state. there is more rain in the forecast. we'll obviously continue to follow that story. the people of that state are in our thoughts and prayers tonight and in the days ahead. the news continues. i want to hand it over to laura coates and "cnn tonight." laura? thank you, anderson, those images are devastating. i'm so glad we're continuing to cover and hope everyone will be safe. i am laura coates and this is "cnn tonight." federal prosecutors taking aim at donald trump's own words and deeds. the proof? the court fights they're gearing up for and who may be trying to hide behind privilege. for those of you that thought all the privilege issues had been resolved, think again. cnn has reporting tonight that the doj is prepping for a kind of constitutional showdown over whether there is in fact any applicable privilege that could shield the president or his officials about what? they're communications with him when he was the president.

now, the department, they want to take the muzzle off, of course. and keep in mind, when two former pence aides testified to the federal grand jury, there had been a deal that had already been negotiated in advance to try to steer clear of any of their direct interactions with trump. that happens through the same approach we've seen used by the house select committee. the fact that the doj is dotting their is and crossing their ts and preparing for a court privilege signals that if information is what you want, negotiation approach, let alone the muzzle, suspect going to cut it. remember, concerns about privilege are believed to be wide. they chose not to pursue any contempt of charges against mark meadows or dani scavino, as opposed to steve bannon and navarro. the department has green lit all of the access to the house select committee's transcripts. that's more than about 1,000

witnesses, i might add. in the word of chairman bennie thompson, no one the committee has talked to is off limits. now, that list is about to include some household names, including some with potential political futures. these witnesses have unique insights into the chaos of the administration, of course, after the capitol was attacked. today it was former acting white house chief of staff, mick mulvaney. at the time, he had been serving overseas. but he has not been shy about what he saw as a dysfunctional executive branch. >> the west wing was broken. it was not functioning properly. >> and the committee is really moving her up the totem pole, from assistant to some of the highest positions in government. they've interviewed trump secretary of the treasury, steve mnuchin, who is one of only four cabinet secretaries to serve for the entire trump administration. we know that former director of national intelligence john

ratcliffe is in talks, as is former acting homeland security secretary chad wolf and former secretary of state and potential 2024 candidate mike pompeo, who had this to say on fox. >> as i always did when i was in service to america, i'm happy to cooperate with things that are fair and transparent and deliver good outcomes to the american people. >> of course seconds later, he added this part. >> it's been a monkey court. it's been a circus. it's been totally unfair. >> so, cooperate? no? talk? no? not entirely clear as of yet. hopefully the committee has an answer. we know that one of the topics the committee wanted to learn more about is just how serious the cabinet members were about trying to remove trump from power by way of the 25th amendment, which we know from sworn testimony pompeo was worried enough to give mark

meadows a heads up about the prospect. >> mr. pompeo had the conversation with mr. meadows in case he hadn't heard discussions m amongst cabinet secretaries. >> as we know in the word of sean hannity's own text messages, quote, yes, impeachment and 25th amendment are real. now, politically, let's just say, it's never a good look when your highest profile supporter is talking about whether two more week of you being in office poses a threat to the country and it's 14 days too long. folks like mike pompeo see the same polls we do. where are a majority of republicans? well, they now want somebody other than trump in 2024. it seems to be opening a bit of the flood gates. steeb just showed what happened when he refused to cooperate with the committee. i want to talk about this with

shan wu, doug jones, and rnc communications director doug heye. you're all former, but presently here. i'm sorry. i said former, former, former. you're all experts at these topics. when you hear about the privilege issues more broadly, it's a bit more nuanced. biden is not going to assert the privilege here. but they're kind of figuring out, is this a fight we can win if we go there? is it smart? >> it's smart to figure that out and really this is a role that a.g. garland was born to do. he's a federal court of appeals judge for most of his career. so, he's a good guy to lead doj into this type of legal fight. that's the good news. i think the bad news is it's still going to take a while, anywhere between once to maybe even longer. trump's people want to play this out through the district court, court of appeals, and of course going to the supreme court, where we can have a big, long talk about which way that's going to go depending on the votes. >> you're at the intersection of, you know, obviously having a

