>> good evening, tonight after four years, and very little to show for it in terms of actual prosecutions, john durham, the special counsel, chosen by then attorney general, william barr, to investigate the fbi's russian investigation has reached a conclusion. in a 306-page report today, durham says the fbi should never have opened the investigation known as crossfire hurricane, at all. concluding that the bureau overly relied on raw and unconfirmed intelligence,

writing that they lacked evidence at the outset of collusion between the trump campaign and russia. this stands at odds with the 2019 justice department inspector generals conclusion, that there was adequate basis for opening the inquiry. we'll talk shortly with andrew mccabe, who is at the fbi at the time. he joins us. he's long invested the investigation. -- the former president has seized on the report and claiming indication, though it certainly does not as he once claimed it would, reveal, quote, the crime of the century. for more on what's actually in today's report, we're joined by cnn's evan perez. so what stands out to you in this? >> anderson, the lack of any new prosecutions. that stands out because we were expecting, certainly we were led to believe by th e former

president, by the former administration, that this investigation was going to find crimes. they were going to find conspiracy by the deep state, to go after donald trump. john durham concludes here is that there was not necessarily political bias, he says there was confirmation bias. there were mistakes by the fbi, some of which were already details in the inspector general report back in 2019. a redo just a part of what durham says. he says, in short, the fbi discounted, or willfully ignored material information that did not support the narrative of a collusive relationship between trump and russia. he also goes on to say, and objective and honest assessment of these strands of information

should have caused the fbi to question, not only the predication of crossfire hurricane, which is the name of this investigation, but also to reflect on whether the fbi was being manipulated for political or other purposes. anderson, the bottom line from john durham, though, is that, you know, he doesn't recommend any major changes for the fbi. and the way they handled it politically sensitive investigations. >> in the report durham talked about something called the clinton plan. what is that? >> this was something that emerged back in 2020. there was some information that was declassified by john ratcliffe, then the director of national intelligence. it appears that back in 2016, the intelligence community got some intelligence from the russians that appeared to indicate that there was a plan in the clinton campaign to tie trump to russia. it was never corroborated, but, there is something that john durham spends a lot of time in his investigation going after. he actually interviews hillary clinton back in 2022 about this. it appears that that information is still, anderson, not corroborated. it may have been falsified.

in the end, what jo durham concludes is that there is no prosecutable criminal offense in the way the government handled that information. again, that dates back to 2016, uncorroborated as it was. anderson. >> evan perez, appreciate, it want to get some perspective now from -- andrew mccabe, who is deputy director, fbi director during crossfire hurricane. his name comes up 58 times in the durham report. andrew, in the durham report, it says the fbi never had evidence of collusion. that's not a legal term, we should note, between the trump campaign and russia in 2016. they should never have launched a full investigation.

what's your response? >> yeah,, i vehemently disagree with mr. durham's characterization of what we did in the report. it's very simple. he betrays a deep misunderstanding of not only what we knew at the time, but how we make these decisions. i think it's incredibly important for people to understand what we were seeing then. it was basically this, anderson, we had known, we had known for over a year that the russians had been attacking us in cyberspace. specifically at political institutions and government institutions. we knew in the beginning of 2016 that they had turn those attacks on the democratic national committee, and they

had stolen exfiltrated a large amount of information from the dnc. we knew that they then went on to use that information to weaponize it to hurt hillary clinton's campaign by releasing it on the eve of her convention. then, in july, at the end of july, we learned that months earlier, before that information was released, a member of the trump campaign, george papadopoulos, told a representative of a friendly foreign government, a trusted friendly foreign government, that they had been offered exactly that assistance by the russians. so we knew the russians took, we knew how the russians used it, and then we learned that the russians offered to do exactly what they had done before they did it, to the trump campaign. so with that information, that unverified intelligence, actual

information, we opened a full investigation. everyone who has looked at what we did, other than john durham, determined that that decision was absolutely appropriate. >> he says that the fbi used, and i'm quoting robin analyzed and uncorroborated intelligence. >> i can only assume that what he's referring to there is that comments that papadopoulos made to this trusted representative of a foreign government. that information does not, in my estimation, qualify as unverified intelligence. that is a direct report from a trusted longtime ally of the united states. it overlays very clearly with raw information that we knew. not unverified intelligence, things that we knew the russians had been doing and we're continuing to do. >> the report is very critical of disparaging comments about donald trump, made privately by two key members of the investigative team, peter strzok and lisa page, who anybody was following this knows those names. were you aware of their feelings at the time, and looking back, should they have been involved in this investigation?

