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>> the law dates back to the civil war, and the crime it describes is as serious as it gets. conspiring to, among other things, overthrow or destroy by force the government of the united states. john berman here for anderson. for the first time since 1995, the jury confirms seditious conspiracy charges against the so-called oath keepers for their attack on the capitol. sara sidner is live outside of the federal court in washington with the verdict rendered in

the history, what more can you tell us? >> there's no way to overstate just how important and historic this trial was. this is the very first trial in which several defendants where convicted of seditious conspiracy. now the jury has spoken. two of the people on trial, members of the oath keepers, a far-right militia group here on january 6th, who you saw video ofand the world's of video of wearing military combat gear walking up the steps of the capital, just to my left. some of them going into the capitol and bragging about storming the capitol. two people have been found guilty of seditious conspiracy. they include the founder and leader of the oath keepers, elmer stewart rhodes the third has been found guilty of the most serious charge in this

case, seditious conspiracy. he's joined by kelly meggs, one of his lieutenants, he was found guilty of seditious conspiracy. that's a charge that the jury had to take quite a while to look at because of the seriousness of the charge. which is trying to stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power by force. a jury said that's exactly what these two men did. for the other three defendants, we have kenneth harrelson, he was found not guilty on that charge. jessica watkins, not guilty. thomas caldwell, not guilty. four of the five of these people, they were all veterans. they had a certain kind of training that i'm sure the jury looked at, and was certainly mentioned in court. we also saw several other charges. seditious conspiracy was the first conspiracy charge, but there were, others including conspiracy to instruct an official proceeding.

in that case, kelly meggs, one of mr. rhodes lieutenants, was found guilty, but rhodes was not found guilty of that particular charge. neither were the other defendants, the other three that i mentioned. you have this hodgepodge of decisions. they're not all guilty, except for on one charge, all five people were found guilty of obstructing an official proceeding. these all carry some very heavy terms in prison. the seditious conspiracy carries a 20-year maximum sentence in federal prison, and so does conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. this was a very important case for the doj, and frankly for americans. seeing this play out in court in the way that it did over seven weeks of testimony, and in the eighth week, the jury came to the decision. they had to go over thousands of pieces of evidence, hundreds of videos, they had some secret recordings that they got to look at.

some of the defendants actually took the stand in their defense, but when it came to stewart rhodes and kelly meggs, they didn't believe that they were not planning to stop the peaceful peaceful transfer of federal power. and so, they were found guilty. >> could there be additional arrests? >> here's what we know. there's another case, two other cases. there's another case of these oathkeeper members, different groups oathkeeper members that will be coming forward. they were not charged with seditious conspiracy, but have other various charges. and you have the case of the proud boys, where the leadership of that group, including enrique tarrio, are charged with seditious conspiracy. i'm sure the attorneys are looking at what happened here to see what they are going to do coming forward. the doj is certainly looking at what happened here to see how they will proceed in these cases. this is a big deal, it's one of

about 20 trials where conspiracy charges are lead against the defendant. this one, the most rare charge, seditious conspiracy, and the most important. it is the first of the 20. john? >> witnessing history outside of the federal court, thank you so much for being with us. we'll have much more on this story coming up later on the program. now keeping them honest, a case of condemning the sin, but not the sinner. the nation's two top republican lawmakers did just that today about the former president's recent dinner with the antisemitic artists ye, and holocaust denying white nationalist leader nick fuentes. house minority leader kevin mccarthy and senate minority leader mitch mcconnell both condemned the entire dining with a white nationalist thing. neither one of them directly condemned the actual person who actually broke bread with the actual white nationalists. how they each avoided doing it is fascinating and telling. lena mccarthy simply said

something that's not true. >> i don't think that anybody should be spending anytime with nick fuentes, he has no place in this republican party. i think that president trump came out four times and condemned him. didn't know who he was. >> wrong. he didn't do that. yes, trump did say that he didn't know who nick fuentes is, no, he did not condemn him, at all, not once. well it's impossible to read the man's mind, telling that lies certainly helped leader mccarthy directly criticize the former president. it suggested falsely that no criticism was even necessary because after all, hadn't the former president already done as much himself by condemning nick fuentes? except of course, he never did. the former president posted about the dinner three times. the first time saying that he knew nothing about the antisemitic artists three artists friends that he had at dinner. are also saying, quote, i did not know nick fuentes. finally, most recently, saying

