actions in the lead up to and during the attack on the

capitol. cassidy hutchinson, a former aide to mark meadows gave her account of the conversations inside the trump white house that day describing just how much trump and his aides knew about the riots and what trump did or didn't do to stop the violence unfolding that day. ryan nobles has the key moments of her testimony from capitol hill. >> reporter: from the moment she was sworn in -- >> do you swear or affirm -- >> reporter: cassidy hutchinson, former aide to mark meadows, made it clear that she had up to share. >> that evening was the first moment that i remember feeling scared and nervous for what could happen on january 6. >> reporter: providing unique insight into a chaotic white house in the days leading up to january 6 and a president who cheered on the rioters and she said was told desperately wanted to be with them.

>> the president something to the effect of i'm the fing president, take me up to the capitol now. the president reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. mr. engel grabbed his arm, said, sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel, we're going back to the west wing, we're not going to the capitol. mr. trump then used his free hand to lunge towards bobby engel. >> reporter: she detailed trump's insistence that he follow his supporters to the capitol on january 6 despite being told repeatedly it was dangerous and potentially illegal. >> mr. cipollone said something to the effect of please make sure that we didn't go up to the capitol, cassidy, keep in touch with me, we'll be charged with every crime imaginable if we make that movement happen. we had conversations about potentially obstructing justice or defrauding the electoral count. >> reporter: she outlined

repeated examples of an unstable commander in chief who lashed out in anger often after losing the 2020 election like when he learned that attorney general william barr told the associated press there was no widespread voter fraud. >> there was ketchup dripping down the wall and shattered plate on the floor. the valet articulated that the president was extremely angry at the attorney general's a.p. interview and had thrown his lunch against the wall. >> reporter: sitting just doors away from the oval office, hutchinson was central to key moments leading up to january 6. meadows himself warned her. >> things might get real, real bad on january 6. >> reporter: she also made it clear white house officials knew about the vast array of weapons the crowd was carrying. >> i've got three men walking down the street with ar-15s. >> reporter: including trump who said in a tent at the rally

site -- >> i overheard the president say something to the effect of i don't fing care that they have weapons. they are not here to hurt me. take the fing bags away, let my people in, they can march the capitol from here. >> we'll walk down and i'll be there with you, we'll walk down to the capitol. >> reporter: hutchinson said that she was also in contact with republican leaders like house minority leader kevin mccarthy who warned her that trump should not come to the capitol. >> he said, well, he just said it on stage, cassidy, figure it out. don't come up here. >> reporter: as the crowd was raging, hutchinson testified that trump was cheering them on, agreeing with the chance to, quote, hang mike pence. >> mark responded something to the effect of you've heard it, pat, he thinks he deserves it, he doesn't think that they are doing anything wrong. >> reporter: and recounted pat cipollone's reaction. >> people will die and the blood will be on your fing hands.

>> reporter: day after the violence, white house counsel urged him to condemn the vie otters. >> we need to condemn this otherwise it will be your legacy. they are already talking about the 25th 5e78d. >> reporter: trump wanted to float the idea of pardons for those who broke into the capitol. something he did not ultimately do. and according to hutchinson, many others including meadows and giuliani sought pardons from trump, a once loyal republican committed to trump and his mission, hutchinson now says -- >> i remember feeling frustrated, disappointed, really -- it felt personal. it was really sad. as an american, i was disgusted. it was unpatriotic. it was unamerican. we were watching the capitol

building get defaced over a lie. >> reporter: and the secret service is refuting aspects of hutchinson's testimony, they say that incident that she talked about involving the former president inside the presidential limo on january 6 is not exactly how she portrays it. they say their agents are willing to testify under oath to the committee about their experience. they say it didn't happen that way and they also say that they never told hutchinson that story. meanwhile the committee is standing by their witness. a source tells me on background that she was willing to stand up and testify under oath, but they are also willing to hear from anyone who has information that would help with their investigation. ryan nobles, cnn, capitol hill. trump perhaps unsurprisingly claims he hardly knows hutchinson. he has often attempted to distance himself with former aides and allies who once were close but later turned against