>> i was not aware of their comments, their private conversations via text message between each other about their thoughts about donald trump, and their thoughts about hillary clinton. and the election at large. had i known about it, no, they wouldn't have been involved in the investigation. but nobody knew about that at the time. i think it's important to point out that in the ig's investigation, the doj inspector general, they looked very deeply at all of those messages and determined that neither -- or lisa pages ever in a position to significantly influence the decisions that were made by myself and director james comey during the course of this investigation. so, those comments were a objectionable, and they were unfortunate. and they subjected the organization to amend scrutiny. but ultimately we're not responsible for the investigative scissions that we're. made >> the durham report also says that the fbi handled this investigation differently than it handled allegations of possible attempted foreign -- do you know what mr. durham is

referring to, and where those investigations handled differently? >> yeah, it's a ridiculous claim. and i think it, to the best of my understanding, he's referring to a piece of intelligence that was received at the highest levels of the fbi in 2016. about some comments or communications allegedly made by people associated with the clinton campaign, that they were going to essentially manufacture some sort of narrative that trump had ties to the russians, in order to hurt his campaign. look, the fact is, we knew what the russians were doing. and had done in an effort to help donald trump. if we had any information, any intelligence or information that indicated that the clinton campaign was colluding with the russians, we would've investigated that as well.

but that information doesn't exist. to my knowledge, it was not happening. what you heard, in that intelligence that was declassified by john ratcliffe, what was a campaign strategy. maybe a underhanded unethical strategy, i don't know, that's for others to decide. but that is not a violation of federal criminal law, or the creation of a threat to national security. >> it's surprises you that there is no new recommendations for the justice department about changing procedures? there have been a lot of changes that justice based on the inspector general's report back in 2019 and others. >> i'm not surprised at all. john durham has failed to come

up with anything new. most of the report, the parts that i've been able to read in the last few hours, or regurgitate shin of founding's that were made by the inspector general. their attempt to justify to failed prosecutions that he brought against igor dent zhengzhou and michael sussman, there's nothing new here. what he does present in the report though, i will give him credit for this, he's entirely consistent with the pre-judging of this investigation that he communicated a month or so into starting it. we knew from the very beginning, , exactly what jerome durham was going to conclude. that's what we saw today. we knew from the very beginning that this was never a legitimate investigation. this was a political errand. to exact some sort of retribution on donald trump's perceived enemies in the fbi, that's what mr. durham has done. >> and you stand by the original russian investigation? >> absolutely. absolutely. listen, the mistakes with the carter page fisa were regrettable, should never have happened, and had i known about those mistakes in the packages, i never would've signed those applications. shame on us for not knowing. but that's all business that the ig presented to america in, what, 2019, 2019 i think that came. out >> yet was. >> there's absolutely nothing new in this report. i stand by investigative decisions that we made to open the investigation first on the trump campaign, and the possibility that the russians are trying to influence it, and, later on donald trump himself. what did we find out from special counsel mueller's investigation? the russians did in fact influence the campaign. they wanted to, they tried repeated times, they had many contacts with the trump campaign. and several of those people were indicted. so i guess what we were worried about all along actually happened. >> andrew mccabe, i appreciate it, thank you. new details tonight, or developments, i should, say in the former presidents effort to stop george's investigation -- final report today, fulton county district attorney, -- had her say in court. cnn sarah murray joins us now with more on that. so what did we learn today? >> well anderson, as you might expect, the district attorney