prosecutor and also a member of congress. the idea of, you know, you've got the wheels of justice turning, but you've got the bureaucratic wheels turning them back sometimes. and being so incontemplative but also to the point of paralysis. i wonder what you make of that timing. >> i think they're going to play the old equivalent of dean smith's four corner offense at north carolina -- >> that's my alma mater. >> exactly. so, you know exactly what i'm talking about. run the clock out, score as little as you can, run the clock out, score now have the win. that's what this is all about for them. i don't think they have much of a legal standing. and remember, this is not the january 6 committee where the remedy is contempt and a misdemeanor, even if it is from a misdemeanor in hell that kind of froze over for steve bannon. this is more of a contempt of a grand jury subpoena. this is going to be much more serious. they can hold them in jail until

they, you know, purge themselves of the contempt, if that's the case. i think this is a delaying tactic, and i agree with shannon exactly. this is -- you know, this is the kind of thing that they have been preparing for. they knew it was coming. they have got their legal briefs all ready to go as soon as it happens. >> so have the people -- i'm sure. and obviously we're talking about the former president donald trump. but there are a lot of people who want to be the next republican president. i'm sure there are people watching this and thinking, how can i make this to my benefit? how do i make sure while they're running out the clock to have the privilege issues, i'm ramping up my ability to be the next viable candidate? >> you do two things if you can. you do what you have to and do what you want to. what you see mike pompeo talking about is, i'll participate in anything. he has to do what he has to. but he also has to do what he wants to. when mike pompeo was a member of

congress, he was one of the members who voted to hold eric porter in contempt on the guns issue and fast and furious. and the point for republicans doing that is when congress asks for something, the answer is yes. and it's yes as quickly as possible. for those people in the trump administration who have defied that, they do so at their own peril. some of whom have gotten away with it, but a lot of whom may not. >> we're also getting really close to donald trump. before it was cassidy hutchinson, and there was discussion -- i don't know who this person is, right? the idea of, who is this person you speak of. then you've got the idea of, well, it's this person. it's the chief aide of mike pence. now it's pompeo with -- it's mick mulvaney. it's mnuchin. you've heard of them. none of whom are coffee boys, right? well, they might be. they're chi latte people. i don't know what they're into or what they've done for the president. they're getting closer and closer here, chan. did that tell you something about the focus of the federal

prosecutors now? zbling it's something about the focus is where it's supposed to be. onif we can make the jump that now there's a investigation open on trump. i would assume these questions about trump would have been asked from folks who were in the grand jury, whether they answered or not, different question. it's just we're hearing for the first time the confirmation that they were asking about trump. i don't think we're in a hurry. they're certainly asking the right questions and i think you can see how nervous trump is. because it seems like it may be accelerating his intentions to announce his candidacy. >> is the 25th amendment really the right focus? on the one hand, doug, you think to yourself, all right, look, that shows a matter of absence of capacity that people try to remove him or thought about it. if you're the doj, you're thinking about intent and you need the certain state of mind to suggest they knew what they were doing t. 25th amendment would be about the notion of this person was not holding their oath any longer. is that the right focus?

zbling it can be. remember, we don't know what they might say. we don't know what was going on in there. and we just saw january 6th and that insurrection where police officers died, one woman was shot. it was unbelievable violence. we don't know -- these folks -- these are -- they're responsible people. they may be afraid that there would be more violence in the coming day, more violence at the inauguration. they may have been very worried about this. and it's not just the state of mind. but it might have been the only way that they could prevent that violence or do something at the time. so, we just don't know because we don't know what those comments were. but i can't imagine there will be a privilege that anybody can exert between a conversation with mike pompeo and steve mnuchin. i have never -- that's just beyond the pale. >> is it a feather in their cap politically to now even be called in. you heard josh hawley saying he doesn't regret anything to our

own manu raju about the fest bump in the air. is this a feather in the cap for somebody who's a 2024 republican prospect to say i'll come in and talk to you. >> if you say, i'll come if had and talk to you and thumb your nose to a grand jury, good luck with that, or a january 6th committee, you can benefit from that. if you stall, you could benefit as well, but you might need to be in a position where you have privilege issues. what we've seen so often in the january 6th hearings is the committee knows more than we do. now we have to see does the grand jury know more than we do. does georgia know more than we do? and that's going to play out. >> and they know more than those witnesses do too. so, it could go either way, but it could also go really bad. >> either way, we'll be watching and following along. shan wu, thank you, the dougs -- that's the title, the dougs will stick around with us here. the question really is not for them but for the powers that be, are we in a recession or not?