that he showed up with three people, two of which i didn't know. the other, a political person i haven't seen in years. we also gave a statement saying that the antisemite artist arrived with a guest who he never met, and knew nothing about. just moments ago on fox digital, he said that he didn't know fuentes ' views before having dinner with him, and again did not condemn those views. nobody on record as the former president condemns nick fuentes. nor have many republicans directly called trump out by name for dining with a man. senator mitt romney has. arkansas governor isa hutchinson did. so did former new jersey governor chris christie. and most notably, former vice president mike pence. >> president trump was wrong to give a white nationalist, an antisemite, and holocaust denier a seat at the table. and i think he should apologize for it. he should denounce those individuals, and their hateful

rhetoric without qualification. >> you wouldn't think it is hard on general principle, but apparently it is. contrast that with this today from mitch mcconnell, as you try to figure out who, if anyone specific at all, he is actually talking about it. >> let me just say there is no room in the republican party for antisemitism or white supremacy. anybody meeting with people advocating that point of view, in my judgment, are highly unlikely to ever be elected president of the united states. >> see what he did there? unlike leader mccarthy, who directly avoided condemning the former president by trotting out a specific and transparent lie, leader mcconnell, who is very careful about what he said, was generic and opaque.

so generic and so opaque that when asked to follow up by cnn 's manu raju, he not only continue to keep his pointing finger away from donald trump, he won't even rule out voting for the man again. >> in light of what you said that there's no room in your party for anybody who harbors antisemitic views. if donald trump wins the republican nomination, would you support him? >> let me just say again, very simply, there is no room in the republican party for antisemitism or white supremacy. that would apply to all of the leaders in the party who will be seeking offices. >> so only the sin, never the sinner. the former president, he's got no trouble naming names. in that interview tonight with fox digital, -- he certainly did, attacking senator mcconnell by name. joining us now, senior cnn political commentator, former top obama adviser, david axelrod. also scott jennings, who is close to leader mcconnell and served as special assistant to

the president in the george w. bush administration. scott, when we spoke last night at this time, you said that you expected mccarthy would take the temperature of his comment before commenting and that, quote, that's the one thing about these guys in leadership, they tend to take the temperature of the people that they represent before they make comments. these comments that he made, the sort of half hedged lie, what does that tell you what the temperature that he found? >> what i said was that i thought they would both consult with the members of their conference, and come out and make statements today. i was right, both making statements, both clearly and at equivocally stating that people like nick fuentes and the hateful ideology that he talks about has no place in the republican party. they both said that today, and so i was hope glad to hear that, but in regard to condemning it for, times i'm not sure what he was doing. i got the feeling that he was confused about the difference between condemning and saying i don't know who it is. either way, that's not true. he has not condemned, it and i

suspect that trump will not. this is his pattern, he does dumb stuff, and he tightens down and never quite figured out a way to get back to doing the right thing. that's why it's important that a lot of republicans have done the right thing here, like mcconnell, like mccarthy, and clearly and unequivocally stated, there's no room for this in the republican party whatsoever. >> he even made something up, where the most charitable version of it is confused, as you say there. does that indicate to you that he's still trying to walk some line, or trying still to carry favor with some part of his caucus it does not like the idea of criticizing having dinner with a white nationalist? >> i think that what he said was very clear, saying that this ideology has no place in the republican party. he wants no part of, it and i think that that was the best message that he could deliver. beyond that, look, i think --

i don't know how much more clearly you could say that i don't want this party that i represent, and i plan to be the speaker of the house for this republican party. i don't know how much more clearly you can say that i don't want any more part of it. that's what he should've done. >> you could do it without making something up. david axelrod, your assessment of the verbal gymnastics for kevin mccarthy? >> kevin mccarthy is still not guaranteed that he's going to be speaker of the house. he needs donald trump's support to become speaker of the house. he's going to need the support because trump has sway over that group of people, that smaller group of legislators who are committed to him, the freedom caucus folks. he's twisting himself in all kinds of knots here to try and not offend trump, but say enough to condemn antisemitism and holocaust denial, and so on.

