though, with a surge of mar-a-lago in the fight in court today over unsealing documents. cnn's jessica schneider has that. so jessica, walk us through what the judge ordered today. >> yeah, so anderson, the judge telling doj to really go back to the drawing board and find a way to at least release some of this information from the affidavit. the judge is telling prosecutors to things. oppose redactions, but also better explain why they need to keep large sections of this secret. so the judge has set a deadline. he wants the recommendations next thursday at noon. and after that point, the judge says, he might have a dent additional confidential discussions with doj before you make that final decision about what to release. so, you know, parts of it are likely to get publicly released. but maybe not big portions. and certainly not the juiciest and most consequential details. however, the judge did release several filings related to the search today. there were mostly general information, but we did get some insight into this criminal investigation. so for example, the application from the warrant, it really better

details the potential offenses being investigated. you can see there, it says willful retention of national defense information, also concealment or removal of government records. also obstruction of a federal investigation. that willful retention that you see there, anderson, it's key because legal experts are telling our evan perez and caitlin polantz that it's that language that points directly to the former president as a possible subject of the criminal probe. something else that was released was the motion to seal, and it has federal prosecutors expressing their concern that, as you can see there, evidence might be destroyed. and, you know anderson, that could explain why fbi agents were really compelled to move in and spent hours taking, you know, 11 steps of classified documents in the end. >> could you just explain what the doj's main argument against releasing the affidavit is? >> yeah, they've been arguing this in their papers, they also argued it forcefully in court today. they are warning here, and they are saying this to the judge, that the release of the

affidavit, it's not only going to derail their investigation, which is still ongoing, but more crucially, anderson, they are saying it's going to endanger witnesses, even the investigators working on this probe. the lead prosecutor today in court, jay brat, he talked about how there is a very revealing information in the affidavit that would make very clear who is talking to the feds about this. he talked about the fact that this is has been a volatile situation ever since the mar-a-lago search just about, what, two weeks ago. people have been threatening fbi agents, so he saying that these witnesses could be in danger if these crucial details in the affidavit come out. so we will see what the doj proposes next week, because at this point, anderson, they've already argued in their papers, and in courts, and in the court proceeding, that any redactions that they suggest, they say it would be so extensive that there would be nothing left of substance. but the judge here is pushing them to find some way to get some information out to the public. we will see, maybe in just about a week or so. >> all right, jessica snider, appreciated. good details. --

specialty's national security and the law, she's also a senior fellow at the center for new american security. also with, us former federal judge, nancy green, or who is currently a senior lecturer at harvard law school. and judge gardner, was it surprising to you that the judge in this matter set up the potential release of a redacted affidavit? >> it was very surprising. i think that he must be feeling the pressure from the public to find out what's going on. i'm still not convinced that anything material will be released here. the department of justice is on the horns of a dilemma. i would imagine that this is an affidavit even more exhaustive than most, because they knew what the target was, and they knew that there would be pushback. and so, now having laid it all out and more, in an affidavit to have the risk that everything that they are doing become public is really, you know, must be very, very troubling to them. so i'm withholding judgment until i see whether they're redactions

really leave anything left of substance for the public to look at. also bear in mind, there is an appeal to the judge. this is a magistrate judge's decision and there is an appeal to the judge, so i wouldn't hold my breath about hope about seeing this anytime soon. >> carrie, the procedural documents that were released today, which listed the potential offenses being investigated by the department of justice, as jessica was mentioning, willful retention of national defense information, concealment, or removal of government records, obstruction of federal investigation, does any of that sharpen the focus on the former presidents possible subject of a criminal probe? >> well, that willful retention case, that's part of what's known as the espionage statute. it's a collection of statutes where really serious breaches of unauthorized disclosure or retention of classified information are usually prosecuted. and so, because he was the person who had originally authority to retain these documents, but then when

