ready to talk. >> smith also apologized to his fellow actors and oscar nominees for going after rock after the comic, you'll remember, joked about smith's wife, jada pinkett smith. rock addressed the incident this week saying, anyone who said words hurt has never been punched in the face. is this the end of it stay tuned? "ac 360" starts right now. good evening. we begin tonight with exclusive new reporting about one of the most alarming mysteries in the january 6th investigation. what happened to secret service text messages from and around january 6th, perhaps the most traumatic period for the secret service since 9/11 or the attempt on president reagan's life? >> they're in the building. hold. >> they're moving. we need to move now. >> copy. >> if we lose any more time, we

may have -- we may lose the ability to leave. >> the agents text each other afterwards about what they went through? were they texting before the fact about their concerns about what happened that day or what the president was saying or doing? we still don't know. however, tonight we do know more about when the agency's top watchdog knew the messages were missing. tonight, multiple sources familiar with the matter, tell cnn that the inspector general first learned of the missing messages back in may of 2021. now, that's significant because that's not what secret service officials told congress. they told congress that the inspector general, joseph ka far ri, knew in december of 2021. and if he knew in may of 2021, that means it was more than a year before he told the house select committee that potentially crucial information might have been erased. the secret service, as you know, says the messages were lost

during a scheduled data migration that began on january 27th, three weeks after the capitol attack. it's also more than a week after several house committees directed dhs to produce all documents or materials relevant to it. so, they knew congress wanted to see any relevant documents or materials about the insurrection. and yet they went ahead with their allegedly scheduled data migration, which allegedly deleted documents. >> it just seems too irregular and unlikely that there would be a disappearance of texts right during the period of the insurrection, especially when multiple chairs of house committees sent letters directly to the secretaries of the different departments and the agency directors telling them that they had a -- reminding them they have a legal responsibility to hold all those records. i mean, that's federal law. and they were on notice that we

were watching. and then to either deliberately get rid of evidence or to be extremely cavalier with respect to its ultimate destiny is just intolerable. >> that's maryland democratic congressman and committee member jamie raskin. this all comes in the wake of revelations that text messages are also missing from the two top homeland security officials under the former president, the acting secretary chad wol skpf acting deputy secretary cuccinelli. they, too, were purportedly lost in a reset of their government phones when they left their jobs. this morning, mick mulvaney, had this to say about it. >> it is weird and it's getting a little bit weirder. when i left the white house, i had to leave my work phone there. so, if the same was true with ken, then he would have to turn over that work phone to somebody else.

and he would not have been in control of it since he left the administration. so, again, does it look weird from the outside? does it look somewhat nefarious? yes. >> yeah, it certainly does seem strange, all of it, as does house minority leader kevin mccarthy's seeming amnesia about sworn testimony about who he spoke to on the sixth. shortly after the former president told supporters he was going to the capitol with him. >> cassidy hutchinson testified -- >> so, we're going to january 6th. >> yes. >> go ahead. >> so, she testified under -- >> you know that's a recession, too, right? >> she said you called her after donald trump urged his supporters to do to the capitol. and you were concerned about those remarks and said, don't come up here. figure it out. don't come up here. she said that under oath. did you tell her that? and why were you concerned about the prospect of donald trump coming to the capitol on january 6th? >> i don't recall talking that day. i recall talking to dan scavino.

i recall talking to jared. i recall talking to trump. if i talked to her, i don't remember it. if it was coming up here, i don't think i wanted a lot of people coming up to the capitol. but i don't remember the conversation. >> why were you concerned specifically about trump coming to the capitol? >> i don't remember that. >> doesn't remember. to refresh your memory, here's what cassidy hutchinson said under penalty of perjury. >> i was still in the tent behind the stage. and when you're behind the stage, you can't really hear what's going on in front of you. so, when mr. mccarthy called me with this information, i answered the call. and he sounded rough but also frustrated and angry at me. i was confused because i didn't know what the president had just said. he then explained the president just said he's marching to the capel toll. you told me this whole week, you aren't coming up here. why would you lie to me? i said, i'm not lying.

