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>> good evening, looking at live pictures of kelly airfield base in san antonio, texas in some hours a plane carrying wnba star brittney griner will -- le pen from abu dhabi. prisoners what is right out of the cold war took place there in nearly ten months, losing the custody of the russian criminal justice system. her wife, cherelle, in the white house today, is working to bring brittany free and saved clearly overjoyed and by her own admission, overwhelmed. >> over the last nine months you will have been so privy to one of the darkest moments in my life.

so today i'm standing here overwhelmed with emotions, but the most important emotion have right now is sincere gratitude for president biden and his entire administration. >> the administration bring griner home in a prisoner swap which played out on the tarmac at abu dhabi for arms dealer, victor bout, who has been serving a 25 year sentence in the u.s. with charges including conspiring to kill americans. the trade, griner for bout, leaving out another american, paul whelan, who's been in prison in russia for almost

four years. he spoke exclusively today to cnn's jennifer hensler. >> i don't understand why i'm still sitting here. my bags were packed, i'm ready to go home. i just need an airplane to come and get me. i was led to believe that things were moving in the right direction and that the government was negotiating, and that something would happen fairly soon. >> back in washington, mixed reaction with lawmakers and both parties welcoming griner's release. republicans mostly, though, not exclusively, underscoring the downside. >> i'm glad in americans coming home. she was arrested for a trumped up charge. but to exchange the merchant of death for this, it's made us weaker, it's made putin stronger, and it's made americans more vulnerable. >> it's a view, or at least a

concern -- at the administration though defending the deal as the best that they can get. >> this was not a choice of which american to bring home. the choice was one or none. >> well, a bunch more on the entire story tonight, bringing to you only as cnn can, cnn's phil mattingly is at the white house with the exclusive details from inside the oval office on how this all came together. kylie atwood is at the state department with new reporting as well on what happens next from griner, jennifer hensler, with more on the cnn exclusive interview she got today with paul whelan in prison. and from london, nick paton walsh, who sat down with victor bout for the very last interview he ever did with the western reporter. we want to start with phil mattingly. what are you reporting, phil? >> you know anderson, there were months of fits and starts, arduous negotiations, where this really crystallized over the course of the last 72 hours. just a few days ago, brittney griner was removed from a penal connally to moscow, a clear and concrete signal to administration officials that what had long been thought as a possible deal was very much coming together. they summoned cherelle griner to the white house, telling her that she was going to get an update. national security adviser, jake sullivan, about ho w things were going.

however, cherelle griner arrived, she was actually lead back into the oval office not knowing exactly what was going on. there, she was met by president biden, it was president biden who had told his team, he wanted to deliver the message. the message that the deal had been complete. britney griner was on her way home, the two were speaking when president biden was actually informed by his aides that brittney griner was securely in the hands of the u. s. officials. certainly thereafter, she was on the phone on speakerphone with president biden, with charles griner, for -- they spoke for a short while, the three of them, then cherelle grander went into the president's private dining room to just have a private

conversation with the wife she has not seen in nearly ten months. it's something that underscored the split screen dynamic here. there are very real complexities, very real policy issues that the president grappled with a major way over the course of the last several months. but as he signed off on this last week, made clear this was about bringing an american home, this was about bringing someone back to her family. >> what do we know about the negotiations, why griner was released, not paul whelan? >> the one thing you hear from white house officials, they spent months trying to push our colleagues, kiley and jenny actually, wrote the story trying to push the idea of the two for one deal. of viktor bout, yes, definitely being part of the swab, but the u.s. getting brittney griner and paul whelan. what they discovered over the course of the last several weeks with russians came back tonight with a firm response, only be one for one. paul whelan was not that one. it was not an option, they were not given one to select. they were told it was brittney griner or nobody. they were told that whelan's case was simply being viewed through a very different manner. president made the decision to bring britney griner home,

