25,000 miles per hour and endure temperatures nearly 5,000 degree degrees fahrenheit. finally splashing down in the pacific ocean. did you get that? there will be a test. the news continues. so, let's hand it over to victor blackwell and "cnn tonight." blackwell and "cnn tonight." victor? -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> john, thank you. i'm victor blackwell, and this is "cnn tonight." we begin with a possible threat posed by the donald trump keeping documents in his beach club. the director of national intelligence tells cnn her office is digging through the classified documents to understand the risk of being taken to mar-a-lago in the first place. then there's the danger looming over non-political career civil servants. the head of the national archives said threats from donald trump supporters are coming. the archive has confirmed the staff accusing us of conspiring against the former president. at the same time, some are

congratulating the archives for bringing him down. the archivists has made clear that neither is their goal. earlier this month, the man carrying the long gun tried to enter the fbi cincinnati office. and that real world example is crucial context, as politicians like republican senator lindsey graham, go on fox and say this. >> i'll say this. if there's a prosecution of donald trump for mishandling classified information after the clinton debacle, which you presided over and did a hell of a good job, there will be riots in the streets. >> and just so there's no misunderstanding, he said it again. >> if they try to prosecute donald trump after hillary clinton set up a server in her basement, there literally will be riots in the street. >> the former president amplified those comments and urged the so-called great agents

and others in the fbi to say, we aren't going to take it anymore. this is the same former president who, just weeks ago, reportedly sent a letter to the attorney general writing, quote, the country is on fire. what can i do to reduce the heat? we've seen how these comments sit with more radicalized members of the maga movement, like when donald trump told members of the proud boys to stand back and stand by. well, a member of the extremist group testified under oath about the impact of those words. >> when you say that proud boys members increased after the stand back, stand by comment? >> exponentially. i would say triple probablily. >> triple. will heard, a republican and former congressman from texas joins me now. he served on the committee before leaving congress in part because of donald trump's comments. congressman, it's good to have you. i want to start with what we learned from the affidavit. we'll get to the rhetoric from

lindsey graham in a moment. we understand that the documents included from the affidavit intelligence information derive frd clandestine human sources. that was you. you were an undercover cia agent. what danger does this type of document, this information, unsecured present to the people doing the work you used to do? >> the director of national intelligence, avril haines, is going to figure that out. she is going to figure the information they have. the fact there was what's called human classification system, hcs, information, this was information that was obtained from human sources. it also had signals intelligence that was included. it also included things called no-forn. this is information we don't even share with our allies. the fact that that information was included -- and that was just in the 15 boxes that trump and his team had handed over to

the national archives. the fact that that's in there, it's unbelievable to me. and here's what this does and the impact this has on our intelligence operations around the world. when i was recruiting assets and stealing secrets and handling clandestine sources, the people that are doing that now are probably having to answer the question, you know, the assets are probably asking their handlers, is this going to happen to me? is my information that i'm giving you and sharing with you going to get in the wrong hands and going to end up in somebody's hotel and potentially get exposed and impact me and my family? the lack of trust that this is creating in all of our intelligence circles is tough. now, we don't know if this information has gotten out. and instead of donald trump whining about there being a witch hunt against him, he should be talking about who had

access to these room and this information so that we can get a proper damage assessment and know who all had access and potentially could have taken this information and shared it with adversaries. that part of the damage assessment is going to be harder, especially if donald trump and his team does not cooperate in understanding who could have potentially had access to this information. >> let's talk about some of these calls for greater transparency. governor sununu of new hampshire is calling for the topics related to these documents, these top secret documents, to be released. is there a way to do that, to declassify what these documents are about, if not all of the text of those documents? what do you think? >> so, i think ultimately for fbi and doj to do something this significant, right, a search of a former president -- and we all know that's never happened before. when you do something that has

never been done, you've got to have a level of transparency that we've never seen before. that's why i'm glad we were able to see parts of the affidavit that explain the kind of information they have. and i think ultimately what the director of national intelligence has got to figure out is could the revelation of the topics of the information, could that lead to impact on sources and methods? only folks that have read the information and know the substance of the info -- let's say this is from human sources that are still providing information to us or it's coming from a signals intelligence platform that is still in place. that could ultimately impact long-term national security and our ability for our intelligence community to understand this super-dangerous world that we live in. now, if it won't have an impact on sources and method, then sure. we should be able to share that. but it will only happen if you have a real review of the