the president, the fed chief, and lite of economists saying no. but what about your bank account, your monthly statements, what are they telling snu we'll dive into the r word next. plus democrats are furious and some republicans are frustrated, and sick veterans could be the ones to pay the price. a bill to help them suddenly hit a giant wall of d.c. dysfunction. [acoustic soul music toughout] [acoustic soul music throughout] [acoustic soul music throughout]

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. confirmation of a painful reality, successive quarters of the economy going in the wrong direction. the press is trying to put a positive spin, and well, he's arguing semantics. >> we have a record job market

of record unemployment of 3.6% today. we've created 9 million new jobs so far just since i've become president. businesses are investing in america at record rates. that doesn't sound like a recession to me. >> well, he's not alone. the fed chair said the same thing just yesterday. but does it really matter what you call it, especially for anybody struggling to put food on their table? millions of families are now facing this new reality. >> i spent close to $400 and it wasn't even hardly on much meat, because meat is so high. it was just like bread, juices, stuff for my kids, snacks. it was ridiculous. >> whether or not you're going to pay your rent or go buy some food. >> when the cost of just about everything is going up and back-to-school time is here for many, there's no way of spinning the bill at checkout. we've got doug jones and doug

heye with me. but let's bring in the white house economics reporter for the "washington post." we're all going to have a wimbledon stare at you right now as we look to you to give us the expertise. look, tomato/tomato. they're saying it's not a recession, but is that technical definition, does that really ring true for people? is it true we're not really in one? or are we talking about semantics? >> so, the white house is correct that at some level two negative levels of gdp growth does not necessarily mean we are in a recession. looks at a range of sta tistics many of which are positive, unemployment, which the president alluded to. so much of the economy, so much of the policy, is psychological in nature. we see someone else in our block, maybe the two dougs pulling back invs.ment, pulling back spending. maybe that affect what is we do. over the next few months, what

is very scary is the gains we've made coming out of covid could go backwards. we had a bad sign of that today. investment, we saw a big decline of cratering, the housing market is starting to fall back, which is scary. we saw a decline in business investment, which is scary. consumers also pulled back but not in as bad. the fact we have low unemployment is a buffer. but how long that buffer lasts and how meaningful it is, we'll see. >> can you course correct? the idea of thinking about, is it psychological and the idea of how one feels. often times policy decisions are driven by how constituents are going to feel. you've got the inflation reduction act. will that n your minds, bring this down? will it sort of align the feelings of the electorate and those who are consumers of what's actually in the bill?

>> i think it's going to help clearly. you've got a big bill. democrats are looking to lower the cost of prescription drugs for a long, long time, particularly allowing medicare to negotiate those prices. you've got climate issues. as doug said, a lot of this is ps psychological. these wins like this will help when people go to the gas pump and see the price down 60 cents or so over the last five or six weeks. they're pulling back on a lot of skunler spending, but it's also on consumer goods. that's not necessarily a bad thing for the economy. it's that old supply and demand has hurt us a little bit. i'm not as bearish as most people are. i know people are suffering and they're going to continue for a little bit. i think there's light at the end of the tunnel. i think the policies being put in place with this bill and the things that the administration has done in the past is helping. and i think people will recognize that. and that's what they want. they want to know somebody is working for them. and i think that that's a key.

