lies, its tradition of hostage diplomacy. >> reporter: and his message to president biden is simple. >> freedom is not free. it comes at a price. but the loss of freedom is even more costly, and i pay that cost every day russia holds me. please follow through with your promises and commitments. truly make my life a priority and get me home. >> reporter: kylie atwood, cnn, new york. >> let's hope he gets home soon. thanks very much, kylie, for that report. to our viewers, thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." erin burnett outfront starts right now. outfront next, another russian official who criticized putin's war dead tonight as new video and outfront shows russians fighting for ukraine

turning on their own country. just in to cnn, e. jean carroll seeking even more in damages from trump after the former president insulted the writer again at cnn's town hall. that was just one day after she won her sexual abuse and defamation case against him. and he's the son of a single mother who rose from poverty to become the only black republican in the senate. but does tim scott's amazing life story translate into a path to victory? let's go outfront. good evening. i'm erin burnett. outfront tonight, another putin critic dead. this time it's russia's deputy science minister, fee oh ter kuch renco. he was just 46 years old. according to the ministry of science and higher education, he was feeling ill while on a plane to the russian delegation that was returning from a business trip to cuba. that's their quote. the flight on saturday reportedly made an emergency landing in southern russia, but it was too late. doctors apparently could not

save him. outfront spoke to russian journalist roman super, who first shed light on kuch renco's suspicious death. super says he has spoken to kuch renco, who claimed last year his passport had been seized and that it was impossible for him to leave russia unless it was with a government-endorsed and sanctioned trip like the one to cuba that was his last. but cush renco urged super in this conversation to get out and get his family out of russia. he told super, quote, you can't imagine the degree of brutalization of our country. you won't even recognize russia in a year. super tonight tells outfront everything i knew, i wrote. kuch renco was a normal person and like all normal people, he condemned the very idea of war, especially a fraternal one. kuch renco's shocking death, remember alexei navalny. he survived poisoning on a plane. we don't know what happened here but he's only 46 years old. since the start of the war, more than a dozen high-profile

russians have mysteriously died. most recent, a senior military official fell out of a 16th floor window. one fell out of a window of his hotel. another fell down a flight of stairs. another fell off a boat. well, it goes on and on and on. and it all comes tonight as we are witnessing what seems to be a remarkable show of any kind of resistance inside moscow itself. what you're looking at here on the screen is the so-called flag of free russia. it's flying over moscow state university. the group who posted this video is known as the freedom for russia legion. it's a group made up of a few hundred russians who are currently fighting on behalf of ukraine. tonight we have new video showing two of these fighters commandeering a russian military vehicle. take a look at this. >> translator: my father told me go and be a [ bleep ] tractor driver. but, no, i decided to join the military. >> translator: a btr 82-a, from

the russian federation's fsb. ukraine, that's it. the russian volunteer corps at work. >> as i said, these are groups of russians who are fighting on behalf of ukraine. meanwhile, today russian state television ran wild with this artificial intelligence image of what was a large explosion near the pentagon this morning. of course it was artificial. the image that was shared by numerous accounts with the blue checkmark on twitter, those accounts were fake. the blue checkmark is a whole other story, but they were fake accounts, and they shared it, and the fallout was real. the u.s. stock market even dropped after the picture was posted. we have a lot to get to tonight. i want to start with fred flight ag -- pleitgen. >> reporter: certainly the russians very much caught off guard and up in arms about this cross-border raid that happened by those russians who are fighting on behalf of ukraine but also, of course, fighting against vladimir putin as well.

