- [announcer] do you have an invention idea but don't know what to do next? call invent help today. they can help you get started with your idea. call now 800-710-0020. >> good evening, we begin tonight keeping them honest with the person that is hard to keep it honest, congressman george santos, who said today that he is stepping away from his committee assignments, and the house republican leadership calling for him to just leave it at that. according to the congressman's statement, with the ongoing intentions surrounding my personal and campaign financial investigations, i've submitted a request to speak to mccarthy and be temporarily recused from my committee assignments until and cleared. the republican has been disowned by his own local republican leadership for lying to them and is facing calls to resign from other members of his new york republican house

delegation. he says that he expects to be fully cleared. why you might ask, does he think that? because these are his own words today, quote, i have nothing to hide. there was not even true when he said, it because when asked which network he had just done an interview with, he refused to say. it was oan. he did have at least one thing to hide today. he also promised that the interview would be quote, fun and comprehensive. fun, you will leave that up to him. a 12 second clip posted today, lying about his religion, education, and ancestors, and his career, criminal charges, athletic accomplishments, and more, it was far from comprehensive. those 12 minutes that were released, he was not asked about specific lies, and mentioned none of that comprehensive list of things that he's lied about. there is more than hasn't been released, we will see. what was released, santos seem to suggest that he had already said enough. >> i have made my sincere apology multiple times. i've said that i thoroughly have apologized for lying about

my education and embellished my resume. i've made that very clear. i don't know what more can be said other than admitting, is there anything more humbling, humiliating, then admitting that on national television? >> yes, congressman, there is. there is something more humiliating than admitting that you lied about your education and embellishing your resume. that would be admitting you lied both publicly and privately, and personally it seems in your life, to nearly everybody for a very long time. i would probably be more humbling and humiliating if he did, it which you haven't, and if you are actually capable of being humiliated, which seems unlikely, since you appear to be utterly incapable of feeling shame. when asked what he might have done differently, he merely said that he wouldn't have lied about his education. quote, i would've just fought like heck to get the nomination. and at the end, he said this.

>> i've learned my lesson, and i can guarantee you that from now on, anything and everything will always be above board. it has largely always been above board, i'm just going to go the extra step to double check, cross reference everything. >> he just said everything from now on will be above board and double check, and then in the very next sentence, he lied and said that it's largely always been above board, as in that his past statements and past actions have been above board, and honest. statements like these. >> good morning, shalom to everybody. i've seen how socialism destroys people's lives, because my grandparents survived the holocaust. i'm a latina jew. my mom was in 9/11 survivor. does that mean a good prep school, which is harassment have in the bronx. i actually went to school on a volleyball scholarship. >> i put my through --

>> i put myself through scholarship, got my mba from and why you. >> when we are in baruch, we are the number one volleyball team. >> i founded nonprofit association. >> i got knee replacements, playing volleyball. [speaking non-english] [interpreter] >> it is in summer of 2021, on fifth avenue and 55th. i was robbed by two men. >> i've lived an honest life, i've never been accused of any bad doing. >> good morning, shalom to everybody. >> just for the record, none is that is true, except the estrada. the congressman is also facing federal investigation into his finances. a local investigation to new york. his latest campaign finance disclosure forms have raised questions, and yet the republican house leadership still says that it is not for them to tell him to resign. >> i've commented on this numerous times, and it will play itself out. ultimately, voters will make that decision. whether it's in the primary election, or in the general election. >> there would be two years from now. that's new york republican

congresswoman elise stefanik, the fourth ranking republican in the house who has come under fire for vouching for santos during the campaign and working hard to help him win. as for mccarthy, he did not weigh in today but made it clear a week ago that it was not his job, either to show santos the door. >> i'm standing by him, because his constituents voted for him. if in some way, if we go with the ethics, that he's broken the law, then we will remove him. it's not my role. >> that is the new standard, as long as you're not a criminal, you're good. the congressman's constituents, apparently, disagreeing. new polling in his district show voters by 78 to 13% margin say that he should resign, including 71% of republicans. more now from melanie zanona at the capitol. what more are you learning about him stepping down from these committees? >> george santos has really been defiant, up until this point, except anderson, the pressure has been growing on him to resign. he's facing multiple investigations, including into his finances. i would expect this move to