documents that were in the 15 boxes, which we should have a good idea of. and you have this other 11 boxes of information that the fbi found in their search. >> let's talk about the case moving forward. as you mentioned, what we're discussing now, these are documents that were in the 15 boxes that were handed over in january. of course there were more documents in june as a result of the subpoena and more documents taken from mar-a-lago after the search three weeks ago today. the former president kept some documents back, obviously. should the former president be prosecuted for refusing to hand over all the documents as required? >> let's put it this way, victor. if i had those documents in my, you know, basement or extra room in my house in san antonio,

texas, there's no question that i would be prosecuted. let's make sure we have a clear understanding of all the information and what the damage assessment is of that. and this is ultimately going to be a question that doj has to answer. we know the president had information and was storing it improperly. we know that for a fact. now, the question that investigators have got to figure out is, did they know that they were withholding further information and they lied to the national archives and to department of justice in the other 11 boxes found by the fbi search? this is something -- this is about abuse of power. this is about mishandling our information. this, for me, brings up even more questions about how do they handle this kind of information when they were in office and had, you know, regular access to super-sensitive information on

secrets that it's important to protecting our nation but also about individuals that are risking their lives in order to give us that understanding. >> congressman, two things here. if no person is above the law -- and you say that if you had those documents in your basement, you'd face prosecution. it feels like you're 75% there. is that a yes, that this former president should be prosecuted for refusing to hand over these documents? >> because this is so sensitive and, you know, we've got to know the details. details matter. and this is why i think merrick garland understands the stakes that are at play here. i think he understands how his agencies are being tarred and feathered by some that are trying to obfuscate what they really did. so, ultimately this is going to have to be a decision that doj has to make based on the details

of the information that was in those documents. and it's hard to make that assessment unless you've actually read what those documents are. >> i will also say that there was an attorney for former president trump who signed a document attesting to there being no additional classified information at mar-a-lago. although the statutes in the affidavit don't require the documents to include classified information. let me end where we started with senator graham here. when he says, there will be riots in the streets, do you hear a prediction or do you hear a threat? >> i hope -- i hope -- it is him trying to make a prediction rather than making a threat. but here is the reality. whether it's senator graham or others, there are otsome that a making those threats. i think donald trump himself is trying to intimate that in talking about members of the fbi rising up. we do not need leaders that are

trying to fear monger and erode that trust in all of our -- in our institutions. and we need people and we need leaders that are willing to inspire the country. and here is the fact when it comes to donald trump. donald trump got lucky in 2016. he lost the house. he lost the senate. and he lost the white house. and now anybody -- because he's getting back into the news cycle, it's having an impact on other races. the likelihood of republicans to take back the senate is extremely low, if not zero. when you have senator mcconnell talking about the fact that it's more likely that the house flips. there's also folks within the house realizing that the margin of our victory is going to be more narrow because of the distractions of someone like donald trump. and at this moment in time, this is much bigger than any one of

these issues. we should be focused on these national security threats and technology threats that our country is going to be facing over the next decade. and depending on how we handle that is going to determine our place in the world. and when you have these kinds of conversations and this distraction, it hurts not only the party, but it hurts the country. >> former congressman will hurd, thank you. an october surprise in august. that's how some republicans are characterizing the mar-a-lago search. even some who aren't exactly donald trump's biggest defenders. they think the timing is just a little too convenient ahead of the midterms. do they have a point or is this just a talking point? we're getting into all of that with our experts next. ♪ my name is austin james. as a musician living with diabetes, fingersticks can be a real challenge. that's why i use the freestyle libre 2 system.

with a painless, one-second scan i know my glucose numbers without fingersticks. now i'm managing my diabetes better and i've lowered my a1c from 8.2 to 6.7. take the mystery out of managing your diabetes and lower your a1c. now you know. try it for free at freestylelibre.us ♪ it wasn't me by shaggy ♪ you're never responsible for unauthorized purchases on your discover card. it's time for the biggest sale of the year, on the sleep number 360® smart bed. it's temperature balancing, so you both say cool. our smart sleepers get 28 minutes more restful sleep per night. don't miss our labor day weekend special. save 50% on the sleep number 360® limited edition smart bed. ends labor day.