>> well, the question, i mean, helping, it seems relative, right? i mean, you're telling me i'm going to -- folks in california are spending $7 or $8 a dozen for eggs, which is a very high price. and the idea of maybe now it's $6, still not going to be good if it's helpful. is that going to be part of the s psyc psychology here? >> endi think it's part of the challenge of the biden administration. and the disconnect this administration has in its rhetoric and how they're trying to explain things. we're using the r word. last yoear they were using the word, transitory. folks in america don't use the work transitory when they're talking about the price of eggs, a gallon of gas, a gallon of milk, whatever it may be. biden has always been good at this. this administration has struggled here, and it partly explains why so much of the

country is disapprove lg of his presidency and feels we on the wrong track. >> i think part of the real problem here, just to put the politics aside for a second, is economically, what the federal reserve is doing is raising interest rates, which makes borrowing more expensive, which sucks demand it oof the company. but especially since the war of ukraine, by short term supply and comity shocks. so, the tools the federal reserve and the central reserve have to deal with inflation are targeting demand, which has been supercharged. but over 50% of increase in inflation recently has been due to commodity shocks due to the war in ukraine. you have a devastating combination of demand in an attempt to deal. but the tool is not going to deal with the supply issue that's causing the problem right now. s so, what else can be done? what else should be happening? these are two unprecedented bumps in as many months

essentially. more in september coming after the policy meeting. in the meantime, people were suffering. they were told initially by president biden, patience would be the key. the invasion to ukraine, a global humanitarian crisis with the bread basket of europe, deals being made. look at africa and the famine that's going to be coming. but the patience factor. how does that weigh in? we're talking about the economy. it's one thing to have the esoteric debates between the eight economists. then is patience really the request? >> what the white house will tell you -- i think this is worth crediting because i think it's true. americans' bank accounts, consumer spending, a lot of economic indicators, are a lot of better than they were before covid. the white house will say i think correctly is that our economic policies helped ensure we didn't have the same situation after the 2008 recession. million of people stayed unemployed. there was great scarring. that said, over the last year,

people have felt like they were losing ground because even if people were doing better than they were before covid started, since the last year they've been suffering. and to get to your point, the problem we're facing right now -- you asked how do we deal with this -- and i ask economists all day. and they don't know because normally when we have a downturn, the tools we use, cut interest rates, extend -- increase federal spending, give people cash. that goes against the inflation imperative they're fighting against, right? so, the normal tool kit has been thrown out the window to deal with this. >> what else is scary, taking away from the economy a moment, the fact that a lot of people are looking at washington, d.c. to solve problems. and when we're on the cusp of solving a problem, sometimes politics takes it right off the table. the burn pit legislation for example. you had some gains, it was snatched right back. yesterday, forget about it. >> republicans were not only supporting it. they were touting it.

they were talking about how proud they were to be able to do this for our veterans because they've given so much. now they're pouting -- literally they're pouting. they're acting like school kids taking their marbles and -- >> pouting about what? >> they're pouting because schumer and manchin came up with this deal. they think they got played. they may have. they may have. this was not an agreement in principle yesterday. there was a 720-page bill introduced at this announcement. mcconnell had wanted to hold the chips bill, that is going to protect us from china, hostage so he wouldn't get the reconciliation bill. it didn't look like he was going to get the reconciliation. the chips bill was passed. the minute it was passed, they come up with this. 86 senators voted for the burn pits. i was a cosponsor of that. it is important. it is the number one issue of all in the country. and 86 senators, 36 republicans, voted for it. and now 41 decide, oh, no, no,

no, we're going to punish the democrats for working on climate change, for reducing prescription drugs, for doing all the things that are necessary. we think we got played. so, we're going to try to punish them. >> only they're playing the veterans. >> they're awful. >> you, doug, worked on a part of the bill, not including the burn pits, we want to disclose, but, i mean, this is the tactic? veterans as political pawns? >> i work on the camp which is an important bipartisan issue. everybody gets outraged for a few days, rightfully so quite often, and then there's a pullback. and i would be surprised if we're still talking about this issue being held hostage certainly in the next week and a half or coming out of the august recess. it should be passed. a majority of both parties support it, so we should get it done. these are the politics that happen quite often. they fortunately tend to be short term.

>> it's why congress is in such low es tomb they've got the lowest approval ratings of any government agency. >> you know what had the highest, those willing to put their lives on the line for the countries. doug jones, and doug heye, thank you so much. look, russia might be trying to bring back the cold war, but it's already brought back the cold shoulder, and giving it to secretary of state antony blinken. so, why isn't moscow jumping on the chance to get the merchant of death back? i'll ask his lawyer next. my little family is me, aria, and jade.

