liked him and i'm into the fact that he decided not to be with him anymore. >> who is that? >> not anymore. but what i'm saying is nobody is stepping up to go after trump.

>> welcome to all of our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. i'm paula newton here ahead on cnn newsroom. >> we put the citizens of america first. we didn't do it by taking the easy way. >> u.s. house speaker kevin mccarthy taking a victory lap after the house passes a bill to raise the debt ceiling but it's liz leadership now in jeopardy. plus one of our show's most decorated soldiers loses a defamation case against several newspapers. we will go live to sydney for the latest. no letup and russian airstrikes on kyiv. there's been a another overnight missile attack on ukraine capitol. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> live from cnn center, this is cnn newsroom, with paula newton. >> so it hasn't been easy but the hard-fought deals to suspend the u.s. debt ceiling and not a catastrophic default is now headed to the senate this bite weeks of handling and

hanging, it clear the house. but you know it was a comfortable bipartisan margin? more than 300 voting yay at 117 nays. conservatives angry about the deal i threatening to oust the house speaker who said the vote marked one of his best night in fact. u.s. president joe biden at plated that the house took a critical step towards preventing a first ever default. he also urge the senate to pass the bill act quickly as possible so he can sign it into law. cnn's melanie zanona picks up the story from there. >> a big bipartisan victory in the house tuesday night. for both president biden and speaker kevin mccarthy. the house passed a bill to raise the debt ceiling and limit spending. with a number of members in both parties voting in favor of the bill. in the end, 149 republicans and 165 democrats joined forces to get the bill over the finish line. where it now goes to the

senate. this was not an easy vote. it was not an easy road to get here. it took weeks of intense negotiations. there were a number of breakdowns in the talks along the way. and there is also a last-minute revolt from some rank and file members. particularly among conservatives. republicans were not happy that they didn't extended for two years now. they also wanted it to go further in cutting spending and some democrats were worried about the new stricter work requirements for food stamp recipients. but in the end, leadership works behind the scenes to whip this bill to sow members on this deal. and they are confident that it is going to pass in the senate. but there is a question of how quickly they can get it done. because over in the senate, it takes the cooperation of every single member in order to be able to move quickly. but chuck schumer, senate democratic leader is planning to take the first procedural step on thursday. to move this bill along. then him and mitch mcconnell, the gop leader over there will

have to work out a deal, likely offering some amendment votes to get their members on board. but the bottom line, congress is poised to avert a crisis. although barely. melanie zanona, cnn, capitol hill. >> cnn has learned federal prosecutors and now have donald trump's own words as an important piece of evidence and a classified documents investigation. that's what comes from sources who say that former president can be heard on tape acknowledging that he held on to a classified document. an admission that could undercuts his defense. cnn's katelyn polantz has the details from washington. >> we have exclusive reporting, the federal prosecutors of the special counsel's investigation around donald trump, his handling of classified documents and possible obstruction of justice. they have an audiotape now of donald trump in the meeting in july 2021 where he talks about a classified proposal from the pentagon on what it would look like to bomb iran. and then he appears on this audiotape to be waving around

the sound. you could hear the sound on the tape referring to a document, waving it around. now, cnn has not listened to this audio at this point. but multiple sources have described to us and have told us that it is quite significant in the justice department investigation. we know that they have the audio, they've also been asking people about it, they've talked to witnesses they brought in people for the grand jury testimony. all working towards possible case. which they haven't brought yet against donald trump but that they could. and one of the things in the audiotape that makes it so significant is that donald trump, on the tape, is not only referring to a classified document that he says he has in his possession, but he also is making clear that he is unhappy that he can't share it more widely. that he has realized that it is classified and that he didn't declassify it when it was president. all of the things that would stuck up in a very important

possible case that the justice department could be looking at bringing against the former president. really, an unprecedented situation. now, the reason for this meeting, the reason that donald trump is talking about this plan to bomb iran is because he was mad, at the time, in july 2021 about public reporting, a story in the new yorker, in fact that said that he had to be stopped by the pentagon in northern visors. including the chairman of the joint chief of staff, mark milley, to execute a plan to bomb iran. and trump is trying to show the people in the room that that is not the case. that he actually would be undermining what milley is and has been saying to him at the time, or what is being reported in the story, such as in the new yorker. so the people he is talking about, this classified plan to, and that he's waving around a document in front of, those people are aids and in a reporter we also learned that there are people working on a book for his former chief of staff, mark meadows. all people who would not have a security clearance to be able