when a normal day is anything but normal, we fit your schedule, with our unique tub over tub process installed in as little as a day. bath fitter. it just fits. visit bathfitter.com to book your free consultation. why is roger happy? it's the little things carvana does. see, roger wants to sell his car stat. little things like getting a real offer in two minutes really make roger happy. so does carvana's customer advocate caitlin picking up his car at promptly 10am. hi, are you roger? berglund. with the honda accord? yes i am. it's right over there. will i be getting? and he loves that caitlin pays him on the spot.

yep, rog. it's the little things that drive you happy. we'll drive you happy at carvana. it's hard to believe mint's new family plan is just $15 a month per person. so, i've asked my wife and plan member, to back me up. you're not my wife. no, i just stand in for her on set during the boring stuff. the boring stuff? are you kidding, i'm announcing a family plan where just two lines gets everyone the $15 price. i'm literally revolutionizing the category! yeah, she owes me huge for this one. can you please let her know i'm upset? really? no. don't tell her i said that.

despite all of the redactions in the mar-a-lago affidavit, one thing was clear. the former president's team took and mishandled highly classified documents. but that was not the focus of the few republicans who came to trump's defense on the sunday shows this weekend. instead, they're zeroing in on the timing of the search ahead of this year's midterm elections. >> former president trump has been out of office for going on two years now. where -- why -- you think this is a coincidence just happening a few months before the midterm elections. >> he should have turned the documents over and apparently turned a number of documents over. i wonder why this could go on for less than two years and less than 100 days before the election we're talking about this. >> let's get perspective from elie honig and two political experts, scott jennings, former

special assistant to george w. bush. good evening to you. phil, let me start with you. is there any credibility to this question of the timing of the search so close to the midterm elections? >> i think senator blunt made a great point there, which is that donald trump turned over some documents in january. that was the point. if you go back and look at the timeline, the archives said we're missing stuff we should have, like those infamous letters from kim jong-un. so, if we're talking about when this thing could have been resolved, we can look at january, 2022. if you are trying to resolve this in good faith and turn over the things you ought to turn over, that the moment it could happen. the national archives goes doj and discovers there is material there. they go to mar-a-lago in june. they visit this room where it's being stored say you've got to secure this a little bit better. it's happening right before the midterm elections. but it's also been 18 months in

which donald trump has had this material and he has known he has had to turn it over. >> if you gave everything to the national archives in january, there would be no need for a search. >> i do think it's a legitimate question about the timing. and to phillip's point, why did they wait so long to go get it. we've been told these are grave national security secrets. this could put the people and our secrets in jeopardy. if they're that grave, why didn't you get them before? i think that's a legitimate question. one way the doj could potentially resolve it on the intelligence piece, go to the committees in congress. they can look at these documents. they have clearance. and i think this would begin to give political people whether this was much ado about nothing or something as serious as it's been. >> and you trust there would be no leaks going to these committees in congress. >> i think the senate intelligence committee would be good to go. >> just saying. >> i mean, let's be honest -- i

mean, look, letting some of these politicians look at these, we trust these people to look at documents all the time. this is part of the process. that would help everybody. >> why not do that? >> doj has a tricky middle ground to find here which is on the one hand there is this great call for transparency. on the other hand, they do have to maintain and adhere to the prosecutorial principles. understand the amount of information and transparency we've already seen in this case is far beyond any normal subject of an investigation. the affidavit, half of it was blacked out. but half of it we saw last friday. nobody gets to see those before anyone gets charged. i can't think of that happening. i've seen hundreds or thousands of these affidavits. merrick garland, i've certainly been critical of and i'm sure will continue to be critical of. i do give him credit here because he's trying to meet the call for transparency without compromising the core principles of due process and fairness. >> let me ask you about what

lindsey graham is saying that if trump is prosecuted, there will be riots in the streets. why is he doing this? and should he paired it with, but there should not be violence if the president is prosecuted. >> of course. political violence is a real problem. we've seen it machnifest itself time and again. we've seen people from shooting up a congressional baseball practice to going to brett kavanaugh's house to january 6th. all kinds of stuff has gone on out there. deranged people hear things and take matters into their own hands. everybody everywhere has to denounce and talk against the prospect of political violence. do i think that he is making a prediction? maybe. and obviously there are people who are extremely amped up about this which is why i keep going back to this idea of transparency. even if you can't make it public for national security reasons, at least go into the congress and give people we trust a chance to come out and say, we saw it, this investigation