he left office and went back home to mar-a-lago, he no longer had authorized access. and then the willful piece, this is one particular provision of those espionage statutes. so i think that points to his role in having had access to the information, then no longer having appropriate lawful access to it, and then keeping it, and not returning it. >> judge gardner, what do you think of the willful retention of defense information? >> i think you have to check back and look at the timeline. the timeline here was, he leaves the white house, stuck his foot into boxes. okay, maybe it wasn't inadvertent putting stuff in the boxes that he shouldn't of. then the national archives gets on the case and he returns 15 boxes, then there was one subpoena, then there's another subpoena, then there's a visit to mar-a-lago. and now this search, it's very hard under those circumstances, to say, whoops, i accidentally slip in a top

secret document. so the intentionality, to some degree, looks different in august of 2022 than it might have 18 months ago. >> carey, obviously cnn and other news organizations have been pushing to try to look and get this affidavit out to the public. i understand their argument, certainly the counter argument with the justice department making today, in which they laid out today, is that letting the public read it would provide a roadmap to the investigation, is what they said. and that it would indicate the next steps in the probe. if some of the information is released, if true, that would possibly severely hinder the investigation, wouldn't it? >> it would and, so for my perspective as a former justice department national security lawyer, and what the current national security division lawyers are arguing to the court, is that first of all, it will reveal things about the current investigation. so, based on the arguments justice is making, this investigation is ongoing. they have witnesses who have provided information. if this information in the

affidavit is released, it's going to expose that. it's going to shorten the investigation, it's going to disrupt, it is going to cut it off before they are ready, and before they feel like they have completed it. it also, importantly, anderson, would set a potential precedent for other counterintelligence cases, where classified information is at risk. i mean, one of the things we have to keep in mind is that even though this is a former president, the justice department needs to apply the law equally amongst people. and so, if, in this circumstance, a court says, well yes, there's a high public interest, so we are going to order the release of the affidavit, the justice department has to think about the equities and other investigations. all sorts of national security investigations potentially have a fairly significant public interest. they are highly classified documents, they are important national security cases. so i would think the justice department is really concerned about the precedent that this might set. >> but judge gertner, if the judge end up releasing portions

of the affidavit, it likely a lot would be redacted. we talked to a -- former doj official last night, he said it would be a giant black box because of all the redactions. >> no, i think that's right. one other thing related to what we've been talking about, by the way, is that whereas a judge asked trump's, as the government to check with trump about the release of the warrant, he's not asked trump, trump's lawyers, about the release of the search warrant affidavit. and my understanding is that trump's lawyers were present today, but didn't say anything. clearly, if trump weighed in, that would at least illuminate one concern, which is the concern that someone who is not yet been indicted, if he's ever indicted, this will be a massive pretrial publicity. and if he has a way of those arguments by agreeing to this release. but they said nothing. >> carrie, why do you think that is, carrie?

>> i think two potential reasons, which are very different, of why the trump lawyers might not have done anything. one, they really can let the media organizations do the work on this. the arguments in the public interest are stronger, from my perspective, as coming from the media organizations versus coming from the former president. there's also a possibility, so this is the second potential explanation, that the lawyers representing the former president are potentially implicated. in particular, on the obstruction angle that the justice department is looking at. if they've been involved as an intermediary between the justice department and the former president, and made assertions about documents having been returned, they might be potentially concerned about their own exposure here, and need to be thinking through that. >> -- judge nancy gertner, appreciate, it thank you. much more reaction among the former president and his allies, their courtroom strategy, versus their public statements and the money they've been making ever since the fbi showed up at mar-a-lago, cnn's kaitlan collins joins us with that. so what is the former presidents

