have raised similar concerns in the air, including a woman who tried to open a door while flying from raleigh, north carolina. and on the ground, in los angeles, authorities say a man opened the door of a parked jet and jumped onto an exit slide. in chicago, officials say a man popped an emergency door while his plane taxied and walked onto the wing. and in new york, officials say a couple with their dog opened a door and took an exit slide as their plane was preparing to leave. why that man in the asiana incident allegedly tried to open that plane, we don't know. authorities are merely saying he was not in a good mental state. by the time it was all over, neither were some other passengers, who were taken to the hospital for hyperventilating. erin? >> it is terrifying, and i think everyone wants to know the motive. motive. time now for ac 360.

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com the gloves are truly off in the republican race for president. john king in for anderson t pay little attention to the republican race, it is hard to notice ron desantie former president openly throwing hay makers. donald trump, of course, has never bought into that. and now it seems his fellow floridian doesn't either. over the last 48 hours, governor desantis has gone straight after the gop front runner, most recently today on this conservative talk show. >> he's been attacking me by moving left. so, this is a different guy than 2015, 2016. 2 million illegal aliens he wanted to amnesty. we both faced covid-19, and we both responded the way we did. he responded by elevating anthony fauci and turning over

the reigning to dr. fauci. he enacted a bill, basically a jailbreak bill. >> as for mr. trump, there's this. and yes, listen closely, he's deliberately calling the governor rob, not ron. >> rob desanctimonious and his poll numbers are dropping like a rock. i would be inclined to say. the question is, rob young, inexperienced, and naive, or more troubling, is he a fool that has no idea what the hell he's doing? >> the former president giving the word add homonym a real work out. he's also calling for party unity, as long as it's behind him. using language some would consider divisive, invoking foreign born jewish billionaire somehow pulling the strings for the united states government. >> biden's puppet masters, like george soros, are hoping for a long, drawn out republican

primary. they want to divide us so they can quietly buy the white house for crooked joe. >> so, let's talk about all this. two of our favorite cnn commentators, mia love, ella stuart is with us as well. and "the new york times" campaign reporter. nicolette me start with you. this is a big shift for the governor. he was much more nuanced, much more gentle when it came to donald trump. why have they decided he's soft on covid, he's soft on crime. why? >> he -- i mean, soft on trump. he barely mentioned former president trump by name until he got into the race. so, this is very much seeing governor desantis unleashed. i think it surprised a few people. he -- you know, he's in this position where, with mr. desantis, where he needs to stay on the good side of a lot of mr. trump's base, while

winning them over. he's seeing a need to differentiate himself starkly from the former president, and we're really seeing that unfold today. >> mia love, congresswoman, the question is, does he have the skills to pull it off? we all remember 2016 when established politicians tried to go after donald trump saying he wasn't a real republican, and they failed. you served with ron desantis in the house. does he have the skill set to walk that tight rope, to tell trump voters, i know you love him, but he can't win. >> i need to say that desantis has a bigger hill to climb than he thinks. the thing that people, republicans, really liked about ron desantis earlier is that he was seemingly a fighter. he was choosing battles that were big, and they liked that about him. and when trump went after him with no response, trump went

after him over and over and over again, he lost that fighter appeal. so, he had to. he had to do something to go back and position himself as a fighter again. you know, likely the floor is high because there are so many people that like certain qualities about ron desantis. and he has quite a bit of funding. and people, need funders behin him to help make it all the way through the primary. he has to be a fighter. he has to show that he can stand up to donald trump or else the gop won't give him a second look. he had to do that. he had to start standing up. >> listen here, this is governor desantis talking on "news max" about what he says a limit, a ceiling to the former president's support. listen. >> i do believe that there's a limit to the number of voters that would consider the former

president at this point. we've seen it in florida. we've seen it in places like georgia. i think there are some people that don't like biden, but they would like another option. i think my ceiling is higher in a general election. >> is that, alice, stewart, you lived through 2016, you lived through 2012 as well. you understand republican primaries well. is that a winning message, that guy can't win a general election. >> it is for republicans who actually want to win the general election. donald trump probably has a ceiling in the primary as well, but with a fractured field, it's in his favor. in a general election, a candidate like desantis or any of the other republicans we have, in my view, are more favorable general election candidates. but i think desantis is doing the smart thing. he kept his powder dry before getting in the race. now he is in. the powder is in the gun, and he is firing shots at trump. it would be political malpractice not to fully attack donald trump. you have to go through him to