making it very clear one official said, it was a very painful decision, but a decision that he decided he needed to make. he had spoken to u.s. officials, had spoken to the whelan family, the president has spoken to the whelan family as well. made clear they will be doing everything in their power going forward to bring paul whelan home, but they don't have right now i do that,>> phil mattingly, apprecif cnn's kyis the depart redouble their himkylie, wlearned?>> that's a d officitonight tha some ideas about new forms of proposals that they could put on the table with russia to try and secure the release of paul whelan. of course, we heard earlier today from the secretary of state, saying that essentially they had put everything on the table that they could, but this senior administration official making it clear that they are going to be trying to be as creative as they can. they are aware that something more and something different needs to be proposed to the russians. this comes after paul whelan speaking with jennifer handler exclusively earlier today said that he is concerned about what it would take to get him out. and saying that the biden administration is going to have to identify something that the russians really want and give it to them. and his brother, concerned that the biden administration doesn't really have much in terms of concessions to give to russia at this point, because viktor bout, who was traded in this one for one deal with britney griner, was really the person we had been hearing was a top interest to the kremlin. and so, they are asking, you know, what else is there? administration officials saying, they are going to go back to the drawing board. state department spokesperson saying very clearly, tonight, keep the faith to paul whelan, they are coming back for him. >> what are you learning about

the griner deal? >> the griner deal, it was that one for one and as we heard from phil just there, it was recent days where this deal was actually signed off, but it was a recent weeks where administration officials had to grapple with the reality that, of course they wanted paul whelan and brittney griner home, but the russians were only willing to do this one for one griner for viktor bout swap. and so, essentially what they had to do was do this deal now or potentially do no deal at all. >> it's extraordinary to see this image of the swab on the tarmac in abu dhabi. it really is like something out of a cold war movie, cold war novel. >> it is and you saw the small smile on britney griner's face. it was footage that was released from russian state media this afternoon and someone asked her, you know, if she is ready for the flight. she said, yes, yes i'm ready for the flight. you could see joy in her eyes,

she did not want to get too excited because of course, u. s. officials did not know that this was going to happen until it happened. and that is, of course, one of the reasons that this was a very tight held operation. only a small number of u.s. officials knew about it and most were told that they were concerned as they looked at the war in russia that if something happened there, that really angered the russians, that they may pull back. of course, luckily and happily enough for the griner family, that did not happen. >> kylie atwood, appreciate your reporting. thank you. now to cnn's state department producer, jennifer hensler, who kiley just mentioned. jennifer actually spoke with

paul whelan from prison. i mean, it's fascinating you are able to get a phone call to him. what was his reaction to what happened? >> well anderson, he actually called me because he wanted to express how he was feeling today. he said, he was very happy that britney griner was heading home but he was disappointed and surprised that he was left behind. he said, he had gotten indications that there was positive movement on his case and he said he was particularly disappointed because he's said there had not been enough movement and enough effort to get him home, especially for years into his detention. it was four years ago this month that he was arrested in moscow on those espionage charges. he vehemently denies that he is a spy and he said, he has sat quietly for a long time and he is hoping now to get his message out about how frustrated he is that he's still there. >> and he had a message for president biden, that he? >> he did, he did, anderson.

he said he would like to speak to biden directly to convey the dire circumstances that he is in. but he also said he wanted to get this message out right now and it was worth the risk, so that people could hear what he is going through and what he wants from the president. i want you to take a listen right now. >> i would say that if the message could go to president biden, that, you know, this is a precarious situation that needs to be resolved quickly. and i would hope that he and his administration would do everything they could to get me home regardless of the price they might have to pay, at this point. >> so, he's hoping that the administration pulls out all of the stops now to try to bring him home. >> i mean, i can't imagine what his life is like on a day-to-day basis. is he hopeful, do you think? >> he has not lost hope. i mean, he seemed calm when he spoke to me, but he's

