detention. and that is the message that's being sent to the protesters, you need to back down now before this spate of killings continue. of course, they have no way of preventing it, they have no way of knowing it. it has now been nearly three months. next friday will be the third month anniversary of the killing of mahsa amini. and there is no sign for the time being of these protests ending, wolf. >> melissa bell, thank you very, very much. finally tonight, the human toll of russia's was are on ukraine now overwhelming pope francis with emotion. the pope break down in tears during a prayer service in rome while talking about the suffering of the ukrainian people, the pontiff praying for peace in ukraine as so many people are doing around the world. and to our viewers, thanks very much for watching. "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. "outfront" next, putin wants more. tonight, the russian assassin who putin wanted in exchange for

american citizen paul whelan. how far will biden go to bring whelan home? plus, new details about brittney griner's time in a russian penal colony, cutting off her hair in an effort to survive. singled out because of her height and size of her hands. the reporter breaking those details is out front. self-proclaimed lava junkies putting their lives on the line just to catch a close glimpse of hawaii's erupting volcano. good evening. i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, putin's assassin demand. we are learning tonight that putin refused to release american paul whelan along with brittney griner unless viktor bout was returned in addition to a convicted assassin and former russian spy. this news coming as we're hearing new details about griner's nearly ten months in prison tonight. she landed in texas today, and tonight we're learning her forced labor consisted of helping make uniforms along with other key details of her

imprisonment. but we still don't know tonight what condition paul whelan is in because putin is refusing to release him unless he gets this assassin back. you're looking at him. vadim is currently serving a life sentence in germany for killing someone three years ago execution-style in broad daylight in a park. he executed his target using a silencer, approaching him from behind, shooting him twice in the body and then shooting him in the back of the head as he lay on the ground. it was a hit the german court found was ordered by the russian government itself. now, i'm going to be speaking with paul whelan's sister in a few moments. because, as whelan is still suffering in a russian penal colony, tonight there are celebrations in russia, celebrations for viktor bout's triumphant return. bout freed from american prison where he was serving 25 years for the most prolific arms dealer in history and for a plot to kill americans.

the headline on this paper, for example, reading, bout is happy. how the russian businessman -- that's what they call him -- managed to return from prison in the u.s. bout also went on russia today. it's a russian state media program. and he did it right away. and he took this swipe at the united states, making it clear he is now focused on ukraine. >> translator: the west believes that they did not finish us off in 1990 when the soviet union began to collapse. >> this is a point that putin himself makes repeatedly. the point is that the west is now using ukraine as a way to destroy russia itself. bout and putin seem to share a world view. and bout now owes putin his freedom. putin may be ready to ask for payback. and this is what i was told the payback could be. >> putin is going to be ready to deploy viktor bout. he comes with years of

experience, years of contacts. he started in ukraine, and i think that's one of the areas we have to be concerned about right away. viktor bout will be a major asset for putin. >> a major asset for putin. and a major asset is what putin desperately needs right now. let me play for you this surprising and notable exchange between a reporter and putin. because what you're going to hear here is that the reporter references the deluge of social media posts and leaked phone conversations we've been playing for you where russian soldiers slam their equipment, their training, and their commanders. >> translator: recently there have been conflicting reports about the supply of the army. you said that the problems are being solved or they have already been solved. but, nevertheless, the flow of messages from the fighters from the front lines does not stop. appeals go to the military

commisars, to volunteers. they ask not only for uniforms but also for medicine because consumables run out very quickly. and the question is who to believe, department of defense reports or the front line soldiers? >> translator: you can't trust anyone, only i can be trusted. >> don't trust the soldiers on the front lines. don't trust the military. only i can be trusted. he says it with a smirk, the words of a dictator who sees only one path out of ukraine, victory. in fact, tonight, putin said he's considering formally altering the military doctrine of russia to allow for russia to strike first to launch a preemptive nuclear strike against a foreign power. kylie atwood begins our coverage out front tonight in washington. putin tonight saying the door is open for another prisoner exchange, perhaps referencing that assassin we're talking about, saying they want krasikov