temporarily remove himself from the committee assignments is a way to try to take some of the heat off of him and his party. santos said earlier today, it was his decision to step aside, take a listen. >> did mccarthy tell you to step away? >> nobody tells me to do anything. i made the decision on my own. the issue did come up in a meeting against santos and kevin mccarthy last night, and he told us earlier today that he thinks it is inappropriate moved by george santos to give up his committee assignment. that's because this has become a huge distraction for house republicans, and a huge political liability, especially as they try to remove a democratic congressman from what of her committee assignments. it was becoming an increasingly difficult position for republicans to take here, and they will definitely be a sigh of relief within the house gop today. not every republican is satisfied, in fact two new york republicans put out a statement saying that this is like somebody quitting right before they are about to be fired, and

they said that santos sent still needs to do the right thing, which is to resign. anderson? >> melanie, we appreciated. thank you, now with, us joe walsh, host of a podcast, and inside politics sunday anchor abby philip. abby, was to properly return to these committees, as we see on a daily basis, including in this last interview. he's not forthcoming with regards to the vast majority of his lies, does this just slug along, and careen along like this? >> i think it's going to, anderson, this latest move really just shows that republican leadership is not willing to put public pressure on george santos to stand aside, or really to do anything. they allowed this move of him, recusing himself from the committee, to be framed, at least publicly, as his decision. even though it's clear here that it's something that

actually benefits kevin mccarthy as he's trying to go about the rest of the agenda that is laid out for his party. this is not someone in george santos who has a lot of remorse or even a lot of shame for some lies that he is told. you played so many them today, but, you know, he hasn't even explained, reporters were asking questions about why he claimed his mother died on 9/11 when she wasn't even in the country. i mean, these are -- some of these lies are really reprehensible. and these is not somebody who seems to be having any sort of real remorse over his willingness to light his constituents and the country in this way. >> and congressman waltz, do you actually believe this is santos voluntarily stepping down from his committees? a guy that seems so shameless. he just met recently, privately, with kevin mccarthy. the thing is very possible that mccarthy suggested or told him, look, take attention away from us and away from yourself, step down from these committees, and let this thing work out? >> absolutely, anderson.

i think it's probable that mccarthy told him, hey, look buddy, help me out here. here's the deal. kevin mccarthy needs to be speaker, he needs to stay speaker. he needs this santos stuff to kind of try to go quiet. and the other thing, anderson, is kevin mccarthy, because his caucus is demanding it is-bent on removing ilhan omar from her committee. which is a despicable thing to do. but this puts mccarthy in a real tough spot, if he's still got george santos on all of these committees. anderson, i've got to say, santos is a huge distraction to republicans. but man, republicans created this distraction because from the moment this news broke, as you demonstrated, they've never held him accountable. and here is the damnedest thing anderson, it's only going to get worse. we're talking about his lies now. we're going to be talking about federal crimes and federal

finance campaign violations pretty soon. >> abby, you heard congressman santos say in that softball interview that he's learned his lesson, and from now on everything is going to be above board. is there possible move that voters in his district would try to recall him? is there anything, a chance of that? >> look, i think from everything that we've seen, a lot of voters in his district are trying to put as much pressure as they can to force him into a resignation. i just don't think there's much from the mechanics of how these elections work for them to do that. there's no, sort of, you know, recall procedure like there is in some other states. so, they're really in a bind here. and they're relying on just using their voices and the bully pulpit that they have as voters. i think a lot of his voters right now feel powerless in the situation. and so do his colleagues in new york. other republicans in that state

are trying to get this guy out as quickly as possible. because they believe that it reflects negatively on them. these are republicans, many of them in purple states, that biden won. they believe they're the tip of the spear when it comes to republican majority. and they're worried about what this could all mean for them in two years, when they are up for reelection once again. and they have to answer for why george santos's lies wasn't enough for him to be really pushed to the corners of the party, are pushed out of the party in this congress. >> congressman waltz, does this hurt the people in his district? i mean, if he's completely just, you know, constantly scuttling about, trying to avoid things and not on any committees, does he actually do anything? does he actually serve his constituents? >> no, anderson. and that such a great point. that's the pathetic deal here, that that district, for two years, will in essence go without a representative.

and shame on george santos for that. but really, anderson, shame on the entire republican conference. abby's right that members of the new york delegation have spoken out against him. but doggone it, he's lied about everything. the entire conference should call him out. mccarthy should call him out. but they won't. i don't think he's running again, anderson. i think they've probably already cut that deal. and he'll just try his best to be quiet for two years. >> joe walsh, abby philip, thanks, appreciate it. coming up next, breaking news in the police killing of tyre nichols. the existence of more videos of it. and when authorities say they will release them, and later how and why the new house ethics committee will include another election denier who voted against certifying 2020 presidential election results in the hours directly after the january 6th attack. i'm excited about pronamelepair because it penetrates deep into the tooth to help actively repair acid-weakened enamel. i recommend pronamel repair to my patients.