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so, after weeks of silence, russia has finally responded to the biden administration's prisoner swap proposal. wait for it. um, we'll get back to you, something along those particular lines. a spokesperson for russian foreign minister sergey lavrov says he'll pay attention to the department's request for talks when, quote, time permits. well, meanwhile, time is of the essence for americans brittney griner and paul whelan, who remain locked up in a russian prison. biden proposed swapping them for convicted arms dealer, victor bout, aka, the merchant of death. will russia agree? first they've got to pick up the

phone, right? here to weigh in, you've got to paraphrase. i'm going to pay attention when time permits. you have to wonder, why the lack of response? and does it worry you? obviously your client is one of the people whose name is being mentioned? are they essentially blowing off your client? is he no longer as important as they once said he was? >> first, thanks for having me ms. coates. it's a pleasure to be here and be able to speak on behalf of mr. bout. i don't think this is anything more than the russians and the foreign ministry have been saying for some time now, which is we're going to wait for the process concludes whchlt it's over, we'll figure out what to do next. so, i don't think this minimizes their interest in getting viktor home. they've been clear about that for, well, frankly, more than a

decade. he's been in jail for almost 15 dwreers. he's ready to go home. they're ready to bring him back fg. but they do have a judicial process there. i should say, they've been saying that and they've done that with other cases. in the past, they wait until the judicial process is over and they figure out what they're going to do next. pgh it's true they have said they have a process. the thing is for the very reason you talk about, 10 or 15 years in prison, why isn't there a fire lit under them to try to get the deal? paul whelan at the least, not including brittney griner. paul whelan has had his case fully adjudicated. he stresses his innocence to this very day. have there been prior conversations prior to brittney griner's arrest as well that would include your client in a prisoner swap. >> there have been lot of proeasy potentialals. i think the reality is paul whelan presents a difficult issue for the folks in russia.

as you know, he was convicted of espionage. here he's viewed as a hostage. but in moscow, he's viewed as a notorious arms dealer. here in the u.s., he's viewed as a arms dealer, in moscow, he's a hostage. this is nothing more than the foreign ministry saying, look, we understand your proposal. we'll get to it. we're looking forward to talking to you about it. but, look, i think, some of the things are counterproductive. i think while i understand that and understood the motivations for secretary blinken, going public with this kind of a thing is just the opposite kind of approach you want to take when you're dealing with the russian government, right? again, i and that that the president wanted to communicate to the families that he was doing everything in his power as president of the united states to get them home. we all know that's the most

important obligation of a president is to protect its citizens. i think joe biden has done a great job doing that. at the same time, look, you've got to let it play out a little bit. and you've got -- really want to avoid making these public comments that, again, the russian foreign ministry and spokesmen have been saying, hey, look, the more you're talking about this, the more complicated you're making it. >> why is that? the idea -- certainly there were concerns early on in the arrest of brittney griner. many people reacted, why are they just hearing about this? the american public heard about it. we understand they didn't want it to be a political pawn and a game happening right before and during the invasion in ukraine. i wonder when it comes to essentially explaining if there has been a proposal, does it the in a way give russia an upper hand to say, look, we can be dismissive and delay and not be

urgent to show a power dynamic that's upper and above the aunited states? why would it be so instrumental to make it public? >> look, if you're asking me whether or not they're feeling a little slighted by the non-stop discussions of americans in russian jails being hostages and being wrongly held and wrongfully detained, yeah, i think i'm not surprised that they're a little bit offended because it's a constant attack on the russian system. russian trials are unfair, but u.s. trials are fair. and russian folks here get what they -- get what they deserve. it's the opposite there. you know, you're thinking about it from the point of view of an american and what we get fed with here. but the reality is there's a different point of view. it's not just the state department, mind you, who had been quiet about it. remember politicians are out there all the time talking about how terrible it is in russia and how we've got to free these hostages. look, even in your piece the other day, which was from an