he might not become speaker of the house, john, but he could get a spot at cirque du soleil by the time this thing is done. >> scott is actually right. he not only did scott say last night that both of the republican leader said, but he reported that they should say something today. absolutely, scott did that. mccarthy, it does seem like a man in his position as what he's doing when he says those kinds of things. there is some kind of deliberate signal. >> no question about it. listen, scott said there could not have been more forthright in condemning this. pence was more forthright, hutchinson was more forthright. the fact of the matter is, the former president sat down with these folks, and if you're not willing to condemn that, you are being evasive. i think they're navigating their own caucuses. this is the same story we've seen for sometime. i think that the glaciers melting here, and trump is more vulnerable than he's ever been.

there's blood in the water, people are a little bit more venturesome than they have been. but still, they were very cautious today in my view. it hope to hear from you in the future. >> david axelrod, scott jennings, thank you from you. we'll get more from you in the future. next, cnn exclusive footage in ukraine, what it's like in the ground, a battle for the key piece of territory in some of the heaviest shelling imaginable. later, the soccer match that was more than a game, and so many ways. it was the best possible game in one particular way. america's victory today over iran at the world cup. the politics surrounding it and the remarkable events this contest became a part of. a plan that includes all your accounts so you can enjoy whatever comes next. that's the planning effect. from fidelity. my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis... the tightness, stinging... the pain. emerge tremfyant®.

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we're carvana we created a brand new way for you to sell your car go to carvana answer a few questions and our techno wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds we'll come to you pay you on the spot then pick up your car that's it at carvana >> it's no secret by now that russia's war on ukraine has targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure almost from day one. sadly, it's also becoming clear that this onslaught of rocket and missile strikes is designed to maximize human suffering

during the winter months. we see it daily in the footage. russia's air campaign and the horror it brings. tonight, though, for the first time, we have an exclusive look at ground level fighting for what is reported to be the most hotly contested piece of territory in the entire war. cnn's matthew chance and his team have brought back the footage and the story which is as raw and brutal as you might imagine. matthew, thanks for being with us. what did you see? >> well, john, earlier we in the strategic town of back moot, in eastern ukraine, which is described as soldiers on the ground there as the hardest part of the frontline. constant artillery exchanges and very close quarters fighting taking a terrible toll. [sound of gunfire] the brutal fight for bakhmut.

where ukrainian troops are battling russia's onslaught. [sound of artillery] these exclusive images are from the soldiers themselves. their commanders tell us dozens of lives are now being sacrificed here every day. and the road into town is heavy with thick smoke and danger. explosions ahead force us the pull over before another slammed into a building close by. you can hear the incoming rounds, the incoming rounds from russian artillery fire are really intensive here, as we have entered the outskirts of bakhmut, which is certainly, from everything we are seeing, everything we've been told is now the most fiercely contested patch of ground in the entire russian ukrainian conflict. >> >> [speaking non-english] >> [speaking non-english] >> quickly, quickly!

>> so fierce we made a rapid exit leaving the relentless barrage behind. much of this battle is fought avoiding the artillery threat. in underground bunkers like these where local ukrainian commanders like pavlo can respond to russian attacks. >> [speaking non-english] [interpreter] they're insulting oppositions from early morning to night. the real number he tells me, is work heavily outnumbered, he says. but the innovative use of low-cost tech is helping to bridge that gap. in another front lane bunker, we saw how commercially available drones are giving ukraine an edge. wow, that's incredible. we've just seen an artillery strike, the ukrainian drone operators have identified as being full of russians.

you can see russian soldiers, as we look at them live now, running for cover. ukrainian artillery pounce their positions. >> yes, this is our position. >> battery commanders at the frontline, like tuman, told me they are now running low on ammunition rounds. even guns sent from the united states are breaking under such constant strain. [sound of gunfire] they need more of both, they say, if this battle for bakhmut is ever to be won. [sound of gunfire] >> matthew, what a remarkable perspective, amazing footage. i'm glad you and your crew are okay. what did you hear about the impact of this assault on the ukrainian soldiers on the front lines? >> of course, we were able to