get to president biden. and, look, he is smart by, in the primary, showing that he is just as conservative or republican or right as donald trump or maybe even more to the right as donald trump because we're in a primary. but the reality is, big picture, there are probably a lot more alike on policy than they are different. and desantis has one big difference that donald trump doesn't have. and that is he won re-election. and if he can focus on the fact that he has won re-election, donald trump is the culture of losing, that is a goodwining message and a reminder to rational republicans that it's time to put someone in the primary position that has won and focuses on their future and not the candidates' past grievances. i think that's a winning message. >> you've covered the governor extensively. he had a rough launch to the campaign. he had a rough couple months before that. he still raised a boatload of money, and he thinks it will

hurt him in the end. now that he has done that, was that always planned or was it because the last couple of months have been tough for him? and you know his skill set better than most. donald trump has been on his case for days and weeks. now he's on his case in a trumpy, by the hour kind of way. does he have the skill set to handle that? >> governor desantis, like any politician, i think, does not like being attacked and having to sit on his hands. i'm sure that was very us frustrating for the last few months. and now he really sees an opportunity to differentiate himself from president trump on policy. and i do think -- we got some internal audio tape from the governor's donor meeting yesterday, where his top campaign staffers were very much saying they were going to run to the right of mr. trump, and paint desantis as the real conservative in the race. and yes, i do think that requires the governor to make

that comparison himself. >> it's going to be fascinating to watch. congressman, back to your experience. republicans passed criminal justice reform under donald trump. it was a bipartisan bill. you were part of that effort. they passed it because they thought it was good policy. but also, let's be honest about the politics, they thought it would help the republican party in the african american community to develop a bigger change across america where it's been a problem. ron desantis today criticizing that bill, calling it a jailbreak bill. is it a jailbreak bill? >> i found that really interesting because from the moment i stepped on the floor in congress, i worked with a congressional black caucus on criminal justice reform. we had think tanks all the way from the right all the way to the left coming together on criminal justice reform. if he's going to attack donald trump on something, this is not it. ron desantis was -- i believe he voted for it. i'm not sure. if he didn't, shame on him because it was -- it was quite

significant. it was a great bill to pass that we worked on, bipartisan bill. it was great for america. >> alice, help us wrap the conversation. if you're in the desantis war room, you hear him. he says, i might even pardon trump. i'll think about pardoning january 6th offenders. so, he's trying to have affinity with the trump base. talk about the things they love most, even as he attacks their hero. how do you pull that off? >> it's a very, very delicate balance to do so. in order to win this primary, you have to keep trump's base to the degree that you can, but broaden the electorate. and the wording that he's using is important. but i happen to think that they're much better off by focusing on what he has done as the governor of florida. very successful economy. his handling of covid was very strong. and it's a state that has low crime. and if he can focus on what he has been able to accomplish in florida and convey that to the primary voters, that's a winning

message. but the key right now is to -- in the republican primary, you're going after republican voters. many of them very conservative. he's going to have to win them over. and then as we get closer to the general election, you know how it works. you get the etch asketch and shake it up at that point. but right now he is going all in to the right to get over these republican voters. >> all in to the right, a crackling beginning still seven, eight months before anybody votes. we're off to a crackling start. thank you so much. next for us, what president biden just said about the debt ceiling talks and what his treasury secretary just, bought them more time to reach agreechlt. and later my conversation with one of boston's most popular people these days, especially with these u mass students, and not just for his connection with the celtics. i'm a palm springs hotel. i got ththe desert air, sun-kissed pools, and shady hidedeaways. i'm looking for someone who cacan decide on a friday that a one night commitment on a saturday is a fine idea.