legal team official position on releasing the affidavit? >> officially, they haven't really supposition or taken one, anderson. they are saying one thing publicly, and another thing in court. what they are saying publicly is that they want this full affidavit released, this is what justified that search of the former president's home. and they say they want to see all of it, they say in an interest of transparency, there should be no redactions. of course, we've seen some of the comments from some of his attorneys noting that it would obviously reveal potentially a witness who helped justify this warrant. but then what they are seeing in court, anderson, really is not much of anything because kristina bob, which one of trump's attorneys, was there today in court, as this proceeding was going on. she said she was just there to observe it. she didn't formally file kind of anything trying to say that they do publicly want to see that affidavit released in its full form. and said, she was just there really observing. so, it is notable, they are saying one thing publicly, and social media, and on cable television, and they are not really seeing much of

anything in court yet. though i am still told, by a source, they are reserving that option and they may pursue that in the near future. >> who are the president's lawyers in all of this? you mentioned one of them, i mean, how do they compare to some of the kind of rather infamous attorneys he's had previously? >> he's no stranger to attorneys, obviously. he's had to deal with them when it came to the mueller probe, when it came to his impeachment hearings, for several different cases, including the one in new york right now. so right now, what you are seeing basically is evan coren is the legal -- he's also got christina bob, she's the one who was present at mar-a-lago when the search was actually going on, on that monday. she was also there when the investigators visited back in june, as was evan corcoran, who people may recognize because he's been the one standing behind steve bannon when he was in court dealing with his legal difficulties. he was his lawyer there as well. and so, he's got a few others on his team, but i am told he is searching to add someone else. because this is such a sprawling case, it is multi-pronged, it obviously

involves the justice department. it is not just in florida, but also in washington. and so, they are looking to add someone from florida. they have not yet announced to that attorney is going to be. but i am told that trump has been on the phone with potential candidates for this, just as recently as this week, anderson, as they are trying to really figure out whether legal strategy is going to be here. >> and what sort of fund reading has a former president doing off the search in mar-a-lago? >> a lot, he's bringing in a lot of money, anderson, from this. it's not a surprise, if you get his text messages, which obviously reporters, because they want to see what he's saying to his supporters. and he has basically been fundraising nonstop off of this surge, which he's referring to as a raid conducted by democrats of his home instead of a lawfully executed search warrant of his residence, because he had classified information there, according to the justice department. he's been fundraising off of it and email, after email, and text after text, has been about this sort of mar-a-lago. i'm told by a source that actually, in the days following the search, initially right after it

happened, two of those days, they topped over $1 million in donations to his political action committee. which is quite a lot of money, obviously. he's been raising money ever since he left office, but it does speak to while you are watching how those legal strategies are playing out, how he's using this to his benefit when it comes to fund raising. >> kaitlan collins, appreciate it. whatever is unsealed and revealed by the government's case in the coming days might not answer the why question, why would the former president take and tragically classified documents he apparently was not entitled to? maggie haberman joins us with her new reporting on just that question next. also with a former trump organization, chief financial officer, allen weisselberg, pleaded to in court when he agreed to testify about an exchange for a lighter exchange for a lighter sentence. -- ♪ (customer) save yourself?! money with farmers. (burke) that's not wrong. when you bundle your home and auto policies with farmers,

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hanging over nearly everything in the search for mar-a-lago, and where the search moment david's unsealed, is what the

former president one with the documents in the first place. why did he keep them? why did the government ask for them back? the answer, which our next guests, there could be a lot of different reasons, one of them could boil down to just two words, me and mine. cnn political analyst, new york's times national correspondent, -- maggie haberman is just reading about -- so you raised, i mean, there are a bunch of different explanations, but you raise one possibility that this may be more about the president's former presidents personality than anything else. >> it could be and he was certainly known as somebody who liked to show things off. he liked to show off the accoutrements of being president. when he was a businessman, he had tchotchkes in some corner of his office, shaquille o'neal's giant shoe he would show off a lot to his voters. it's always the same tour. he liked showing off these kim jong-un letters when he was president. people would come to the oval office, reporters, you know, visiting dignitaries, you name it, and he would waive them around. we know that at least some of those were among the items that were at mar-a-lago. so that's one possibility. we know that he was telling advisors when he was resisting, giving things