back. what is the likelihood this happens? >> reporter: well, listen. we know that u.s. officials have already received that request from russians a number of times. and they have simply said it's not something they can deliver on or that germany is along to do. but the last few months are going to greatly inform what the following months, the months to come look like. because u.s. officials know the types of things that they could russia that they're not going to accept. some of the names that we know that u.s. officials floated in an effort to get home paul whelan with brittney griner include alexander vinnock, he is a russian who is expatriated to the united states just in august. he is facing charges of money laundering and extortion just among a few. and then there is another russian, roman salesnev. he is someone who has been involved in cyber criminals. he is facing a 14-year prison

sentence serving that in the united states right now. that's not that say that those names won't come up again. but they're not going to be posed to the russians in the same form that they have in the past. i spoke with a senior administration official who explained that the biden administration realizes that they need to put forward some new ideas here. and that's what they're thinking about right now. they're trying to figure out a way forward, trying to figure out something that russia will accept. now, as you noted out of the gates there, president putin did say today that it is possible there could be another prisoner swap. on the face of it, that sounds great. but we heard just in recent hours from the deputy national security adviser john finer who expressed some caution, saying you can't take everything that president putin says for face value, but the u.s. is committed to trying to get paul whelan home. erin? >> certainly true with that comment. all right, thank you so much, kylie atwood with all those

details from washington. i want to go now to paul whelan's sister elizabeth. and, elizabeth, i'm glad to speak to you again. obviously i would have hoped it would've been in different circumstances with celebration for your family. but you are still waiting tonight. when you hear these details that putin made you another exchange, that he desperately wants vadim krasikov, that he had tried to engineer that swap possibly. do you think that makes sense? should krasikov be handed over in exchange for your brother? >> you know, it's very interesting. ever since bg's release yesterday, members of congress and pundits in the media have been weighing in with hot takes about bout, about brittney, about this guy, this assassin, and about my brother. and it's been very difficult for my family to hear. my brother discussed as if his only value was what we would

have to give up for him. >> that's -- you know, look, it's a poignant thing to say. i guess on a certain level from a policy perspective, it does boil down to that. has your family had any conversations with the government about this, about what they are willing to do to bring him home? >> i think we've made it pretty clear that as far as i'm concerned, at least, my brother is worth more, has a greater value than any russian criminal. >> so, are they responsive to that? do they understand where you're coming from? do they internalize it in a meaningful way? >> well, i have tried not to discuss putin's gift registry. i'm not going to carry the water for the russians. if they've got an argument to make about something that they want, they need to make it through the diplomatic channels. and i expect that now bg is back that the teams that have been working to help get paul home

over the last months and years are going to hit the ground running trying to figure out a new way to solve this problem. >> and do you think that the u.s. learned anything when you talk about bg, of course, brittney griner. has the u.s. learned anything from what's happened here, from the fact that they were able to secure her release, you know, in exchange for a notorious arms dealer, viktor bout? anything that could help with securing paul's release? >> i certainly hope so. because paul has been waiting for a very long time. he sat through the previous administration, and now this one watching other people go home. i can't imagine what his life is like day to day in the prison, the resolve that he is showing. but how long will that resolve last? and i'm hoping that people are feeling a greater sense of urgency to solve this problem and get him home. >> elizabeth, i'm curious, whether in your conversations with the u.s. government, have they ever talked to you about why they think it has been harder to secure his release?

you know, why others -- he's been there so much longer than so many others, and others come and others go and swaps happen. and yet not him. >> yeah. i mean, really from the start, the fsb set paul up. they gave him a usb drive and then arrested him five minutes later saying that the usb drive contained state secrets. from that point on, they held him for 18 months from pretrial detection, then had a sham trial and sentenced him to 16 years for this, quote, unquote, espionage. and so ever since then, this is a russian fairy tale, and they have decided that because of this, quote, unquote, value paul has that they should be able to ask for something big in return. >> and do you have any more or less hope tonight, elizabeth, after the griner swap, that paul will be home soon? and i use that word soon. i know it's undefinable. but do you have more hope tonight or less hope tonight?