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with the federal government just days now away from running out of money, president biden was upbeat late today about talks with house republicans to raise the debt ceiling and head off a potential economic disaster. >> we regard to the debt limit, things are looking good. i'm very optimistic. i hope we'll have some clearer evidence tonight before the clock strikes 12:00 that we have a deal. but it's very close. and i'm optimistic. negotiations going on, i'm hopeful we'll know by tonight whether we are going to be able

to have a deal. >> the president speaking just a short time after his treasury secretary janet yellen provides her estimate for when the default could happen from the first of june to the fifth of june. that gives everyone a bit more breathing room. that said, very close, as the president put it, can mean almost there. this is washington, it can mean not quite. for the progress on the sticking points, manu raju is there for us. the president said maybe before the clock strikes midnight tonight. possible? what are you learning? >> reporter: there is new optimism a deal can be reached on both sides of the aisle. this is a sharp shift in tone from earlier in the day. i just talked to patrick mchenry who told me he concurs president biden's assessment that they are very close to a deal. but there are sticking points they have been fighting over. one of them is whether or not to impose work requirements on beneficiaries of the food stamp program. republicans have been pushing

for that. democrats say that is an attack on the poor. republicans i spoke to insisted that would be part of the final deal. >> if you're really going to fall on the sword for that versus actually negotiating something that changes the trajectory of the country for spending, it's crazy we're even having that debate. >> are you willing to drop that work requirement? >> hell no, hell no, not a chance. >> there are tough things that remain. >> so a deal is still not within reach at this point this. >> the deal is within reach. it just has to be agreed to. and we're waiting for the white house to understand the current set of terms we're dealing with. that means that we're in the window by which we meet the june 5th deadline. it's not over. we're not done. but we're within the window of being able to perform this. >> so, manu, you hear the

optimism there. and, again, the republicans sharing the president's optimism. that's a big deal. but -- there's still a but here -- even if the speaker and the president cut a deal, what is your reporting it can pass the house and senate given the grumbling. >> there is going to be a furious effort, john, to try to lock down the votes, because there is plenty of grumbling, particularly among democrats who have been shut out of the talks. kevin mccarthy does not appear to have given a whole lot other than allowing the debt ceiling to be increased through the 2024 elections. but the issue of work requirements is one that many of them said he simply will vote against if this is included in the final plan. it appears it very well could. and on the right, a number of conservatives say this has been watered down from the republican bill that passed last month. had more spending cuts, more requirements, went after joe biden's student loan program for instance. they say they're going to vote against this. this would require a coalition of democrats, republicans to get

this together, get this to the finish line. then you have to worry about the united states senate. they don't have much time, despite those additional few days, june 5th is right around the corner. >> appreciate it very much, manu. joining us now is someone who will be weighing how to vote. congressman, grateful for your time tonight. so, in a normal negotiation, contract negotiation, business negotiation, tit would be a goo thing to get more time. what do you think of the breathing room janet yellen was just able to give the white house and congressional negoti negotiate investors? suz that a good thing or does it leave it on the line for everybody to criticize? >> there's a risk. but the speaker has agreed to 72 hours to review the bill in detail. and he has to sell it to the extremists in his caucus. he counts on the votes of people like matt gaetz and marjorie taylor greene, some of the most

extreme politicians america has ever seen, in order to get elected speaker. those are the types of people he's got to sell this deal to, and he may need extra days to do it. >> in your party, republicans say redline is they will have work requirements on food stamps benefits. a lot of democrats, especially progressive democrats, say no way, if that's in there, they will not vote for it. >> would you vote for that if the white house associated that? >> john, look, it depends on what's really at stake here. there's a lot of studies out there that show work requirements just put onerous burdens on people and don't do what the republicans say they will do. let's look at these numbers, john. $1 billion would be saved with work requirements. if the republicans do what they intend to do and reinstate the trump tax cuts or extend the trump tax cuts, we're talking about adding $3.5 trillion to the deficit.

that's $1 saved versus $3,500 saved if the republicans would stop with these trump tax cuts that just went to the wealthy and the biggest corporations in the world. they're not being honest here. they're not even looking at the facts or the math. we need to do a lot better. >> i know democrats think the burden here should be on republicans because raising the debt ceiling, the country should pay its bills, that everybody agrees to do that, and you fight over these spending things in the budget. with a president up for re-election who does not want turmoil in the american economy, does the president have enough juice, enough loyalty among democrats, picks up the phone and says, i need you to vote for this, would you do it? >> i'm always going to vote on what i think is right. that's my principle. but there are an awful lot of democrats who are just going to do whatever the president says. and that may be enough to get it across the finish line. >> you're a marine corp. veteran, four tours in iraq.