i wasn't lying to you, sir. i -- we're not going to the capitol. he said, well, he just said it on stage, cassidy. figure it out. don't come up here. >> with that, we're joined by adam a adam kinzinger. thanks for being here. the inspector general for the department of homeland security knew about the missing secret service text messages over a year before alerting your committee, seven months earlier than secret service officials had previously stated. does that make any sense to you? >> it doesn't. and you know, this is all new to me too. we found out as a committee, as you well know and have reported, about these missing texts not that long ago. we got a letter from the ig. we talked to him. we had no idea that it went as far back. and you think about this, you know, this committee bhhas been operable for a year at least now. we had staff working hard on this. we could have had a year of lead time to get to the answer. now we're down to however many

months to get to the answers of this. it doesn't make a lot of since why the ig wouldn't tell us. i'm sure he's going to have to answer to that. and of course this whole missing text thing is crazy, nuts. and you know, the american people, not just our committee, but maybe the american people through our committee deserve that answer because it's the law to keep that stuff, particularly if you're the secret service and it was, like, one of the more dangerous days since 9/11 that you've been part of. >> yeah, i mean, just as a day in u.s. history, the idea that everything wouldn't be preserved is -- i mean -- is it possible they were lost to incompetence? was it intentional? a cover-up? do you have any sense? >> yeah, i mean, look, it's certainly possible that it was, you know, a scheduled migration. nobody cared enough to take the action or, you know, they're just like, whatever. i mean, i don't want to make an accusation without the evidence, which is why it's so frustrating that we're just finding out about this. but it is mysterious to say the

least. and, you know, i think first off, let's say the secret service knew this over a year ago. they knew that the preservation request had gone out from the other committees, not the january 6 committee yet. and yet they never alerted the committee, hey, look, we accidentally deleted them. and if you did accidentally delete them, probably best to get out in front of it. instead, it was covered up until finally the ig tells us. i don't know if it was trying to cover up gross mismanagement, or if there's something more to it. but we deserve the answer. and i guarantee you there's somebody in the secret service that knows the answer to that and should come forward and talk to us. >> and "the washington post" reporting that the former acting homeland secretary chad wolf and cuccinelli are also missing for this key period leading up to january 6th. sources telling cnn both of them recently sat for interviews with your committee. i know you can't get into

specifics of what they may have said. does it make sense to you now that their texts are missing too? >> no. i mean, look, without getting too much into it, again, i think you had played a sound bite by mick mulvaney. when you leave government, if you have a government cell phone, that stays with government. and then the government has the stuff they're supposed to do to preserve the records of that. particularly, again, i mean, we're talking about we had just gone through january 6th. so, it's not like, you know, hey, i'm out, i got out of service prior to january 6, i didn't think there was anything of importance. you went through that process. so, again, you know, there's so much mystery here. and this is why it's important for the committee, even as we look at an interim report to keep this investigation plugging to find out these loose ends and things we can. because look, it's not about the committee. it's not about, you know, this is about what the american people deserve. we live in a democracy. we don't live in a dictatorship. people deserve answers, and they

deserve transparency. >> yeah. the truth. that's all people -- that's what people deserve. we've seen a number of other former trump top officials, cabinet members, sit for interviews with your committee, more reportedly in negotiations. former trump members of the administration have -- they've often obviously claimed executive privilege over conversations they've had with the president. can you say if any have been more forthcoming about discussions they've had among themselves, for example, about invoking the fifth amendment. or are those things they might claim privilege over? >> we're starting to get to the bottom of sochl those questions. we've had interviews. we'll have more interviews scheduled in the future. i can't get into too much of what we know or we're hoping to find out or anything along that line. i think with what we did last thursday in our hearing or i guess maybe a week ago now, we put out that letter by eugene scalia where he was basically, to the president, saying, you need to speak to the cabinet.

you need to come in front of the cabinet. that, to me -- this is just my opinion. this isn't anything else besides by opinion. that, to me, was sort of a warning that you need to come and talk to the cabinet because we could invoke the 25th amendment because you have to come up in front of us. so, i always thought that was pretty interesting. didn't get a ton of attention, but it's certainly something that's worth looking at. >> as we heard, house minority leader kevin mccarthy was asked about conversations between him and cassidy hutchinson. she testified under oath. he said he didn't remember them. he denies even watching the former president's speech at the rally that day. what do you make of those comments? >> i mean, look, i don't trust a thing kevin mccarthy says. i'll be honest with you. some time about a year or two ago he made the decision that his only goal was to become speaker of the house. he thinks siding with the insurrectionists is the way to get there. maybe it will make him speaker. i know this.