definitely concerned about the long term prospects here. he's been in this prison nearly four years now, he still has 12 years left on this sentence. he's concerned he won't see his elderly parents again, he won't see his beloved family dog, and he's also concerned about his own health. he said, the circumstances in this prison colony are horrible, the sanitation is terrible, it's not clean, it's not healthy, so he's concerned about getting home and a healthy one piece. now, i should say that the biden administration says that they are doing everything they can to bring him home. and his family still has hope as well if they will be reunited soon. >> jennifer hensler, i appreciate, thank. you perspective tonight from a retired korean admiral, john kirby. he's currently the white house national security council coordinator for strategic communications. >> admiral kirby, what more can you tell us about how this exchange came about with the final negotiations leading up to the release were like? >> well, just to remember, this has really been months in the making. we've been working on this for a very long time, for almost the entire time that britney was wrongfully detained and certainly mr. whelan came before her. but in actuality, the deal itself kind of came to solidity in the last week or so, anderson. it was sometime last week we knew we had this opportunity and the president decided that we were going to take. it so, it really kind of came

to a conclusion over the last week and then a little less 48 to 96 hours, largely that was spent on working out the logistics with the russians. >> what about her condition, house she doing? >> she was in good spirits when she spoke to the president and to her wife, cherelle this morning in the oval office. the reports we got on the ground at the site of the exchange in abu dhabi was that she appeared to be in good health. but we don't want to take anything for granted, so her first stop when she gets back to the united states in the coming hours will be at a treatment facility, where she can get the medical care that she might need after ten months in detention in a penal colony. >> as you know, there's been criticism from both republicans and democrats about prisoner exchanges. house minority leader, mccarthy, call it a sign of weakness, his, words adding that it could danger other americans abroad. senator chris coons, a biden ally, cautioned him with these kind of exchanges could set a bad precedent. i want to play what putin said.

>> it was clear over many months that putin was only going to release britney griner in exchange for this person. and that is the risk, is that the more we engage in such exchanges, the more americans are at risk of being scooped up and held as leverage to try and secure the release of folks who we would rather not have to release. >> what do you say to that criticism? >> we are mindful of that, mr.. of course, that's where you taken steps in this administration to put sanctions and visa restrictions in place for those state and non state actors who might engage in hostage taking. that's why the state department put in your designation on countries, at the designation, for detention risk. we want americans to go on the state website when they are going to travel overseas and make sure that they are fully informed. when they go overseas. and look, i think any nation that comes away from the thinking, well, this is a blank check to go ahead and take americans, you have to think

twice about that. we will hold them accountable. but it's also a strong signal about how the president feels, the weight of the responsibility he feels about protecting americans abroad. particularly those that have been wrongfully detained. >> what's the decision the president had to make whether it was going to brittney griner who got out or victor bout, or paul whelan? >> there was only one choice. and the only person that they were willing to treat for with respect to mr. bout was brittney griner. they put paul whelan in a different category. they treat him separately, they treat him differently. because of the sham espionage charges that they've levied against him. we tried many different permutations to try to get both of them out at the same time, as you might expect. but the russians really put mr. whelan in a different category and so, we just were not able to make that work right now. the only deal we can get right now was the deal, bout for brittney griner and the

president felt he had a moral obligation to take that. it was either get one american out, in this case, britney, or get none. >> you said earlier today, the u.s. has not been back to square one with whelan's negotiations. where do those stand? >> i think, look, over the last certainly over the last several weeks and months, we've become much more informed about the russian position. because we work so aggressively to get both of them out. we now have a better sense of where the russians are coming out this, from a negotiation standpoint with respect to paul. so, going forward, we are smarter, we are more informed, and we are going to use that context as we try to aggressively negotiate for his release as well. >> dr. john kirby, appreciate it, thank you. >> the thank you, sir. >> we will have much more in the senate as we wait for britney griner's return. next, a man who got sent back to russia. the so-called merchant of death who was viktor bout in his

heyday, and who is here now? does he still pose a threat to americans? later, breaking news on two fronts. the growing world of legal jeopardy for former president, new action by the justice department, and you cnn reporting on who specifically the january six committee is considering criminal referrals for in addition to the former president. president. president. . the only brand with real honeyand elderberry.