first time i met you was when you were in iraq working for general petraeus way back in the day. you're among those who wrote to the president recommending charles q. brown as the next -- he nominated general brown for that job. alabama republican senator tommy tuberville already holding up more than 200 general and flag officer promotions now says general brown can get that that line because he will use his power because he's mad. the pentagon said if a service member lives nay state where abortion is banned, it will give them travel benefits to go out of state if necessary. what is your message to senator tuberville tonight? is there anything the democrats can do about this? >> look, my message to senator tuberville is, we need the military to move faster. general brown famously said a few years ago that we need to either modernize more quickly, or we will lose. we need to move faster.

we need to modernize. senator tuberville, the 68-year-old white man from alabama wants to take us backwards, take us back to the 1950s. there are 80,000 women who serve in the military. they don't get to choose where they get stationed. and they don't need a 68-year-old white guy from alabama telling them what to do with their bodies and what health care decisions to make. >> appreciate your time tonight, sir. thank you very much. >> good to see you, john. up next for us, who reportedly helped move boxes at former president trump's mar-a-lago resort one day before a doj official came through with classified documents. this person now talking to federal prosecutors. we'll explore what we know and the legal implications next.

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as federal prosecutors dig and dig and dig into how former president trump handled classified documents as he left office, there's a new dwobment that could be important to the case. the headline, "mar-a-lago worker provided prosecutors new details in the trump documents case." "the times" reports a

maintenance worker recounted helping move boxes into a storage room a day before a justice department official came. the maintenance worker doesn't know what was in the boxes, but the worker did share what he knows and saw with prosecutors. these details coming out after "the washington post" reporting, the two people working for the former president moved boxes of papers on that day. "the post" did not have details on the two people. a lot to discuss with former federal prosecutor shan wu. with watergate, we had john dean. how significant could a mar-a-lago maintenance worker be here to the special counsel's case? >> i think they're pretty significant in terms of the timing, john. obviously the day before the justice department is coming about these documents, the fact that there's corroboration that they're moving boxes into that very storage unit which later they show to the justice department and say, hey, look, this is where we're storing things, it naturally brings to

one's mind, where were the boxes before then. so, that timing is really critical. and it's all part of the investigation. it's very methodical step by step effort to establish who did what when to really try and gain incite into what trump was thinking at that time. >> as our reporters keep hearing, the special counsel is closer and closer to decision time. according to "the washington post," gathered evidence indicating trump at times kept classified documents in his office in a place that were visible and sometimes showed them to others. if true, how problematic is that for the former president? >> it's quite problematic. it's obviously mishandling of that type of highly sensitive material that we've since learned just how sensitive it is. and i think for a prosecutor looking at this and from a defense standpoint, it's not enough to just have two disassociated issues going on like they're trying to cover up

something and maybe mishandled documents. it's putting them together that's really critical here. and that's what this investigation seems to be doing. they've got pretty good evidence that careless mishandling, whatever. and they've now got evidence that there was trying to be a cover up. and going back to your watergate reference, when you put those two together, then you have a case. >> and to that point, you have a lot of prosecutors who would say, you know, i have a clear case of obstruction, but you can't clear the other crime. the jury might say obstruction of what. you believe from reporting, especially in recent days about the documents, that they have a threshold, mishandling of classified records and then obstruction of justice in terms of the efforts to get them back. >> there's been reporting of sealed memorandum. and it seems like the prosecutors certainly amassed evidence enough to persuade -- she even used the word that it was willful on the former

president's part. difference of convincing a judge of that in a motion versus convincing a jury, but it seems like they're on the right track. >> appreciate the insight, sir. thanks very much. an attack in ukraine after russian forces blasted through a medical facility. and later, a bit of upbeat news. a billionaire's sweet gift to college grads in my hometown, boston. we'll tell you about his surprise just ahead. er triple action! gets three jobs done at once - kills weeds. prevents crabgrass. and keeps it growing strong. get a bag of scotts triple action today, it's guaranteed. feed your lawnwn. feed it.