cassidy hutchinson testified under oath. she is incredibly truthful. the ones that have discredited her, none of them have come and spoken under oath. secondarily, they've been discredited. i know this for a fact, cassidy hutchinson maintained a lot of outreach to members of congress. it is not inconceivable she would be the one they would call. >> it sounded like he would be talking to her throughout the week because he was accusing her of lying to them about what she had said previously. >> i was going to say real quick, the idea she would just come up with that story and make it up is ludicrous. >> yeah. congressman, i really appreciate your time. it's been a big week of big kwopmentes, whether high ranking members speaking to the committee, signs the justice department probe is reaching the white house, the former president returning to the d.c. and questions about when he might run again if he does. and karl rove asked in the "wall street journal" this week, naumly, what will the former

president do with $121 million plus he's raised from donors, given he's not spending much on candidates and he's barred from spending it on the 2024 run. michael, what does it tell you that karl rove, who is obviously a master republican strategist, is raising these questions about the former president's fundraising right now before trump has publicly announced a 2024 run? >> he raises a significant point about the $121 million that trump has amassed. and the moment that he would announce for president, he jeopardizes the way in which he can use some of those funds. i think the bigger picture is that you've got rove this past week. you had "the wall street journal." you had the "new york post." you had fox news not covering live any of trump's return to washington, d.c., all cracks, i think, in the conservative media

armor that hereto forhave been very close to donald trump. >> you have the possibility of mnuchin, pompeo talking to the january 6th committee. does it feel like the president is in a more precarious place to you -- the former president, i should say, is in a more precarious place than he was a few weeks ago? >> yeah, i think absolutely. to have these cabinet members come in, former cabinet members, and testify with probably derogatory information against them, especially the way mnuchin has been speaking. and the way we have reporting by karl rove -- when we have the reporting by jonathan carl, there's a lot of information they can provide that's not going to be looking good for the president. and the fact that they're coming in now, and not necessarily under subpoena, that they're cooperating with the committee i think is really important. >> michael, it seems look a foregone conclusion that the former president will run again, although it's possible he might not. do you think it helps or hurts the republican party if he announces before the midterms? >> oh, i think it's a big

hindrance to what looks like a well-poised republican campaign that will take over the house of representatives, maybe, maybe not the senate. but all of a sudden now, emphasis shifts to trump. democrats have an easy target in trying to make it a referendum all about him, not about the economy, not about the borders, not about crime, but about donald trump. so, i think it's the best news that could happen to this white house with its own dismal numbers that now they get to shift that spotlight to donald trump and not joe biden. >> professor, i'm wondering what you make of what we have seen of the federal investigation so far. i mean, obviously, this week merrick garland making very public statement in interviews with lester holt. he doesn't do that by coincidence. there's a reason he does it now. and his words are parsed very carefully. there certainly seems to be an uptick in activity and certainly an uptick in department of justice wanting people to see that there's an uptick in

activity. >> yeah, i think that's absolutely right. and there's a lot of activity just in the last, let's say, ten days. so, i think that they are trailing behind the committee. but they have definitely scaled up the investigation to have these very senior white house officials come in to a grand jury is really getting right into the heart of the matter. and that means that they're looking right at trump. and the reporting is obvious that they're asking a lot of questions about president trump's actions. >> bennie thompson, the chairman of the january 6 committee has talked about now there being some sort of a roadmap for cooperation, of sharing of information from the committee to the department of justice. i don't quite understand why that has been an issue for the january 6 committee. i mean, they had said, well, we don't want to, you know -- we're doing or own investigations. we don't have time to send stuff to the department of justice. that doesn't seem like such a complicated thing if they wanted to do it, does it? >> it's not that complicated. they seem to have fallen into protocol pretty quickly now that they are deciding to cooperate with the justice department.