does not want us to see this special grand jury evidence investigation and final report thrown out. she has told the judge that he should dismiss donald trump's motion. he should not hold a hearing on this matter. he should not allow another judge to hear the trump team's arguments, which is something the trump team had asked for. she basically said there is no evidence that the investigative special grand jury process during this was tainted. she said there was no evidence of misconduct on her behalf, because they also wanted her removed as a prosecutor. she also took issue with the fact of the trump team is now coming at this at this point so late in the game. she says, by his own estimation, mr. trump has been at the center of an investigation which has progressed for over two years. but only now is he moving in front of prosecutors disqualification. a very sharp rebuttal from fani willis today against the trump arguments. >> what happens now, -- what's the timeline for whether she brings charges against the president, former president, or not? >> well look, they have to get this matter settled obviously. we expect the trump team will respond -- we'll see if the judge actually holds a hearing on this matter. willis said she intends to make her announcement on whether anyone will face charges on this case between july 11th and september 1st. she has a little bit more time to, sort, of sort out this legal issue. get her indictment squared away to the extent she plans to do them, then move ahead with those according. >> sarah murray, i appreciate it. cnn senior legal analyst and

former federal prosecutor, elie honig joins us now. what do you make of the d. a.'s -- >> anderson, this is a staunch defense by the a. d. a. of her office. this investigation, she argues, first of all, that she and her office do not have any political bias. that they've approach this like any other case. she argues that there is no evidence that the grand jury, or the judge, has been prejudiced or biased against anyone. and she makes an important procedural argument, she says, it's not time yet. nobody's been charged, if and when anybody gets indicted, then you can challenge the evidence in front of the grand jury. but as of this moment, nobody's been charged. she argues, essentially, trump does not have standing in this motion is premature. >> are there real issues here relating to district attorney willis's conduct? does the former president have a legitimate point, that you're raising these concerns? or is this just another attempt to stop? this >> he does make substantial arguments in his motion that kick this off, anderson. he points out that the d. a. has already been thrown off a

piece of this case because she has a political conflict of interest. he notes some of her public commentary, which has been, frankly, inappropriate. she's talked about her opinion on donald trump's criminal state of mind. she's talked about the fact that she does believe there is a crime here. that's not appropriate for a prosecutor to say. we all remember, the granary foreperson, the argument here that trump's team is making is that her public commentary has tainted any potential actual grand jurors or trial jury pool that may come down the line. there are real questions here about the conduct of the dea and of the grand jury. >> what about the allegations relating to the special grand

jury and the judge? >> yeah, so the argument is that the judge improperly talked about the fifth amendment. and actually trump's team is right there. the judge said publicly, if a person gets subpoenaed, why wouldn't they testify if they have nothing to hide? that is the opposite of what the fifth amendment says. the fifth amendment says a person has every right to declined to testify, and it does not suggest that they are guilty. the argument here is this judge made the statement, which is incorrect, which could've harmed the grandeur. which could harm future grand juries, and this is why trump is asking for a new judge. fani willis has responded that there's no evidence that those comments in any way influenced what the special grand jury has done. >> all right, elie, awning appreciated. coming up next is cnn exclusive, all be joined by the attorney for daniel penny, pennywise you know is charged with manslaughter and -- in a new york subway car of jordan neely. later, six months after their murder, the university of idaho community made a touching tribute to the four students whose lives were stolen. now the family of one of those students is reacting. well invested. well protected. we're carvana we created a brand new way for you to sell your car go to carvana answer a few questions and our techno wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds we'll come to you pay you on the spot then pick up your car that's it at carvana