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christmas eve at four o'clock in the morning. we're gonna always make sure that you have all of the financial tools and support to secure your financial future. that means a lot for my community and for every community. >> there is breaking news set in the police killing of tyre nichols, his final is tomorrow in memphis. you're reporting from cnn's shimon prokupecz. authorities say that there will be more of videos released from the investigation is complete, adding that this will be footage that, quote, family slash lawyer has viewed. this comes as new reporting by the new york times and cnn raises questions about why the initial police reporting of mr. nichols's fatal january 7th encounter with police did not reflect what video of his beating and subsequent medical neglect clearly showed. as shimon prokupecz reports for us, that divergence between what actually happened and the

officers account of it may have begun at the scene and what is now an alleged murder. >> memphis police officers in the moments after the beating of tyre nichols attempting to justify what happened. >> i seen him, he turned around, -- >> he [inaudible] >> this is the earliest look at how the officers tried to control the narrative, after some delivered brutal punches and kicks, even while nichols was restrained. >> in a cnn analysis of body camera videos released by police, we have been unable to see nichols reaching for any of the officer's guns or swinging at any officers, as they claim.

>> in fact, what can be seen is officers holding his hands before he eventually frees himself and runs away. >> after the beating, the officers repeatedly remarking how strong tyre nichols was, claiming he must have been on drugs. according to his family, tyre nichols was six foot three and weighed just 150 pounds. the toxicology reports are still pending. as someone who appears to be a supervisor arrives on scene, one officer describes the initial stop.

>> memphis police chief cj davis has since told cnn that so far, they have found no evidence tyre nichols was driving recklessly. >> we've looked at cameras, we've looked at body worn cameras, and even if something occurred prior to this stop, we've been unable to substantiate that. >> as tyree nichols limp body lies against a squad car, they again claim he must be high and instruct him to sit up. >> hey sit up, bro. >> and new information tonight. in a photo of an initial police report, the contents of which have been confirmed by the shelby county district attorney, we see how an officer, we still don't know who, described what happened. >> it makes no mention of officers punching and kicking nichols, and instead accuses

nichols of actions provoking the officers. a new camera footage shows that these do not corroborate. he was quote, actively resisting, by pulling duty belts and grabbing an officer's vest. an officer at the scene, one of the five now charged with second degree murder, emmitt martin, was listed as a victim on the report. >> in memphis, as preparations are underway for a funeral wednesday, family lawyers say they believe there is an attempt to cover-up the circumstances of his death. >> it's consistent with what tyre's mother said from the beginning, when they said they could not go to the hospital, because tyre had been pepper sprayed and tased. she said that she believed that she thought it was a conspiracy to cover it up from the beginning. >> shimon prokupecz, cnn, new york.

>> with that as a backdrop, we're joined by cnn political commentator and seen obama visor, van jones. and cnn law enforcement and -- john miller. former new york commissioner on counterterrorism. john, in a case like this, with the initial police report, it certainly appears to be contradicted by all bodycam footage of the arrest. is that a sign where the memphis a police were attempting to cover it up, we're downplaying exactly what happened that night? the video seems like they were trying to write the narrative from the moment he was still there. >> that's how you could interpret it. as you can see, if there were three parts. first, there is the conversation where they are creating this story, which is that he tried to grab my gun, did, this did that. they know that there's body camera footage, but they also know that that camera blinks, especially in a confusing situation, often view is blocking. some of those things they think they can get away with saying. the second part is validating that story, which is writing it into an official report, which is later done at headquarters.

that is filed at 4:40 in the morning. the third piece is, the one camera that does not blink here is the one on the pole. that is the one that sees a lot of the things they leave out of that report, that does not see a lot of things that they throw into it. i think that you're thinking about certainly administrative charges for officers that helped concoct that story, beyond the assault charges. maybe for the officer that wrote it. >> van, the police initially said that george floyd died of an medical incident. first, it was the cell phone video from a bystander that later informed that world of what had happened. in the nichols case, there is the city of memphis themself that released body cam video that seemed to undermine the initial report. does that speak about anything? >> listen, i hope people start to wake up. there is a myth that we have in american society that a police report is written by moses or jesus or buddha.