these back, you know, they are mine. it's mine. and so forth. so that's always one possibility. the other is that he, you know, one other is that he sees some advantage, and whether that's something that makes him seem aggrandized or bigger, or whether it's that he could see it as deliveries of some kind, you know, you have to consider that possibility. there is a lot we still don't know. but trump, throughout his presidency, acts as if there is no difference between himself and the government, and his company. it was all one big brand. >> when we've talked about this before, when i went to his apartment to interview him long ago, i was obsessed. he had this fake run who are painting, it's a famous renoir painting, renoir two sisters, it's a very valuable painting, if it's real, this is the fake he had in his house. and it's a pretty bad fake. because i pulled up the original and i looked at the original right next to it, the real ones and the art institute of chicago. but he swears that the real one. he's continue to push that for a long time. is that sort of in that same vein of, like, he just likes to show

off stuff that he has? >> yeah, i mean look, again, part of the aspect of this is self aggrandizement. and so, claiming iran war that you are able to pretty easily tell, looking at the internet, is no t real, is real, is part of that self aggrandizement. that could absolutely be -- >> these are real documents. >> right, these are real documents and we don't know why he had them. we do know that he was being told to give them back repeatedly, and it took many, many months of 2021, then he finally sent back some, but not all. and so, there was a much longer fight. i don't want to sound as if we are minimizing the potential harm or potential lawbreaking, or anything else in saying that he simply treated this all as if it was about himself. then where it went from that, we don't know. >> you've also reported on how this is sort of emblematic of in general how he dealt with documents. i mean, flushing them down the toilet, ripping them up. >> yes, i mean, he was sloppy. there were documents that would

be ripped up, there were people who would have to go through his trash or go through the floor and take them back together, give them to the staff's secretary, so that they could be looked at to see whether they had to be preserved under the presidential records act, which has existed since, you know, after nixon, when nixon wanted to leave the white house with documents and tapes, then it became law. trump is supposed to be abiding by that. he never wanted to, he would take classified material or try to up to the residents. john kelly, the second white house chief of staff, tried really hard to keep him from doing that. i think that some of those constraints that kelly tried putting in place, trump definitely bristled at, and it's not clear to me what it looked like by 2020. >> politically, what does the former president gain or lose if the affidavit is released? >> so, it depends, anderson, because we don't know what's in it. obviously, several media outlets including my own have argued that it should be released. the justice department is arguing against it. trump's folks, i think, gain more by arguing, see, the justice department won't unseal it because if they thought there was advantage to this, to him in a real way, i think he would be getting into this fight himself. you will notice his lawyers have not filed anything in this case. his lawyer was there observing the

proceedings today, but its allies of trump who are going about arguing the same case as the media. i think he sees more advantage in being seen as somebody being victimized, because as we saw with the warrant, when the warrant was unsealed, it was not -- as a lot of people around him had been -- if not good news, at least neutral news. the statutes there are problematic for him. and so, i suspect that the warrant, the affidavit, would have similar issues. >> we should point, out cnn new york times, other news organizations, have been pushing for the release. maggie, appreciated. thanks very much and because this former president, unlike any before, it was often connected to more than one court case at a time, there's this tonight. allen weisselberg, his former longtime chief financial officer, standing up in a new york courtroom today pleading guilty to multiple felony counts that went on for years. for more on that want to plea deal he agreed to entails, we are joined now by cnn's -- somewhat details were revealed in the court today?

