good evening, primary elections tonight in five states. , missouri michigan, kansas and washington. polls are closing just now in all or parts of three of them. abortion is on the ballot and khalil kansas supporters of the former presidents election lie are running in arizona and elsewhere. three republicans who voted to impeach the former president are all facing tough primary challenges from candidates that he's supporting. in arizona, state house speaker, rusty bowers, the conservative republican state house speaker who refused to help overturn the election and testified before the house select committee. he's also facing opposition

backed by the former president in his state senate race. some of those very same candidates are alsobeing supported controversially by democrats hoping to run against more extreme opponents in the fall. all of this, with inflation and fears of recession as a backdrop. president biden's recent legislative actions and foreign policy decisions on the table, and the midterm elections now just 90 days away. cnn's john king is over -- tracking all the important races and trends. let's check in with you first. so john, missouri polls are just closing. as we know, the former president caused a lot of confusion in his senate endorsement of two people named eric, both running for the same office. how is that race shaping up? >> yeah, anderson, the fact that we are talking about missouri is actually the story. in the sense that this is a retirement republic in government, roy blunt, with the wind at the republicans back, they should be a safe seat pull for republicans. but as you noted, the former president decided at the last minute to get involved. what did he mean, eric greitens? the disgraced disgraced former governor who had to resign because of allegations of

misconduct? he's now wants to be in the senate. did he mean eric greitens or eric schmidt. donald trump trying to be cute here in a very important phrase, republicans are not happy with this. both eric schmidt, by the way, the attorney general and eric greitens the governor, back to varying degrees trump's big lie. that's on the ballot again tonight. the democrats believe if he greitens can win this nomination, it might have a shot of picking up the seat. think of the gift that would be. 50/50 united states senate, republicans have a chance to take control. the senate is the most competitive battleground, if you look to governors races, house races, et cetera. if the democrats are in play in missouri after tonight, that is a gift for the democratic party. plain and simple. >> michigan, obviously another important state for the midterms in the next presidential cycle. what are some of the key races there? >> obviously, you have a to the notorious primary there. if governor gretchen whitmer's -- and again trump came in late in the governor's primary, here is endorsing tutor next in. again, ryan kelley, another republican candidate, is here in washington on january six at the united states capitol.

tudor dixon backs the big lie. so if you think about it, again michigan always a competitive battleground state. governors races, even more important now. that the supreme court has kicked the important abortion issue back to the states. will a cancer of the big lie continue to spread among major republican candidates for office? will republican voters, after january six hearings, as we get closer to the midterm elections, will there be a snap back? michigan will be the one of the places. we learned that. >> obviously, arizona, there's a lot going on in arizona in the governor's race. underscoring the trump versus pence proximal among voters. where are you looking for there? tonight >> again, if you bring up the two candidates, kari lake has gone to the full extreme, if you, one of channeling the big lie. she's challenging trump literally that if she says it's not if she doesn't win the primary tonight, cheating. if she wins, there's no cheating. but if she loses, there is cheating. that's donald trump personified in his preferred candidate in this race. this is trump versus pence, karrin taylor robeson is endorsed by mike pence, this is also trump versus the republican establishment. the current republican governor, whose term limited backs taylor robeson, so you have the trump establishment.

but arizona could, by the end of the night, nominate a full slate of statewide candidates who back the big lie. again, we need competitive political parties in this country. this is not an anti republican statement, but the cancer of the big lie and the republican party is on the ballot tonight. will the republican party finally say enough or will it in a critical battleground state this year, for the senate and governor, obviously in the next presidential election and every presidential of the next four, five arizona will be a key battleground state. do republican say enough or do they say the big lie, we, tonight we will nominate them? >> a lot to watch for. we will come back to shortly. john, i want to drill now in arizona. cnn's kyung lah is in scottsdale for us. do you have a sense of how much of an impact the former presidents influence is expected to be in arizona tonight? particularly in the primaries for governor and secretary of state. >> absolutely, certainly it's no secret that trump is endorsing here and they know exactly who he is endorsing. a lot of voters we've spoken to certainly know that kari lake is, as john just described, trump personified. that is no secret.