i can understand at one level in the prior phase why they might not do that, because there was no serious indication from the justice department that they'd even really looked into these matters. so, why share it with them at a time in which they don't seem to really be following through. now all indications are that they have a serious criminal investigation into the former president's actions. >> just are in truth of how that works, there's been a lot of -- publicly, we have seen the department of justice going for hundreds of people who breached the capitol who were part of the, you know, the foot soldiers of the insurrection. would there have been the investigation which we are now seeing people at higher levels, would that have still been going on at the same time? do they have the personnel to do all that at once? >> that's a great question, and i wish people would ask the justice department that specific question, including how many people do they have on the investigation that's about donald trump and the white

house. the current u.s. attorney they brought in from maryland is not somebody who has a lot of experience with these kind of high profile large investigations. and it's an important question to note how resourced are they really. a lot of the resources have been spent on these hundreds. >> garland did say too that this is the biggest investigation the justice department has undertaken. this speech went long over an hour. he was reading from the teleprompter directly at times. he laid out a very sort of apocalyptic and violent vision of this country, sort of leaps and bounds beyond his american carnage speech at his inauguration. do you think that's the kind of rhetoric the republican party, as a whole, wants to hear from him? or do you think that these people from his former administration possible talked to the committee, is their way of kind of saying, enough. we've seen this movie.

we've heard this speech. >> for trump, it's not about persuasion. he's not out there to change hearts and minds. it's all about stirring passion. and it worked for him once. he would say twice. and i think that's where he's coming from. and yes, i too, like you thought i'm watching that same inauguration speech from 2017. >> michael smerconish, professor ryan goodman, thank you so much. >> thank you. a lot more ahead tonight. live reporting from the flooding in kentucky. at least 16 people known to have died. the governor expects that number to grow. and later another cnn exclusive. we just learned about another person russia the demanding for exchange for brittney griener and paul whelan. his return might be even harder to swallow. and the biden administration has just responded. details ahead. five and dime. mymy dad's been wondering about his childhood address

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it is already being described as some of the worst flooding kentucky has ever seen. tonight the loss of life is expected to grow. reports from hazard county tonight, cnn's joe johns. >> her little room completely crushed. >> i'm so sorry. >> it's okay. >> tammy's home in perry county now in the middle of squabble creek. like her, hundreds of families have lost everything in the floods in eastern kentucky. >> no water, no electricity, no nothing. >> reporter: joe krus is one of the lucky ones, but he says many of his neighbors lost their homes. >> our house is gone. they just washed away. people in them. we don't even know how many's missing at this point. it happened in the middle of the night. nobody really got a warning. that's the problem. it happened so quick. everybody got washed away. >> reporter: nearly 300 people cut off by the flooding have been rescued so far, according to the governor. the devastation widespread.

debris along this creek. broken bridges. downed trees. >> i never have seen this in all the years i've lived here, i have never seen this. never. >> reporter: the storm wiped out power, breaking down communication. >> the area this storm hit, it's totally annihilated. our infrastructure, water, telephone, internet, electricity. all the basic roads, all the basic things you would build a community around have disappeared. >> reporter: and it's not over yet. more rain is expected. eastern kentucky has a slight to moderate risk of flash flooding through friday evening. >> certainly done three-plus flights and/or tours over flooded areas. this is, by far, the worst. >> reporter: after flying over the hard-hit region, the governor delivered more grim

news. >> i have received notice that they've located the bodies of those four children. it means we've got at least six dead children. and that's hard. hundreds of homes, ball fields, parks, businesses under more water than i think any of us have ever seen in that area. absolutely impassable. numerous spots. so, just devastating. >> joe johns joins us now. joe, the fact that a lot of this happened at night for people without warning is just so terrifying. are you getting any sense from authorities that they are getting some control of the situation on the ground right now, or are there still areas they haven't gotten to? >> you know, anderson, i don't want to make it sound like they're not getting anything done because they are. just around where i'm standing, they got the electricity on. but i asked county sheriff here in eastern kentucky whether he felt like they were getting a

handle on it today. and he said, no. and he said there are a lot of reasons for that. the number one reason is because of these out of the way places where there's a lot of water, all the nooks and crannys that they have to go up to try to just check the welfare of people. and they haven't been able to get to everybody. that's the first thing. the other thing is staffing. a lot of the first responder ves have employees who are stuck in their houses and haven't been able to get to their work because of the rushing waters. variety of other things, communications, telephone lines still down. and i have talked to people here who say they don't think they're going to be able to have a reasonably certain number on the death toll here for probably several weeks. >> there's still so much water running over. joe johns, appreciate it. thank you. just incredible. coming up, there's new details on exclusive reporting on possible prisoner exchange with russia. we'll tell you who russia is now