it is a complete accurate, perfect description of what happened. it's not. it's a city employee who was writing down stuff that will make sure he does not get in trouble, and the person who was arrested does get in trouble. nobody's ever going to write a police report that says that i lost it today, a kick to guy in the face, probably shouldn't have done it, that's my police report. every report reads the same, because they are coached legally what they need to assert in order to justify what they did. juries need to stop believing that police reports are these completely perfect descriptions of what is going on. this is what they need to do to protect themselves. now, as we begin to see, they have not matched the video time and time again. that's not new, that's not just about tyre, that is standard behavior across the country with law enforcement. >> new video that authorities say they will release, why would that not have already been released, if they have released this other video? >> i think what they have done

is that the district attorney and the tennessee bureau of investigation said that we are finished with our criminal probe to the point where we are beginning to bring charges. now you can release the video from the criminal probe. i think that a lot of the administrative probe, and this is triage, the most serious people were dealt with first. now they are getting to people that may not be criminally charged, but might end up being charged administratively or fired from the department. when they're done with that, which they say will take a couple of weeks, they will possibly release those as well. there is an obligation of transparency, but not transparency in realtime. we understand they are being more transparent than many other agencies that we have seen in the same positions, but it's going to come in stages. >> and you know that the five officers being charged have so far been black. we learned that two additional officers have been relieved of duty in the aftermath of the arrest. one of them was white. why do you think we only find out about those additional officers now? do you think that was developing, or do you think

they already knew that they were being charged? >> it's really hard to know. it does seem like there are some things happening that there are people, including the sheriff's department, that did not know that they had sheriff deputies there until after it was shown on television. on the one hand, i agree with the memphis city leadership doing a better job than usual. they were fired quickly, they were charged quickly, but you can still see there is a little bit of keystone cops here, where you would think with this much video evidence, there would be everybody charged right away, and you would be in a better place. who knows what else is going to come forward. >> van jones, john miller, we appreciate it. coming, up what happens when there are ethical questions about what house speaker kevin mccarthy's new pitch for the ethics committee? we're about to find out. like somebody's poking directly on the nerve. i recommend sensodyne. sensodyne toothpaste goes inside the tooth and calms the nerve down. and my patents say: “you know doc, it really works." hi, i'm tony hawk, and like many of you,

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started with your idea. call now 800-710-0020. >> well, congressman santos recuses himself from committee assignments, other republicans tonight are getting placed on house committees. most notably, the ethics committee. house speaker kevin mccarthy named them today. of the five gop members, some are veterans of the last committee but three are election deniers. they include the new chairman, congressman michael guest, congressman john rutherford, and congresswoman michelle fischbach joins the panel. each of them voted against certifying the presidential election results in the hours after the january 6th insurrection. chairman guest, the leader of the ethics committee now, also signed on to the amicus brief, supporting the texas lawsuit

that tried to block millions of voter's ballots in the battleground states. the brief was riddled with conspiracy theories about why spread voter fraud that simply did not exist. supreme court threw out the case and he co-sponsored a bill for what he called, potential pitfalls with mail-in voting. there have never been any widespread issues. while you soak that in, here's what speaker mccarthy said last week after throwing two democrats off a different committee. >> this is not anything political. this is not similar to what the democrats did, but integrity matters. >> integrity matters. we notice on the ethics committee website, the songwriter from congress when in doubt, please call the committee, following guidance provided by the committee can protect you from future investigations. which raises a question, who are you supposed to call about someone trying to say to overturn an election when the person who's chairing it tried to do exactly that? with us now, cnn political commentator, alyssa farah griffin. she serves as a white house communications director in the last president, also cnn

political commentator, david axelrod, who advised president obama. david, does integrity matter here, in this congress? >> well. the early signs are not good, anderson. i mean, look, if you are willing to subvert the constitution and vote to overturn election results based on lies, based on evidence that is fraudulent, are you really going to sit in judgment of other members of congress? i mean, it's a joke and the chair, the new chair of the committee is the worst of the three because he introduced a bill right after the election suggesting that mail-in voting was somehow fraudulent. he joined the texas lawsuit that was so frivolous and so dangerous to try and overturn the election. and now he's chairman of the ethics committee. i mean, it's very disturbing and it comes on top of the fact that as part of the deal making around mccarthy getting chosen as speaker, some measures were taken in the rules that