leave, but those ukrainian soldiers have to stay to face on a daily basis that artillery barrage. they've also got the cold weather and the mud to contend with. it's miserable. not to mention the casualties are very high indeed. it's high on the other side as well. the russians, remember, are plowing resources and manpower into the battle for this place. even though they are making some progress, it's coming at a very high price for them as well. >> you talked about the battery commanders there, ukrainian battery commanders, saying they are running low on ammunitions and weapons. what else do they say they need to hold the positions? >> i mean, they need a whole host of military supplies. warm clothing, vehicles, everything like that. they are insisting that it's the weapons and the ammunition that will make the difference between where this battle is won or lost. they need more weapons, they say, more ammunition, more artillery pieces. the more they have, they more they can rotate them. they wouldn't have to use each individual item so much. it would last longer and would

not break down. so that is the renewed call tonight from these officers on the front line, from the united states and countries around the world. >> matthew chance, amazing work. thank you very much. please stay safe. to matthew's point about what these troops are going through, i want to turn to cnn military analyst and former army lieutenant general, mark hertling,, great to see you. what's your reaction? i know you are watching that as carefully as we all wear, what's your reaction to that report we saw from matthew? >> yeah, it's a throwback to world war i. the trench lines of world war i, where it is static fires, artillery duels. the requirement, as matthew said, of more than just ammunition. watching that triple seven cannon fire, watching in this picture right now that you are seeing, the number of 50 caliber rounds being shot in that machine gun. just the back and forth on a

static defensive line that's been in place for eight years now. this is not something that has just happened since the start of the war in february. they've been fighting in the donbas, ukrainians have, for eight years now. they know this terrain. they know the targeting, as you saw. they have advanced targeting systems with drones and computers, which i would bet you don't see on the russian side. the russians are using artillery as area fire weapons. the ukrainians are trying to do more precise firing. notwithstanding all of that, you have to talk a little bit about the physical aspects and the psychological aspects of combat. as you just said to matthew, he's able to lead there. he spends a day with them and then departs. i'm sure tonight, at 3:00 in the morning, which it is right now in ukraine, with temperatures below freezing, those same troops are looking through night vision goggles, continuing the fight under unbelievable physical pressure. their ammunition is running low.

the candidates are firing out there tubes. it's not so much the artillery rounds that are causing problems, they are firing so many rounds, thousands of rounds a week, that they're tubes burnout. all those things are factors. then you add the psychological point. constantly being under shelling, constantly being in the cold. the smells, the sites, the sounds of warfare. john, i can only compare it to my own experiences. desert storm. you know, we were on the attack for four days without a lot of sleep, with some artillery attacks. then it was over. operation iraqi freedom, where we were deployed for 15 months, the fights in that kind of combat were sporadic. they were terror involved incidents that would happen arbitrarily as units did control. what you are seeing on the front lines of ukraine is just constant fighting. and it will

drain on individuals and really cause some both physical effects and psychological effects. >> you mentioned the pitcher. earlier today, nato secretary general accused putin of using, quote, winter as a weapon. how does winter and the temperatures play for both sides here? >> well, you know, it's equal. the weather plays an equal part on both sides, truthfully. what you are talking about is the preparedness and discipline within the force. what we've seen in the russian force so far is a lack of discipline, a lack of leadership. poorly equipped. they are not prepared to address the kinds of things associated with winter warfare. you know, oil for equipments, the kinds of things you need to stay dry. the uniforms that will keep you warm. what nato is providing ukraine right now is the type of uniforms they need to sustain themselves. they have the shelters. i saw a picture the other day of a russian's shelter that was basically saran wrap wrapped around trees just to keep the

wind out. the ukrainians have tents, they have underground shelters. the combination of equipment, performance standards, and discipline, in my view, even though weather is equal to both sides, will give ukraine the advantage in this winter fight. it will still be very tough. the other thing that's it's important is during the winter, the daylight. certainly, less time of daylight that you can fight. ukrainians have night vision devices that they can see under the nighttime. all those things play a part. and i give the ukraine in the upper hand in a winter fight in this. >> retired lieutenant general mark hertling, we always learn so much from you. thank you so much for being with us. >> thanks, john. >> just ahead, what's next for the u.s. men's national team at the world cup? they've reached the knockout stage after a thrilling 1-0 performance against iran. we'll have a live report from doha in qatar. plus, reaction from the iranian side. but