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in ukraine today, at least two people were killed, dozens more wounded after a russian attack on a medical facility. cnn geolocated those strikes to a hospital at a clinic in dnipro. of those hurt, two were children, eight were doctors. sam kiley has more and has more. sam, what's the latest on the recovery in the aftermath of these strikes? >> reporter: well, the ukrainians move extremely fast. while the building was still burning, not just smoldering, but burning, john, they were firing against it, and at the same time dismantling the building, having conducted their investigations into what exactly was behind this blast, in other words, what kind of a missile. now, we know that they -- the local authorities say that 31

people were injured. eight of them were doctors. they're also saying that they think it was nothing short of in their words a miracle, john, that more people weren't injured or killed. and that is because the medical staff were on a shift change. one batch had left work and the others were beginning to work, and therefore there were fewer patients on site to fall victim to this latest missile attack inside dnipro, which left a massive hole in the medical facility and burned building next door. the world health organization remarkably saying this is nearly the 1000th attack on the health facilities in ukraine in the last year by russia. >> that number speaks volumes to the horrific brutality of the russian targeting, obviously. ukrainian authorities often bullish about their defense capabilities. what are they saying about their ability to defend against these waves of missile attacks?

>> reporter: this latest wave, they were less successful in shooting down the incoming missiles than they have been in the past. about 80% or more, just over 80%, rather, were shot down in this wave. often they do better than that, sometimes shooting down 100%. they also know they have a finite capability and do to the russians. and it's really a race between the two sides as to whether or not the russians can overwhelm the ukrainians or whether the ukrainians can continue to shoot down so many missiles that the russians run out of them. one of the russian techniques is to use these cheap drones produced in iran, which are cheap to make, very primitive, but they can be sent up in huge quantities. and every one of them has to be shot down, john. and this is all ahead, of course, of an anticipated summer offensive. and clearly from the russian perspective, they want to weaken the air defenses as much as possible before that gets underway. >> as we wait for that to get

underway, we saw reports and images of a drone attack on the russian side of the border. what do we know about that strike? pretty close to the border and relatively close to the fighting, right? >> reporter: yeah. i mean, kraz da was hit, the russians claim two uavs or what we're calling drones. the ukrainians have said nothing about that. but we have seen an increasing number of mysterious or semimysterious events inside russia. >> thank you very much. joining me now is retired brigadier army general, author of "a u.s. army's experience in pre-putin russia." he served as a defense cachet back in 2014. the general rust returned from a trip to ukraine. grateful for your time tonight. let's focus on your recent trip right there.

from your perspective, what you saw, what you heard, the briefings you received. is ukraine from a morale and psychological standpoint ready for this counteroffensive? >> john, good to see you. the trip was very, very enlightening. we were part of a ngo called renewed democracy initiative. a group of nine of us were in kyiv, and we got out to the areas around kyiv, including tragic bucha. my main point to take away, john and your viewers, is that the -- how the ukrainian people, it's the ukrainian society. it's a society-wide fight against the russian aggression. and everywhere from government seniors to people out there in the countryside.

this is a society-wide fight that the russians never imagined in their arrogance and disdain toward the ukrainians back in february last year when they launched -- they nevered imagined it. so, they hit with -- they tried to hit with a baseball bat a nest of hornets, and they're living it now. so, the ukrainians are all in. 80% at least. and the other point, and then i'll stop, is that how the ukrainians don't talk about surviving anymore, don't really use the word "win." they're using the term "after the victory." they're using the word "victory" in regard to defeating the russians, which i think is actually very important to listen to. >> when we get to this counteroffensive, we've seen activities, we know it's coming

soon. is president zelenskyy's goal is same as, say, president biden, or the nato countries helping ukraine with weapons? what would you view as a quote, unquote success for ukraine? >> first of all, ukrainians and i think -- i respect them for this -- are citing the conditions for the however the counteroffensive -- already small counter. but they're picking their time and place. and we have to be mindful that they're under a lot of pressure in this counteroffensive, not just domestically, but to the international community and their support phase. but they are clearly ramping up. nobody knows exactly where or how, but it's coming. and i think the russians are already spooked along the frontline, as we're hearing. and i think that success will be something -- first of all, success will be -- you will see