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-- he is out on bail tonight. friday night, i spoke with the attorneys for jordan nearly. tonight, daniel penny's attorney, thomas can have, joins us. thank you so much for being with. us >> yeah. >> first of all, what is mr. penny's reactions been to the charges against him. >> look, obviously facing the working and of the criminal justice system is a scary thing for anyone. what i will say is, given everything that has happened in his life over these last couple weeks, and everything that he's looking at going forward, he seems to be handing it amazingly well. very stoic, very dignified. perhaps what we expect with someone who, you know, as a teenager right out of high school enlisted in the marine corps. one of the people who piers went to school with he took the low road less traveled. i think that says something about him, says something about his mettle. i think anyone's that's well equipped his handle something that no one would ever want to handle. i think he is that person. >> there's obviously a lot of questions i would like to ask you that you can't answer, so i'm gonna try to figure out someone's that you can, because obviously there are cases that are pending. obviously, there's going to be a grand jury, do you anticipate

him actually testifying in front of the grand jury? >> that's obviously a very sensitive decision. in most cases that my four handles, in most cases than any criminal lawyer handles defendants usually do not testify in grand jury's. but there are exceptions. i will say that that's a certain decision that needs to be made not only with our legal team within my firm, myself, my law partner stephen razor, obviously with the clients input. but it's something that we're going to -- >> the gamble's tenure client convinced the grand jury to not go ahead and have charges. >> well, look, i think if there was ever a case where a grand jury could be convinced not to bring charges, whether that's because my client testifies, whether it's because of other defense witnesses we put into the grand jury, i certainly think this is one of them. >> your law firm released a press release saying, when mr. nearly began aggressively threatening daniel penny and other passengers, daniel, with the help of others, acted to

protect themselves until he arrived. in what way, can you say mr. neely, and mr. penny's opinion, aggressively threatening him and other passengers? >> you know anderson, look , this is something that as new yorkers, and really anyone who lived in new york, certain anyone who rides the subway, ken, i think, empathize and relate to this sort of situation that my client was confronted with. it's the sort of situation that we've all seen on the subway.

sadly, it's a situation that's become more prolific in recent years. the evidence is really uncontroverted that jordan nearly had entered the f train he was acting a radically. he was menacing other passengers and he was making comments that could only be perceived as threatening. >> one witness said that the reporting is one witness said, mr. neely said, i don't have food, i don't have anything to drink, i'm fed up, i don't care if i go to jail and they give me a life in prison. >> i'm actually glad you brought that up. because anyone who has any familiarity with the criminal justice system in new york, or anyone who has any familiarity with our culture itself here in new york state, knows that there really is only one way that anyone can incur a life sentence in prison. that's to take another life. i am not saying that i have no basis to say what was going through jordan neely's mind when he uttered those words. but certainly, when you're in a situation like the new york city subway system, which is really like no other, because

if you think of a subway car, it's a closed container underground. it's a place that -- >> obviously this happens in new york, unfortunately, with some previous people having episodes, mental health issues, screaming on the streets, or the subways. can you say what your client thought was so immediate that he acted? >> what i can say is that someone entering the subway system, again, a closed subterranean container, where, the sort of tolls where we might use for things like de-escalation and avoidance, if you're standing in times square, and someone's acting radically or menacing people, you say, hey look, i keep my head down. i'll turn my other way and look the other way. it's not really an option on the subway platform or subway car. >> is there more information that you have about what

occurred there than is publicly released? >> yes. absolutely. we've been conducting a very thorough investigation, i think there's a lot more facts that will come out. but what i will say is that just the facts that you reiterated, and the other facts that are pretty much in the public domain right now, acting radically, menacing other individuals, by flailing his arms and making comments consistent with threats that could certainly, reasonably be interpreted as a threat to do eminent harm or violence. >> so, the interpretation of, i don't read too much into what

you said, but i don't care if i go to jail, and they give me life in prison. are you saying that your client, mr. penny, those specific words he felt that meant that mr. neely was intending violence? >> what i'm saying at this point is that is certainly a reasonable interpretation. standard law is where a reasonable person would perceive. so if anyone enters a subway car in the confined space of the new york subway system, and starts making threats that i'm willing to go to life in prison if others don't concede to my demands, can certainly be interpreted by any reasonable person to be threatening. then you look at the response that my client took in response to that. >> will you let me ask you on the chokehold, is it clear to you how long mr. neely was placed in that chokehold for? >> what i would say is, look, there has been some video that's out, it's not all out.