>> well anderson, weisselberg pleaded guilty to 15 felonies and admitted his involvement in a decades long tax fraud scheme with the trump organization. he admitted, under oath before the judge, that he knowingly did not pay income tax on a number of corporate benefits he received, including a corporate apartment, mercedes-benz, and private school tuition for two of his children. weisselberg also said, he hid those benefits from his accountant. that was part of this deal, he's required to testify against the trump organization, where he has worked for more than 40 years. when it goes on trial unrelated charges in october, weisselberg has agreed to do this, the manhattan district attorney has brought this case said that weisselberg's testimony will be invaluable. now, in exchange, weisselberg will receive a five month sentence. the judge has okay that, but he warned him today in court, that if he fails to meet any of the obligations he faces, he could receive a stiff sentence in state prison. now, one thing that weisselberg will not do, he will not implicate the former president or any of his children at the tax fraud trial, and he's also not cooperating with the manhattan district

attorney's ongoing criminal investigation into the trump organization's finances. anderson? >> has the trump organization responded? >> yeah, so there's clearly no bad blood between weisselberg and the trump organization, despite his guilty plea today. they put out a statement calling him, a fine and honorable man, saying that he was threatened and unfairly prosecuted. the trump organization also said that it will not plead guilty to the charges it is facing, ten counts, and said that they will go to trial in october. anderson? >> carrots gonell, appreciated. next, an exclusive new cnn reporting on the claim the former president made that he can declassify by standing order anything he took out of the oval office. more on that ahead. the former president's

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the former president's supporters floated an a number

of explanations for having boxes and boxes of documents from mar-a-lago. some highly classified, that he apparently should not have had. the most brazen, perhaps, is that they are not classified anymore because they say, he had a standing order to declassify anything he took from the oval office back to the residents. joining us now, cnn special correspondent, jamie gangel who's been checking that claim. the top officials from the previous administration, also chief -- and what her sources are telling her. jamie, how many former trump administration officials did you ask about this claim of the standing declassification order, and what did they say? anderson, we reached out to 18 former, and these were senior trump administration officials, the white house, national security, intelligence, just department, including his former chief of staff. many of these people served in positions where they either would have been included in the d process or at the very least, aware of such orders. here is what we were told. each and everyone pushed back, this missed the claim that trump that he had a standing order to declassify documents that left

the oval office and were taken up to the residents. in fact, many of them laughed when i called them. something that does not happen all the time with former trump officials, many of them went on the record. former white house chief of staff, john kelly told us, quote, nothing approaching an order that foolish was ever given. i cannot imagine anyone working at the white house after me would have simply shrugged their shoulders and allowed that order to go forward, without dying in the ditch trying to stop it. we also spoke to acting chief of staff, mick move any. he flatly dismissed the idea and told me, quote, not aware of a general standing order. we also spoke to former national security adviser, john bolton, and he said, quote, it was a complete fiction. just to go on and on, olivia trait, former homeland

security adviser to mike pence, called the notion lucas. another very senior intelligence official last, said it was ridiculous. and a very senior trump administration official, anderson, called it, quote, be s. he was not the only one who said that. >> wow, so are you sources telling you about how actually works compared to what happens in the trump white house? >> the source i spoke to familiar with the process in the trump way asset that, look, the president can say, i want something declassified. that is fine, but what happens to happen is that has to be memorialized. there has to be a record of it. it has to be run through the paces of various agencies. this or said to me, so, as a practical matter, the president has to be able to prove if he is asking things to

be discussed a fight, then he did ask for things to be declassified. otherwise, it is like a tree falling in the forest with no one there to hear it. he says it is ridiculous. >> there would be a paper trail with other agencies, who are involved in this process, as well. were any of the people you talk too aware of anything that donald trump is not claiming? >> no, as one said to me, where is his signature? prove it to me. this can't simply be an idea in his head. he can't -- several of the sources said to me that he can't wave a magic wand and make it so. there is a process. it is a complicated process. it frequently involves many of the agencies, because it could impact the cia. it could impact the department of justice. certainly, let's make the point not after the fact can a former president -- >> it's not retroactive. >> no, it's not. >> there is a standard way to

declassify documents. >> yes, i was told that there was a handful of attorneys inside the white house who actually have this kind of top clearance. but the national security agency really controlled this. as jimmie is saying, it has to go through assorted agencies, like a defense department, the state department, the cia, who are all going to be affected. i was also told by the sources that the president himself was told this, that you can't just routinely declassify something and say, it's done. then i was told, he was counseled that it is not the way it works, but he believed he could do it anywhere he wanted. >> jimmy, it's a clear theory that there is a strategy at the former president making this claim, but is this -- they made a bunch of different claims and seeing what sticks, make as many different claims as they can.