how it will play out with voters, if there is enough of that trump base remaining here in arizona, is going to be the question. that is the question that should be answered by the end of this evening. remember, 2020 never really ended here in arizona. this is a place where there was the partisan-lead review, that bizarro world of ballot counting, on that stadium floor, where trump forces shortly after the election put pressure on local officials. so there is a true battle here, a war between the election liars and the people who believe in democracy. the people who are going to the polls here, in many places, anderson, right behind, are certainly understanding that trump has endorsed. some say it played a part, a lot of people are saying not as much. so, that's a question that we need to wait to be answered. >> i assume some of the people saying not as much are the non-trump endorsed campaigns. >> absolutely. and actually,

i've been talking to a number of sources. i was just telling you about the amount of pressure that was put on local officials. i've spoken to a number of those local officials and they say really by the end of tonight they will find out if the republican party in arizona is lost or not. that is what they feel is going to be happening tonight. so there's very little daylight between candidates like karrin taylor robson and kari lake when you look at the issues like immigration or the economy. there is almost no difference. the big difference is how far they are willing to go with dangerous rhetoric and embracing something that is not true. and then something else i want to mention, anderson, secretary of state, he was someone who wants to oversee elections. he went to qanon conventions and wants to completely change the election system to something that's nonsensical and simply would not work, if you talk to federal election officials. so that's what's going to be happening. is this going to go by way of bizarre row world or will the republican party pull back and go back to republican values,

according to the many people i spoke to today about what is at stake here? >> kyung lah appreciate it, as -- missouri is home to the two erics, greitens and schmitt, both of whom got the presidents endorsement lots and in the republican u.s. senate race, or neither of them, depending on really how you look at it. cnn's -- joins us now with the latest. so what are you hearing from campaigns about how this last-minute kind of endorsement of the two erics is going to influence everything? or even not? >> anderson, there is no doubt that eric greitens is trying to stage an epic come back. four years after he resigned as governor. that is the question that missouri voters are going to answer today. are they still concerned about those allegations? he admitted some of them having the affair with his hairdresser, he has denied -- seriously allegations of abuse. of his ex-wife and his child. but this is what has hung over the race for the last several weeks here. and fellow republicans, his fellow republicans, have tried

to stop his candidacy through millions of dollars in television ads reminding missouri voters about all of those sort of details. so eric schmitt, the missouri attorney general, has really risen in the last several weeks, really taking advantage of some questions about the greitens candidacy, but also congressman vicky hartzler. she's been in congress for the last 12 years. she told me yesterday that she would not vote for eric greitens if he becomes the republican senate nominee. that is what worries republicans in washington, considerably, because this, of course, should be a safe republican seat. but in a 50/50 senate, every seat matters. so that is what concerns republicans. if eric greitens wins tonight, is he going to be able to be a credible general election candidate? we should also note though, there are 21 republican candidates on the ballot entirely. so the vote will be split up. mark mccloskey, who you may remember from st. louis, he and his wife stopped protesters at their home two summers ago holding a gun. he's also running for senate and his yard signs are all over the state here, john.

so this does appear to be a three-way contest, at least as republicans were going to the polls. but the big question, will eric greitens stage a comeback or not? >> yeah, that's something something to watch for tonight. jeff zeleny, appreciate it. tonight john king is joining us back as. cnn poll corresponded, our president, david chalian, and cnn senior political correspondent abby philip, -- let's start with arizona, the election tonight. >> i, mean there's so much going on here, as kyung pointed out. but this is a state where i think, you know, arizona politically right at this moment is probably as far to the right as one can be, in terms of this election denying phenomenon. these are republican voters who go crazy over sharpies, who did their sort of election audit with kind of, you know, as people have described it, almost like a fake firm running this audit and finding nothing at the end of the day.