him. his response came after the committee showed this rendering to show how close she was to the oval office. other aides and advisers to the former president tell cnn that they were stunned by hutchinson's bombshell testimony. >> a number of them said that they were taken aback by the description hutchinson offered of the outbursts by the former president, specifically when he learned on january 6 that he could not go to the u.s. capitol and when he first heard about the interview that attorney general bill barr gave confirming that there was no widespread fraud in the 2020 election. now, of course these are trump aides and advisers who have been witness to his temper themselves at times, but one adviser told me that this could certainly cut against the image that lot of trump supporters have of the former president and that is as somebody who was always this control. >> the republican vice chair of the house select committee says that the investigation has uncovered evidence of potential witness tampering by people in

trump's orbit. liz cheney did not provide any names but said that witnesses have described being contacted by trump allies attempting to influence their testimony. meanwhile house democrat adam schiff says he hopes hutchinson's testimony will give others the courage to speak out. >> it is amazing that here we are more than a year and a half since these icevents and things are coming to light for the first time. very serious and very damning evidence is coming to the forefront. it is because of courageous people like cassidy hutchinson, it does beg the question why other in the white house in more senior positions like pat cipollone are not willing to do the patriotic and courageous thing that some of those working in less senior positions have been willing to do. it is a pattern frankly we've seen repeated over time. john bolden refusing to testify even though several of his sub

ordinary subordinates were willing to testify. >> meanwhile the house investigators are one step closer to obtaining call logs from this man, john eastman. the right wing lawyer who led efforts to persuade states to overturn trump's election loss has dropped his legal challenge to a house subpoena. investigators are seeking three months of his call log data, but not the contents of those calls. eastman is one of many with ties to the former president who has been tangled up with the house committee over legal issues. be sure to stick around later this hour, we'll have much more on the january 6 investigation including how former national security adviser michael flynn pleaded the fifth even perhaps to obvious questions. nato leaders have been arriving for a critical summit in spain. today's talks will kick off soon and the russian war in ukraine

is expected to dominate the agenda. here is a live look. during the summit nato allies are expected to agree on an aid package for ukraine, they will also agree on a new strategic concept outlining nato's strategies for the decades ahead. allies are expected to frame russia as the most significant threats to their security. also expected to bolster defenses in the east and put more than 300,000 troops on high alert. it all comes as the alliance appears poised for a significant expansion on tuesday. turkey agreed to support both finland and sweden's nato bids clearing the way for them to join the alliance. and the secretary-general saying the decision shows the alliance open door policy has been an historic success. cnn is covering the story from every angel. atika shubert is in turkey, clare sebastian is here in london. and kevin liptak and natasha bertran are live in madrid.

kevin, let's start with you. obviously biden the big name at these events because america provides so much of the support to nato. what does he want to get out of the next day or two? >> reporter: well, president biden is trying to shore up support among nato allies at this summit and the summit that he's just come from in germany, the g7. of course the west has sent billions of dollars in aid and security assistance to ukraine, they have dumped tons of sanctions on russia, but the momentum in that war still appears to be in russia's favor. so as western leaders worry about fatigue, as they worry that this alliance could be fracturing, president biden really wants to show resolve in strengthening nato's force posture along the eastern flank. yesterday he announced that the u.s. would send two new destroyers to the naval station in spain, that brings the total number to six. and he is expected to announce a number of additional force posture adjustments in europe

today. he says it will be by land, sea and air. and his national security adviser jake sullivan said yesterday that the new forces would be more robust, more effective, more combat credible, more capable and more determined. the leaders are coming into the summit with the wind at their back after that agreement by turkey to drop its objections to finland and sweden joining the defense bloc. that all came after months of sort of back and forth between the sides. president biden did speak with the turkish president erdogan yesterday morning to talk about these negotiations. and what he told him was that if this deal could be struck before the summit began, it was possible for the two men to hold a formal bilateral meeting on the margins of the summit and they will do that today later this afternoon. so certainly a lot to talk about for the men there. one other interesting item on the president's agenda today, he will be meeting with two leaders that you wouldn't necessarily