there's more to come. there will be a lot of people that will be analyzing the video, commenting on it. i'm not going to get into the specifics of timeframes and so forth, at this point, because it's not really appropriate. >> sure. >> it's not appropriate when the evidence hasn't had disclosed to the defense. but i will say that everything we've seen so far, and i'm confident that everything that will come out, we'll show that my client took reasonable steps to restrain someone. that's what he was doing. >> even once he was already on -- there's some people who have looked at this and will say, well, it looks like there's two different junctures here. there's the actual initial encounter, mr. penny's decision to use the chokehold, and then there's the question of how long he held mr. nearly in the chokehold with others restraining. >> there's always a danger when you have information that's coming out fragmented, in a

fragment in fashion, in a piecemeal fashion. but if you look at the tapes that are available, what you see towards the end of those videos is my client, four, one putting name digital in the recovery position. i think what's going to come out as more of the evidence come out is that my client rendered aid, but not only rendered aid but assisted the police as they came as they were conducting the cpr on mr. nearly. they were doing it improperly, he actually barred on his marine training to advise the responding police officers, till the entities arrived, as to how to conduct that compressions on the cpr. >> there's been a lot of fundraising online for your client, is that something, with the gunfire and me pages, is that something you are in contact with? with ron desantis and others who are fundraising? >> absolutely not. >> to your knowledge, is that money actually going to the defense?

>> absolutely. look, just to put the fundraising in perspective, it's got a lot of attention. the fundraising page was set up very early in this case. we have done absolutely no promotion of it. we don't have any public relations firm working on it. we haven't sent it to any influencers. that is something that obviously struck a chord on its own. there's going to be a lot of people talking about some of the more high-profile people, who retreated it, or have made donations. that is been absolutely, with absolutely zero, no input from razor and can if. i think what is really telling about the fund-raiser, while people may focus on celebrities and political figures and so forth, by that last count, we had about 50,000 donors. a lot from new york, but from

all over the country. average donation, if you do the math, is about $45 per person. some donations as low as a couple of dollars. five, ten. those have been what really have gotten traction. it's not the loudest voices in the world, in the room, on both sides, that seems to be trying to politicize this. there's nothing political about this case. my clients not a political person. this is not a political cause. this is about someone who is trying to do the right thing to protect himself and others in a very difficult confined environment. who has, really vital optical measures, much of the country rallying around him now. >> did your client regret, does he feel bad for mr. neely? >> look, only a sociopath would not feel regret of the loss of human life. that's horrible. especially when you're there and you witnessed someone dying in front of you. of course he feels terrible about that. >> i like thomas kenniff, appreciate your. >> next, attack on the office of gerry connolly, our manu raju just spoke with congressman connally. we'll tell you what he said. -- vetoed legislation that would have banned most abortions after six weeks. governor roy cooper joins us next. talk about -- you're doing business in an app driven, multi-cloud world. that's why you choose vmware.

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>> breaking news, now even as we're learning more tonight about the man in custody accused of touching a staffer for democrat it -- today with a baseball bat.

the congressman has just spoken with cnn's manu raju, just now. what did congressman connally have to say? >> he said that the 49-year-old suspect came to his office enraged with a baseball bat. -- didn't have any particular motivation, came in and struck two of his aides. the police eventually came after the individual struck and creative mass destruction in his office. leaving a scene in chaos. >> i was told i was at an event, he proceeded to attack the young intern who was at the front desk. on her first day. then, when the noise in the commotion became clear, others came running out of their offices, and he attacked my outreach director. and hit her badly on the back of her head. one of my fast-thinking staff members offered to find the congressman for him, and use that time to bring everyone into a safe space. call the police, they were there within five minutes. he was engaged into an