>> uh, it really hasn't changed. to a certain extent because trevor and paul -- trevor and brittney's situations were treated differently. how is paul's situation going to get resolved? i do know that i will be bearing down much more -- with much more pressure on the people i've been working with because i don't want to see this happen again. >> well, certainly you have continued to be a huge fighter for your brother. elizabeth, thank you very much for taking the time and speaking to me. >> thanks so much. i appreciate being on. all right. and i want to go now to a russian investigative journalist whose website focusing on russian secret services has been blocked in russia now. he's also the author of the new book "the compatriots: the russian exile who's fought against the kremlin." you hear elizabeth and her justifiable frustration that others who are held for shorter

periods of time continue to be swapped and go home, and putin has just been unwilling to release paul whelan looking for something big, big, bigger. no one knows exactly what. this assassin, vadim krasikov, that we understand putin has asked for, who is he, how dangerous is he, and why does putin want him back so much? >> yeah, it's a very interesting question that the kremlin wanted krasikov. he is not a professional spy. he is an assassin. and not a very good one. i mean, he was caught immediately by german police. but, nevertheless, putin wants him, and he wants him because, i think, he wants to send a message. he wants to send a message to all russian immigrants who left the country after the war started. but not only we can get after you, even if you get caught, we can get our people back and we can save them.

so that's, i think, his idea, that is his message. >> and that gives him, i guess what you're saying is some sort of a position of strength or he looks like he's doing something. >> absolutely. and putin, he knows how to play this game with swapping and trading people. he started doing this 20 years ago during the chechen war when he learned how to build what we call a bank of hostages. he did the same thing when zelenskyy was just elected as ukrainian president. and he added some people at the very last moment so he knows how to play this game whvq it comes to viktor bout, the most prolific arms dealer in history, also convicted of plotting to kill americans, he is swapped for brittney griner. how do you think putin is going to use viktor bout now? >> bout could be very useful for the kremlin for several reasons.

of course, it's a big propaganda because the kremlin spent years while increasing their reputation of bout in the country. and now he is seen in the country as someone who never gave up to american pressure, who is stubborn. so he has this kind of reputation. but also his contacts especially in places like africa where moscow is still playing -- trying to play a super power. this kind of experience might be extremely helpful. >> all right. thank you very much. i appreciate your time tonight. >> thank you. and, next, new video of griner's life in a notorious russian penal colony. why she was barred from doing some of the tasks as other female prisoners were doing. and espn reporter with a lot of new details on her captivity is my guest. arizona's kyrsten sinema officially no longer a member of

the party that barely controls the senate. >> so, like many across the state and the nation, i've decided to leave that partisan process. >> what does it mean for democrats? and a federal judge refusing to hold donald trump in contempt of court at the mar-a-lago documents case. why and what does it mean? uhhhh... here, i'll t take that. [woo hoo!] ensure max protein, with 30 grgrams of protein, one gram of sugar and nutrients for immune health. science proves quality sleep is vital to your mental, emotional, and physical health. and we know 80% of couples sleep too hot or too cold. introducing the new sleep mber climate360 smart bed. science proves quality sleep is vital to your mental, emotional, and physical health. the only smart bed in the world that actively cools, warms, and effortlessly responds to both of you. our smart sleepers get 28 minutes more restful sleep per night. proven quality sleep. only from sleep number.

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call her father mid-flight as she returned to the u.s. this is according to the democratic congresswoman sheila jackson lee. and it comes as we're learning new details about brittney griner's life in a russian penal colony. we've got some new video here. we'll show you. this is her with short hair in her prison. her lawyer telling espn that griner cut her hair to survive the brutal russian winter because there was no way to dry her hair. and she was freezing. an indication fwriner thought she would be serving her sentence for many more months to come. we're learning that griner also could not be forced to sew along with the other women because she was too tall. her hands were too big for the work. i want to go to the investigative reporter and senior writer for espn who's been breaking all of these details. tj, it is amazing, it gives you just a window into what she was living every day. what more are you learning about griner's time at the penal colony? >> well, we have yet to hear from her, of course. but what her lawyer was saying to me and other people around her i've spoken to is that it could've been a lot worse.