expect to see at a nato summit, the prime minister of japan and president of south korea, that is an important discussion set to center on the issues surrounding north korea. so the president really trying to show up to the summit today, reinforce america's presence in europe, talk about readjusting the force posture, really showing these allies that he remains committed to keeping this alliance together as the war in ukraine grinds on, as gas prices rise, as costs of the work continue. president biden really wants to show resolve in the coming months as the war continues. >> kevin in madrid, thank you. atika shubert, president erdogan gets his face time with president biden. that is a big thing at a big event like this. is that what he was looking for, to get through this impasse within nato, looking for that status on the nato stage? >> reporter: i think he's

looking for more than just face time. he is looking to upgrade and purchase a number of f-16 jets from the u.s. and certainly his one-on-one bilateral meeting today will be an opportunity for him to press his case with president biden. but so far it really has been a diplomatic win for president erdogan. going in, turkey said it wasn't in any rush to approve finland and sweden joining nato. but in the end yesterday you saw this memorandum being signed with both sweden and finland saying that -- promising to address turkey's security concerns. and this is really the big sticking point for president erdogan. sweden and finland in this memorandum promised that they would not support the kurdish people's protection unit, the ypg, and that it would view the pkk, the kurdish workers party, as a prescribed terrorist organization. that brings them in line not only with turkey's thinking but also the u.s. and eu.

so diplomatically speaking, that is a big win for erdogan. in addition, he also got them to agree that there would be no arms embargoes between the countries and there would be a mechanism set up for intelligence sharing particularly on issues of kurdish resistance. and, you know, there was quite a lot of diplomacy that went into this. i think what is very interesting about this memorandum, it clears the way for sweden and finland to join nato. turkey gets a lot out of this by addressing its concerns on did your kiurdish resistance groups. but the language is vague enough that it can be interpreted differently by different countries. but it shows that even though there are differences between members, particularly turkey and other members, there are still ways that nato remains united. >> and natasha, for europe, this means that nato gets two smaller but sophisticated militaries,

but also effectively double the length of the land border between europe and russia. >> reporter: that's right, max. effectively what nato has decided here according to jens stoltenberg, not only are they expanding the size of nato's borders but also dramatically expanding the number of forces that will be on high alert in case anything were to happen, in case russia were to accidentally enter nato air space for example in case an attack were to occur on nato territory. increasing that force posture which in itself was pretty historic, so underscoring the extent to which nato and european allies feel extremely vulnerable in the face of this russian aggression and the possibility that really anything could happen here. but i have to tell you just from speaking to sources around the summit earlier today, there is a

lot of optimism here about how historic this meeting will actually be. not only because of tfinland an sweden, but also just the level of cohesion and unity that they feel exists right now among the allies. and they feel --i >> natasha, i just need to point out that president biden has arrived there in madrid. and we might listen into see if we can hear from him. >> every inch of nato territory. article 5 is sacrosacrosanct. and so at this summit, we'll welcome finland and sweden, historic application for membership. and their decision to move away from neutrality and tradition of neutrality to join nato alliance

will make us stronger and more security and nato stronger. we're sending an unmistakable message in my view and i think yours as well that nato is strong, united and the steps we're taking during this summit will further augment our collective strength. to that send tend today i'm anng we'll enhance our force posture in europe and strengthening our collective security. earlier this year we surged 20,000 additional forces to europe to bolster our alliance in response to russia's aggressive move, bringing to 100,000. we'll continue to adjust our posture based on the threat and close consultation with our allies. here in spain, we'll work to increase u.s. navy destroyers stations in spain at the naval base from four to six.

four to six. in poland, we'll establish a permanent headquarters u.s. fifth army corps and strengthen our interoperability to cross the entire eastern plank. we'll have 3,000 fighters and 2,000 personnel combat team here in europe headquartered in romania. and we'll enhance our rotational deployments in the baltic states. and we'll send two additional f-35 squadrons to the uk and station additional air defense and other capabilities in germany and italy. together with our allies, we'll make sure that nato is ready to meet the threats in all directions across every domain. land, air and sea.