>> the cyber ninjas. >> the cyber ninjas, they protested outside of bell ballot counting offices that week election date back in 2020. they are all in on the big lie and it shows, based on who they are choosing between, from top to bottom on this ballot. so this is a place where that state, the republican party, is going all the way to the right. but the state is a purple state. remember, joe biden won arizona and he won it bolstered by a growing population of young latino voters who are trending more democratic in arizona, maybe not elsewhere, but in arizona. so the state, politically, is splitting apart, and republicans are moving away from the center. >> when you think, of, like rusty bowers, a conservative republican who's been the speaker of the state house, he's now persona non grata among a lot of republicans in arizona. >> yeah and it's not just the

commitment to the big lie that donald trump tells about the 2020 election. what i think is so important about tonight in arizona and in michigan, two critical battleground states, two states that will help determine who the next president is, you have these election deniers seeking positions of oversight of elections. so everything we look at with the january 6th committee, right? you mentioned rusty bowers, there were people who stood up and said no, right? like, it's going to be country over party for me. that happened in enough places with enough republican officials to turn donald trump 's efforts away. now, you have these people who are committed to not just expressing his lies and repeating them, but actually potentially committed to overturning elections that they would then have oversight over, if they didn't like the results. that's what i think the biggest danger is in the way in which the republican primaries play out. >> you also have this sort of trump pence proxy war. i don't know how significant that really is.

>> you know, i think it's more a trump proxy war against the establishment of the republican party. we use mike pence or where he was a doug doocy in the governor of arizona as the person on this other side. you know it's interesting to? is that we're going to these primaries that are being held in the middle of august right now, the dog days of august, we are not going to see record turnout. what we are going to see turnout by those who are most motivated, who are going to be very likely to be election deniers. they are more motivated to go out to try to take back and win that seat than it is for these more centrist republicans to try to defend it, and hold back. so when i do think when we look at results at the end of this week, because we won't see results into some of these races until this week, the republican party, has it been taken over by activists that are willing to continue to push the big lie but are oh so willing to be involved? >> in michigan, there is a gop

congressman peter meijer, who's one of ten house republicans who voted to impeach the former president after the attack on the capital. what are you watching for that in that race? >> you are watching to see with the january 6th hearings, all this attention on donald trump 's misconduct, dereliction of duty, do they finally decide, enough, we are not going to carry out donald trump's grievances anymore. ten republicans voted to impeach him. there are three contests tonight. there are two in -- one in washington. state republicans, do they want to support the republicans, or will they carry out trump's grievances? what is also common about all three of these districts, and i just want to come back to the other map to connected to the points we are discussing with my colleagues, is the suburbs. those are suburban republican districts, the suburbs will decide who wins in arizona. the suburbs will decide who wins statewide in michigan. the suburbs will decide all the

clothes -- derecho bush president. they supported donald trump just barely and then they were held against. time in 2018 and 2020. suburban america is going to decide what happens in november, and it's also gonna have a big voice tonight. suburban republicans in arizona, in michigan, in washington state, and in kansas on the abortion question tonight. suburban america will speak, and the democrats will be watching. kansas probably, more than any state, to see what is the message. >> what about, in kansas, abortion really is on the ballot for the first time since the roe v. wade decision was overturned. >> this is clearly a first test to watch. it is a bit of a kind of hot house of a situation where everybody's attention is on it. the results have been in terms of turnout, there's a lot of interest in this referendum. but there's also a lot of confusion about this ballot initiative. referendums are often confusing for voters. so the people who are going to the ballot here are gonna have

to pay very close attention to what they are voting on because, yes, means basically no to abortion in the state. and that is going to be very confusing to people. but millions, and millions of dollars pouring on both sides on this issue. and i think it will show us a little bit whether or not either side of this can gain the upper hand. also, what i'm looking at tonight in kansas is there are a lot of women who, you might ask them, they might personally, say i don't support abortion, but they are not comfortable with the state putting in place complete abortion bans. and i think that is something that we will learn more about after the results in the referendum in kansas. ll learn more about after the results in the referendum in kansas. >> we also have washington state and referenced an's, some republican candidates who are.