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>> red, white and blue, sparking lights on the empire state building tonight, a celebration of the u.s. men's national team after advance to the knockout stage of the world cup with its one nil win over iran. the moment of the game, that goal in the 38th minute. weston mckinney with a beautiful cross. -- delivers the header to pulisic. you could see he sacrifices his whole body, the whole thing, to

put the ball in the net. he was also a hero with an assist in the match against wales. he was injured, you can see, on the play right there. we will have much more on that in a moment. that would be it for goals in the game but not for drama. iran would mount an attempt at a comeback late in the match. several attempts to tie the game, including an iranian hitter that missed the goal wide. plus this one will stop your heart. the ball gets through goalkeeper matt turner's legs. i think you can see that in a second. it was quickly swept away by the defender walker zimmerman there. kicks it out just in the nick of time. afterwards, it was all celebration. i watched the game alone and i still nearly lost my voice. two reports now on the game and the politics -- it's never far away from it. i'm joined now by cnn's don riddell. he's in doha, in qatar, site of this world cup. and cnn's -- jomana karadsheh era. on iran's reaction.

don, as i was saying, i was screaming the whole time watching the game. what was the atmosphere like actually being there? >> you know, it was extraordinary. i'll put it like this, if i was screaming, i wouldn't have been able to hear my own voice because i just had a wall of sound to my left. i was sat right next to the iranian supporters. from the whistle until pretty much the end, they didn't stop. horns, vuvuzelas, drums, it was all noise. the only time it stopped was when pulisic scored that incredible goal. what an important goal that was. as you say, the u.s. had to win this game. one goal from iran, and it would have been a completely different story. the americans would have been packing their bags. instead, they are settling back into their hotels. i will give you an update on christian pulisic. he was taken to hospital. he missed the 2nd half of this game, where he underwent some scans. the team reporting that he's day to day. it is a pelvic injury that they

are dealing with for the usa's star player. he took to social media afterwards to say so proud of my guys. i will be ready saturday, don't worry. he injected a little language bomb in there. he wrote that when the adrenaline was still pumping, john. he says he will be ready. we will see. certainly the u.s. fans will be hoping because it's the netherlands next, and it will be a pretty tough team to beat. meanwhile, john, just talk about the experience of this game, i've never covered a sports event like it. of course, it was all about what was going on on the field and all about what was happening off it. i spoke to an iranian fan before and he says he was rooting for his team to lose because of what the team represents. we are now seeing videos coming in from iran, all over iran, fans celebrating their team's defeat. everything upside down. that's how complex this situation is, right? >> and we'll talk to jomana in second for the iranian reaction. just on the game, though we got

some footage in, i don't want you to look and listen to this, if you can, of the u.s. men's national team returning to their team hotel after the match. and as far as christian pulisic is concerned, you can actually see here. hopefully this is a good sign. let's watch and look at this. [screaming] [screaming] >> all right, you could see all the cheering. you can see christian pulisic there hugging his teammates. i'm sorry, i'm too much of a fan boy when it comes to this. that is just wonderful to see. >> and that is brilliant video. absolutely wonderful. so uplifting. great to see these young players. this is one of the youngest teams in the tournament. many people thought they would be all set to go for the next world cup, which they are co-hosting in 4 years time with canada and mexico. they seem to be ahead of schedule. we've known for a few years that the americans have great players.

many of them are starring in europe and the premier league. could they do it as a team, could they do it on the bigger stage? there were concerns going into this tournament that they weren't quite gelling. it wasn't quite working out right. but, hey, look at how they are playing now. so far, so good. >> looks like they were gelling right there. let's hope the pelvic contusion heals by saturday. don riddell, thank you very much. as don was mentioning, this was much more than just a game. serious implications and reverberations inside iran. let's go to cnn's jomana karadsheh. jomana, what is the reaction inside iran to this loss? >> i mean, jon, truly remarkable scenes that we've been seeing, celebrations. people are celebrating their own team losing. we've seen video trickling out from different cities, including the capital, tehran, where people are chanting and cheering. you've also got a lot of video coming in from different cities