putin has shattered peace in europe and attacked the very tenants of rule based order. the united states and our allies will step up. we're stepping up. we're proving that nato is more needed now than it ever has been. and it is as important as it ever has been. so i want to thank jens for leading this alliance and your work for all the challenges that lie ahead. and i look forward to our discussions today. thank you. >> thank you so much, president biden. it is really good to see you here in madrid so soon after we met in the white house in washington. and thank you for your personal leadership and the u.s. commitment to nato in skirt. demonstrated by the announcements you just made to further increase u.s. presence in europe. it demonstrates the strength and

the trans-atlantic bond and we also see that in the unwavering support from you and the united states to ukraine. that will be a main issue of the summit today. we'll meet with president zelenskyy, he will address the summit. and as you said, this will be an historic summit, it will be a transform receive summit where we'll make decisions that will actually change this alliance for many years to come. we will agree to the blueprint to include the more competitive role. we will agree that u.s. of course a big part of that. and then we'll invite finland and sweden to join nato. and that demonstrates that nato's door is open. it demonstrates that president putin has not succeeded in closing nato's door. he is getting the opposite of

what he wants. he wants less nato and president putin is getting more nato by finland and sweden joining our alliance. we'll agree on an assistance package for ukraine. and then i also welcome the fact that we are able now to state that european allies and canada are stepping up with more troops and also increase defense spending. they added $350 billion for extra defense. and so all in all, this will be on the security and strength of our alliance. >> i was asked about finland and sweden when your leadership came to the white house. and i said putin is looking for the finlandization of europe and he will get the natoization.

that is exactly what needs to be done to get the secure of europe and i think it is necessary. looking forward to our discussions. >> thank you, guys. >> so an historic and transformative summit according to jens stoltenberg there receiving the american president there at madrid. this key summit of heads of state for nato members. you heard president biden there describing how nato is needed now more than ever because of the threat as they say from russia and therefore the u.s. and its allies are stepping up so america putting more personnel, more equipment in europe including some additional air squadrons here in the uk. and he said that it is all about getting ready to meet the

threats across land, sea and air a . and also speaking there, natasha, which is interesting to note, of the neutrality that finland and sweden have effectively given up because they are concerned about the threat from russia, therefore they are taking nato's side by joining nato as opposed to just being a partner to various different organizations around the world. >> reporter: exactly right, max. and this is something that u.s. and western officials have sought to emphasize the last several months, the idea that russia's invasion in that sense really backfired here. it only expanded nato's borders even further. before the war broke out, finland and sweden were not even considering joining the alliance, it was not something that had popular support in each country and sweden even remained a bit skeptical up until the very end there. but the war really kind of changed everything. and on february 24th, that is the date according to finnish

officials that they in finland really understood that there is no other choice here but to join this defensive alliance. so in that sense what u.s. officials have sought to drive home here is that this russian invasion has only created more cohesion and unity among the allies and more desire by other countries to join the alliance than ever before. they have said repeatedly that the open door policy that play toe nato has is more important than ever. ukraine of course wants to join and they have been strung along for several years now and they see no hope really that they will ever join the alliance. but for nato, they see this as a big win and they are considering of course as jens stoltenberg just said, comprehensive security package to provide to ukraine that is not something that we've heard before. of course the bilateral arrangements between certain nato member states and ukraine have continued in terms of shipments of weapons. but in terms of a nato-wide

strategic package, that is something that they hope to agree on at the summit. but ultimately this is a big victory for the u.s. especially given that biden played such a strong role in getting sweden and finland to agree to join nato. he was personally making phone calls months ago to try to lobby them to change their minds here. so ultimately they are very optimistic about this and they hope that the world and particularly russia will see that they see russia now as one of their main threats and that the nato alliance is not going to back down either from defending ukraine or importantly defending their own territory. >> let's bring in clare sebastian and her russian expertise. you look at this from a western point of view, perhaps it looks like a massive defensive operation bringing in all this military sport upport and the language there from president biden. but moscow, it will be seen as a threat. >> reporter: exactly. in fact the words president putin used in his february 24th speech sort of announcing that