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-- nick paton walsh has the distinction between the last western journalist to speak with him. he joins us now from london. you interviewed bout in 2009. what should we know about him? >> yeah, i mean, this is a man known by the book about his exploits as an arms dealer, as the merchant of death. his -- nicolas cage movie, the lord of war, a very prominent individual sort of a mythology of russia's influence in smaller conflicts in the 90s and early thousands, dealing arms often. he had, a man who denies all of that publicly, despite the fact that russia has gone through extraordinary lengths diplomatically to get him home. today and over the past weeks, here's more about what we know of him. >> he is the lord of war,

according to this fictional movie starring nicolas cage. >> say what you like about war lords and dictators, they always pay their bills on time. >> for the merchant of death, per a book about his alleged life. despite much evidence, viktor bout has always denied being one of the most known arms use of the 90s, feeling civil wars and both during moscow's interests. yeah, he's so never really wanted to be a nobody. >> why do the americans want your so badly? >> [speaking non-english] >> mr. bout, good morning. >> he gave me his last interview in a tight jail 13 years ago. he denied the words charges against him. >> this is a lie and just bolshoi it. . especially never had any deal

with al-qaeda. >> in the noisy packed visiting area, as he sat behind the glass, the thing i remember most was his mother interrupting. and then he admitted he had worked for the russian government. have you ever worked for the russian government? >> sometimes yeah. >> in the end, he was not superhuman and arrested in thailand after a u.s. sting operation. and while his decades of life in the shadows have left him full of faith, he was always just a pilot career, he insisted, as he would lead into this bangkok courtroom. >> today, a man had in federal court -- picture boot against to face american justice. >> the u.s. sting was complex over many months and countries, catching him offering weapons

to u.s. agents pretending to be colombian terrorists. he was extradited to face a new york trial for conspiring to kill americans that saw him sentenced to 25 years in prison in a medium security facility in illinois. there, he told me in emails he was in good spirits brushing up on his many languages. in 2019, a very glad when his wife and daughter visited. he was slowly edging towards the end of his sentence, perhaps a reason his role in a swap was more appealing. the biggest mystery about boot was why the u.s. wanted him so fiercely. yes, he had allegedly dealt arms to a lot of bad people across africa and in the 90s, but that was known and exposed. the search for another weighty reason and one that if he had not served alongside insiders over his long past overseas, that remains a huge question mark. is he a pilot in the wrong place at the very worst times? or, as so many have said, a profiteer and policy -- for moscow and the world's nastiest wars. >> it's an interesting question. his release was clearly important to vladimir putin. >> absolutely.

we may never know the answer to that question. is it his historical knowledge of the things they did in the 90s, the early thousands, which the kremlin is so desperately keying to keep quiet, or did he have a close relationship, as has been suggested, with people who may be observed in the intelligence community in africa in the 90s or so that went on to be close to vladimir putin. that's one possibility. to be honest, his slick denials have always made it exceptionally hard to elucidate quite what the reason behind him being of such enormous value to the government's, anderson. >> is he still a threat, potentially? his time in the front lines in africa and elsewhere was in the 90s, as you say. >> as we both know, the world has changed a lot in the last 13 to 14 years.

he's not a man who stayed on the phone keeping his contacts fluid. when i emailed with him like few years ago, that was cut off by prison monitors. he has been away from the constantly changing front lines of the past decades or so. yes, he still has the language skills, i'm sure. he's as charismatic as he wa s when i spoke to him in 08 or 09. the world has changed enormously. russia's -- has changed enormously. he may want to get back into where he was before, he would be coming at it from a standing start then picking up where he left off, anderson. >> any chance he would get involved with the war in ukraine? >> i, mean russia's problems there are quite significantly advanced at the return of one individual with better arms

contact could turn that around, hard to say. he certainly carries a lot of mythological weight, almost, among the russian elite. maybe why vladimir putin to bring him back to show that moscow is able to do things, those military professionals who put themselves on the line for russia, that may have some possible influence maybe. remember, this is the u.s. and russia, anderson, talking in a reasonably balanced fashion, negotiating while the u.s. is busy supplying ukraine with weapons and killing russian soldiers and russia is busy killing ukrainian civilians. there's a lot of tension in the air here. this was dealt with quite practically and that's potentially a good sign for maybe peace negotiations. certainly the capacity to calm down misunderstandings in the months and years ahead between moscow on washington. >> nick paton walsh, fascinating to see those interviews. breaking news in the criminal investigation over classified documents found at donald trump 's home. what it could mean for the former president, plus cnn has now learned who the january 6th committee may be considering criminal referrals for in trump world, next. brightest minds in medicine. this is a leading healthcare system