one of the main things we picked up is this happened in a key region for russia, the belgorod region, a highly militarized part of russia and one of vladimir putin's main hubs for his war against ukraine. and the latest that we have tonight is that the authorities there are describing the situation there right now on the ground as very tense, and they say they've even evacuated the local population. here's what we're hearing. a rude awakening for russians in the border area with ukraine. gunfire and explosions as two groups known as the free russia legion and the russian volunteer corps, russians fighting for ukraine, said they captured one village and entered another in the belgorod region. [ speaking non-english ] "today it's time for everyone to take responsibility for their future," one of the leaders says. "it's time to put an end to the kremlin's dictatorship." kyiv acknowledges the free

russia allege are part of ukraine's security forces but says ukraine has nothing to do with the incursion into russia. putin's spokesman irate. the purpose of the ukrainian sabotage in the belgorod region is to divert attention from the situation in the bakhmut direction, he said. the raids spoiled what was supposed to be russia's big victory lap. flanked by his mercenaries, wagner boss yevgeny progozhin claiming to have taken all of bakhmut this weekend. "today at noon, at 12:00, bakhmut has been fully captured," he said. shortly after russian social media channels filling with pro-wagner propaganda. mercenaries screaming victory and celebrating with champagne showers. but ukraine's deputy defense minister quick to deny the russian claims. >> translator: the ukrainian armed forces retained control of

certain industrial facilities and private houses in the southwestern area. >> reporter: from the air and from the ground, bakhmut looks apocalyptic. any strategic value the town may have had for the kremlin laid to waste. ukraine's forces already fighting back, making what they say have been significant gains. north and south of bakhmut, taking swaths of land back quickly. bakhmut was supposed to be both strategic and symbolic for russia and its fight for control of east ukraine. but wagner says their forces will withdraw on may 25th after months of ferocious fighting and countless dead. the city will be placed under russian military control, whose commanders have done more withdrawing than advancing recently. erin, tonight despite those claims by yevgeny progozhin and also by the kremlin as well, the ukrainians are saying that some of the most intense fighting

going on in ukraine is happening right around the bakhmut area as the russians continue to hit that area, the ukrainians fight back. they say they are not going to give up even an inch of their territory without a fight, erin. >> fred, thank you very much. i want to go to retired army general mark hertling, the former commanding general of europe. and adviser to the ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy. thanks very much to both of you. general, since fred was just talking about bakhmut, this is fascinating what we're seeing happening. russia is now saying it's captured bakhmut. you see the champagne showers that the wagner mercenaries are doing. ukraine says, no, the fighting for bakhmut continues. they'll fight for every single inch. what is actually happening there? >> it's tough to explain, erin, because we're looking literally at powerpoint maps often and we're seeing red areas and yellow areas, and it doesn't really give the situation in terms of the terrain. the ukrainian forces, as i've

watched them, have pulled out of bakhmut. they have done a very good withdrawal, and they are now in the high ground in three areas to the northwest and southwest. they can control the city via the high ground. so russia is basically commanding rubble right now, a town that they have destroyed. they are now in the middle of it. there is no tactical value for that right now, and the ukrainian forces who have pulled back can now have a much greater capability of conducting operations against that city than they did before. and i would suggest soon we may see ukrainian forces surround the wagner forces, or whatever is left in the city of bakhmut. >> it's pretty incredible to watch that happening. alexander, into this, wagner are putting out these videos celebrating their victory that they say, that they control it. and the chief, yevgeny progozhin, says his fighters are going to pull out of ukraine on

may 25th, which if they did that, they're giving up bakhmut and everything else. alexander, does ukraine believe that progozhin is, in fact, doing that, withdrawing? >> in general, you obviously can't believe any word they're saying. this is a side that's been lying consistently before the invasion, during the invasion. so we take it with a grain of salt at best. obviously we can't believe a single word. >> so, general hertling, in the meantime, this group of russian fighters that are fighting on behalf of ukraine, several different kind of groups of them as they call themselves, but they are fighting against russia. they took a number of actions today. there was that incursion into belgorod, right, which is actually russian territory, full russian territory, right, by any measure. they claim they captured a russian military vehicle. then we saw the so-called flag of free russia flying over moscow state university. how meaningful are these incidents, general? >> this is all part of shaping