facing primary challenges because they voted in the second impeachment against the president. i mean, does that still have power to bring people up to the polls? >> i think. so if you look at two numbers, three, three tonight, peter meijer in michigan, and you have these to republicans in washington state right now who all voted to impeach donald trump. if you look at number ten, if you look at number ten, that's a total of republican

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>> the visit is, big but the potential repercussions are bigger. nancy pelosi response to announcing -- visiting taipei. and melting live fire military actions and water surrounding the islands. the biden administration did not want the speaker to visit taiwan, but the president stopped short by telling her not. to law makers are split. many experts, our next guest new york times foreign affairs column is, tom friedman, in a piece that he wrote shortly before the speaker's arrival, he called the visit dangerous and irresponsible. nothing good will come of it. don freeman joins us now. he is the author of several bestsellers, such as thank you for being late. so, tom, why was this the wrong thing to do? >> well, i want to make clear that i under stood, i like

nancy pelosi, we would not have had the affordable care act without her. she's been a great legislator, but it looks like it's a, swansong who feels like it's her speakership's ending, and she wanted to make this trip. now i get it for nancy pelosi. i don't get it for america. she had a right to do this, but it doesn't mean it was right to do at this time. what did i feel about it? i feel like we have won or overriding foreign policy goal right now, anderson, and that's to ensure that vladimir putin's army in ukraine is at least stall and ideally evicted from ukraine. that is the number one foreign policy issue of the united states. and on the surface of that goal, with the call with the biden administration, through some very tough talks with china's leader, got china to agree not to send arms to putin. that was very important at the beginning of the war. it's even more important now, in month five when putin's army is really running low on certain i munitions. doing anything right now that

would interrupt that chinese decision, or put us into a two front confrontation with the world's two biggest superpowers at the same time, it's just a terrible decision. >> i want to read what nazi pelosi said ib washington post, why she was, going by traveling to taiwan, be on are our commitment to democracy, and the freedoms of taiwan, and all democracies must be respected. and i am sure, if she heard, you should point out that she went to kyiv to see, and meet with zelenskyy and to emphasize the importance of the war in ukraine. god bless her for doing that. and by the way she's absolutely right in principle. we should be doing that. i'm a big believer in -- we should defend taiwan's democracy. i think it's very important. i actually agree with the president on that.

is just whether it's the smart thing to do right now. whether we want to put her in a situation, or juggling to superpower confrontations at the same time. i hope the chinese will do a show and be done with. but they may not, anderson. and people seem to forget the chinese army is very, very large. and very sophisticated. and our goal for taiwan's, as someone like myself, who believes in the freedom and democracy of taiwan, and it should be perpetuated. to me, the right way to do that is to keep taiwan out of the news. quietly arm them, turn them turn them into a porcupine that china would say, every morning, you know what's, not today. i don't put my hand on that. and quietly keep it that way, because, who knows, over time china may change the situation. it may change every day -- every day that taiwan's democracy thrives, it's a good day. >> john kirby is the nbc spokesman, who said there is essentially [inaudible] the intent of the speaker's trip, to affirm the support of a democratic taiwan, and the white house is backing up the one china policy. substantively, does the trip really change anything? other than ratcheting up the,

you know the tension? >> that's all it really does. i hope it dies down, she will have made her point. but if it doesn't, if it contributes to, another thing that we have to be concerned about. one reason why putin probably invaded ukraine is because he felt the window of opportunity was closing. ukraine was getting strong, too integrated into the european union. i would be concerned that what we are telling she right now is that the chance for peacefully vacation of china and taiwan is over. and i don't want xi to conclude that his window of opportunity for seizing taiwan is closed. so i think we have all these different dimensions to the story. >> do you, think if it doesn't end with a major escalation which i, know do you think it fades away, do you think it hangs over the u.s. china relations for sometime? >> illegal bad taste, but we have many things we need to do