altercation with the police and had to be taser. one of the police had a minor injury in the course of trying to subdue him. >> what was this person's motivation? >> i don't think there is a motivation. i think we're talking about real mental illness. >> and he just walked into the office? >> enraged. enraged in underage states. >> so those two staffers who are attacked were released from the hospital earlier this evening according to gerry connolly. connolly says that they will have to potentially deal with any long term consequences. and also the consequences on capitol hill. connolly calling in for more security for members of offices in districts. oftentimes they're in commercial buildings left completely unguarded and vulnerable, as with the case in connally's office. who is now pushing for more money to ensure this doesn't happen again. >> all right, manu raju, thanks very much, appreciated. tomorrow, north carolina's

legislature will try to override their governor's veto on a bill that would restrict abortions after 12 weeks. the current limit is 20 weeks. -- lawmakers enjoy supermajority in their state -- comes after a -- trying to pressure for republicans who previously supported the current law to vote against their party. join now by governor roy cooper. governor, appreciate you for being with us. you only need one republican to defect in order to prevent a override of your veto. how likely do you think that is? >> we are working really hard. we know that a lot of constituents are trying to hold these republicans to their promise, to protect women's reproductive freedom. we know this legislation was passed in the dark of night, they turned the clock back 50 years in 48 hours. didn't allow any amendments. didn't allow any public input. we've been working to educate

the public about all of the obstacles that are being placed in the way of women with this legislation. they advertise it as a 12-week ban, it's really not. it's going to effectively ban most abortions because of all the requirements on women and on clinics. already, north carolina has become an access point in the southeast, they're waiting list is for people to be able to get care, this is going to make it a lot worse. telling women they've got to make three in-person appointments to get medication abortion. and this legislation on top of that limits medication abortion to ten weeks. so, this obstacle course that they had created for women, the burdens they put on clinics, is really going to operate as an effective ban. we know that we need to stop this. we're going to work hard up to

the last minute to try and get one republican, one republican to keep a promise. one republican that has some courage, one republican that is willing to stand up to his or her party and do the right thing here. >> i understand there are two republican state representatives seen as possibly receptive. one who is absent for the bills passage, one who didn't vote for, it one who did vote for it and used to be a democrat and has a history of supporting abortion access. what's the political incentive at this point for either or both of them to bump their party? or is there one? >> just to do the right thing. to do the right thing and keep their promise for the next election. representative davis, down in wilmington, he said he wanted to keep the law as it was. then he also said that the speaker of the house couldn't tell him what to do. so, he has told his voters that this is what he's going to do. to stand up to that, i think this is a strong legacy for him,

or for any other republican who stands up to the leadership in the general assembly. this is about women's health, it's about saving lives. it's very frustrating to have to deal with a legislature that, at the same time, putting in these new restrictions, and not supporting public education. not supporting early childhood education for these children. not investing enough to fight infant mortality. not for helping these mothers by refusing to find enough for quality childcare for them to be able to go to work. these things are frustrating to the people. people in north carolina do not support abortion bans. this is why they tried to keep this process so secretive. this is why they're trying to rush to the override vote. i just vetoed it saturday. they're trying to rush because they know the more time that passes, the more that people learn about how insidious this abortion ban is, the more they will oppose it. >> governor cooper, i appreciate your time. by the way, mike coopers from mississippi, but i appreciate having a cooper from north carolina. thank you very much. i wish you the. best >> welcome, anytime.

>> next, ukraine and the stunning report by the washington post saying classified u.s. intelligence -- has actually been communicating with ukraine intelligence and trying to make deals with them. that ahead. that works inside the body. there's no reason to keep struggling. inspire. learn more and view important safety information at inspiresleep.com. ♪ pets are raw. raw curiosity. raw love. raw energy. no dog ever thought, “what if someone sees me like this?”