operations, erin. what i'd suggest what occurred today -- and it's a magnificent tactic -- is these liberty of russian legion or russian volunteer corps, the so-called little green men are going in the opposite direction. they're trying to free russian territory. the interesting pieces, this is what's called a raid. a raid is a surprise attack meant for a specific purpose. and they threaten a small objective. they kill or capture people. they cause movement of the enemy to protect the object of the raid. so in other words, this is an area where there were very few russian soldiers, and now unfortunately because of this incursion into russian territory of belgorod, russia has to move defense forces there as well as some other places like kirsk. and what we've seen in moscow itself with the flag you showed flying over moscow university. all of this is to accomplish the intent of an objective of pulling russian forces away from the areas which they are

defending. this is shaping operations, and the ukrainians are doing it very well along with their -- the liberty of russian allege or whatever they want to call themselves in order to get the russians to look in other directions. >> it is stunning, though. you think about russians attacking in a place like belgorod. again, to even imagine 16 months ago, 18 months ago, having these sorts of conversations. alexander, we also mentioned at the top of the show yet another russian official, and there have been so many in the past year who have criticized the war publicly or privately, mysteriously now dead. i spoke with your father recently. obviously a renowned, award-winning film producer, lived in russia until the beginning of the war. he has publicly criticized the war. he is still doing it. putin has ordered his arrest. it makes him a wanted man. i wanted to play something your father told me when i asked him whether he was concerned for his safety. >> i'm not anymore in russia, of course, but i now how effective

russian intelligence in following the people who are protesting the russian regime. i don't have a fear. nothing would prevent me from speaking the truth about what's going on in ukraine and with this war. definitely i would and most of my friends are trying to tell me that i should be very careful, and i will be very careful. but i will do what i did. >> i know, alexander, you've obviously -- you're proud of your father, but you must be deeply concerned for his safety too. >> absolutely. i mean it is concerning. it's always concerning. we know what the russians are capable of. we know what they do with their enemies and also with people they consider traitors. but the good news here is, and i think that's what my father was alluding to, is he was never a russian citizen. we are all ukrainians obviously. for the kremlin, as perverse as that sounds, that is a pecking

order lower. so that is actually lower on the priority list. they usually hunt people that they consider traitors first, although that's of course the perverse reality i'm talking of. no doubt there is danger, and i want my father to be careful of course. >> thank you both very much. i appreciate it. >> pleasure. next, e. jean carroll seeking another $5 million in damages against trump after the former president mocked her during cnn's town hall. plus, down to the wire. speaker mccarthy about to speak with reporters after meeting with president biden. the two are desperately trying to hammer out an agreement to avoid a default on america's debt. negotiations have fallen apart several times. so where do things stand at this hour? and american paul whelan, who has been wrongfully detained in russia, sounding optimistic that he could soon be free. >> i remain positive and confident on a daily basis that, you know, the wheels are turning.

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new tonight, e. jean carroll is now seeking new damages, at least $10 million in total, we understand, from former president donald trump, after his comments about her at cnn's town hall. a jury earlier this month found trump, of course, liable for both sexual abuse and defamation. one day after the jury ah verdict, trump on cnn called carroll a quote, whack job.

paula reid is outfront. paula, what happens now? >> reporter: erin, it really is remarkable when you think about the timeline here, right? she was awarded $5 million from a jury, and then just a day later, he went and made remarks that were almost identical to the ones that had just been argued about at trial. now e. jean carroll is asking a judge to take those remarks that he made at the town hall and add them to another defamation lawsuit that she previously filed against the former president. why did she have multiple defamation suits? well, her original one in 2019 relates to things he said while he was in office and has been bogged down in appeals and legal challenges, trying to establish whether he can actually be sued for comments he made while in office. now, the other comments that he made after he left, that's already gone to trial, so that's why she's asking to amend that other lawsuit that is still live. and at this point, erin, it's unclear if the judge is going to allow that lawsuit to go forward at all or if the judge will even allow these additional comments that he made at our town hall to