across the kurdish region. one of the parts of the country that have borne the brunt of the crackdown by the regime. people out on the streets dancing, honking their horns, even fireworks in the hometown of mahsa amini. one young kurdish man i spoke to today said he is happy because he said this is the government losing to the people. he said a team against a nation isn't a national team. while there aren't iranians that will tell you it's unfair to the players who've been under immense pressure, as we reported, they have faced threats by the regime to them and their family. there are a lot of iranians, john, who felt that this was an opportunity for this team, the nation's team, to have taken a stance, to show support to the people of iran. and they feel that was a missed opportunity. it disappointed them that they did not do that. like other athletes have done, who have gone to jail or have

faced threats. they did stand by the people. at the same time, john, there was a moment, there was a turning point for a lot of iranians. that's when iran beat wales last week. we saw these celebrations on the streets of tehran, where you had security forces really surreal scenes. these security forces that are accused of killing hundreds of people during this crackdown. horrific human rights abuses over the years. they are out on the streets celebrating at a time when a crackdown is ongoing. there are people burying their dead. it was a very, very painful moment for a lot of iranians. and a real turning point for many, who felt that this team was no longer a team that united iranians no matter how they felt about the regime. they felt it was now representing the regime. i think that explains a lot about what we are seeing tonight. >> so much going on beyond just soccer there. jomana karadsheh, thank you very much. years of covid lockdowns have unleashed unprecedented rare

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uprisings in china often, partly ever. not the kind of country that takes kindly to dissent. that's why the show of opposition right now two years of highly restrictive covid lockdowns is truly extraordinary. protesters have taken to the streets in at least 15 chinese cities, demanding the lockdowns be lifted. some are being beaten by police, others are having their cell phones seized as the government tries to snuff out the protests. cnn's selina wang is live in beijing. it's not just increased police presence. how far do chinese authorities willing to go right now to stop the protests? >> it's all about stopping the momentum in its tracks, john. a key priority of china's giant security apparatus is precisely to prevent social unrest like what we are seeing. authorities have a big tool kit of repression, surveillance, individual intimidation. some protesters are getting called and home visits from the

police. what's really chilling is that in places like shanghai, some of this intimidation is playing out in broad daylight. police randomly stopping people in the area where the protests had broken out days before, ordering people to delete content from their phones. other videos appear to show police randomly checking the cell phones of passengers on a subway in shanghai. protesters have told us police are also checking if people have installed vpn's on their phones to get around china's firewall. in order to use those apps like twitter and telegram, which protesters have been using to communicate. all of this, it is preventing people from gathering. we see the protests become smaller and more scattered since the weekend. police on monday broke up an attempted protest in -- videos show a woman being dragged away, screaming. authorities violently pushing people. all of this in this aftermath is a reminder that this is a police state where there is virtually no privacy. people know that even their private messages on chinese apps are monitored. all our movements are tracked with covid health apps. security cameras are all over this country.

as you say, the fact that these protests happened at all across the country, it's just extraordinary. >> we've seen footage of protesters getting arrested. what do we know about the people who are detained? what happens to them? >> we spoke to a protester who is part of a large group of people detained in shanghai saturday night. this person said they had their phones confiscated. police collected their fingerprints, their retina patterns. they were later released and had their phones returned but they said police deleted photos and removed apps. a beijing protester told us that she has received a phone call from police asking if she took part in, quote, illegal activities. she said something pretty striking that police may have been calmed during the actual protest, which i witnessed myself as well. but the communist party, she said, is very good at doling out the punishment afterwards. and john, we've also finally gotten some sort of response from chinese officials to the protests, even though it was a veiled response. china's security chief says law enforcement needs to, quote,

resolutely strike hard against infiltration and sabotage activities by hostile forces as well as illegal and criminal acts that disrupt social order. tough language there that may signal a more aggressive crackdown ahead. meanwhile, health authorities, they are still defending zero covid. now saying they want to reduce the impact of covid restrictions on people's lives. that's nicer language but no concrete changes, john. >> selina wang, thank you so much for your reporting. please keep us posted. for more context on these protests and what it could mean for president xi, let's go to fareed zakaria, host of fareed zakaria gps. fareed, you heard selina wang talk about what it's like on the ground in beijing. when you look through the wider lines, how significant is this moment? >> it's very significant. china has actually allowed protests over the years but they've always been local protests. you know, local corruption or pollution or, you know, a food shortage.