basically gutted the office of congressional ethics, which wasn't investigating arm of the congress. it basically paralyzed it. and so, you know, the idea that ethics is going to have a say in this next congress seems very, very remote. >> alyssa, i mean, is this all part of the deal making that was done behind closed doors one mccarthy to get him to be speaker? >> it's possible. the house ethics committee is technically be committee. it's not one of the eight committees people are desiring to be on, but it does stand out that election deniers were appointed to it. keep in mind the former congress made referrals to the ethics committee for four sitting house members to be investigated for the roles and january 6th. jim jordan, andy biggs, kevin mccarthy, and scott perry. this basically ushers that those will never go anywhere in there will not be investigated,

having a fellow election denier as the chair. i also think it has implications for george santos, who is under investigation. >> there will be looking at santos. >> they will be the ones telling us whether that's ethical, dishonest. so, i think a committee that's one of the few in congress that for decades has been fairly bipartisan is probably going in a very different direction. >> david, so from the priorities of the mccarthy -- seem to be kick certain democrats of certain committees, investigate president biden, bring -- over the debt ceiling, which is certainly their prerogative. they won the house. how does that agenda traffic priorities, you think, of the general public? >> well, they don't and, you know, i think some of this was very predictable when we sat together watching those 15 rounds of voting for speaker, because with each round, mccarthy and his agents were making deals with the rebellious house freedom caucus, and giving more and more away to them. at some point, you give away so much that they're basically dominating the agenda, and that's what we're seeing now. no, i think the public rendered

a verdict on this last november. it's one of the reasons why the republicans did so much less well than we were expected to do, because too many of them were election deniers, to many of the more promising impeachment and investigations instead of progress on the problems that were touching peoples lives. i think it's a political mistake for mccarthy and the republicans to go down this road, and i think he maybe not only may he be a short-lived speaker, given the concessions that he made that give them the right to throw him out, but the caucus itself may a short-lived majority. >> we've also seen him a point, i mean, some of the most far-right members. paul gosar, marjorie taylor greene, to the house oversight committee. i mean, gosar, that's pretty amazing. >> paul gosar is someone who's beyond election denialism. he's trafficking's very racist, some threatening sort of memes, attacking alexandra ocasio-cortez.

>> listen, this comes down to the fact that kevin mccarthy needs votes. so, he's going to try to keep that right flank happy at whatever cost he's able to. this big test is coming with the debt ceiling. and again, as many of us have said on the airwaves before, those, that right flank is never voting to raise the debt ceiling. there's no concessions that you could conceivably make them that are going to conceivably bring those votes over. now is high time to be working with your moderates and seeing where you can get those things done. >> alyssa farah griffin, thank you very much. david axelrod as. well coming, up what it alex murdoch really say to investigators about the killing of his wife and son? we speak to defense attorneys in south carolina about a crucial audio recording. -- his answers to a defectors claim of brutality and confidence in the war in ukraine. so i will have the exclusive interview here last. nightly response,. ahead

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>> could the murder case of alex murdoch comes out one simple word? murdoch, on trial in south carolina, accused of killing his wife meghan's 22 year old son paul in 2021. alex murdoch was disbarred from practicing law. he comes from what was once a

prominent legal family and state. but precise statements to law enforcement the aftermath emitters was today big part of a legal battle in court. our randi kaye was there in walterboro. >> according to your testimony, he says, i did him so bad. >> that is what i understood him to say, yes, sir. >> alex murdaugh's defense lawyer, cross examining his special investigator and witness for the prosecution. the goal? to clear up what he heard or thought he heard alex murdaugh say. that seemed to sound like a confession. when alec was interviewed by investigators on june 10th, 2021, just a few days after his wife and son were murdered, he said this one talking about his son, paul. >> it's just so bad, i did him so bad. >> the witness, special agent jeff croft, who had -- the had told the court he thought alex said, i did him so bad. but the defense suggested alec actually said, they did him so bad. >> did you consider that to be some sort of confession on june the 10th? >> again, it was something that we were definitely going to