be added to her cause. >> so that's obviously important and we're talking about a lot of money there. but you also have new reporting, paula, in the special counsel's investigation into trump's handling of classified documents. i understand you're learning what was in the notes that one of his lawyers was forced to turn over to the special counsel. notes, of course -- i use the force because trump fought very hard to keep these note as way from the special counsel. what do the notes reveal? >> reporter: these are notes from trump's attorney, evan corcoran. they're memorializing a time period last spring after they had received a subpoena from the justice department demanding that they return classified documents. now, these notes reveal that the former president was having this conversation with his lawyer, asking, look, how can we push back on this subpoena? how can we fight? now, we would never have access to this kind of interaction between a lawyer and a client if it wasn't for jack smith's efforts to go to court, fight to get around attorney-client privilege by successfully

convincing the court that this advice that corcoran gave may have been used in the commission of a crime, because we know of course the special counsel is looking at whether anyone tried to obstruct their ongoing investigation and these efforts to get back classified documents. at least one source did suggest to us, though, that this kind of conversation, this is exactly the kind of advice that any client would be seeking. so we'll see what exactly these notes mean to the special counsel. >> all right. paula, thank you very much. let's bring in ryan goodman, our legal expert. ryan, let's start with the e. jean carroll news. so you've read her legal team's new filing, and it seemed a bit unclear whether she's asking for $10 million in total inclusive of what she had or $10 million in addition. either way, it's a lot of money. do you think they have a solid case here for more damages? >> i think they do because the question for punitive damages is to demonstrate that the defendant, in this case donald trump, acted maliciously with spite or willfulness in his disregard for her rights.

wanton disregard for her rights. if he carried this out as a continual pattern of behavior where he keeps defaming her again and again, gets another opportunity after a unanimous verdict and does it again, basically calling her a liar. >> same words. it wasn't like he tried anything new. >> that's right. >> so you think when paula is laying out that case and how the judge would have to basically allow this incident to be included in an incident that was from when he was president, and there have been questions over anything when he was president, if that's actually allowed to go ahead. do you think this moves forward all in? >> i think it does. it's a permissive rule within the particular jurisdiction to amend complaints. so very smart move by her lawyers because they could have tried to file a new complaint like in new hampshire based on the town hall. >> right, because that's where it was. >> but it's really smart to go back to the original judge, who heard the first trial, and that judge might actually say you don't have to retry everything. we've already heard it at least on the truthfulness of were you sexually assaulted.

that's been decided by a jury. now we go to the question is he immune from jurisdiction here because he committed these comments originally while he was president. >> now let me ask you about paula's new reporting on these notes from trump's lawyer evan corcoran. they fought to keep these away from the special counsel. they lost. we do not know everything in them. what we know is some of these notes say that trump asked if he could fight a subpoena to recover classified documents that were still in his possession. i have to admit i first heard that and said, well, of course trump wanted to fight a subpoena. but i guess wanting to fight it because they were still in his possession, is that an acknowledgement they're in his possession? what do you think the real meaning of this is? >> ordinarily if you told me that a client of a lawyer told me can you fight a subpoena, there's nothing very valuable about that. but here it does go to the very question of is he trying to willfully retain the documents? >> right. >> does he know has the documents and he's trying to keep them?

it surely suggests that's what he's doing. this is a world in which the comparison is to the biden and pence cases where they voluntarily turned the documents back over. they want to get them back to the government as soon as possible. he's trying to fight the subpoena to hold on to the documents. that's not a good fact for him when it comes to this criminal investigation. >> again, i should emphasize we don't know what else there is in these notes. we do know they appear to be copious in some way, whatever that means. ryan, thank you very much. outfront next, no deal. the house speaker kevin mccarthy has just left the white house and says that there is still no deal on the debt ceiling. this is one of the nation's biggest banks has a so-called war room in place for a possible default. plus, he grew up in poverty, was raised by a single mother. now he's the only black republican in the u.s. senate. can senator tim scott turn his life story into a successful run for the white house? killed talet from all over the globe. riright at your fingertips. ♪ this is how we work now ♪