unnamed source, talking about how we don't want to trade, you know, these innocent americans for these terrible russians. you know, it's just an insult. that's not the way it's viewed there. and so, if you want to make this kind of a thing happen, you've really got to keep your mouth shut and tone the rhetoric down. >> well, i'm so glad that you did watch the program, but the word i use is parody, steve. the wrongfully detained by the state department, part of the concern for many people in discussing these issues has been about and understand the rhetoric on both sides from the notion of who is the bigger criminal. the parody issue in term of prisoner swaps, as you can imagine, is often about incentivizing for foreign nations, whether it's russia or other nations, believing there's going to be a viable swap. the more prestige the particular defendant has. i want to know from you though, steve, is your client optimistic

about the potential to be released? >> viktor bout is always optimistic. he's a strong man. he's very well read, very knowledgeable. but unfortunately, the way that prison is where he is held, he's in a communication monitoring unit. we can only get message to him every 48 or 72 hours. and sometime it takes days to get messages there. he will not allow an interview. he would have loved to have been on your show tonight with me. but the u.s. government will not permit him any interviews with any reporters whatsoever. they turn him down routinely. he's strong. he's strong willed. he's ready. he's been through it almost 15 years now. he was targeted, retired russian citizen living in moscow, had never done anything to harm the united states when the u.s. government, the drug enforcement agency targeted him in this drug operation. this was a respected russian citizen who had committed to crime, targeted by the dea and

prosecuted in the southern district of new york, which -- and frankly viktor never even stepped foot in the united states. as you know small, one of the 94 federal drikts in the country decided without thinking what the consequences would be of targeting viktor bout, they did it simply because they did. >> there's a reason we litigate it with mean. here's the reason. a jury disagreed. he was convicted. he is now serving time. the question now will be, will he be released? we look forward to talking to you again. thank you, steve. >> well, thank you very much. it was a pleasure to be here. >> thank you. donald trump was already getting slammed for hosting a saudi-backed tournament at his golf club. what he said about it today might be one of his most mind boggling comments yet. christine brennan join us us next. and our techno wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds we'll come to you

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get a seat at the table will be transformational for my tribal members. taxing online sports betting gives us an opportunity to really enhance the lives of our tribe and strengthen the future of our people. vote yes on prop 27. tonight, words you probably never thought you would hear from a former american president. >> what do you say to those family members who protested earlier this week and will be doing so again on friday. >> well, nobody's gotten to the bottom of 9/11 unfortunately, and they should have, as to the maniacs who did that horrible thing to our city, our country, our world. known's really been there.

but i can tell you there are a lot of really great people that are out here today, and we're going to have a lot of fun. >> nobody's gotten to the bottom of september 11th? trump is now responding to 9/11 family who is have been critical of his support for the the saudi-backed liv golf tournament, which kicks off tomorrow at his new jersey sports club. let's discuss with christine brennan. you were at the event in part. give us a little bit of background here. i'm hearing a lot about the liv golf association. tell me how this started, and is it pulling in pga players more and more? >> it's getting more players. most of them are has-beens. most of them want to kick back, don't want to work as hard anymore. it's all about the money. it's hundreds of millions of dollars being thrown at some of these golfers. the biggest name is phil mickelson, dustin johnson is

another one many will know. they are not the top players in golf anymore. tiger woods said no way, rory mcilroy, no way. on and on it goes. but it is saudi-backed. the money is mbs, mohammad bin salman is linked to and officials have said ordered the murder of jamal khashoggi in 2018, the murder and dismemberment. so, basically what i've written and said is that these players who have decided to jump to liv golf, which is mostly an exhibition, three rounds, no cut, not at all as competitive as we're used to seeing tiger woods, is they're taking money. they're taking money from the msb fund linked to khashoggi and linked to 9/11. >> have they compartmentalized? that's a statement to make. but have they spoken about the idea of compartmentalizing, the politics, the optics, the sociopolitical structure at play

in saudi arabia? zbler talking about golfers here and we're talking about athletes who just want to play golf. in boston in june -- as you mentioned, i was in bedminster yesterday them asking them specific questions. my questions have been about the 9/11 families, not what you would say to us as journalists, what you would say to them, to phil mickelson. he cut me off and said he had empathy for the families. not at all bris lg. angry, upset, snippy. that was phil, to me, back in june. yesterday with the golfer ryder cup veteran named paul casey, i asked him now that he has this forum and has the ear of mbs, would he work on women's rights, which of course are horrendous and saudi arabia, and even worse gay rights, lgbtq rights. and in both cases, basically paul casey talked about a