matters. that might help -- this but your original question, no doubt. we can't count political violence. >> lindsey graham needs to be unequivocally condemned for those comments. why would you say this twice? and donald trump immediately retruthed -- he said -- retruthed this and reamplified this. what would the motivation be in saying that? >> to me it's, one, to try to send a chilling message to prosecutors. and two, to put that idea out there in the minds of people who might riot. there's no reason to say that without the obvious disclaimer, which is what you said, this is ought to not happen. >> mobs are bad and you can't let justice -- >> thank you for saying that. >> justice cannot be derailed because of the threat of mobs. no matter what issue, politician, party, you can't let angry mobs derail our institution. this is what caused a further lack of faith in our institutions. >> and this was senator count me

out after january 6th who said, i'm backed out. i'm not a part of this anymore. you've got new reporting on this. >> you make that poirnt and it' important. the context in which he said, count me out, was not this capitol riot is horrible and so on and so forth. donald trump tried to make his case, and i believe the case that the election, there's something fishy about it. it wasn't just he was saying there were riots in the streets. he was saying because of what happened, because of the governments misactions, basically leveraging misinformation and false claims that are prominent on the right, because of that we're going to see riots. it wasn't like there's going to be a distraction. it was people don't trust the government because they believe these things that are not true, which is what you do on january 6th. people believe things that are not true and this is the result. >> republicans are on probation about this because of january 6th. we can't be flippantly discussing mobs in the streets. we had mobs in the streets and it was wrong and it was a terrible thing. fooling around with this, even

rhetorically, not smart. >> certainly isn't. thank you. stick with me. in a few minutes, we'll talk about how some republicans now running for office are dialing back the public stances, thinking maybe they went a little too far to the right. but next president biden's student loan forgiveness plan, some democrats in tough races are not happy with the political paul f payoff. we're talking to one of them. astepro starts working in 30 minutes. so you can... astepro and go.

the unknown is not empty. it's a storm that crashes, and consumes, replacing thought with worry. but one thing can calm uncertainty. an answer. uncovered through exploration, teamwork, and innovation. an answer that leads to even more answers. mayo clinic. you know where to go.

- common percy! - yeah let's go! on a trip. book with priceline. you save more, so you can “woooo” more. - wooo. - wooo. wooooo!!!!! woohooooo!!!! w-o-o-o-o-o... yeah, feel the savings. priceline. every trip is a big deal. as a business owner, your bottom line is always top of mind. so start saving by switching to the mobile service designed for small business: comcast business mobile. flexible data plans mean you can get unlimited data or pay by the gig. all on the most reliable 5g network with no line activation fees or term contracts... saving you up to $500 a year. and it's only available to comcast business internet customers. so boost your bottom line by switching today.

comcast business. powering possibilities. my cholesterol is borderline. so i take garlique to help maintain healthy cholesterol safely and naturally. and it's odor free. i'm taking charge of my cholesterol with garlique.

when president biden announced the federal government will forgive student debt for ten of millions of americans, many of his allies cheered. but not all of his support es are celebrating. there's some democrats in competitive races distancing themselves from the plan. they fear backlash from working class voters. among them ohio congressman tim ryan. he's in a tighter than expected race with republican jim vance. ryan claims the debt sends the wrong message. congressman ryan joins me now. you say this sends the wrong message. why? >> well, i think one, it sends the wrong message. every worker out there is struggling right now, not just people who have college degrees or college debt. i think we need a tax cut for everybody right now. a lot of people working construction, home health care,

their gas prices are high too. their food prices are high too. so, we've got to acknowledge that we need to recognize everybody is struggling. and this economy -- look, i'm not, you know, trying to ignore the fact that this is a huge burden. i think we can do things like allow people to renegotiate down the interest rates on their loan. it's outrageous. 8%, 9%, 10%, 12%, so, we should be able to allow them to do that. the other piece to this too is there's no solution into fixing the extraordinary increases in college costs. so, if you've got a kid in college right now, prices are still going through the roof. if we're going to do something like this, we need to tie it to being able to control college costs and university costs going forward so that we're not going to be back in the same boat in five or ten years having to spend another $300 billion, $400 billion to do the same thing. it doesn't make sense to me. >> you make a good point about