the success when you see it. i don't exactly know what the end state will be, if they take major chunks of land, if they're able to push down towards, you know, mariupol, you know, ideal things, they could seal off crimea, if they can really, really push back. i don't think anybody is thinking about taking the whole country back, but major gains. and a key point of this is getting the russian -- which is pretty shaky in a lot of places. do they melt down in the face of ukrainian determination and attacks as they did outside kyiv and they did outside kherson. so, that psychological piece is huge. >> appreciate your perspective, sir. thank you. last month, we learned the federal reserve chairman jerome powell was tricked by a fake call from russian pranksters. powell discussed global politics and the economy with someone he

thought was the ukrainian president zelenskyy. turns out they were russian supporters of putin who previously pranked other officials. matthew chance had a chance to speak with the pranksters and investigate the motive behind their tricks. take a look. >> they're notorious kremlin pranksters. the ukraine war has given them a new focus and new victims to deceive. >> look who's there, mr. president. >> like george w. bush, who thought he was speaking with the ukrainian president, supposedly called to discuss the u.s. military alliance. >> you always wanted to take ukraine into nato, not russia, but ukraine, always, as i remember. >> that's right. i felt ukraine needed to be in the eu and in nato. >> reporter: russian

officials -- pranksters it revealed the truth about long-time ambitions to distance russia from ukraine. >> i'm glad you're not prank calling me now. >> reporter: in getting to the truth, what would otherwise be left unspoken is what the pranksters told me they are all about. >> translator: first, it's about what this person is really like, how a president of a country behaves the in an informal conversation. we're interested in getting more honest answers than we would in an ordinary public interview. >> one of the criticisms that is levelled against you is that you're always, you know, symp thet toik the kremlin point of view. let me ask you directly, are you working at the behest of the kremlin to expose foreign officials or opponents of the russian authorities? >> reporter: in general, it's wrong to say that we are pro-kremlin. we're more pro-russian pranksters, since this is our country that we love and worry

about. you say we only call those who are against the kremlin. the issue is that russia simply doesn't have many friends now. ukraine, on the other hand, has many, especially in washington. and posing as volodymyr zelenskyy, the ukrainian president, has gotten the russian pranksters results. >> just say it's a great honor to speak to you. >> with influential figures like the chair of the u.s. federal reserve, who thought it was the real president zelenskyy quizzing him on the global economy and suggesting the fed let ukraine print its own u.s. dollars to fund the war with russia. >> if you could present me printing press, i would be really happy. >> we have one of those, but we keep it in the basement. >> oh, okay. >> again, i know you're going to be dependent on a lot of help from the west and from the

united states. ♪ >> reporter: it's not just u.s. officials being pranked. >> we would like to continue the nuclear program in order to protect ourselves from russia. >> reporter: britain's defense minister was taken aback when who he thought was ukraine's prime minister floated the idea of nuclear weapons. >> more than being neutral, russia would really hate that. >> for sure. we know this. >> the british government condemned the prank as straight from the kremlin playbook. >> why haven't you pranked called prominent people in russia, like vladimir putin, like the head of the chechen republic, like prigozhin, the head of wagner? why aren't you crank calling those people to expose the truth about them? >> make disaster in our country. such calls could make damage in

our current situation. >> but you're not worried about the danger and the risks of doing what you do in other societies? >> -- that could hurt our society. >> reporter: but the truth is, really powerful russians would never tolerate being pranked in this way. they would simply be unable to get away with duping a kremlin that's cracked down hard on dissent. whereas russia's enemies in the west, especially in the u.s., are considered fair game. >> okay. yeah. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> good talking to you. >> reporter: matthew chance, cnn, london. just ahead, we'll tell you what caused this reaction. look at the happiness at a college commencement ceremony in boston. [ cheers and applause ] shake 'n feed.