they were very concerned as she was moved from the relatively safer moscow jail where she had been through her trial to this penal colony. these colonies are descendants of the old soviet gulags. they're work camp. her job was carrying fabric around. there was concern that she could be a target. she is a 6'9" black lesbian from the united states, and no one knew could she be a target of another inmate, of a guard. what her lawyer was saying to me. and she is speaking from moscow. with all due respect, we have to take a little grain of salt with it. is that they assigned somebody who spoke english to her to help show her the rules because it's very easy in these camps to suddenly commit an infraction that gets your privileges taken away or put in solitary. but for the one month that she was there, she did okay. but you're right, she was looking for the long haul even when she was in jail, there is a basketball hoop but no ball.

her lawyers offered to bring her a ball. she said i'm not ready to think about basketball. if i'm still here in the spring, bring it to me then. >> it is amazing the details and important that you point out that lawyer who was speaking to you from moscow. griner's lawyer also said that the first promising sign came earlier this week and that quickly turned into concern about griner's whereabouts. so what happened? >> right. well, they heard last week that something might be happening. so they got a little optimistic, as you would expect. but then monday suddenly they got word that she had been moved back to moscow. now, that should've been a great sign. but then they didn't hear from her or about her for days. like the fact that brittney had broken her glasses while she was at the prison camp. they didn't know if she could see or read. they didn't know if she was getting food. so essentially no one slept. because, on one hand, you are

worried about her safety. but on the other hand this might be the crucial step that actually gets her home. >> wow. amazing that -- those last details just in those hours, not knowing where she was sort of leaves me speechless. thank you so much. i really appreciate it. tj breaking so many of those details. i want to go to one of griner's teammates who helped lead the efforts to bring her home. you hear tj's reporting, getting the sense that she moved to moscow, and then her glasses were broken, and they didn't know, you know, whether she could see. they didn't know about whether she was getting food. they didn't know any of this. and you've got this new video. she had to cut her hair. and you're hearing about her life in this penal colony. forced labor carrying fabric, in her case. you know her so well. you're her friend. >> you're her teammate. how hard is it for you to hear all these details? >> um, it's definitely difficult. i would say the past 294 days she was detained was very hard.

but, at the same time, also a sense of relief that she's back with her wife, with her family, and that now she can start the road to recovery. >> so obviously you and brittney go way back. you're teammates. you both grew up in texas. you watched her play in high school. this is many, many years' relationship. the newest images that we have seen of her getting off the plane today in san antonio, pretty powerful. you watch someone coming off that plane, and you got to choke up a little bit. but for you it's so deeply personal. what feels did you have watching her come off that plane? >> definitely excitement. again, relief. it's been such a long time coming. and i think obviously seeing on the news earlier how she was, like, in the air and on her way but then to literally see her land in san antonio and see her step off the plane, the feeling was undescribable. >> i have to ask you something

that i think may surprise a lot of people because it has to do with the fact that there are still a lot of basketball players choosing to play basketball in russia right now. you've also played basketball in russia in the past. and th"new york times" reports tonight there are about 30 american men's basketball players playing right now in russia or planning to return to play there soon. what do you think about that? do you think that any americans should be it ning to play there now? >> i think it definitely should make americans a little bit hesitant. i know there's a lot less female basketball players, playing there today than there were in previous years. but at the end of the day people have to make their own individual decisions and weigh the cost and do as they choose. but i definitely do think it causes a little bit of hesitation for some players. >> it's sort of amazing to think that people do that. and i understand the economic pressure, they have reasons for doing it. but i think surprising for many

to hear. and you've played such a major role in the effort to keep a spotlight on brittney's story. and if it weren't for you and a few others, she might not be coming home. because you were out there talking about it, making sure that the u.s. government and this administration had to hear about it every day. right? they couldn't put it on the backburner. you had the hashtag #wearebg. was there ever a day where you felt this day may not come? >> i would definitely say it was a collective effort. there were so many people involved in bg's story and the effort to get her home. the nba and wnba, a lot of work went into getting her home. but just looking forward. and was i feeling less optimistic? no. i always kept my hope alive. i've never lost hope. >> all right, well, brianna,

thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us tonight. >> thank you. and, next, arizona's kyrsten sinema stuns democrats still celebrating their extremely slim senate majority win. it was a majority, and then all of a sudden kyrsten sinema says, guess what, i'm no longer a democrat. what does this mean? and donald trump wins a reprieve in federal court today. there's more trouble though in the mar-a-lago classified documents case for the former president. ryan goodman will break it down. ♪ nobody can tell ya ♪