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we have new updates tonight on a cnn exclusive we've been reporting this week. russia has been asked that another person be added to the possible prison swap. we're told russians want a

convicted murder vadim krasikov added with victor bout in exchange for brittney griner and paul whelan. krasikov was convicted of murder in germany last year, and that's where he remains in custody. in the last hour on cnn, the biden administration responded to russia's request. and we'll have more on that in a moment. this comes after secretary of state antony blinken spoke with russia's foreign minister lavrov today in their first known conversation since russia invaded ukraine. lavrov, quote, strongly suggested the u.s. should return to a mode of quiet diplomacy in regards to the prisoner exchange. what more do you know about what russia's proposing? >> yeah, you know, vadim krasikov is one of the most high profile prisoners that germany has. you're absolutely right. he was convicted last year for a murder the germens say was organized and ordered by the russian state. the russians deny that.

according to our reporting, the russians did say it to the americans that they want vladden krasikov along with viktor bout along with paul whelan and brittney griner. the u.s. never really believed that was a serious off the russians were making, or saoirse counteroffer the russians were making. however, the u.s. did make inquiries with the germans. there were inquiries not on the highest level, and discussions about this never reached the highest levels of the german government because they also thought it was not a serious offer. however, it was something the u.s. inquiried about, showing how serious the administration is about trying to get brittney griner and paul whelan out of russian custody. >> and i understand you spoke to a lawyer about griner. >> i did. i did. it was right after that lawyer visited brittney griner today. she said brittney griner nervous at this point in time simply because the trial is going into a really, really important phase. we're coming down to the last

couple hearings. she also said right now brittney griner is laser focused on their defense. they're trying to get a lenient verdict from the russian court. of course they've presented evidence. she showed some remorse for accidentally bringing those cartridges with cannabis oil into the russian federation. one of the things we always have to point out, anderson, of course, is that russian courts have an extremely high conviction rate. so, leniency is something that's going to be difficult to come by. and even the lawyers say that in the end they do hope that there is a prisoner exchange and that brittney griner can some home as fast as possible, anderson. >> and do you know this guy, krasikov, who he was involved in killing in germany. >> yeah, absolutely. i mean, this was a massive, high profile murder that happened right in the center of berlin. and he was convicted of killing a former chechen fighter, someone who commanded a chechen militia that fought against the russians in early 2000s and someone considered a terrorist

by the russian federation. as this trial went down, the prosecutors there in germany, they say that they found out that the russian state was behind it, that russian security services were heavily involved in all of this as well. again, the russians continued to deny that. but this caused a major diplomatic spat between germany and russia. several diplomats, so the russians we are expelled by the germans. it was a huge deal and also one of the reasons this is such an important prisoner for the russians. >> joining me with more details, mj lee. what is the white house saying about this? >> reporter: the white house is being very blunt tonight that this is not an acceptable offer. john kirby, the national security council says this is a bad faith response to a serious offer from the u.s. >> holding two american citizens hostage in exchange for an assassin in a third-party

country is not a serious counteroffer, jim. it's a bad faith attempt to avoid a very serious offer and proposal that the united states has put forward. and we urge russia to take that offer seriously. >> reporter: and keep in mind that original u.s. offer to trade brittney griner and paul whelan for this arms dealer, that was not made lightly. we know that the doj, in particular, had serious issues with this because they do not typically support the idea of doing a prisoner swap. so, anderson, it's not hard to imagine that some people in the administration, they're not going to be jumping up and down with excitement at the idea of throwing into this deal a convicted murderer. >> and are negotiations then on hold? i don't know if it's fair to say negotiations are ongoing anyway. is it stalled now? >> yeah, what john kirby said on our air is that nothing is solved, but he did also maintain that the u.s. goal remains the same. and that is, of course, to get these two people out of russia and that the u.s. is going to

keep trying. one thing to keep in mind that's important is the timeline here. the u.s. originally made its offer back in june. and basically it had indicated that it didn't get a serious response from russia, at least not through official channels nouchlt, it was only this week that we found out that the administration had made this offer, maybe in an attempt to try to nudge the negotiations forward. i did ask white house press secretary kareen jean-pierre whether president biden might get involved and speak to biden or putin about this. she made clear there are no plans for that now. coming up, blindsided veterans are speaking up against republicans after they blocked a bill that would help veterans impacted by burn pits. >> this is an embarrassment to the senate, to the country, to the founders, and all that they profess to hold dear.