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i should get paid more for this. you get paid when you win. from xfinity. home of the 10g network. graduates at the university of massachusetts boston were in for a big surprise at their

comme commencement ceremony. >> for us, the greatest joys we've had in our lives have been the gift of giving. so, each of you is getting $1,000 cash right now. [ cheers and applause ] >> the first 500 is for you. it's in celebration of all you have done to be here today. you're leaders. celebrate. the second $500 is a gift for you to give to somebody or somebody else or another organization who could use it more than you. >> that generous man was billionaire rob hail. he's the founder ceo of granite telecommunications and he owns a minority stake in the boston celtics. thanks for joining us tonight. this is the third year you've given this kind of gift to a graduating class. where did this idea come from? why?

>> i think first one, the quincy community college, was 2020/2021. and the kids were on the heels of the pandemic. so, seemed like they'd been through so much adversity, that we should give them a reason to celebrate. secondly, quincy, roxbury, and umass boston, are percentage first generation college graduates, high percentage minority population. these are kids who have worked their tails off to get here and to work through, to work two jobs to get through. they needed a little celebration. >> i grew up a couple miles from the umass boston campus. it would be a big deal to get $1,000. you segway $500 for you, $500 for an organization or a person who needs help even more than you. let's start with the reaction. when people go through that line and you hand them those

envelopes, what's the most interesting, unique, or funny thing someone said to you. >> the most emotional is many of them say how they intend to use the $500, not for themselves. very few people say that. many people say, i intend to give to the following organization. one woman said to me, i have five children. i'm going to give $100 to each of my children, and they need it. and then she hugged me and we both got kind of misty to be honest. it was pretty special. >> you're hoping to plant a seed, obviously. you talk about how successful you have become and now philanthropy is so important for you to give back. you can't guarantee this. you don't know what they do with the second envelope, but your hope is to plant a seed, that they give away money this time, and as they do better in life, here's 500 bucks, here's a thousand bucks, here's a few thousand dollars i can do to help, that this is the beginning of something. >> that's 100% the objective is that we -- karen and i are very,

very, very fortunate. and to be honest, many of the most joyous moments in our lives have been culminations of gifts and seeing the by-product. so, we hope that the graduates take the money, give it to an individual or an organization, and feel that joy. and i'm telling you, it's intoxicating. and they'll want to keep that joy, and they'll want to do it more frequently. i believe -- i really believe -- if they put the money to good use, it will become a trait that carries on for the rest of their lives. >> as you know, you started doing this at this unprecedented time, where there's lite of of stress, the covid stress, and the can i find a job stress. in terms of the seed you're trying to plant, have you heard from any of the students, say, two years ago saying, thank you, you were so important to me then, this is what i'm doing now. >> i've heard -- ironically, quincy community college is a two-year school, becoming a four-year school by the way. but it was a two-year school when we did it. one of the young ladys that we

gave the lift to, $1,000 to at quincy community college, came through this year at umass boston and told us, you gave me $1,000 before, and i gave it back to quincy college because they helped me. thank you for my second gift. and i said, thank you for your second graduation. >> that is pretty cool. i'm guessing just about every college and university in the country has asked you to be their commencement speaker next year, right? >> after this year, they will. >> let's hope you choose wisely. i'm a dorchester kid, you are co-owner of the boston celtics who have, after three games, made me quite miserable, played two games that have me kind of hopeful. how are you feeling for tomorrow night? can we get two in a row? >> i think you hit the nail on the head. hopeful is the right word. i'm with you. and i believe we have a really gifted team. and if they play defense and they run the floor quickly, i like our chances. >> whoever figured out what to

change in the pregame buffet, give that person a raise. >> will do. and i'll tell them it's from you. >> we appreciate your time and your generosity. thank you, sir. >> thank you, john. see you. the news continues. you can join me next hour for "cnn tonight" right after a quick break. narrator: the man with the troublesome hehemorrhoid enters the room. phil: excuse me? hillary: that wasn't me. narrator: said hillary, who's only taken 347 steps today. hillary: i cycled here. narrat: speaking of cycles, mary's period isue to start in three days. mary: how do they know so much about us? narrator: your all sharing health data without realizing it. that's how i know about kevin's rash. who's next? wait... what's that in your hand? no, no, stop! oh you're no fun. [lock clicks shut]