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>> as ukrainian officials claim today that the russians are no longer capable of long scale -- the washington post has posted a new article that goes directly to their ability to do even that. it makes a stunning claim about

an alleged offer made to the ukrainians in late january by yevgeny prigozhin, a close ally of vladimir putin, who runs the paramilitary wagner group. which has been recruiting prisoners and others to fight to take bakhmut. quoting now from the article, prigozhin said that if ukraine 's commanders withdrew their soldiers from the area around bakhmut, he would get kyiv information on russian troop positions, which ukraine could use to attack them, unquote. the post says it's reporting is based on previously unreported u.s. intelligence documents leaked into social media. prigozhin denies the report, and a kremlin spokesman said, quote, it looks like another hoax, and quote. ukrainians were not coming to cnn to comment about. it -- from ukraine, is that croatia. >> isabelle, thanks so much for joining us. is it clear to you how those conversations between wagner's founder and ukrainian intelligence came out, and what specifically his offer was?

>> yeah, the documents mention some meetings between prigozhin and -- officers in africa. they often they also mention one moment where -- >> gore is ukrainian intelligence? >> correct. his voice is masked but the officer is able to recognize his tone of speaking, sort of the way he speaks and identify him as prigozhin. so we know these are back channel conversations that he made that offer, for example, for ukraine to withdraw from bakhmut in exchange for russian positions more than once, according to our source. and we believe some of these meetings may have happened in person but also through some sort of phone communications. >> is it clear to you why, was it to gain advantage in bakhmut that he wanted the ukrainians to withdraw their forces from a particular area? was it just to avoid a particular fight? do you have a sense of why he set up these communications in the first place? >> yeah, some of it may have started honestly -- communications with --

which also handles prisoner exchanges might have been along those lines. which is fairly typical. but the battle for bakhmut has been incredibly important for prigozhin and his reputation. wagner stated that its goal, prigozhin said that his goal was to capture bakhmut by may 9th. obviously he failed to do that. he's been the one most critical of russian military leadership and defense minister, sergey -- , it's possible he's trying to trade to try to convince ukraine to step away from there so he could get a personal victory. and sort of save face in front of russian leadership. >> it's incredible if he was being truthful, that he would do this at the cost of other russian troops lives. prigozhin has denied these communications ever took place in an audio message posted to his telegram channel today. in that message, he suggested either journalists made up the story or was planted by his political enemies. how bad is the relationship between prigozhin, the wagner founder, and the russian

ministry of defense right now? it's not just this. he's been making very public attacks against them, and specific russian military leaders. >> yeah, he's been quite outspoken. he is wagner fighters aren't getting ammunition. it's russian regular military units that have been dropping positions in the bakhmut area. he's been very critical of -- in particular. -- being the top russian military commander. i think the situation is quite tense. and obviously, this coming out, it does not help his standing in moscow. so it makes sense that obviously he would deny it's true. >> is it clear why prigozhin has been allowed to, so openly, challenge the authority of the russian armed forces, the leadership of the russian armed forces, and by extension, the kremlin? he's been pretty careful on what he says or saying directly about vladimir putin. >> yeah, i think at the end of the day, russia needs the wagner group. as much as the wagner group has struggled in bakhmut, and has suffered incredible losses, according to u.s. officials,

it's still considered the most effective of russia's military units. at least in the ukrainians minds. generals are actually quite praiseworthy of how wagner's tactics brutalized they might be, they do work. they are still able to slowly gained ground and inflict losses on the ukrainians. so the russian military leadership, as much as prigozhin might be a thorn in their side, i don't think they can afford to lose the wagner group either. within the discord leaked documents, there are also documents about discussions of russian military officials about how to deal with him, how to shut him up, basically. >> it's incredible reporting. isabelle khurshudyan, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> still ahead, an emotional weekend at the university of idaho. six months after four young students were murdered, they were remembered and honored at the schools spring

commencement. our gary tuchman was there, his report next.