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arizona senator kyrsten sinema is no longer a democrat. she's telling jake tapper today that she's left the party and is now registered as an independent. this news comes as democrats were celebrating their 51/49 majority. they fought so hard for that in georgia. that was after raphael warnock's win. we have the details of sinema's decision and more on who is the senior senator from arizona. >> reporter: arizona senator kyrsten sinema's bombshell decision. >> i know some people might be a little bit surprised by this, but actually i think it makes a lot of sense. >> reporter: revealing today she has left the democratic party and is registered as an independent. >> i've never fit neatly into any party box. i've never really tried. i don't want to. >> reporter: the move coming just days after senator raphael warnock won the georgia runoff election to give democrats a 51/49 majority has been a long time coming. making official what has been

unofficially a thorn in the side for democratic leaders for years. a dynamic that has placed her at the center of some of the most contentious debates, gaining her outside power in a slim majority as one of the two key moderate democrats in the senate. >> i don't think anything will change about how i do my job. >> reporter: this is just the latest chapter in this senator's unconventional political evolution. sinema first started out far left of center as a green party activist, entering politics in arizona as a ralph nader supporter, organizing antiwar protests after the september 11th attacks, which drew criticism years later when she ran for senate. >> kyrsten sinema was protesting us in a pink tutu. >> reporter: she fought for lgbtq rights and against arizona's controversial immigration law. >> they passed an unconstitutional immigration bill that does nothing to solve our state's problems. >> reporter: her politics began

to shift as she sought higher office. after winning her first congressional campaign in 2012, she joined the blue dog coalition, a group of centrist house democrats. >> the american public doesn't care much about republican or democrat. they just want solutions. >> reporter: and with her assent to the senate, she attempted to take over the late senator john mccain's mantel of maverick. >> reporter: with the trust of the people of arizona shaping my service, i recommit to ignoring political games. >> reporter: remember made-in speech on the senate floor foreshadowing how far she has come from her leftist roots, opposing abolishing the filibuster and voting against raising the minimum wage. sinema came from humble beginnings. she grew up in arizona poor. her family at one point living in an abandoned gas station. >> i learned a lot about independence, about the importance of working hard and

overcoming challenges. >> reporter: she was raised mormon but later left the church. >> do you believe in god? >> you know, i'm not a member of any faith community. >> reporter: at 19 years old, she was briefly married, then divorced a few years later. >> can we get a spouse? just kidding. >> reporter: she broke barriers coming to congress as the first out bisexual member of congress. at 46 years old, she is a marathoner and triathlete with a unique and edgy style, from this f-off ring to her colorful wigs, to this dangerous creature shirt she wore to preside over the senate floor. >> you're breaking the internet. >> good. >> reporter: and the balance of power here in the senate will not change. but it does give democrats less breathing room. sinema is expected to keep her committee's assignments, which means it'll be easier for democrats to move forward with things like nominations. of course, the timing here, erin, is so notable given that this came on the very same week that democrats were celebrating

their 51-seat majority right after the runoff in georgia. erin? >> thank you very much. and let's go now to harry enten. harry, here's the thing. everyone is saying, okay, you fight for this, years have gone by, you finally have the majority. and kyrsten sinema goes, hmm, okay. can we just take a look at her voting record to understand what this really would mean? how often did she vote with her party before she announced this today? >> if you take a look at the time that she's been in congress. i also want to include joe manchin because he's the other moderate in the united states senate. she voted with the party a little bit more than joe manchin did. the average democrat voted with the party about 90% of the time. manchin was close to 60%. sinema was closer to 70%. she said people would be surprised by this decision. i'm not exactly surprise. because she was the second most moderate democrat in the united states senate. she was frequently a little bit of a thorn in the side of leadership both in the house. and then when she joined the