what he calls a special military operation in ukraine is that nato expansion is a fundamental threat to russia. so these words won't be looked on kindly in moscow. and they are not leaving them unanswered. the kremlin saying tuesday that the minister of defense is working out plans to strengthen russia's western borders in view of nato's expansion. it should be noted though what president putin is actually doing at the moment as leaders are meeting in madrid and president biden is trying to shore up that trans-atlantic alliance, president putin is trying to shore up his own regional alliance. tuesday he was meeting with leaders talking about the importance of the selective security treaty organization which is a collection of about six post soviet states. and today he will meet with members of the caspian summit trying to make the point that russia still has a key role in that region and it has allies everyone when it comes to

security. but this nato expansion will be very keenly felt. the former president dmitry medvedev saying in a newspaper interview that while he played down the idea of finland and sweden joining nato, he said that if ukraine joined, that would be an order of magnitude more dangerous and if nato members, any of them, tried to encourage crimea, that could kons constitute world war 3. >> okay, we'll be looking for reaction from moscow. we're expecting the family photo where all the leaders get together coming up. always a good one for the body language experts. we'll bring you it as it unfolds in the next few minutes.

welcome back. i'm max foster. let me bring you up-to-date with some of the stories we're following. nato summit officially under way in madrid. president biden arrived a short while ago. turkey agreed to support both finland and sweden's nato bids potentially clearing the way for them to join the alliance. and the january 6 committee has presented dramatic new testimony

about former president trump's actions in connection with the attack on the u.s. capitol. cassidy hutchinson, former aid to mark meadows, testified on tuesday. we learned a lot about some of donald trump's closest advisers and roles they played leading up to the capitol riot. hutchinson testified that trump was very interested to know what would happen on january 6 and he asked mark med des to call his close allies michael flynn and roger stone to see what they knew. both flynn and stone testified before the committee. here is a look at part of flynn's deposition. >> general flynn, do you believe the violence on january 6 was justified? >> can i get a clarification? is that horl qumoral question o deeper question? >> i'm asking both. do you believe the violence on january 6 was justified morally? >> i take the fifth. >> do you believe the violence

on january 6 was justified legally? >> no. >> do you believe in the peaceful transition of power in the united states of america? >> the fifth. >> most legal experts say the simple answer to all those questions is no, but michael flynn wasn't the only one doing trump's bidding. cassidy hutchinson revealed how much mark meadows knew about trump's actions. brian todd reports. >> reporter: cassidy hutchinson's testimony before the january 6 committee painting then chief of staff mark meadows as donald trump's enabler. at one point describing concern inside the white house, including from the white house counsel that meadows wanted trump to go to the capitol with rioters that day. >> it is my understanding that mr. cipollone thought that mr. meadows was indeed pushing this along with the president. >> reporter: it was the culmination of mark meadows' commitment to help trump try to

overturn the 2020 election results. in late november 2020, meadows sept sent a text to ginni thomas, wife of justice clarence thomas. meadows said of the battle to keep trump in office, quote, this is a fight of good versus evil. evil always looks like the victor until the king of kings triumphs before do not grow we'r weary. the fight continues. according to reporting by cnn and the new yorker, during the period after the 2020 election and before the january 6 attack on the capitol, mark meadows was burning both sides of a dangerous candle as he helped trump push lies about election fraud. >> at the same time he is telling people such as bill bar and others we don't believe in this stuff, he is if a still at a timing and putting in front of the president in the oval office the most -- anyone who comes to the door with some lunatic election fraud conspiracyadows

personally went to the state of georgia as part of the efforts to flip the election results. quite a journey from meadows' time as an obscure tea party conservative in the house, a seat he won in 2012. >> not so much thought of as a policy genius or someone who had a prospective agenda, but someone who was there to derail the jaenagenda of democrats, to throw bombs. >> reporter: what led from that to his time with trump? one says pure ambition. >> we've learned that mark med compani meadows was untruthful, that he was a very willing hatchet man for donald trump. that he was willing to jettison parts of his ideology that didn't fit with donald trump and that he was almost willing do anything to keep donald trump in