>> this weekend, exactly six months after four university of idaho students were brutally murdered, the university honored those students with posthumous degrees and certificates. ethan chapin was awarded a certificate of recreation, sport, and tourism management. sonic or nodal, received a certificate in marketing. kayleigh goncalves, received her bachelor of general studies degree, and xana kernodle -- to see how she was honored. >> when madison may mogen was little, she loved singing, dancing, and animals.

mattie maintain those interest her whole life. but added an interest in the world of business as she got older. of something becoming an entrepreneur. she was majoring in marketing at the university of idaho's business school, when she was murdered. ben mogen is her father. maddie was his only child. >> just so bright, and would go after what she wanted in life. yeah, i think she could've done anything she put her mind to. >> kim -- is one of maddie's grandmothers. >> she was well loved. she's gone. it's still hard to believe. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> this past weekend, with the spring commencement at the university of idaho, maddie was a senior and would've been here for the graduation. but in a sense, she was here. >> it's sad, and it's happy. yeah, so many different emotions.

>> so many different emotions, after ben and maddie's mother karen were told by the university the man who deserved -- would receive it plus timidly at the graduation. so on commencement day, maddie's findlay members were honored guests at the university's football stadium in moscow idaho. >> the associate dean of the business school, greeting ben, his father, and stepmother, and his mother and stepfather. and also arriving as vips, maddie's mother karen and her husband scott. another family mongers and friends. >> welcome to the 128 commencement of the university of idaho. >> maddie's parents and other family members were given private boxes to watch the ceremony. >> now, we will present a bachelor of science in business degree to the family of madison may logan. >> then the time came for the parents to accept the honor. >> by the virtue of the authority vested in me by the board of allegiance of the university of idaho, i hereby

confer upon madison may mogen. the posthumous degree armed in testimony where have her family will receive the diploma of the university of idaho. >> her mother and stepfather, awarded matiss diploma. >> her father, receiving a duplicate. >> madison may mogen, a college graduate. a bachelors degree in business. gndmother, summing up family members feelings on this afternoon. >> this is a very grateful day after everything we've been through. to just see maddie may recognized for her hard work. and i'm just very proud of her and grateful to the university for doing this. >> anderson, a week from this thursday, may 25th, is maddie's birthday. she would've been 22 years old. the family is starting a campaign, they're asking for people to perform random acts of kindness on her birthday. they're calling it maddie may day, they want people to perform these acts of kindness and then posted on social

media. there's no money involved, just post with the hashtag, maddie may day. -- also the legacy of the three other students. who were murdered in that house. >> so great the families could be there. gary, appreciate, it thank you. we'll be right back.

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records aren't jack -- >> if they're different putting the life expectancy for pure breeds or others? >> mixed breed dogs? you'd rather get a mixed breed dog if you want the dog to live, olden integrate study from the uk, i dug into the data, earlier today, as i like to do. and it turns, out that the mix breed dogs live about a year longer than. and plus, often they are the dogs who are discarded, and put up for adopting. and i'm a big fan of adopting. you won both ways. there >> you have data on how many people actually preferring dogs to others? >> yes, so, there's a great question at cbs news they asked about a decade ago, which was essentially if you are on a deserted island, would you rather be with a dog or a human. it turns out that 74% said, human. another human said, 22% said a. doc and, let me just say i'm definitely on the dog bandwagon. i would much rather be with the dog. sorry to my girlfriend. i think she would agree with me. we love dogs. >> i'm not sure --

okay. what's the answer the same? >> she would absolutely. we have two little toy dogs on the bed, shamrock and monkey. so once a shift to, once a cat, and we love those dogs, even though they're not. real but i actually even have a photo here right here of cody when i was five years old. >> all right, i hear you have a question. >> i do. i hear you love dogs. i guess my question is, why do you love dogs? >> what do you mean why do i love them? >> why? >> they are just loved. they're sweet, they smell great and they're just lovable. >> and they are loyal, they never betray you. >> that's true. >> you could come home and -- look at all the dogs we have. i isn't nights? we both got to share our love of dogs this evening. >> thank you very much. >> all right, the news continues, cnn prime time, starts now. >> thank you anderson, thank you for joining me tonight as a republican primary heats. up what a dog from former