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new tonight, president biden and speaker kevin mccarthy meeting as the united states marches toward a debt default with no solution right now in sight. >> we still have some disagreements, but i think we may be able to get where we have to go. we both know we have a significant responsibility. >> i think we both agree that we need to change the trajectory, that our debt is too large, and i think at the end of the day, we could find common ground. >> well, it was an important meeting, and it comes as speaker mccarthy says that a adeal has o be reached this week. treasury secretary janet yellen reiterating that the default date will be june 1st, and that

has big banks really nervous tonight, frankly for the first time. usually this is brinksmanship and everyone thinks it's going to work itself out. one describing this debt ceiling kr crisis as more worrying than others. jamie dimon says his bank has a war room. jeremy diamond is outfront. we've got just days to go. it's good they're meeting and coming out of it and saying the meeting wasn't worthless. but the real question is when is it going to be worth something? where does this stand? >> reporter: erin, that's the key question. it's a surprisingly optimistic tone when you consider the fact that in just ten days, the united states could potentially default on its debt obligations. we heard janet yellen reaffirming that high likelihood that early june will indeed be the date when the u.s. could no longer pay its bills. we just heard from the speaker of the house. he emerged saying it was a

productive discussion. he said the tone of the meeting was better than it ever has been at this point in the negotiations. he said that those negotiators, the white house's top staff and mccarthy's deputies are going to get right back to the negotiating table this evening with a bit of a clearer sense of direction from the key principles. here's the president and the speaker of the house. but that being said, it's very clear there is still a wide gap between these two sides. i asked the speaker of the house specifically about something president biden raised at the beginning of that meeting, which is he wants revenue to be on the table here. i asked the speaker if he's willing to talk about that. he said flatly, no, that is off the table for him. he also said that cuts to defense spending are also off the table. and so it's very clear that there are a lot of issues still to resolve, and as congressman patrick mchenry told me, nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to. but the speaker said he expects to be speaking with the president every day going forward. erin. >> jeremy, thank you very much. patrick mchenry learned his

lesson from the speakership itself. at this point you're not going to count anything until you actually have it all sitting there. outfront now republican congressman dusty johnson. he's the chairman of the republican main street caucus, which is a group of more than 70 house republicans. congressman johnson, i appreciate your time. everyone should know that over the weekend, you warned that the u.s. was, quote, at real risk of default. the banks are more concerned. do you still feel the same way, that there is a real risk of default tonight? >> i think there is a real risk, but it is receding ever so slightly. the staff talks this morning, i think, went better than they had in quite a number of days. and i got the sense that the speaker and the president's conversation was also helpful. we are a long way from the end zone, but at least we're pointed in the right direction again. >> i'd like to hear more than receding ever so slightly, but

it's sure better than the alternative. republicans, though, obviously have used default, the threat of a default, to secure spending cuts. so the white house has offered to cap future spending at current levels, which obviously, look, we're all dealing with inflation. if you do that, that would amount to a 5% cut when you adjust for inflation. house republicans rejected that. can you tell me why? >> because we told them this was going to happen. when they passed on party line votes the $2 trillion american rescue plan, we said, well, how are yoe $1.7 trillion inflation reduction act, we said how are you going to pay for it? when they did the $1.7 trillion omnibus just in december, we said how are you going to pay for it? the democrats with one-party rule back then could have raised the debt ceiling any of those times. instead they put our whole country in a box when they gathered of the $6 trillion with the one-party spending and

expected they were going to get the debt ceiling raised for free. we are moving toward insolvency. we need the big boys and big girls to start moving spending in the right direction. >> that may all be true. but you mentioned $2 trillion. you did vote for a $2 trillion spending bill. it was president trump's covid relief bill, and that did add to the debt. ho how is that $2 trillion different than their $2 trillion? >> because one was in the early days of the pandemic when everybody, everybody agreed that we needed those resources. it passed 98-0 in the u.s. senate. when you've got ted cruz and bernie sanders singing from the same sheet of music, clearly you're in a national emergency. but then go forward 18 months later when we've got the vaccine, when infection levels are coming down, when hospitalization levels are coming down, when we're already coming out of a recession, a recession that had been over for more than a year, you do not need to spend like you're in the great depression when you're already a year into recovery.