the cost and bringing the cost of college down. you have, for years, advocated for renegotiating the debt. let's go back to 2018 when you called on congress to, quote, do more to bring down debt and make college for affordable. in 2018 you tweeted in favor of student debt relief. you voted in favor of plans to cancel student debt. you cosponsored bipartisan legislation to provide student debt relief to essential workers. also in 2020 supported an amendment to the national defense authorization act that required the federal government to provide $10,000 in assistance to some private student loan holders. when did you change your mind? >> well, look, i'm the first to acknowledge that college is extremely high, extremely pricey. most people can't afford it. that the interest rates are way too high. and we need to do something to be helpful. but i don't think doing that just in a vacuum without doing

anything to control college cost -- look, yeah, of course, everybody's for helping out these people who are getting charged 10% or 12%. we have to do something. but that shouldn't happen in a vacuum. it needs to be happening, especially coming out of the pandemic, especially with huge inflation. we've got to help all workers. so, that's why i say, if you're going to do this, let's do a broad tax cut that helps all working families. and if you're going to do something with college debt, then you better do something equally as bold with college costs because there's no way we should just throw money at this problem without solving the root cause of the problem. and that's the argument i'm trying to make. we support these kinds of things, but you can't do it in a vac um yoo. you've got to make sure you're controlling college costs and that everybody else who's working just as hard making 40, 50 grand, they may have bought a truck, went into the building and construction trade. they had to buy a truck.

nobody is taking care of their loan. you're traveling around as a home health care worker, you're paying for gas. who's helping that person? all i'm saying is everybody needs help. that's how we should address this. if you're going to zero in on college loans and debt, you better do something about college costs. >> i hear what you're saying today. i'm saying that these proposals that you maid over 2018 and 2020 didn't call for renegotiation of debt or for a broad tax cut. these were cancellations or forgiveness of college loans. but let me move on here. you are certainly in a state where the votes of working class ohioans, that's what is going to carry you to the senate, if you go to the senate. the president said that a portion of the trump movement, the extreme maga philosophy he calls, it's like semi-fascism.

does that hurt you with the voters you need to win in november? >> no. no. look, it's straight -- if you're storming the capitol on january 6th, if you're beating the united states capitol police over the head with a lead pipe in order to overturn an election, if you are making bold steps to fan books and to do all of these things that are toeveno the point where you want to control a woman's body to the point where if a 10-year-old girl is raped you say that the government should mandate that pregnancy, you have a supreme court justice saying they want to get rid of birth control, nullify marriages. what else would you talk about? how else do you explain this other than a small group of people who have hijacked the supreme court. they've hijacked state legislatures. and what they've done in the short term and what they're

going to do in the long term is continue to hurt working class people. we're not going to have a great economy if we have a government that's interfering in everybody's personal life. they want to punish businesses where they don't agree with the culture like they're doing down in florida. this is huge governmental overreach, the largest governmental overreach we've seen in our lifetimes. complete violation of personal freedoms, free markets, free businesses. this is a governmental attack. so, these people -- you can call it what you want. but to me it seems a lot like people who want to get ahold of the government and punish people and control people. and i will tell you that i'm traveling around ohio, which is a purple state back and forth, 88 counties, rural ohio, people are fed up with the government overreach. they want the government out of their lives, and they want to go about their business. and if they have a tricky problem or, you know, tragedy in their life, they want to be able to deal with it. so, we're not going to get in the name calling. but my goodness gracious, there's a lot of of people who want to do a lot of controlling

out there. >> congressman tim ryan, thank you. >> thank you. appreciate you having me. what a difference a summer can make. just a few months ago, republicans thought that the house and senate were theirs to lose. now the sure thing doesn't look so sure anymore. some candidates are trying to step a little bit to the left, as the winds shift and the midterms approach.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ school is back. and dick's sporting goods has everything you need to gear up so you can show up. with the widest selection from the hottest brands. like nike, jordan, hoka, the north face, and more.

the looks you want. the backpacks you need. all under one roof. when you're running short on time, one-hour pick-up is always an option. and, with our best price guarantee, if you find a lower price, we'll match it. with looks this good, it's never been easier to sport your style. this is lily. when you see things differently, you can be the difference. ♪ capella university sees education differently. our flexpath learning format helps you control the pace and cost of your master's degree.