power. >> reporter: hutchinson said that mark meadows sought a presidential pardon. cnn has reached out several times for response to the testimony and in response to our story. we've not heard back. brian todd, cnn, washington. >>s candy hutchinson's testimony appears to bolster the committee's argument that trump assumed the january 6 insurrection as part of a desperate bid for a second term. historian douglas brinkley says her testimony was momentous, comparing to what was heard during the watergate hearings under president richard nixon. >> watergate is on everybody's lips and in many ways cassidy hutchinson is the john dean of the moment. this was just devastating testimony we heard today. donald trump has to be cringing in disbelief. she delivered all the goods. there is nothing like this since the civil war. if watergate was less than this, we've never had a president or

even in american history just be the poster child of sedition. and that is what we saw today and there will be a lot of scenes of this, the plate smashing and the ketchup and i'm the fing president. the president of the united states didn't care that there were armed rioters on the capitol and said that they are not going to hurt me, meaning that they might hurt pence or pelosi or members of congress. it is not going to be the behavior of donald trump in the suv and did he or did he not, you know, try to lunge at the driver, the secret service. that will be all interesting, all important, but the fact of the matter is this was a riot and insurrection and the president was basically green lighting blood shed as long as it wasn't his own. so there is no president that has ever acted this repreh reprehensible. this is a twice impeached president who tried to have a coup on the united states. >> brinkley went on to say that tuesday's testimony put trump in a new kind of legal jeopardy.

residents of san antonio, texas came together on tuesday night to honor the lives of dozens of migrants found dead in the back of a semi truck on monday. their thoughts and prayers were echoed by a liberal judge who once served as san antonio's mayor. >> today we mourn for those 51 immigrants who came to us to breathe that fresh air but instead found death in the state of texas. >>i homeland security agent cals the tragedy the worst human smuggling event in the united states. 51 people are now dead after being found in that sweltering tractor trailer in san antonio. officials confirm two mexican nationals who authorities say were in the u.s. illegally have been arrested on firearms charges in the case. though they have not been

directly linked to the migrants' deaths. san antonio's mayor spoke to cnn about the tragedy. >> this is probably the worst tragedy in terms of migration that i know of in recent history. and the people that are responsible for subjecting other people to these conditions should be prosecuted to the fulfull fullest extent of the law. >> there is now a memorial set up with crosses and candles near where the bodies were found. you are watching "cnn newsroom." ukraine has released new video of the missile strike on a shopping mall, what it reveals about the target and russia's version of events. stay with us. if you're age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. what are the three ps? the three ps of life insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price.

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we have dramatic new video, new details about the deadly russian strike on the mall in ukraine. president volodymyr zelenskyy says these images show the moment when a russian missile hit the shopping center killing at least 18 citizens. cnn can't independently verify exactly what the missile is hitting but the drone footage shows there is not much left of the mall. salma abdelaziz is live at the site of that missile strike in kremenchuk in ukraine. those scenes are indescribable, aren't they. >> reporter: just absolutely devastating to be at this scene, this shopping complex decimated by that huge missile that you see hitting in that video. i'll just step away so that you can begin to take a look at the scene unfolding here. russia hit this shopping complex with a missile capable of carrying up to 1,000 kilogram

warhead, imagine the devastation that caused. you can see it. it is usually a missile used to take out warships being used on this shopping complex. and we know so far 18 people killed, several wounded. but what you are looking at here is actually recovery operations. these firefighters are working a around the clock to try to find the bodies of the missing. there is over 20 people unaccounted for. they have been working around the clock. again, this is a massive operation. police, military, firefighters, cleanup crews to try to find those who are unaccounted for but we can only assume and officials tell us of course that it is assumed that they are dead, but they are just trying to find the bodies for their loved ones. russia claims that they were hitting a weapons depot but you can see that it was a shopping mall. and president zelenskyy has been clear, he doesn't think this was

an accident, he thinks that russia intentionally targeted this civilian area. that russia intentionally is hitting civilians killing innocent. he called for an emergency u.n. security council meeting, he wants russia to be seen as a state sponsor of terrorism. he calls what you see behind me here an act of terrorism. but it is a continuation of something we've seen over the last few days. and that is as president biden has met with world leaders, as these two major summits have taken place, as these powerful nations have discussed what do about russia, what to do about the war in ukraine, president putin has been sending this message, he can hit this country anywhere anytime. >> salma in kremenchuk, thank you for bringing us that. now, a survivor speaks out after the long time confidant of jeffrey epstein is sentenced to prison. >> i just hope that this sentence can be another sign that voices are coming together

and saying no more. >> we'll have details on ghislaine maxwell's sentence when we return.