with each other right now. the u.s. and china, we have a broad agenda from trade, obviously to geopolitics. i hope it dies down, i hope china will set us a few flares, whatever, doesn't buy a week or two weeks from, now it's all over. but you know, you have to ask at nancy pelosi, if you are going to do this, what is the strategic context in which you are doing this? what is the strategy? is it just to make a point or is it to make a point now, in this context, because i think this relationship between us and taiwan and the friction it can cause with china is more important than anything going on with russia. it's just to say, we have a right to do that. yes, we have a right to do that. that doesn't mean that it was right to do right now. that is my only grief. don freeman, i appreciate it, thank you. >> thank you. >> coming, up more missing texts related to the january 6th investigation. this time involving some top military officials. detail ahead. ♪ from boston. ♪ it means, “ok-to-beer-fest”.

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tonight, we're learning about yet another agency would lead to tax measures connected investigations right of the january 6th attack. now, this new revelation involves the pentagon. it comes after a similar controversy involving secret service agents. in court filings, a watchdog group, american oversight, says it had tried to get the records of officials, including former acting secretary of defense, chris miller, former chief of staff, kash patel, and former

army secretary, ryan mccarthy. there is no suggestion the officials themselves erase the records. according to a joint filing by the government and american oversight, quote, d. o. d. and army conveyed the plaintiffs that when an employee separates from d. o. d. or army, he or she turns in the government issued phone and the phone is wiped. for those custodians no longer with the agency, the text messages were not preserved and therefore cannot be searched. >> the visit is, big but the potential republican -- -- joined now by cnn senior law enforcement analyst, andrew mccabe, former deputy director of the fbi. i want to get your reaction is to this news, especially coming on the heels of similar revelations about the secret service, excuse me, yeah, the secret service and the department of homeland security. >> so anderson, you know, we i'm now looking at essentially

the same coincidence that the department of secret service, at the department of homeland security, and now at the defense department. it's starting to look less and less like a coincidence. in the absolute least case, there is a complete and total failure to abide by and live up to the responsibilities under the federal records act. so yeah, this is becoming more confounding the further we look. >> so lofgrin, who's on the january six committee, told us that turns out the committee was not aware of the racist text messages. pentagon officials say they only found out today or they found out today after cnn reported it, what does it say to you about the level of transparency that the committee is actually getting from relevant federal officials? >> well, it's sorely lacking. that could be the committee's responsibility. maybe they have not done a good job in organizing their requests and monitoring those requests that they have

outstanding to all the different agencies and the different players that are involved in this massive investigation. but on the other hand, it might be on the agencies side for failing to respond for obfuscating, for not responding, you know, and a fully forthcoming way. but, you know, this is the sort of thing, anderson, that could be very simply investigated by a competent investigative entity. you know, it's almost unbelievable to think that the department of defense does not have a system in place to make sure that those people who serve at a high enough level, that their communications, their personal notes, they're briefing materials, all that stuff comes under the federal records preservation requirements. it's impossible for me to believe that they don't have a process and an entire staff that's responsible for collecting that material and sending it to the national archives. so, did that happen? if not, why? >> i should say, i misspoke

actually when i was asking you a question. zoe lofgren said that the select committee told cnn that to her knowledge, the committee was not aware of these race messages from pentagon officials. not pentagon officials were not aware. but, i mean, to the argument that this is just part of the process, you hand in your phone when you leave government, it gets wiped, nothing to see here. you are saying for officials at a certain level, the records keeping act should kick in? >> of course. when i started working at a high enough level in the fbi, certainly as an executive assistant director or as a deputy director of the fbi, one of the first things that happened when i took that job was our received a security briefing, in which our lawyers explained to me that essentially everything i read, everything i touched, everything i wrote had to be captured and preserved, and that the staff would do that. and all those records were