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senate democrats say again they'll try on monday to overcome opposition to a bill meant to help veterans who became sick after exposure to burn pits with chemicals. deeply upset at republicans after they blocked the bill. 25 republican senators who supported an earlier version of the bill switched their vote, saying they were expressing

frustration with lack of amendments on the bill. democrats say republicans are costing sick veterans time they can't afford. agent orange spray and other exposures. the senate's inability to pass the bill is sparking outrage among victims, veterans, their families, and those supporting them, including jon stewart, who joined democrats thursday in calling out senate republicans. >> i'm used to the lies. i'm used to the hypocrisy. i'm used to the cowardice. i've been here a long time. senate's where accountability goes to die. every one of these individuals that has been fighting for years, standing on the shoulders of vietnam veterans who have been fighting for years, standing on the shoulders of persian gulf war veterans fighting for years, desert storm veterans to just get the health care and benefits that they earned from their service. they lived up to their oath.

and yesterday they spit on it in abject cruelty. these people thought they could finally breathe. you think their struggles end because the pack act passes? all that means is they don't have to decide between their cancer drugs and their house. their struggle now continues. >> joining me knous is keith robinson, daniel, robinson. what was your reaction when you heard the legislation had been blocked from advancing by some senate republicans, ply some who had voted previously for it. >> this felt like an immediate devastating blow. i was actually contacted by the white house shortly after the june 16th passage in preparations for the bill to be signed into law. and as soon as this started taking effect, i never would

have thought that it was almost getting derailed. >> you're from ohio. one of your senators, rob portman, voted for the bill back in june. then voted against it this week. a spokesman for portman told cnn that while he plans to vote for final passage of the bill, this week's vote against it was a way of registering displeasure the way leadership handled the amendment process. what does a delay in passage translate to in terms of veterans, people suffering? >> these veterans don't have time. they don't have days. unfortunately, i got word of a veteran that was excited because he finally felt like he was going to be able to benefit from this bill being passed, as he was denied by the va. and his private health insurance dropped him. and unfortunately, we got word that this veteran took his life because this bill was delayed.

and i hope that there are not more that end up doing this type of thing based on the delay from these 25 senators. it's disgust. >> as we mentioned, the legislation is named in honor of oyour husband, keith robinson. can you just tell us a little bit about him? what was he like? >> well, he was a decorated soldier with the ohio national guard. he served in kosovo and iraq, as a combat medic. he took a lot of pride in what he did as a combat medic and came home and didn't want to be done with his service. and he ended up becoming active duty. and that wasn't enough for him. he ended up going on to be the nco of the year in 2012 and 2013 for the ohio national guard in the best four year competition, which is a grueling competition. and then he went on to regionals and actually took second in

wisconsin. so, he was -- he was an impeccable soldier. he was a good husband. and he was an excellent father to our young daughter. and even during his cancer treatments, he was her soccer coach on the soccer field. and he was going into the armory, where he was active duty and had his active duty job painting the armory with the guys. and at that time, he became more and more sick and ended up going through a variety of cancer treatments and then ended up declining and losing his battle to lung cancer on may of 2020. >> and you connect that to his service, to his time overseas. >> correct. so, as soon as we saw our oncologist after being to 12 different doctors, we finally had an ear, nose, and throat doctor take a chest ct scan.

and that's when he decided to go and do a biopsy of a lymph node. and it came back as cancer. and when we saw our oncologist, the first thing he said when he walked in the room is, what the heck have you been exposed to? your cancer is only presenting in a way that is only due to toxic exposure. and at the time we were shocked, so we didn't know what to say. and then we went home, and it was actually a military spouse that sent me an article about burn pits. and the next week, when we went back for his actual cancer treatments, the oncologist confirmed. he's like, i have no doubt it was due to the burn pits. i actually had a lung autopsy done on my husband to help with research, and it was sent on to dr. robert miller at vanderbilt. and the doctor that actually read autopsy said that his lungs

were completely obliterated. >> gosh. >> it looked like a bomb went off in his lungs. >> all while serving others and saving other people's lives as a medic. danielle, i'm so honored to talk to you tonight. and thank you for telling us about your husband. and we will continue to follow this in the days ahead. thank you. >> thank you. just ahead, what voters in wyoming are thinking of liz cheney's role in the january 6th committee, whether they'll turn out for her in the republican primary next month. working at the five and dime. my dad's been wondering ababout his childhood address for 70 years... and i found d it in five minutes. ...that little leaf helped me learn all the names from the old neighborhood... it felt like a treasure hunt. the 1950 census adds vivid new detail to your family story. and it's available now on ancestry. [whistling]