check out this time space wormhole i creat how's it work? let me see your togo, and i'll show you. "poof" burt, you have my lunch. introducing togo's new pastrami cheese ste loaded with our world famous pastrami, sauteed mushrooms, roasted red peppers, and smothered with melty american cheese. the new pastrami cheese steak. try steak or chicken, too. now at togo's

the political winds appear to be shifting for republicans in washington. sure, they are still expected to take the house in the fall. but a new cbs poll shows that their projected gains are shrinking. the poll suggests three key issues are driving the change, abortion, falling gas prices, and anything that diverts attention from the economy, namely donald trump. the proof is not only what gop candidates are putting on their websites but also what they're taking off their websites. takes arizona republican congressman blake masters who is scrubbing 2020 election lies from his campaign this month. the section of the masters plan read, quote, we need to get serious about election integrity. the 2020 election was a rotten mess. if we had had a free and fair election, president trump would be sitting in the oval office today and america would be so much better off.

look at the right side of your screen. that's what's there now. we need to get serious of election integrity. he dropped everything else. masters has also edited his website to tone down his position on abortion. doug mastriano, a candidate for governor pennsylvania, has also gone silent about it, despite once calling abortion his number one issue. let's bring in maria cardona into the conversation. scott, how can blake masters run away from the election denial when that really was what sealed the endorsement from president trump for his nomination? >> yeah, you can't. i mean, because, you know, it's the year of our lord 2022, everything you say is video taped and recorded and archived on the internet. what you can control is what you choose to focus on. this happens all the time in both parties. people focus on certain issues in primaries and change their focus for general elections, pivoting, if you will. and that's what i would encourage any of the general

election candidates to do. running a general election focused on trump and the 2020 election is running it on inflation and quality of life, crime, cost of living. those are good ideas. you can't really get away from what you did, but you can focus on the issues that matter more to general election voters. >> is that going to work? >> this is why it won't work. there was a poll that showed that threats to our democracy was the number one issue for americans. americans like their democracy. they like their constitution. they don't like seeing insurrectionists trying to destroy the capitol, trying to overturn a free and fair election. when you have 147 members of congress that are still there today that are all ready for re-election who voted to not certify or who did vote to certify the election and when you have over 100 gop candidate who is won in the primaries, many of which are election deniers, americans understand how dangerous that is. put on top of that roe v. wade, the fact that women no longer have the right to have agency

over their own bodies and that state legislatures are passing egregious law after egregious law that put women's lives in danger. we saw what happened in kansas. we saw what is happening all over the country. that's why you have these republicans scared about that, wanting to scrub their websites, trying to e pr tend they didn't say those things. the general election is about a contrast. everything they've said goes to that contrast, and that's what democrats are going to be focused on. >> we've asked democrats so many times what were the lessons of the kansas vote, of new york 17 as well. what's the lesson for republicans from these votes? >> yeah, i mean, i think that -- the very fact that -- scott's absolutely right, of course. when you get into a general election, you move to the middle. it's fascinating, doug mastriano hasn't done that, so he's the exception to the rule here. but we see, the fact they are -- they do a lot more polling than we do.

polling is expensive. the fact that they are focusing on these changes suggests we understand these are pointing of weakness. i think that itself bolsters the idea. but we are still at some distance from election day. and i think there is a lot of enthusiasm among democrats right now that have happened over the course of the past several weeks that no one should feel confident are going to carry through to november. they may. that may be the case. but there is still a lot of time for things to change. we've seen changes against democrats, and i think that that is sort of the asterisk that hangs around all of this. >> another thing about this issue of what you focus on in a general election, it's also happening to the democrats. you just had tim ryan from ohio on. he's on here for the second day in a row on cnn bashing joe biden's big student debt relief plan. there's a reason he's bashing it, because he's trying to pivot more to what middle class, working class voters in ohio want, as opposed to what the most partisan or fringe liberal

democrat primary voters want. it's a pretty common thing. as you did on the interview, you questioned him about past votes and past statements. i don't think it's too uncommon for general election candidates to be doing this. but of course everything you've said is always going to be on the record. it doesn't absolve you from answering the questions. >> that's very different than what masters is doing or all these republicans trying to run away from the most extreme things they said and did. tim ryan, what i heard him say is that he thinks this kind of relief should be given to everybody. i agree. joe biden agrees. the fact we can't do that right now because republicans would never go for it means joe biden had to do something he had the power to do through executive order. >> that's what you heard? >> yes, i did. >> and by the way, he's right. he's right about having to reform the whole education, the way that we actually educate our kids in the country. >> wait a minute.