follow up on, yes, sir. >> why didn't you ask him then and there when you said i did him so bad, why did you ask him, what did you mean by that, alex? >> again, it was early in the investigation. >> so, what were the things going through your mind when you heard or miss heard, i did him so bad? like, i wasn't to get dead? >> -- i schooled him or i killed him? i mean, what was going through your mental note? >> there was a mental note that it was definitely something that we needed to follow up on and i did at a later time. >> the defense replayed the part of the interview in question at regular speed, then slowed it down to a third of the speed and played it again. >> we would like to play it again at one third speed. >> -- >> did you hear they then? >> no sir, i did not. >> would you agree the jury

gets to decide what he said on that tape? that's the best evidence. >> yes, sir. >> the defense also got that same witnesses to tell the jury that the murder weapon that killed paul murdaugh was not one of the guns collected from alex gun room at the house. the witness said the ammunition wasn't a match either. >> none of the shotguns that you brought yesterday put into the ballistics for through lab analysis fired the shots that killed paul. correct? >> i do not have the lab report in front of me. >> have you ever found the murder weapons? >> not that i'm aware of, sir. >> you didn't find any similar ammunition at moselle on june the 8th or any time after that? >> correct, i did not, sir. >> still, john bedingfield, alex second cousin and a captain with the south carolina department of natural resources, also testified for this state. he told the jury, he built ar style rifles for alec murdaugh big, the same type of rifle the prosecution says was used at the murder scene. >> how many blackouts, ar style rifles, did you make for alex murdaugh? >> three.

>> and one was that last one made? >> 2018. >> april? >> april of 2018. >> and anderson, the defense was quick to point out in court how cooperative they say alec murdaugh was with investigators from the start. they say that he granted them several interviews, he also helped them unlock his wife, maggie murdochs, phone once it was found. he gave them the pin code for that phone. and he did not ask him for a search warrant when they wanted to come into his home, sees as weapons and ammunition, and search his gun room. they wanted to make that point to the jury, anderson? >> randi kaye, thank so much. we want to bring in our record -- market moreau. also former prosecutor, vinnie politan. he's a lead anchor for court -- >> merck, obviously much of the focus today has won and said the days after the murdaugh murders -- said, i did him so bad, randi

reported some -- that is a confession. the murdaugh defense says that he said they did him so bad. how important is this to the case? >> you know, i don't think it's very important and this is why. i don't think the prosecution should focus on that as being so significant piece of evidence, because quite honestly, if it was, if it was a confession, how dare the officer not look into it a little bit further? if you had somebody who said, i did him so badly, bring him along. go to the sympathy line of questioning that interrogators know how to do. but the idea that it came up as something that's now considered a confession, but not looked into, quite honestly, not even looked into three months later when they talk to him again, i think this has state has to be careful not to overplay it. i think it's minor. might fit into the rest of the evidence, but not too significant on its own. >> vinny, you agree with? that is a law enforcement officer who said he heard murdaugh say this. >> yeah, no, it's potentially huge and, you know, the 12 jurors that were in the box, you know, they've never been through a murder trial before. they've never done a murder investigation, but they will rely upon some common sense and i think mark has something here

on the common sense aspect. the guy just confesses to murder and you don't ask a follow-up question? you don't, like, call him out on it? so, i think prosecutors, again, they have to lean heavier on the timeline and the big lies that they can prove inside this courtroom. >> merck, when the defense argues there could've been two shooters involved in the murders, is that a wise strategy for the defense to essentially try to come up with as many different possibilities just to kind of have some sort of reasonable doubt in their? >> well, criminal defense 101. you don't have accrued innocence, you have to prove that there is reasonable doubt. so, the idea of suggesting any alternative besides the one that the state is presenting is not a bad way to do it. and look, let's face it, the idea that there were two separate long guns firearms used to commit this double murder is a question that needs

to be figured out. now, again, if it was somebody planning a murder, as is the argument on the state, and it's true first degree, premeditated murder, they can use two guns to throw off this to stand. but it has to be explained some way because generally speaking, you go into killed two people, you're putting one gun. >> then, the prosecution has also been leading, you know, heavily on motive. are they overplaying their hand in this case or is that one of their strongest argument? because i mean, certainly the this guy, murdaugh, there's a lot of skeletons in the closet here. >> no, a lot of skeletons. here's the thing about motive in this case. you know, i know, i think the viewers know that it's not a legal requirement for a prosecutor to prove motive. but if you, as the state, are coming inside a courtroom, especially here where i am in the low country of south carolina, and you're saying this father is going to blow the brains out of his son with a shotgun, and then hunt down his wife like a wild animal

with an ar-style rifle, then you need to explain to them, in some regard, why he did it. because otherwise, i think any level of doubt that they feel in this case will grow to reasonable doubt unless they can lean back and say, okay, well i get it. i understand what the prosecution is saying about why he did it. therefore, i'm more comfortable in finding this man guilty. so, i think it's really important, but it's tough in this case because it's a non-traditional type motive. >> merck, how much will the jury know by the end of, i mean, the allegations against mr. murdaugh about his incredibly criminal and sleazy, just morally bankrupt behavior of cheating clients and port families for a long period of time has been. how much will they know about that?