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this was the first week in almost two months there was no january 6th hearing or one scheduled. instead, sources tell cnn the committee is now preparing for potentially busy august of gathering evidence and negotiations with witnesses who so far refused to testify.

during last week's hearing, the committee's vice chair liz cheney said, we have considerably more to do. congresswoman cheney herself has an uphill fight in her election in wyoming. randi kaye went to wyoming's capitol for a huge, once a year rodeo. it's a time-honored event there -- and spoke with voters about cheney's chances. >> finish this thing, let's go. >> reporter: at frontier days, we found plenty of republican voters bucking the cheney name. >> are you planning to vote for liz cheney? >> can i cuss? hell no. >> are you planning to support liz cheney? >> absolutely not. >> what are your thoughts about liz cheney running for a fourth term? >> i think she's had three too many. >> reporter: keep in mind, in 2020, donald trump won about 70% of the vote in wyoming. so, liz cheney's work on the january 6th investigation isn't playing so well with many

wyoming voters. >> she's done us dirty. >> how so? >> god. look how she's done trump. i'm a trump fan. i'm sorry. >> so, she lost your vote because of her role in the january 6th committee and what she's doing about trump? >> yes, yes. she's supposed to be supporting him. she's a republican for crying out loud. >> i find her work on the january 6th committee just repulsive. >> how do you feel about her work on the january 6th committee and her role? >> it's all a hoax. it's all propaganda. it has nothing to do with anything. it's a witch hunt. >> she says she's defending what's important to people here in wyoming, upholding the rule of law. >> if that was the rule of law, why isn't there a defense team in that courtroom? that ain't the rule of law. that's a kangaroo court. that's not the wyoming way. >> she has been an emba embarrassment. it's a witch hunt. >> are you proud of her for taking on donald trump? >> no. >> reporter: here in cheyenne,

more than 1,600 miles from washington, d.c., almost everyone we spoke with told us they believe liz cheney is too focused on donald trump and the january 6 committee and not paying enough attention to what they believe matters to the people here in wyoming. >> she doesn't know what her constituents want here anymore because she's lost touch with the values of the people. >> i don't feel like she supports her people here in wyoming anymore. the things she's voting for don't really reflect what the people here in wyoming feel. >> dean dexter is one of just two cheney supporters we found in the rodeo crowd. >> if they're going to bow down and kiss the ring, i think i don't want that from my representative. i want somebody who has the constitution first and foremost in their mind. >> reporter: we've talked to a lot of folks who say that she has lost their vote because of her role on the january 6 committee. but not you? >> no, in fact, i think she's got it even stronger now. she's making a sacrifice.

she is -- she's made a stand, and she's saying something is wrong. and i agree with her. and even though it has a tremendous personal sacrifice. >> reporter: republican sean mckee is also a liz cheney fan. >> how come you haven't turned against her like so many other republicans. >> you believe she has a lot of that integrity also. she wants to maintain the integrity of the state. she wants to make it to where it's not so much federally controlled. >> reporter: and while all of that sounds good for liz cheney, given what we heard from this crowd, it may not be enough to hand her a win. >> i wouldn't vote for her if she was the last candidate out there. >> reporter: anderson, i reached out to the state republican party to see if they had a comment. as you know, they censured liz cheney after she voted to impeach donald trump. they don't even recognize her as a republican. but the wyoming republican party doesn't take sides during an election. we are neutral during this election.

we do not back or oppose candidates. it's also worth noting that liz cheney's campaign has asked democrats in wyoming to switch their party affiliation to republican so they can vote for her in the primary election in august. the state party saying they are committing to stopping democrats fr from crossing over. and also worth noting, right now republicans outnumber democrats here in wyoming 4-1. >> randi kaye, thanks, we'll be right back. ♪ voltaren. the joy of movement. ♪

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