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through the january 6th committee they may be considering criminal referrals for as -- an addition to the former president, multiple sources tell cnn the panels waiting prosecution referrals for former trump white house chief of staff mark meadows, john eastman, former justice department official jeffrey clark, along with rudy giuliani. we are now with cnn's sara murray. talk about these possible criminal referrals. >> these are names still under discussion. of course, the committee has not made their final decision. it also doesn't mean this is going to be an exhausting list. we previously reported the committee is weighing a referral for donald trump. we may see other names. what we know is there is still an active discussion going on

within the committee that these men are all names under discussion for criminal referrals to the department of justice. again, this is a recommendation. in talking to the committee members, they do feel like they don't want to let anyone slip through the cracks. talking to benny thompson today he said we have the intention of making criminal referrals, but there were some things we covered during the course of the investigation that didn't feel like we could go without moving to the department of justice. the committee will meet privately, virtually, on sunday. they are expected to go over those criminal referrals and make a decision about who they want to put on that list. they are not planning on announcing that publicly until december 21st when they also release their final report, anderson. >> what more do you know about this effort to get the former president held in contempt in connection with the mar-a-lago

case? >> we know the justice department has assessed a -- in contempt and in recent years that the justice department believes that trump did not comply with the subpoena they sent over the summer asking him to return any documents of classified documents. we know after they got the subpoena there was a search at mar-a-lago. the fbi found more than 100 documents of classified markings. they -- we told our viewers that since then the trump lawyers hired a team to search for properties. they found an additional two documents in a storage that was classified. the argument is not what -- you should hold him in contempt. all this is going on behind closed doors. these are secret court proceedings. we did learn there's going to be a hearing on this matter on friday. the judge could decide if she wants to hold donald trump or his post presidency office in contempt, in which case they could face fines. if this tells you how contentious these have been behind the scenes between the trump team and the justice department. >> sarah murray, appreciate. former nixon white house counselor -- cnn former prosecutor, rogers. this means that others be on the former president are being looked at, possibly being referred to by the select committee or the doj. >> i don't think it'll influence the department. it will certainly influence the public, which in turn may influence the department. and this focuses on these people. there will be more information than normally from a criminal investigation that will be

revealed about why the committee feels these people have earned a referral. i think it's an important move. i would not be surprised if there is some more that gets made. >> jennifer, how do you think the attorney of the department of justice weighed these referrals? >> not really at all, anderson. i mean, if the referrals were for obstruction of congress or perjury before congress, and then doj looks at it differently because congress is effectively a victim there and you would treat that the way you would abuse of any other victim. but if it's just we've done investigation, here's what we think, doj will say thank you very much. they will be very interested in the evidence collected by the committee. as far as the recommendation, doj will have to make their own 100% their own determination on the facts. >> when you look at the potential targets of these criminal referrals, former president trump, mark meadows,

and john eastman, jeffrey clark, rudy giuliani, any of them you believe has a higher legal exposure when it comes to criminal investigations? >> we don't know all the evidence that committee knows at this point. but i have always thought that mark meadows was so close to the president, so involved, so right there. we've seen very little out of him. he has not testified. i've often suspected he might be cooperating. we just don't know. i know he's got a very good lawyer, a very savvy lawyer who if anybody of that group might crack a deal, i think meadows is the one who might. >> jennifer, the same question to you. >> yeah, i agree with john. there are different ways in which these men might be in trouble in terms of criminal exposure. for example, on the slates of fake electors, rudy giuliani has a lot of exposure there. jeff clark for the shenanigans at the justice department. it's almost like this is a who's who of the different strains of the conspiracy. they are almost picking one or two from each of these separate plots. i think they are all in jeopardy. it just depends on what they've been able to uncover. that's one of the things i'm really anxious to see when the report comes out. how they assimilate all this

information, including the evidence we have not seen. >> jennifer, is an incredible to think that this guy, jeffrey clark, who was angling to take over the justice department would actually be charged by the justice department? >> it is. it's extraordinary. it's almost extremely equally extraordinary to think about how he got there in the first place with extreme views he was willing to go to these lengths. creating this document that had all sorts of falsehoods in it and wanting to send it out as a department of justice communication, it's extraordinary that he was there, unbelievable what he did. we will see if there's evidence to charge him. but doj will not hesitate. you have to have a reputation for integrity.