>> so, one source said to me, if trump did this, this was his best kept secure. look at the timing. what is going on now where all of the sudden he wants to do this? several sources said to me, it is a defense strategy. he is trying to have a defense for why all these documents were at more lago that shouldn't have been there. >> jimmy gangel, fascinating, we'll have more on jim's new story with someone quoted in it. we will talk to the former president's national security adviser john bolton who joins us with his assessment about trump's claim about a standing declassification order. so we of better breathing. fasenra is an add-on treatment for asthma driven by eosinophils. it helps prevent asthma attacks, improve breathing, and lower use of oral steroids. fasenra is not a rescue medication or for other eosinophilic conditions. fasenra may cause allergic reactions. get help right away if you have swelling of your face, mouth and tongue, or trouble breathing. don't stop your asthma treatments unless your doctor tells you to.

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so we were just discussing the new exclusive cnn reporting quoting 18 officials that the previous administration saying that they don't believe the former presidents claim for why he at classified, top secret information at his florida residence. they said there was no standing order to declassify documents from the oval office. i want to get perspective from one of the people quoted in that piece, former national security adviser, john bolton, who previously served as u.s. ambassador to the un. he's also an author of a memoir. you have

been saying for a while that they're standing order of the classified documents was complete fiction, and you are never briefed on that. cnn has talked to 17 other former trump administration officials who said the same thing, no such order existed to their knowledge. if you had been aware of the policy, would you have argued against it? >> absolutely, it makes no sense whatsoever. number one, there is no real danger, if the president takes documents from the oval office to the living quarters in the main white house. if there were people up there with access to documents that were problematic, we would have a much more serious issue. the safety of the president himself would be at stake. moreover, it would be a logistical nightmare because the only way you would know what to declassify would be to

take down information on every document that he took up there every night and then transmit around and make the paperwork to do alone would be overwhelming. moreover, i think which shows that this is a fabrication is the focus is on donald trump, as opposed to the rest of the government. when you declassified document, it would not be declassified just as to donald trump, the entire government would have it because a fight, so that at least in theory, those organizations could request production under the freedom of information act every single document he declassify's. >> so there would be a paper trail? >> yes, there has to be a paper trail. to be clear, some people interpret this is saying that the subordinates of the president can counter man's order, and effect. that is not true. when you -- it is clear that the president has authority here, but sensible, prudent, normal government an administration has documentation. if people believe there is some very strong reason why documents

should not be declassified, they ought to be able to speak to the cabinet secretaries, and they may want to speak to the president. >> the new york times maggie herman recently said that the former president may have kept the documents because he loved tchotchkes enjoying them off the people. it could've been, in her words, less the various then obstinate. and you think that is a possible explanation? >> absolutely, i think some of the charts and graphs and pictures of things like that, that he accumulated, or curiosities. they were cool things to have. i know that there are a lot of conspiracy theories about plans to use it for blackmail and leverage, i can't rule that out, certainly. the president never indicated anything like that to me. i think he was just inquisitive. sunday's, he wanted more french fries, other days, he wanted documents. >> well, franchise are