>> absolutely it's got to happen if we need a fix. what i heard from him is this does not do it. this isn't a fix. joe biden wasn't looking for the fix. he was looking to help students who have crushing student debt. and by the way, it was a campaign promise. this is something that is going to help a hell of a lot of kids, young people, that he had promised to help. it is hugely popular. and it is going to be something he is going to run on and democrats as well. >> here's the other parts of this that ties in both of these themes. tim ryan can be very confident in going after this because he knows the people this is benefits are like i'm going to go out vote for democrats. so, it's the same thing. blake masters -- scrub that stuff about the election stuff because he knows the republicans are going to come out and vote for him in november anyway. that's the flip side. now the bases are engaged. you've still got to turn them out. but now you can move to the middle. >> i see there's a huge problem for republicans because the moderates and the independents

are way against extreme positions they have taken during the primaries. and that is going to be really tough for them to run away from. and certainly their democratic opponents are not going to let them do that. >> why do you think it is that ryan in ohio, cortez masto in nevada, bennet in colorado, why do you think it is they all immediately came out against this biden plan? they're doing the same thing that we're talking about masters doing. they're desperately trying to get away from something that they think is going to sound extreme to the middle of the road voters in their state. you've got scores of democrats coming out against this thing. it's the exact same tactic, trying to not play to the -- >> i agree with you. they can do whatever they want because they know which voters they need to appeal to. but wanting to give students relief, $10,000, is very different from wanting to destroy our constitution and take away women's right to choose what they want to do with their bodies. >> maria, phil, scott, we've got

to call it here. passionate issue. it could have been game, set, career tonight for serena williams. an amazing, legendary, historic, beautiful career to put it mildly. but she's not done yet. aleve x. its revolutionary rollerball design delivers fast, powerful, long-lasting pain relief. aleve it, and see what's possible. my active psoriatic arthritis can slow me down. now, skyrizi helps me get going by treating my skin and joints. along with significantly clearer skin, skyrizi helps me move with less joint pain, stiffness, swelling, and fatigue. and skyrizi is just 4 doses a year after two starter doses.

skyrizi attaches to and reduces a source of excess inflammation that can lead to skin and joint symptoms. with skyrizi, 90% clearer skin and less joint pain is possible. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine, or plan to. with skyrizi, there's nothing like the feeling of improving my skin and joints... ...and that means everything. now's the time to talk to your doctor about how skyrizi can help treat your psoriatic arthritis- so you can get going. learn how abbvie can help you save. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ "shake your thang" by salt n pepa why hide your skin if dupixent has your moderate-to-severe eczema

or atopic dermatitis under control? hide my skin? not me. by hitting eczema where it counts, dupixent helps heal your skin from within, keeping you one step ahead of eczema. hide my skin? not me. and that means long-lasting clearer skin and fast itch relief for adults. with dupixent, you can show more skin with less eczema. hide my skin? not me. serious allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems such as eye pain or vision changes, including blurred vision, joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines without talking to your doctor. when you help heal your skin from within, you can change how your skin looks and feels. and that's the kind of change you notice. talk to your eczema specialist about dupixent, a breakthrough eczema treatment.

let's talk a little sports we've got good news and bad news for you tonight. starting with the good news serena williams will advance to the second round of the u.s. open. she defeated her opponent in two sets 6363. here is a not-so-greatness. it is likely the final tennis tournament of her career. the tributes continue to pour in for the athlete who was 1:23 grand slam titles. she entered the stadium tonight to a standing ovation chairs all around. tennis legend, billie jean king wrote she's the g.o.a.t. the greatest of all time. or at least the greatest of her time. since every generation gets better. serena has changed how tennis is played. earlier today, the portable posted a cover of herself, on time magazine with the caption. . thank you everyone it's been incredible. her talk about serena's dynamic impact. cnn sports analyst, christine brennan. christine, it is good to have