collected in one place, and ultimately, be sent to the national archives. that includes all your emails, of course, and your text messages. the fbi has a system in place that text messages are actually collected from every fbi phone while the phones are being used. i guess some agencies don't go that far, but it's not that hard to make sure that the secretary of defense, on leaving the organization, his phone should get at least mirrored and preserved for all kinds of litigation reasons, for discovery reasons, and of course, federal records act. >> and is it possible to recover deleted text messages? i mean, when you hear about deleted text messages being recovered all the time in certain court cases or lawsuits. but are officials that were cited in this lawsuit, including former acting secretary of defense, chris miller, former chief of staff, former secretary of the army, i mean, they are viewed as crucial witnesses to understanding the government's response on that day. >> the effort to recover those messages is certainly worth undertaking. whether or not you can do it

successfully really depends on the technology involved. you have to recover those phones, then you would have to subject those phones to a pretty detailed forensic analysis. if they were simply deleted, you could probably recover them. if the phones were wiped and the memory was reconfigured, and those phones, and the process, you might never get them back. it really depends on what kind of action was taken on those devices. >> andrew mccabe, appreciate as always. thank you. >> thanks. >> coming, up nine and a half years of hell. that's how a sandy hook parent describes the pain he has endured because of conspiracy spreader and liar alex jones. the father says that jones has tarnished the honor and legacy of his murdered son. more on his courtroom testimony today, next.

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>> devastating testimony from two sandy hook parents today in austin, texas, courtroom. one of several defamation cases against alex jones. it's the first of three to determine monetary damages for falsely portraying the massacre as a hoax. two in texas, one in connecticut, where 21 first graders and six adults were murdered nearly ten years ago. testifying test is, the parents of six earl jessie lewis. jones also took the stand late today, and got admonished by the judge. for continuing his testimony tomorrow. more of that on the moment.

but first, the parent's message from the parents to the court from cnn's matt nicholas. >> my son existed. >> my son existed, says scarlett lewis, the mother of six-year-old jesse lewis, speaking directly to conspiracy theorist alex jones in an austin, texas courtroom. >> jesse was real, i am a real mom. >> in an utterly unthinkable sign of our times, scarlett lewis makes the case that she, and her dead child, are real. directly to jones. >> it doesn't exist, in a deep state -- it's just not true. i know you know that. that's the problem. i know you know that. and you keep saying it. you keep saying it. why? why? for money? because you made a lot of money while you've said it. i know you -- i mean -- i know you believe me.

and yet you are going to get -- you're gonna leave this courthouse, and you are going to say it again on your show. you are saying no, you just did it. >> on his show, today, today, he raised questions about both scarlett lewis and the boy's father who were seeking up to $150 million in damages. >> they're being been manipulated by some very bad people. almost a cause i have to be honest, he is slow. and his ex-wife's not. >> the main jones is calling slow a manipulative, jesse lu says father, neil heslin. >> >> [inaudible] spoke about it one and a half times. and, i cherish those days.

those years. with jesse. >> in all, families of seven victims and one fbi agent have successfully sued alex jones for deformation in three different trials, taking place in both texas and connecticut. jones testified he was simply trying to get answers to questions that others were asking. >> i never intentionally tried to hurt you, i never even said your name until this case reached court. i didn't even know who you were until a couple of years ago when all of this started up. the internet had a lot of questions, i had questions. >> based on a separate legal filing, families of sandy hook victims allege jones is using bankruptcy laws to shield tens of millions of dollars from any possible liability. miguel marquez, cnn, new york. >> lots to discuss, joining me

now is elizabeth williamson of the new york times who was in the austin courtroom today. she's the author of an extraordinary book called sandy hook: an american tragedy and the battle for truth. elizabeth, what happened in the courtroom today after the judge left the room? >> it was an emotional day to say the least, anderson. at the end of that day, after the judge went back to her chambers, alex jones approached scarlett lewis and neil heslin, jesse's parents, shook their hands. i think scott -- garland offered him a bottle of water, because he had been coughing through's testimony. and he was telling them that he was sorry. the lawyers kind of got into the middle of this because they see this as a kind of gambit because jones has repeatedly said that he's apologized to the parents, but this has always been a backhanded apology, bookended by another charge against them for being an actor.