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a long time confidant of jeffrey epstein was sentenced to 20 years in prison tuesday. ghislaine maxwell was convicted on five charges including sex trafficking of a minor. jean casarez has more from new york. >> reporter: maxwell was wearing a navy blue prison jump suit, she was shackled at her ankles and judge nathan said that significant sentence was necessary. she said that in the submissions by the defense that there was nothing about acceptance of responsibility. and she said that it was for her role, maxwell's role, for what she was being sentenced, not for jeffrey epstein's conduct. the judge proceeded with the sentence, but before that, and we didn't know it was going to happen, but maxwell herself stood up to give an he will low

kugs to the judge. she said i'm sorry for the pain you experienced, i hope the conviction brings you closure. i had hoped this day would bring a terrible chapter to its end. may this day help you travel from the darkness into the light. she also said it was difficult to address the court after hearing the emotion from the victims. and there were four victims of maxwell that stood and gave in court victim impact statements. they read them, they would turn to maxwell, they were emotional. and here is one, quote, i frequently express flashbacks and wake up in a cold sweat from nightmares retelling the awful experience. to this day, i attend meetings to treat alcoholism but i've had numerous relapses and know that only by the grace of god i continue to live. i have attempted suicide twice. the judge is recommending to the bureau of prisons that she go to

dan bury, connecticut. they make the final decision, but it is 20 years with five years after that of supervised release. jean casarez, cnn, new york. and the family photo is under way in madrid, nato leaders gathering for this transformational meeting. in the middle of the picture along with the spanish prime minister who is hosting and president biden to his left and other nato leaders there. always interesting to see the body language on these occasions, seeing who is working with who. but the big message ahead of this meeting is unity because turkey, who has been threatening to block an expansion of nato into sweden and finland has now opened up that blockage effectively, you can see there. president erdogan there on the left. effectively allowing that entry into the grouping. so turkey is on board with the strategy of nato as that key

meeting unfolds. another wildfire ignites in the western united states after starting tuesday afternoon in northern california. it has least 510 acres so far. and pedram javaheri has the u.s. forecast. >> good morning, max. lots of mild air building in across the eastern united states. second to last day of june, no complaints when you see what the temperature looks like here across this region over the next couple of days. notice plenty of activity, rain cooled air in the southern united states, a lot of this rainfall has something to do with the temps being slightly cooler and notice 3, 4 1/2 inches across south carolina, mt. pleasant, beautiful spots here seeing so much rainfall. stationery prisofrontal boundar helping. and there is a 40% chance this area of disturbance does become

a tropical system over the next five days. but at this point, it is looking less and less likely because we think that it will run out of time or if anything just rain itself out along southern and eastern texas. so parts of corpus christi into houston, even alexandria and louisiana, there could be some beneficial rainfall out of this and certainly a potential for some flooding as well. speaking of for for, how about a potential tropical cyclone, this would be tropical storm bonnie just north of venezuela, plenty going against the system. one, it is a little too close to the equator. that kind of reduces the spin potential of the storm, but also interacts with land here and we do think that it will run out of time. some models suggest maybe this gets up into a low grade category one as it approaches nicaragua, but again at this point mainly going to be a rain make along this region. beyond this, there is also another system trying to form, 30% chance of this storm forming. but it is in a more favorable placement. again, quite a ways out, but

something worth monitoring. and high temperatures across the u.s., only the upper 60s across seattle, 65 in san francisco. highs in chicago, warming up to almost 90 degrees. "early start" is next.

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good morning, everyone. welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. it is wednesday, june 29. i'm laura jarrett. >> and i'm christine romans. nice to have you with us. we begin of course with the absolutely stunning portrait of presidential desperation painted by former trump white house ai