this is about a policy that's not in local policy. it's about a central policy. this is xi jinping's policy, one he has boasted about repeatedly. he's talked about how the chinese and his government have handled covid better than anyone else. this is a frontal assault on xi jinping. also worth noting that you are watching these images the great problem the chinese communist problem has going forward, which is this is a pretty modern middle class society. lots of people have electronic equipment. lots of them are aware they are watching the world cup, for example, and noticing people are not wearing masks in these stadiums with tens and tens of thousands of people, which is, by the way, being censored by the chinese for precisely that reason. what you are watching right now is a government that is ruling a much more alert, the rest of,

aware population and then say in 1989, indiana men. these are richer, more urban, more educated, more tax abby. and yet, it seems to have no way to course correct. which is one of the things the chinese common barty used to do before xi jinping. they would move around and adjust and change policy. but they seem locked into zero covid. >> how much of it is it about covid at this point, fareed? how much is covid, how much is either the shifting demographic or the genuine concerns about government overreach? >> clearly that trigger is covid. the really draconian lockdowns. clearly, local governments have been excessively zealous. this is what happens in china. the local governments try to show off to the center and each has outdone the other in some ways. but i think it's fair to say, yeah, there is a broader dimension to this, which is people are saying we don't want

to live in a society where the government has this type of power. where we are this -- where we are pawns in the governments policy. we often look at the united states and all the chaos of our covid policy and all of the politicization we talk about. but you know, in a way, it's a good thing. you have open contestation. you have arguments, disagreements. and then policy get suggested. china has -- does not really have the ability to have that kind of policy adjustment. it would be such a mark of xi jinping's weakness. were he to now given. and i think he is trying not to. what the government is going to do is raise to the point, two or three months from now, where they will probably have a mrna vaccine, an indigenous chinese one, they don't want to use western ones. but then they can vaccinate the

whole population. and then presumably they can start opening up. it still sounds like a very, very tough challenge because it's a long way away still. >> and maybe a lot of suffering for the chinese people. friedrich aria, thank you so much for being with us tonight. >> always a pleasure. >> coming up, the story of two parents reunited with their daughter more than 50 years after she went missing. the surprising way she found them. that's next. oh! tens of thousands of mud-chugging options. it was just so easy to find a car within my budget. i'm just happy i was able to pick this baby. good on ya! we'll drive you happy at carvana.

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after 51 years, it's so emotional. >> back in the early 1970s, melissa was 22 months old. her parents were separated at the time. her mother put an ad in the newspaper looking for a babysitter to care for melissa so she could work. her roommate at the time handed off melissa to the babysitter on the morning of august 23rd 1971. the woman and melissa never returned. melissa's disappearance made headlines in her hometown of fort worth, texas. she wrote an open letter asking the kidnapper to call her. i'm begging you again for the return of my little girl. i've been going out of my mind with worry. the call never came. but dna testing the, decades later. melissa's family submitted their dna to 23 and me and got the results a few weeks ago, with the match to one of melissa's own children. that now 53 year old confronted that woman she spent nearly her whole life believing was her

own mother. >> i asked her, is there anything you need to tell me? it was confirmed that she knew that i was baby melissa. that just made it real. since the highsmith families reunion over thanksgiving, melissa has started reconnecting with her parents over old baby photos. >> it's good to see what i looked like when i was a baby. >> and this meeting three sisters and a brother she never knew she had. >> welcome back. welcome to the family. >> my heart right now is just full and thirst-ing with so much emotion. >> it's unimaginable emotion. in an instant, melissa highsmith world change. she had no idea her family had spent decades looking for her. >> it's overwhelming but at the same time it's just the most

wonderful feeling in the world. >> ed lavandera joins me now. this is an amazing story. what were authorities saying about the women who took melissa as a child? >> investigators say that this is fort worth police, and they say they will look into this. they will investigate the matters of this abduction and how all this happened. believe it or not, criminal charges are not likely, john. the statute of limitations on this case right now when melissa highsmith was 38 years old. she's 53 years now. about 15 years ago. the family says they are going through the process of doing more official dna testing just to confirm the biological connection here. right now, it's a family just simply overwhelmed by the magnitude of what they are experiencing trying to connect and make up for a ridiculous amount of lost time. john. >> 50 years i can imagine, at lavandera, thank you so much.

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