documents. congressman mike turner, the ranking republican on the house intelligence committee said today that the fbi would have to be a high threshold to the level of an imminent national security threat to justify a search on the former presidents residence. do you agree with that? or the fact that these top secret documents were put in and secure location be enough to go in and get them in, your opinion? >> well, i think there are a lot of potential dangers and actually until we see the documents we cannot tell. and i think what the congressman may have been saying, maybe not, but we'll see. it is when you go after president, in the political environment that we are in. a former president like donald trump. you better be absolutely sure that you have no alternative. you can see the reaction that has been provoked already. and, as an alumnus of the department of justice, i would like to think that they went through all the political calculations that were involved. i think it is very unfortunate that they have to her worry about it. but that is the circumstance

that we are in. and that is why the magistrates inclination today to release some of the underlying affidavit in the search warrant is potentially important. i am entirely sympathetic with the justice department's argument. but we are in a both political fight and a legal fight. and the less the department does better on the political side, i think they will be overwhelmed by the kind of emotions that trump has stirred up. >> you said a couple days ago on cnn that the political battle between the former president and the adjei, they are being quote, overwhelmed by donald trump. you compared them to lamps to be slaughtered. you think the release of a redacted version of the document would change the political landscape when it comes to the investigation? >> you have to see what was rejected, but i urge the justice department, and it goes against the current to be creative on this. for example, there may be ways to handle this other than simply lacking out line at the line at the line in the affidavit, which is

the normal course introduction. for example, if the affidavit describes the kinds of documents that the department of justice felt was so very sensitive, it may well reveal information in the documents, in the hands of an adversary would be very dangerous. but instead of simply blocking that out, and alternative to take about would be to paraphrase. for example, they could say, instead of quoting from the document or whatever they might do, they might just say, documents regarding u.s. nuclear capabilities or documents regarding chinese ballistic missile development or something like that. some innocuous phrase that signified that the importance of the information without revealing it. there may be other ways to do that and other parts of the affidavit dealing with the witnesses and the theory of the case that -- i think this will be very hard to do, but i just think that if the department insist on the normal practice of complete confidentiality of

the affidavit, i think it will take a terrible beating, even from people in congress, who are trying to help it out. professor bolton, appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you. >> so just ahead, cnn's clarissa ward is in afghanistan. her harrowing journey into the heart of taliban country, what's she found there a year after american forces left. tech for and that voice begs you to quit. as the pain sets in. and the hill grows steeper. no matter what, we go on. biofreeze. i wish that shaq was my real life big brother. turns out, some wishes do come true. they'll never know. and it turns out the general is a quality insurance company that's been saving people money for nearly 60 years. for a great low rate, and nearly 60 years of quality coverage- go with the general.

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21 people are dead and another three are injured in afghanistan, after the latest explosion in kabul. the attack occurred during evening prayers, it was in a mosque, which you see here, along with -- praying next to the grave of one of the victims. the washington post reports that children are among those killed. there's no claim of responsibility, but as the washington post also reports, islamic states local branch has

claimed similar attacks in recent months. it comes days after the taliban celebrated one year of rule, with officials claiming that afghanistan, after years of fighting, is now secure. cnn's clarissa ward recently traveled outside kabul into the taliban heartland, where residents there talked proudly of their fight against americans and are reflecting openly on the long and bloody war. >> there were no tears in the kankakee valley when u.s. forces left afghanistan. the landscape is awash with white flags, marking the graves of taliban fighters killed in battle. among them is the son of -- this is your son? he tells us he was killed during a u.s. supported afghan special forces night raid. the family was home in 2019. >> video of the aftermath shows the scale of the destruction. after a protracted gun battle, the house was leveled, killing

a second son of -- as well as his niece and her daughter. >> [interpreter] there was a lot of blood spilled, a voice says off camera. [end of translation] >> three built living room is now a shrine to the dead. >> what was your reaction when american forces left a year ago? >> [interpreter] i said that piece has come to afghanistan, he says. there will be no more mothers becoming widows, like our mothers and sisters who were widowed and our children killed. [end of translation] >> across this rural taliban stronghold, american forces were seen as invaders who brought death and destruction with their night raids and drone strikes. peace has brought a chance to air long held grievances but. at the local market, we were immediately surrounded. every household had at least one fighter, this man tells us. and every house had people who were