if one of their own, one of doj's own committed a crime, they will be just as eager to go a stir that person as anyone else. >> john, should the former president be concerned by the department of justice chances to convince a judge to get him held in contempt for the documents case? being held in contempt, does it matter from a legal standpoint? >> we don't know at this point in the recording what kind of content they are contemplating asking. whether civil or criminal. if it is civil, they will be trying to get the judge to impose fines on him. if it's criminal, that could be an imprisonment. i don't know how you imprison a former president with a secret service detail who is with him all the time.

there are a lot of complex problems. this is a very savvy judge. it's interesting anderson that she is the chief judge. it was the chief judge during watergate, john surrogate, who did not take any baloney and cut through the dust and the smoke and was not intimidated by the fact he was dealing with a president at the other end. these chief judges, and they see it all. >> jennifer, what is the determining factor, whether it's a civil or criminal contempt? >> i don't think they would even consider seriously criminal contempt here. one of the things this motion tells me is that they are again taking very cautious approach to this. they could likely get search warrants, they've already gone into these locations themselves. instead, they are trying to get time trump and his team to certify that they are doing it appropriately. again, they are being very cautious. they are treating him with, frankly, a lot more deference

than anyone else would receive. i think that is smart to do. i think this kind of underscores that. i don't think they are trying to put the former president in jail. i think they're looking to try to get him and his lawyers to do the right thing, to surge in the right way, and to certify it court. >> jennifer, a source familiar with the matter told cnn that don trump does not plan to appeal to the supreme court, this court order to end the special master review of documents. i assume that helps the justice department in terms of timeline, it allows things to move forward. >> a little bit. one of the reasons he decided not to appeal is that it's not an appeal as of rights. it's not like there would be a scheduling order, a briefing, an argument in a period of time for that report to decide. probably they would dismiss it immediately since he does not have a right to -- probably he will lose anyway, there is no point in doing. it doj maybe gets him a few days earlier, but it's not a lot. >> jennifer dodgers, john dean, thank you so. much appreciated. coming, up a look into the german extremist moment -- overthrow the government of germany there. 25 people arrested, wednesday more arrests expected, live report from berlin.

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coup in germany. the day after germany arrested 25 suspects in an alleged qanon-inspired plot to overthrow the government, authorities say that number has risen to 54, with more possible arrests. even that number confirmed to rise. the arrests, according to one official, are unprecedented in the country's history, modern history. cnn's senior international correspondent, fred pleitgen, has more on who this group is. >> it could have been a january 6th-style insurrection in germany. violent protesters tried to storm german parliament in august 2020, when the leading groups, citizens of the rake, now a accused of plotting a coup in germany. [interpreter] this is obviously one of the large terrorist organizations that has existed in the right-wing sector in recent years, the various interior minister said. it seems to be the worst we

have seen so far in the spectrum of the rice burger and qanon scenes. german authorities say there will be more arrests after massive raids on wednesday. the number of suspects has already risen to more than 50 possible coconspirators of the group eventually led by this man. 71-year-old prince -- the 13th of the house of royce. cnn efforts to reach him for comment have so far been unsuccessful. residents of his hometown say that suspicious activity was already well underway. his followers had even demanded citizens ditch their german passport. we were told that we were not german because our passports were not german. we were then given the opportunity to apply for our german origin documents with the administration, the deputy mayor said. authorities say that it wanted to set up a monarchy in germany and have scores of right wing extremists in the ranks. among those arrested, several former soldiers and a former member of german parliament from the far-right political party. german extremism exports --

the number of extremists looking to undermine democracy is growing. it's a development which shows that right wing extremism is moving from the margins to the center and that protagonists from the scene can imagine overthrowing the state order. it's a very dangerous development. german commit ortiz say they are continuing to identify people possibly involved in the planned coup. and while that plan may have been thwarted this time, groups like them pose an increasing threat to germany's democratic order. >> cnn's fred pleitgen joins me from berlin. do authorities believe the plot could have succeeded? >> they believe that these conspirators were trying to occupy the government buildings. the parliament first and foremost. that way take power using a military arm that they found without -- the likelihood of that succeeding may not have been very high. however they also say more than