that's the difference, and i think it's a pretty goshbig one >> so let me ask you, though, when they say or when you have put on the table, you know, kind of clawbacks for some kind of covid relief, my understanding was that was put out there, had gone nowhere. is that something that could go through? >> yes. i think that's one of the areas where we're closest on agreement. now, patrick mchenry is right. nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to. >> as i said, he learned the hard way as we were all there that late night. he knows. >> yes. we all learned the hard way then. but that is an area where i think the president has said the pandemic is over. those dollars, tens of billions unobligated, that is relatively a low-hanging fruit. >> the 14th amendment that president biden says he believes he has the authority to go ahead and take congress out of the picture, raise the debt limit, i'm sorry, on his own, congressman, that would be

invoking the 14th amendment. laurence tribe wrote an op-ed supporting that, saying it could be possible. do you think there's anything to that? >> i don't know why in this country we continue to get more and more comfortable building am imperial presidency. i get it. it is hard to get things through congress. but, listen, i raised concerns about executive overreach under the last president, and of course i have raised them with this president. we do not want to live in a country where a president can sign $600 billion checks, student loan forgiveness, without permission by congress. and we don't want to live in a country where the president can, in an unlimited way, borrow money. let's just have congress do its job. how about that? >> well, yeah, and i would say when it comes to executive orders, i think everyone can agree from looking at presidents of both parties, it is all too way overused. i appreciate your time. next, senator tim scott. he was raised in poverty by a single mother. he talks about this a lot and

how much it impacted his life. he went on to become the first black republican senator from the south in more than 100 years. now he wants to be president. so what's his path? plus, american paul whelan has been wrongfully detained in russia since 2018. actually able to call cnn and say he thinks possibly he could be home soon, and his sister will be outfront. after advil. back to work. what about your neck? it's good to go. before advil. advil dual action fights pain two ways. acaminophen blocks pain signals. advil dual action.

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tonight, republican senator tim scott struggling to say how he would differ from donald trump after officially announcing that he is going to run against him for the nomination for the gop for 2024. and he dodged on what he felt about trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. >> what will you offer voters that former president trump will not? >> well, the question is i'm running for president, period. i plan to win. so the question is what do the voters want in their president? they want someone who can persuade on the issues that matter the most to them. >> would you ever try to overturn an election you lost? >> no. >> what do you think about president trump's behavior after the 2020 election into january 6th? >> we can do two things here. we can have a conversation about president trump, or we can have a coo what does senator scott's vision for the future and his campaign look like? jeff zeleny is outfront. >> my family went from cotton to

congress in his lifetime. >> reporter: from cotton to congress, those weighty words form the arc of senator tim scott's rise and frame the argument for his presidential aspirations. >> my grandfather said to me, son, you can be bitter, or you can be better, but you can't be both. >> reporter: as he opened his republican campaign for the white house today in his native south carolina, scott made clear his biography is his message. an optimistic vision for america, he said, is shaped from opportunity, not oppression. >> this isn't just my story. it's all of our stories. >> reporter: it's his story that scott believes sets him apart from a growing field of contenders. he's the son of a single mother whom he invited onstage in north charleston. >> thank you for standing strong in the middle of the fire. >> reporter: and praised her guidance through a challenging childhood and for believing in him when he didn't yet believe in himself. >> we live in the land where it is absolutely possible for a kid

raised in poverty, in a single-parent household, in a small apartment to one day serve in the people's house and maybe even the white house. >> reporter: today at 57, he's the only black republican in the senate and the only african american to serve in both chambers of congress. he was elected to the house in 2010 and appointed to the senate two years later by then-governor nikki haley. >> it is very important to me, as a minority female, that congressman scott earned this seat. >> reporter: who is now a rival in the gop primary. scott won a special election for a senate seat in 2014, was elected again in 2016 to a full term, and in 2022, seized re-election in a landslide. if elected, scott could also be the first unmarried president since grover cleveland. along the way, his faith has been a central tenet.