united states senate. >> right. but they're all trying to -- senator schumer today, oh, nothing to see here, it's all cool, we got our committees. you know, okay. but if her record before was only 70%, what's going to happen now? i mean, i guess the way to look at that -- you know, you've been looking at joe lieberman who was a democrat, switched to be an independent. what happened when he made that switch? did that voltting with the part number go up or down? >> he lost the primary. kyrsten sinema's afraid of losing a primary in 2022. and he ran as an independent or a third-party candidate and won re-election. if you look at joe lieberman's record and you compare him before and after he made that switch to being independent, he was ten points less likely to vote with the party. right now you see kyrsten sinema's slightly more likely to vote with the party than joe manchin is. i would not be surprised that she either votes about the same percentage in the side. she'll be even more of a thorn in the democrats' side. >> nothing to see here is a

little bit of bluster. >> i would say so. >> now you mentioned that this is about a primary, perhaps, in some sense. 2024 she's up for re-election. before this, democrats have made no secret of the fact that they want to primary her. what does this mean for democrats? >> right. if you look right now at the senate mat going into 2024, democrats have a lot more vulnerabilities than republicans. the vast majority of seats that are up are for democrats. there are seven democrats who are up in states that donald trump at least won once. that includes arizona. now imagine that a democrat actually runs in arizona and sinema runs as an independent. t this makes it, in my mind, a much easier run in arizona. if now let's say you have a democrat and somebody who's formerly a democrat and democrats only have a two-seat majority and they can only afford to lose one seat, this to me puts the senate even more in play than it already was. this is not a great thing for

democrats. we just had an election day. we're still about two years from one. >> it is amazing. she waited through election day. and then you wake up this morning and, wow. >> that's the world for us. it's always changing. >> all right, harry, thank you. so next, a test for donald trump's team. is anyone, anyone willing to guarantee the doj that trump has turned over all classified documents? that's what the justice department is asking tonight. and so-called junkies having a field day in hawaii. they've been risking their lives to get close. >> my group of friends is definitely the far outer limits of that range.

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new tonight, a federal judge declining to hold donald trump in contempt for ignoring the justice department's subpoena for classified documents. sources telling cnn that the judge told prosecutors and the trump team to go figure it out together. now, one demand from the doj was this, that anyone from the trump legal team come forward, anyone

come forward if you can guarantee that all classified documents have been returned to the government. well, we're told trump's legal team has not done that, in large part because any lawyer who raises his or her hand and comes forward with that statement will almost certainly face legal jeopardy. now we have ryan goodman, the co-editor in chief of the just security legal blog. ryan, so let's just we're two years after trump left office. we're multiple searches and subpoenas in. and still nobody will raise their hand to definitively say you got it all, we're sure there's no more classified documents. what does that say? >> it shows a deep level of distrust within his own legal team that they can't rely on his statements to be able to say that. and it also is just mind-boggling that they won't be able to say to the justice department that we've returned everything that's of classified

material. just astounding that we're in that situation two years out. >> it shows that the people around are the people who are in his inner circle or the people who he's paying to represent him, they don't trust him. because if they were to do that, they would have criminal risk themselves. >> they've seen this movie before, in a certain sense, which is in june his lawyers do make that statement, that they have returned all the documents in response to the subpoena, to the best of their knowledge. and then that particular lawyer is actually told you're in legal jeopardy now because it's proven to be false. >> that was the search and now they just found some more documents. this seems never-ending. and, yet, the federal judge did not side with the justice department in this contempt issue. they wanted the justice department had asked to hold trump in contempt of subpoena. and the judge refused to do that, saying go work this out, outside of court. does that mean anything to you? >> it means a couple things. it is interesting and important that the justice department does believe that he is in concement. that was what they were trying

to get the judge to do. so, that's one part. but the fact that the court doesn't go along with them. it's difficult to know what that means. the "new york times," for example, is reporting we don't know if that was our final decision it. >> sounds like she's saying maybe not now. exhaust all of your efforts to try to figure this out because cnn's reporting is that, for example, the justice department was -- had concerns about the details of the search of bedminster and what they had found or hadn't found. so they might be trying to resolve that and she might think it's not ripe yet to hold him in contempt. >> it's basically go through more mediation before -- okay. but what does it tell you about the new special counsel, that they decided to go this route and go in and ask for it right away? they were regressive. >> sound like the special counsel is taking a very different approach. it's not like this hands-off we're going to give you another month, another month and it comes to be 18 months before

they finally go in. he aseems to be approaching donald trump as he would other citizens of the united states who might be in defiance of law and saying we're going to enforce these subpoenas and court orders. and i think that's a bad omen for donald trump. i think the way he gets out of the situation is if he's treated not like everybody else. >> treated like everybody else. obviously the precedent would show serious penalties and an indictment. all right, thank you very much ryan goodman, as always. and next, the lava junkies watching every inch of lava flow in hawaii. they can't get enough. >> it's what gives us our excitement. it's what gives us our adrenaline for the day. >> it's an amazing report. and then this. this 200-pound dinosaur skull called maximus fetches millions at auction.