100 places are being searched when they did their big rates. in 50 of those places, they actually found weapons. clearly, these people were arming themselves. people were serious about it. there's two things about that, anderson. on the one hand, obviously this group is quite large, quite dynamic. but also the ties they have to groups like qanon, to conspiracy theorists and also to right wing extremists makes all this very dangerous, the germans believe. >> there is a pretty good extreme's conspiracy theorist movement in germany, isn't there? >> it's a lot bigger than many people think. we were looking into this, basically since 2020, we had that large demo and berlin, where very nearly the parliament was stormed. it was almost like january 6th, except germany's cops stopped them from coming in. there are social scientists who believe there is almost 200,000 followers of qanon in this country.

once again, those groups are all linked. conspiracy theorists. a lot of them have that right wing background, right wingers in their ranks as. well the german government, in the past couple of days this has taken place, they have said they believe that democracy in this country, like in the u.s., can be frail. that's why right now they are saying they are going to take this hard line against groups like this to make sure democracy is safe in germany. >> i appreciate it. a lot of hype online, a lot of nervous anticipation for buckingham palace about the new docuseries -- the wait is over in part. it was released today. take a look at some of the royal revelations next.

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♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪ britain's prince harry and his wife meghan spoke to oprah winfrey last year. they stunned the world with their candid comments, the royal family -- in secrecy for centuries. they are talking again, this time in a new netflix docuseries out today. cnn's max foster tonight has the -- >> the first three episodes of -- and at the verdict is. in harry and megan's and netflix docuseries has not had any major bombshells yet. but there was a targeted attack on the media. >> and no one knows the full truth. we know the full truth. the institution knows the full truth. they've been in on. it >> suggesting the royal press is simply an extension of the palace's ar team. the family is afraid of challenging the media.

the series shines a light on their childhoods. harry talks about his mother, her battle with the press, and the difficulty he had growing up as a royal child in the spotlight. >> to them, this is all tied together, how he feels he's being chased by the press ever since he was a child, it has continued into his marriage. it was unsustainable. that's why he had to leave the royal family. >> then there was megan's perspective, learning to live in the royal fold. the first senior royal she met was the queen. >> i was in the car and driving up, and the drivers like, you know what occurred see, right? i thought it was a joke. >> then there was this anecdote when she first met kate and william. >> i remember i was in ripped jeans and barefoot. like i was a hugger, i've always been a hug or. i didn't realize that's really jarring for a lot of brits. i guess i started to understand very quickly that the formality on the outside carry through on the inside. >> the episodes are peppered

with intimate moments and what was billed as an inside look into their relationship from the start. it includes moments like this. >> it's happening, it's happening. >> videos of pictures never made public before. the moment harry proposed. >> i was planting -- >> the trailer teasing dramatic moments. in the first three episodes. any bombshells the palace fears may be still yet to come. >> max, has the palace responded to this? >> i think there is quite a lot in this series that unsettled the palace. it's not quite enough to prompt a formal response. i think the bigger test of that, anderson, will be next week, when we get to the more sensitive part of the story, which is when they were forced, or felt forced out of the family and had to leave to go to north america.

not enough in there yet. although, some of it feels quite personal, according to people i've spoken to in the palace. >> max foster, appreciate it. thanks. we return to the top story, britney griner from russia, her plane expected to land in san antonio texas. we will talk to the father of trevor reed and other americans wrongfully detained and thankfully also freed. but how it is doing and what the griner family will expect in their home coming next. ♪ hey lexus... play holiday music! make this december one to remember. together. happy holidays from lexus. ♪ waiting. sometimes it's just inevitable. but if you're over 50 or live with a chronic condition, waiting could be deadly. because conditions like heart disease or diabetes raise your risk of serious illness or death from untreated covid.

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