>> people will say our message is naive, that our faith is foolish. but they don't know who they're talking to. conservatism is my personal proof there is no ceiling in life. >> reporter: as he presented himself as a candidate offering optimism over anger and hope over grievance, and race is pivotal to his message, ausing t as shield and sword and as a warning to democrats. >> i'm the candidate the far left fears the most. when i cut your taxes, they call me a prop. when i refunded the police, they called me a token. i disrupt their narrative. i threaten their control. the truth of my life disruptions their lives. >> reporter: senator scott did not mention any of his rivals by name but he did remind republican voters they do have a choice. he framed it like this --

choosing between grievance or greatness. erin. >> like the bitter/better that he said his grandfather had. thank you very much to jeff zeleny. next, the state department saying there is no higher priority than bringing home american paul whelan from russia, where he is in confinement. whelan's sister is next. how optimistic is she that her brother will actually be home soon? and the man accused of murdering four university of idaho students appearing in court but refusing to enter a plea. we've got the latest on that. w'y about planning for a third kid. you can still play golf... somemetimes. take conontrol of your financial future to empowower what's next. i will be a travel influencer... hey, i thought you were on vacation? it's too expensive. use priceline, they've got deals no one else has. what about work? i got yo looking great you guys! ♪ go to your happy price ♪ priceli ♪ she found it. the feeling of finding the psoriasis treatment she's been looking for.

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tonight, no higher priority. that's how the state department today described how important it is right now to bring american paul whelan home from russia. the comments coming in response to a cnn exclusive. our jennifer hansler had an interview with paul whelan, who spoke to her on the phone from the brutal penal colony where he has been sentenced to 16 years' confinement. here's part of what he told her. >> well, you know, i've got the usual aches and pains of forced labor and poor living conditions, and that's a daily reminder of where i am and how long i've been here and the need for our government to get me

home. so i remain positive and confident on a daily basis that, you know, the wheels are turning. i just wish they would turn a little bit more quickly. >> whelan has been wrongfully detained already since 2018 on an espionage charge. his sister, elizabeth, is outfront now. elizabeth, i really appreciate your time, and i know, you know, we've spoken regularly about your brother. of course while you have had the opportunity to hear his voice at times, we and the american people, of course, really have not. but, you know, you hear this. we hear him talk about he's optimistic he may be coming home. what do you hear in his message? >> well, i think -- oh, gosh. when i listen to that, i hear his courage and resilience on display. and i think i've got a certain amount of concern that people are listening to this and thinking, oh, he's upbeat. he's confident. you know, this is a strength he has to bring every single day. this is his courage on display, and i don't want anyone to think that he is, for some reason,

content where he is. he's in a forced labor camp in russia. he's been there for almost 4 1/2 years. how would any of us feel at that point? to be able to respond the way he has, i think it's amazing. >> it is remarkable. i mean even in something he said there, elizabeth, right? he said, while i have the regular aches and pains of forced labor, i mean to him, regular aches and pains of forced labor, there's just a moment to step back and say how truly horrible this situation is. and he did talk a bit about his prison conditions. let me just play that part. p . >> the food is not very good. the sanctions are hitting hard. everything is watered down. medical care, dental care, is provided privately. >> interesting he's talking about the sanctions obviously from ukraine, that that's affecting the food and everything, getting water added to it. think of the day in the life of

ivan, or something. can you tell us more about what he's told you about his life in prison and what he's enduring? >> well, you know, a good example is the heat was completely turned off in february to the prison. and they're in a place where it's, you know, sub zero temperatures. so, they went for a couple of months there living day and night in below freezing temperatures. you know, warming up not even to 30 degrees. and a good example about the food, he told us that, for example, you know, sometimes they're served soups like borscht, which has beet root in it. and now the beet root is taken out before they're served the soup. they're basically being served warm beet water as soup. it's that sort of deprivation that's going on. and he has to live with that day after day. it's one of the reasons why when we can send food to him via the u.s. embassy, it's so important, because it's keeping him alive.