>> it's going to be a very delicate balance. one, the state can't overplay their hand too much on that level of motive. as vinny said, it's extraordinarily strange motive that we're trying to bring up. what we are trying to say is, look at everything he did wrong. now that he's facing, you know, the fire on that, he's going to defer or try and deflect blame by killing his family. very difficult, plus the judge is going to limit because this type of prior bad acts, as we call it, only gets into try and help prove some motive, but you have to be very careful because you can't just say, that guy with all of this, so guilty guy here. so, it's going to be tough and again, i think the state has to be very careful and very precise how they present not only the motive, but the forensics and everything else in this case because it's going to be a tough one. >> yeah, mark o'mara, vinnie politan, thank you so much, appreciate it. up next, a leader of the wagner mercenary group response to my exclusive interview with an alleged wagner defector about what he saw, or what he says he saw, in ukraine.

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>> a reply tonight from yevgeny prigozhin, the leader of russia's wagner group, to my excusing to be lessened with that claimed the factor from it. andre medvedev is an orphan we spent four years in prison in russia for robbery, before joining wagner. his service in wagner was confirmed by prigozhin previously. here's part of what andre medvedev told me about who he thinks it's a blame for the brutality and murder he witnessed in his own ranks. >> and when you say the people who are guilty, who do you mean and what are they guilty of? >> [interpreter] you know, i would like to take this opportunity of stating publicly, maybe other folks have different views about this, but the first culprit is prigozhin, because he's the top leader. [end of translation] >> prigozhin runs the wagner group, he's in charge of it. >> [interpreter] yes, him, absolutely. [end of translation] >> we reached out to yevgeny prigozhin for comment, he sent us an email today, quoting from

it, dear cnn, do you really think that we will discuss our military issues with you while you are our open enemy? it is the same as discussing military matters and sharing information with the cia. it can be said with confidence that the wagner group is an exemplary military organization that complies with all the necessary laws and rules of modern wars. mr. prigozhin is welcome to come on the program any time to discuss that further. we'd welcome it. the granting war between ukraine, russia israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is seen by some as a potential mediator between the two countries, even as he faces an escalating conflict with palestinians at home. he spoke about this exclusively with cnn's jake tapper. here's a portion. >> one thing i wanted to ask you about russian and ukraine is that an advisor to zelenskyy floated your name as somebody who might be a decent mediator between zelenskyy and putin, between ukraine and russia, and i'm wondering, if anyone in any position of power has ever floated that idea to you and what would be your willingness to take on that job?

>> i was asked to do that early on in the break out of the ukraine war. and i was opposition leader at the time. i said, well, i have a rule. one prime minister at the time. and one president at the time. >> who asked you to do it? >> i was asked. i don't know if it was official, but it was not official, so i didn't even pursue it. i said there was a prime minister, let him, you know, decide what to do with that. he tried, didn't succeed. but if -- >> what you do it now? >> if i'm asked by both sides, frankly, if i'm asked by the united states, because i think, you know, you can't have too many cooks in the kitchen, you know? you know, we have our own backyard to deal with. it's not that i don't -- i think this is of monumental importance because the piece of the world is at stake. as i think the piece of the world is at stake with iran getting nuclear weapons, it will destabilize the entire

world. and so, you know, i'm really devoting my efforts to that and the other piece ideas that i have with the economic ideas. but if asked by all relevant parties, i will certainly consider it. but i'm not pushing myself, you know, which is, you know, i've been around long enough to know that there has to be a ripe time. and the ripe circumstances. if they arise, i will certainly consider it. >> you can see more of that exclusive interview in just a few minutes. jake tapper one-on-one with benjamin netanyahu. 9 pm eastern right here on cnn. we will be right back. . your dedicated fidelity advisor... -surprise! -for you, mama. ...can help you open those doors. by proactively reviewing your entire portfolio. with an eye on taxes and risk. doors were meant to be opened. new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do.

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