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hawaii. >> reporter: seemingly photo genic from every angle there is a striking beauty to the eruption especially as captured by this photographer. >> the volcano is different every single day and every single time you go it is always different. >> reporter: cj driving us to his picture perfect spot at 4:00 in the morning. the best view he believes the rising sun over the glowing lava. many hours of sleep sacrificed for a few minutes of perfect lighting, weather permitting. >> yeah. that is super thick. >> reporter: we step out into the cold rain hoping it'll burn off as we wait and cj admits to us he is a particular kind of thrill seeker. >> a lava junkie. kind of the term here. it's kind of our fix. it gives us our excitement, what gives us our adrenalin for the day. >> reporter: this lava junkie has even gone swimming with it

catching these fiery waves in 2018's eruption. is there a range of lava junkie? those who get a little bit too close and too extreme? >> my group of friends is definitely the far outer limits of that range. i wouldn't recommend pushing it far for everybody. >> reporter: but some are still pushing it. >> good morning. >> reporter: if you caught our live report monday for cnn this morning you might have noticed this person, head lamp on, returning from a trek to the lava's edge. officials have repeatedly warned folks of the dangers getting that close to the flow. not to mention it's trespassing. >> you know you can live caged up and have a pretty boring life or you can go see for yourself and take the chance. >> reporter: curtis and sherry grumbles perhaps rookie lava junkies hiked five hours round trip over unstable lava rock out to the edge of the flow. they recorded this video about 50 yards from the crawling lava. then there are those going to the source of the lava, the

expert lava junkies if you will. usgs scientists in protective gear collecting samples of the lava and bringing them here. >> we put them in the drying oven. >> reporter: the university of hawaii at hilo is helping run the rapid response lab for the mauna loa eruption. we got a rare look inside. these samples collected since the lava started spewing. >> it was thrown up in the air and landed and was -- they scooped it up while it was still molten and quenched it and if you look at it you'll see it is very, very bubbly, soft. like you can break it in your hand. >> reporter: researchers here quickly turning out data to help the usgs chart where the lava flow might be heading especially as it is inching closer to crossing saddle road, a major highway connecting east and west of the big island. they warn the slower pace is deceptive at times. >> it might look like a big wall of hot rock and it doesn't look like it is moving much but they

can surge where all of a sudden the front breaks off and lava comes spewing out. >> reporter: dangerous perhaps but for c.j. an eruption is never destructive. >> at what point did it become destruction, when you put a house in the way? i lost property during the 2018 eruption. i have many friends that lost properties. my mom lost a house. we don't view it as loss. we view it as borrowed time. >> reporter: speaking of time, sun's up and our view is still this. does it feel like a washout when you get to this point and suddenly there is nothing? do you feel disappointment? >> you know, it is all part of the journey. if every single time we pulled up it was absolutely amazing it wouldn't be as special as it is on the days it is amazing. >> reporter: david culver, cnn, hawaii. >> amazing. we don't view it as loss. we view it as borrowed time. words we could all use. well next the massive dinosaur skull sells for

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it's the dinosaur skull that cost an arm and a leg. this specimen called maximus sold today for $6 million. it is an adult t-rex head. 76 million years old, complete with teeth. it weighs 200 pounds. that's without the skin and the flesh. and it is over 6 feet tall. for the skull. maximus was discovered on private land in south dakota. the only time a skull like this has come up for auction as a stand alone piece. the only known t-rex skull available for private ownership. early sale estimates came in up to $20 million. bidding back and forth for six minutes before the gavel came down at $6 million. who bought it? wouldn't you like to know. we have no idea. thanks for joining us. "ac 360" starts now.