>> that is incredible. he did have a message for president biden, elizabeth, and i'm going to play that. >> mr. president, i have been held hostage for more than 52 months, and the only crime i have committed in russia is that of being a american citizen. freedom is not free and comes at a price, but the loss of freedom is even more costly, and i pay that cost every day russia holds me. please through with your promise and commitments, truly make my life a priority, and get me home. thank you very much. >> and obviously he had thought about that. there's something so poignant about it, though, elizabeth. you've watched brittney griner and others come home. she was released from russia in a prisoner swap. your brother, of course, though, is still there. do you think that the president hears this, that this truly is the top priority, that the state department, after this interview, says it is? >> i think so. and i think the president cares deeply about americans who are held wrongfully.

but you hear that faith in paul's voice. that needs to be met with an equal response. i really believe that the administration is working, just as paul is confident that they are, to get him home. but russia is -- you know, russia is wrongfully detaining americans. we have got to get on top of this. paul is a hostage. and whatever it takes to get him home, to get evan home, we have to do it. >> all right. elizabeth, thank you very much. i'm glad to speak to you again. >> thanks so much. coming up next on "ac 360," that fake image we showed you of a bomb outside the pentagon caused panic, the markets fell. it was fake. is it a sign of what's to come. meantime, next, the man accused of murdering four university of idaho students appearing in court. when asked to enter a plea, he refused to speak. ♪

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tonight, not guilty pleas for the man accused of brutally stabbing four university of idaho students. bryan kohberger appearing in front of an idaho judge today,

standing silent, staring straight ahead, as the pleas were entered on his behalf. he didn't speak. jean casarez is "out front." >> count one, burglary. count two, murder in the first degree. count three, murder in the first degree. count four, murder in the first degree. count five, murder in the first degree. and ms. taylor, is mr. kohberger prepared to plea to these charges. >> your honor -- >> mr. kohberger is standing silent. i'm going to enter a not guilty plea on each charge. >> bryan kohberger appearing in an orange jump suit, only answering to yes or no questions during his arraignment in an idaho court. >> anything that you say other than to your lawyers could be used against you in a later court proceeding.

do you understand that? >> yes, i do. >> do you understand these rights? >> yes. >> any questions about the rights? >> no. >> the 28-year-old quietly following along and glancing at his attorney, as the judge read through the charges. >> do you understand the maximum penalty? >> yes. >> reporter: prosecutors say kohberger entered an off campus house at the university of idaho in november 2022 and stabbed four students to death. kaylee goncalves, maddie mogen, xana kernodle, and ethan chapin. he could face the death penalty. it was male dna found on a ka-bar, multiple sightings of a white hyundai elantra, cell phone tower data that put kohberger near the students' home at least 12 times during the murders, and comparison dna

of trash outside kohberger's home that eventually led to his arrest. body cam video later released showed that kohberger had been pulled over for an unrelated incident, as he drove across country after the murders. kohberger's trial has been set for october 2nd and is expected to last six weeks. while there is no word on kohberger's defense, his attorney recently told a judge their investigator found information favorable to the defense, known only to surviving roommate bethany funke. she has agreed to speak with the defense. while indictment documents have been unsealed, investigators are still searching for a motive. genjean casarez, cnn, new york. >> thanks so much. >> thanks so much. "ac 360" begins now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good evening. we begin tonight with breaking news