so what have you. with i mean, the fact that they have to be in the same room with this person, and touch this hand, you know the fact that they're willing to touch his hand to shake it it says a lot about them. but it says really nothing. alex jones said all there is to say about him. he has shown himself to be who he is. in testimony, can you just talk about what's neil assad and his father said about the violent threats that he had faced? >> he has said that people have confronted him on the street, he's got an anonymous phone calls, but most alarming in his testimony today, was the fact that, and i have this in my book as, well someone fired a gun into his house. today, he further testified that this spring, someone drove by the house in the car, yelled alex jones, and he could hear the son of gunfire. for him, this

is far beyond some online harassment. it's a very real threat, and scarlet spoke to the fear that sort of stocks them ever since the shooting. >> the fact that any grieving parent who has lost a little child has to have a second of thinking about the sick [inaudible] it breaks my heart that a grieving parent has to go through this. no part of their mind should be occupied with the existence of this person. jones took the stand today. i know that the topic of his company filing for bankruptcy came up. does he just shielded -- how does he shield his money? or does he? >> he has a web of fellow season which he has got a sort of shell game, it appears to be going --

>> llc are limited liability corporations. >> correct, yes. and they say that he's been shifting money around. they think the bankruptcy filing is a pure gambit. he tried to say before the jurors, in fact he did say, that he was bankrupt. that is false. he has filed for bankruptcy, and that is still being adjudicated. he has always tried to submit that he tried to apologize or that he was fully compliant in the run up to these trials. in fact, the reason why he's on trial for damages because he had such utter disregard for the judicial system, that he was defaulted in all of these cases. he lost the defamation cases because he refused to comply. but he keeps attempting to re-litigate these cases, when in fact, he's already been found liable, and these trials are just for how much he should pay these families. >> it's fascinating to see him in court after all the bluster and bravado he has in his internet show, to see him trying to apologize, such as it

is, to these parents in order to just lessen the verdict. what's expected to happen tomorrow? >> tomorrow, he will continue to testify, but i have to say it, and i really want to make sure that people understand this, this was a singularly powerful moment for scarlett lewis in particular. he was squirming in his chair, and she would not let him look down or fidget. she was addressing him directly. and one of the things she said was alex, i want you to hear this. she was not angry, she was actually compassionate, and that was even more powerful. the room was really riveted and he was extremely uncomfortable. it was an accident of scheduling that he was even there while she was still testifying.

and it was quite a moment. >> it's extraordinary grace and strength that she has to be able to, as we see right now, talk directly to this person who has spread unbelievable things. elizabeth williamson, i appreciate it, thank you. >> thank you, anderson. >> coming, back we will check with john king. more primary results coming in. and more talks once the ears in the polls closed. when the next hour comes up next. when moderate to severe ulcerative colitis persists... put it in check with rinvoq, a once-daily pill. when uc got unpredictable,... i got rapid symptom relief with rinvoq. check. when uc held me back... i got lasting, steroid-free remission with rinvoq. check. and when uc got the upper hand...