17-year-old girl he played golf with. that was his answer about the womens issue. when i followed up about gay rights, he said he didn't know enough about the topic. these guys have the playbook. they've got the script. and the saudis are loving it. they're getting what they want from them, sports watching from big names in the game. >> and now you have the former president making a statement about not being able to get to bottom of 9/11. really unbelievable. >> thank you, laura. well, it's an outrageous fortune. i'm talking about a billion bucks and change. you've probably seen the megamls -- call it maybe billions -- jackpot. it's snowballing this week. winning the lottery can make you rich, but can it make you happy? i'll ask a guy who knows.

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golden ticket. guess what, the winning numbers for the mega millions might be the way to do it. the jackpot is $1.1 billion. before you buy your ticket, listen to my next guest. timothy schultz was 21 years old when hi won the $28 million powerball in 1999. he now hosts lottery, dreams and fortune podcast. good to have you on. the idea of can winning that amount of money at that particular age, give advice to someone today who might just win this huge lottery. >> well, i would say buckle up, because it can be one of the most life altering, surreal things that can happen to someone. i would also say, you know, once the exhilaration of winning wears off, it's -- my advice would be to relax and sit back and, you know, find some

financial advisers and figure out, learn, understand what you can do with the money. once you have an understanding of that, sit back and enjoy life. but it can be a whirl wind and turn life on its head. >> timothy, we heard you say advice could be to give laura cotes part of your winnings. you know what, there is what is known as a lottery curse. we've seen the headlines, people who won the lottery, then something awful happens to their lives in some form or fashion. did it ever impact your life negativity in some way? and how do you think it can? >> well, for myself, you know, i did receive letters and people coming out of the woodwork way back in the day. you know, it can go on. but it's been mostly positive. but i interviewed quite a few

lottery winners, other winners, and i know my experiences and the experiences of other people. i think it really matters who surrounds you, who your peers are, where you come from. of course, how much you win. all of this factors into whether it's a positive or negative experience for your life. and i think if you win the lottery, then it really magnifies -- it tends to magnify your personality. so i've met a lot of people that have won the lottery, and i know from my own experience, it tends to make you a larger version of yourself for most of the people that i've met. so if you're really into sports cars -- >> go ahead. >> has it changed the way you perceive money? $28 million at the age of 21, at the age of 71, that's a huge sum of money. did it change the way you had a

perception about money? >> it did, actually. it absolutely did. when i won -- i was 21 years old, i was a college student working at a gas station, trying to just put myself through college, and i wasn't on the street, but i wasn't wealthy. so i didn't really have an understanding of that kind of money. and i feel as if one of the things that has changed is a perception that money can buy time, which can be very positive. of course, it can buy all these material possessions, but time is invaluable for people. if you can pursue your passions, which you don't need to win the lottery to pursue your passions, you don't. 99.9% of anyone that has achieved their dreams has not won the lottery. but it can buy some time. >> start where you are, use what you have, and do what you can. thank you, timothy. we'll see who ultimately wins

this and whether they will join your podcast next to talk about their winning in particular. we'll be right back, everyone.

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well, that's it for us. "don lemon tonight" starts right now. hey, don lemon. >> hey, don lemon. you know what? it's going to sound weird, you sound like my sister does that. she goes hey, don lemon, how are you? and there you are. and my friends from college and high school. but we're old friends. so it kind of goes -- >> since we're old friends, can we pool a lottery ticket together but i get all the money if we win? because family could do that. >> no. i don't like sharing that way. so i did pool, just so everyone knows, all the guys in the studio, did we buy a ticket? >> oh, i hear the clapping. >> are we going to win? >> yeah! >> now we're behind -- we didn't get that. >> so we all got tickets. we pooled together, everybody got in. these are all the guys here. and we are going to win!