killed by the americans and their drones, and we are proud of that. -- mohammed hamas is treated like royalty here. his brother is believed to be responsible for downing a helicopter full of u.s. special forces. >> so, he's taking me to the spot where he says his brother shot down a chinook. >> it was august 6th, 2011. hamas says, his brother was hiding behind the trees and shot the chinook down with an rpg, as it prepared to land by the river. three americans were killed, the single greatest loss of american life in the entire afghan war, 30. there were a lot of celebrations and not just here, he tells us. it was a big party. i'm sure you can understand that it's hard to hear that people were celebrating about the deaths of dozens of americans. [interpreter] this was a heroic achievement because the people who were killed on this plane, they were the killers of osama

bin laden, he says. and chic osama is someone who is the crown on the head of muslims, so definitely the people were happy about this. [end of translation] days later, the u. s. says, it responded with a strike that killed hamas's brother. another white flag raised in a valley where martyrs were made and views hardened. >> clarissa ward joins us now from kabul. it's so interesting to see the attitudes of people there. what's does a year under taliban rule done for this area, and those who live there, has life improved? >> well, i think, anderson, the main improvement in terms of their quality of life is just the security situation, because even after american forces kind of pulled back and it was the afghan army who were doing the majority of the fighting, that and tire area was still incredibly kinetic. there was a

lot of fighting, a lot of death, and a lot of destruction. so now they definitely see that they can go out during the nighttime, they can let their children go to school, boys only, of course, but at least their children or their boys can go to school now, because it's easier to move around and it's safer. at the same time, it's still incredibly poor. it's still very difficult to get work. there is no part of this country that is not feeling the impact and the pinch of the economic crisis, and one thing i thought was also interesting is that a couple of the men that we talked to, even though in these rural areas, girls education has not really traditionally been a priority, they did say that they do want to see their girls get educated. obviously, the taliban has issued that temporary, what they call a temporary suspension on girls secondary education. i thought it was interesting to hear that they would like to see that lifted. >> yeah and, it's sickening to hear him talk about celebrating the downing of that chinook

with u.s. special forces on board. earlier this week, you spoke to people in kabul and you are focused on the women who are still trying to get secondary education, despite currently being banned. how striking is it to see such different attitudes toward taliban rule from these two places, i mean, they're less than 50 miles away from each other? >> it's a two hour drive, anderson. and so, it is a very stark contrast. one important part of that, though, is that the benefits that people reaped in afghanistan during the u.s. presence here, the billions of dollars in investment and infrastructure and development, very little of that trickled down to rural communities like the tangi valley. >> yeah, billions of dollars. clarissa roared, we appreciated. thank you. up next, a reminder of the good in our world. a daring rescue caught on video. [noise] ♪ it wasn't me by shaggy ♪

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kind headed over to don lemon tonight. >> this is don lemon tonight, and we've got some serious things to talk about today what we're learning from court documents tells us more about the fbi search of mar-a-lago and what it may mean for the former president, and there may be more to come, the stage is set for what could be the public release of a redacted version of the affidavit for that search a judge in florida saying there are portions that could be unsealed in giving the

doj a week to explain everything that they say needs to be kept secret. but, will it be page after page of ridden blanca word actions? how will we know? we don't know. until we see it. that is a justice department lawyer says the affidavit contains and i quote here substantial grand jury information, and warns releasing it could have a chilling effect on witnesses, but the judge did release several never before seen documents today including the motion where prosecutors argue that they need to keep their search warrant secret because, quote, the integrity of the ongoing investigation might be compromised and evidence might be destroyed. there are some more really intriguing clues and one of those documents. more on that in just a moment. but you have to wonder, just how much the former president actually wants the full affidavit to be released? because his lawyer, sitting right there in court today, didn't say a word. that is a source tells cnn, donations to trump's political

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