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non-gaming tribes have been left in the dust. wealthy tribes with big casinos make billions, while small tribes struggle in poverty. prop 27 is a game changer. 27 taxes and regulates online sports betting to fund permanent solution to homelessness. while helping every tribe in california. so who's attacking prop 27? wealthy casino tribes who want all the money for themselves support small tribes, address homelessness. vote yes on 27. seen this ad? it's not paid for by california tribes.

it's paid for by the out of state gambling corporations that wrote prop 27. it doesn't tell you 90% of the profits go to the out of state corporations. a tiny share goes to the homeless, and even less to tribes. and a big loophole says, costs to promote betting reduce money for the tribes, so they get less. hidden agendas. fine print. loopholes. prop 27. they didn't write it for the tribes or the homeless. they wrote it for themselves. polls are beginning to close in arizona in a few minutes. and more results coming in from kansas, missouri, and michigan. i want to check back in with john king. , so people start closing soon in arizona. how big can the message for the gubernatorial primary possibly sent to the rest of the republican party? >> the question, anderson, is how deep do we wait for the

results. how deep is this cancer supporting the big, light saying elections are rigged in the republican blood stream. carrie lake is the endorsed candidate, who says that if she loses the primary tonight, is because they're cheating. who does that sound? like so how deep is the republican party in arizona. not only for the race for governor, this is trump versus mike pence. trump versus the establishment. how deep is it for the governor, or will they -- nominate an entire state right of candidates who backed the big lie. , or will the republican party finally say, enough, move on. that's the big question there's. and that >> it's incredible, she said that the, cheating if you lose, i assume, as you said earlier if she, wins you know no cheating. >> it's funny how that works. >> yeah. >> what's new information about results in missouri, michigan do you have? >> so, let's go to michigan, first because of the. map today to extend to donald trump did endorse at the last-minute. she previously had the endorsement of a very prominent republican with state betsy devos, the well devos family. she is leading early on about 11% of the vote counted, but she has a healthy early lead, and you'll notice looking at the, map the yellow every

county reported so far. about a ways to go. yeah but that's an encouraging sign clearly for dickson there. she would face the democratic incumbent, gretchen whitmer, if she is the nominee. and we switch to that senate race in missouri. you see purple on the map right. now that is the attorney general, eric schmidt. one of the two, erica few. well donald trump said he totally endorsed eric. is it eric schmidt are eric greitens? eric smith is leading with 40% of the vote. eric riddance is running a distant. third again, this is only about 3% of the votes right now. vicky, the republican ngond athe moment. i just want to note, anderson, as you watch a map fill in, you see her support out here in the west central part of the state. that's your current congressional district. so vicky hartzler, not all these counties, as we move further east, these are outside for the district, but these counties, writer not a surprise. she is running strong there for a long way to. go, john, do you know every county in every state? >> not everyone. but, you know 3000. plus they're worth stunning. america's a great. place >> well, you have, but the fact that you remember all of, this is incredible to. me so, kansas voters weighing

in on a proposed state constitutional amendment on abortion. we talked about earlier in the program. any sense of how close that may be? >> in some, ways that might be the most interesting thing tonight. democrats have a theory that because of the supreme court decision, suburban republicans will come home to democrats this year. they don't want to support republicans. so, is that the case? the democrats will come out of the woodwork to vote. no. if you want to change the kansas constitution, and allow the legislature to ban, abortion then your voting yes. if you want to keep kansas constitution in place right now, which guarantees at least a basic right to an abortion, you don't know. no is leading at the moment. again, only 8% of the voting. but that's a pretty big lead out of the mitts. so what's the turnout? here you heard me, say earlier, anderson, in the suburbs, manhattan, topeka, kansas city, this is suburban parts right here in the state that the. moment those who support abortion rights are leading in the state of kansas. a lot of votes to. count >> john king, appreciate it, thanks. we'll be right back.

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hmm! order 11! yes, see you at 11. ♪ 1111 masters blvd. please. that'll be 11 even, buddy. really? the clues are all around us... some things are too obvious to be a coincidence. ♪ this continues, but senate over to laura coates and cnn tonight, laura? >> anderson, thank you so much, i am laura coates, and this is cnn tonight. as they say, with what, 98 days till the midterm elections. which is like tomorrow, or a long ways away, depending how you view politics. its election night in america once again. the polls are now close in michigan, in kansas, and parts of arizona. five states have primaries today, including key battlegrounds that could shape the race for which party will be the majority. democrats, once again or