you with us tonight. this can be hard to say goodbye to serena when this is all over. because she has been so great, not just for women's tennis but for sports. >> without a doubt victor. the good news is we have another 48 hours before we have to say goodbye to her. at least 48 hours because she did win. and it felt like a title. fight like a heavyweight fight. or a super bowl sunday. the atmosphere at the u.s. open was electric i covered many of them. that is certainly as loud listening to it as i've ever heard. she deserves that. and more. it is truly a celebration of not just a fabulous athlete the greatest of all time. one of the most important athletes in any sport, in the world for the last couple of decades. but is also a celebration of an era. and a time in sports and

celebrating not only a black woman. but of course, a female athlete. at a time when we look at women athletes so differently than we did ten or 15 years ago. in part and maybe mostly because of the way serena williams has carried herself. and one and one and one. all of these ears. >> she's won so many years but still falling short of margaret courts grand slam title. market has 24 had 24. serena has 23. i've been fortunate enough to be a few ladies finals where she has just come up short as the runner-up but still even without breaking that record. she is certainly chased it. they're just really is no one -- allowed people who are called the g.o.a.t. and sports. they play team sports. right? tom brady plays a team sport. serena is out there on her own. >> that is true. there is nowhere to hide you

make a mistake it is all new. i think that is why we have grown to love tennis. it's a sport i played my whole life. and grown to love serena. and the power and her ability to win as you said, she's fallen short for -- this is the most competitive time in the history of women's tennis. so she is the greatest of all time. it is so much harder for her to win now than it was in the -- in the 1970s or 80s. and so i think that's one of the things we are seeing here. that's rain is just so dominant that the most important and most difficult time to do it. and has made it, i think all the more interesting for people to watch. we see the emotions. you see she wears her heart picture on her sleeve. you almost don't even have to look at the scoreboard if she won 6363 you can tell how she is reacting. and her mood and the anger or the happiness.

we saw that increase as she got that force of going and start to dominate the match tonight. >> i hope we have more than 48 hours with her as an active player. but what is next? >> certainly should be able to play doubles with her sister. so we will have a little bit longer probably. again she could be winning although it's a bit tougher as it moves along. this is only her fifth match in 15 months. so she's been injured in a quite a bit. but what is next? the skies the limit. should be part of our lives i think for the rest of our lives. whether she selling products a spokesperson. obviously a working mom. another thing that serena loves to do. she will be a big part of american lives and the lives of people around the world for many many years to come. >> all right christine brennan thank you we'll be right back.

so we need something super disctintive. dad's work, meet daughter's playtime. wait 'till you hear this— thankfully, meta portal helps reduce background noise. zero lace model.

adjusts to low light. and pans and zooms to keep you in frame. take a look at this. so the whole team stays on track. okay, let's get you some feedback. i'm impressed. great, loving your work. meta portal. the smart video calling device that makes work from home, work for you.

new astepro allergy. now available without a prescription. astepro is the first and only 24-hour steroid free spray. while other allergy sprays take hours astepro starts working in 30 minutes. so you can... astepro and go. in order for small businesses to thrive, they need to be smart. efficient. agile. and that's never been more important than it is right now. so for a limited time, comcast business is introducing small business savings. call now to get powerful internet for just 39 dollars a month. with no contract. and a money back guarantee. all on the largest, fastest reliable network. from the company that powers more businesses than anyone else. call and start saving today.

comcast business. powering possibilities. all right that's it for us tonight i'm victor blackwell thank you for joining me on cnn newsroom. i'll be back here tomorrow night at nine.

don lemon tonight starts right now. >> not so fast they're mr. blackball. it's a big deal happening over in flushing meadows, don't you think? >> yes, yes it is. i'm here with you but i would've been there. of all nights why are you working tonight? you should be at the u.s. open? >> listen when the boss have i said yes, but that is serena's last night met. >> she's got more to come. i watch some of it from my office and was fantastic. we're gonna talk to all of that. you talked about it you shared a little bit ago but we got a little bit to talk about. victor, it is good to see you i'll see tomorrow evening. all right this is don lemon tonight thank you so much for tuning in. so what does he know and will he ever testify? what does he know and will he ever testify? here's what sources are telling cnn. that secret service assistant director tony ,