to access classified documents at that point in time. so taking together quite a big step in the investigation and something that the justice department will be very much looking closely at and already has in the grand jury pursued. katelyn polantz, cnn, washington. >> joining me now is a former nixon white house counsel and cnn contributor john dean. good to see you as we continue to really try and parse this news. the cnn exclusive. i want to get to the point of what you think the impact will be here legally. because we are dealing with a couple of things. in the first and then, donald trump says look, i can declassified whatever i want. on the other hand though, it seems that at this point in time for what we know, possibly the espionage act here definitely there are elements here that prosecutors can look at and say that he has definitely run afoul of that law.

>> you raise a couple of good points, paula. first of all, this is important evidence. it's very significant because it will show that his intent, very clearly, he's aware of the fact that he cannot handle or mishandle or show classified information and that's what he claims he is handling. so he's acknowledging that he has a classified information. but your point of the espionage act is, it doesn't have to even be classified to be a crime. it was national security information which he seems very aware that it is, and if this is as reported, it's iran war plans. there's not hire classified information. so this is very important evidence and trump again in a zone or through his own words, is hanging himself, so to speak. >> many people have doubted whether or not there would be an indictment in this case. given the evidence that you just heard, do you think it's inevitable that indictment would be handed down?

>> i thought when they broke the attorney client privilege some weeks ago, that that was pretty clear evidence that they were going to indict come with a may if they got that evidence through the attorneys. this is just further. as somebody who is familiar from the inside of past investigations during watergate, the news tends to break weeks two months after the events. i was always kind of surprised how what late the news was one catching up of what was how chilly happening in the nixon white house, for example. here i think the same thing is happening. we are just catching up with what they already have developed and have a very powerful case. i think that this is just another bread crumbs that has come out that we can see where they are going. >> john, how do you counter the opinion though that trump's legal defense team says that look, this is just a persecution. he is president and he was the president, he does have that kind of leeway in terms of

having these documents, other presidents have had these kinds of documents in their possession. >> yes it's a pretty weak defense because other high officials and men who might be presidents, but for the fact that they had issues a national security information, david petraeus, a general who many thought was presidential up temper and very likely candidate to become president of the united states. he was prosecuted and agreed to plead guilty when he mishandled a diary where he had a lot of national security information and classified information that he had given to a biographer. so there shouldn't be an exception for trump. the president doesn't suddenly get this some quality that places and be on the rule of law. to the contrary, there is not that many more important to hold the rule of law. so his defense that he's being persecuted and they are just out there leaking stuff is weak.

we don't know the sourf the story. cnn has is not putting that out. but i doubt that if it's the department of justice, that would be very on like the department in modern times. post-watergate, they have put out very strict rules, and neither the fbi or the department judges are leakers anymore. >> yes, and i was a subject to prosecution if you do in fact a leak. don, i have to ask you politically if you look at this, we have seen so many things in terms of the background of donald trump whether it has to do with his past, his past as president -- presidents, voted in his weight do not seem to care. we are certainly looking at a situation where if you were a betting person it is likely that donald trump could become the gop nominee, and then presidents again. in the context of everything you just heard, what would a second donald trump charm look like when it comes to national security issues knowing what you know now? >> voters are not concerned

because they are a certain kind of voter. they are authoritarian personalities that like strong leaders like this, and they like an autocratic system. they would be just as happy to have a dictator and say instead of a president. they would be happy if trump were in jail and running the country because they think where they see him as a strong leader. so it's only a few trips on the way to trying to get back to the white house will he lose that hard-core. but that's really not enough, paula, to elect him. i think the general public, the wider and general election population is not going to buy it twice. i don't think he can get back to the white house. but the primacy of your question, what if he does? i think it will be a horror show. he knows where the light switches are this time. he didn't last time. he knows where the leverage of powers are. and he will use them. it's a very frightening prospect ahead if he ever gets to the white house. >> okay, john dean, we will

leave it there, thank you so much and appreciate your time. >> thank you paula. >> following a deadly new round of missile strikes on cave as a nato foreign ministers gather in norway to discuss the war and ukraine's -- joins the alliance. ♪ ♪ ♪ national university is here to support all of you. national university. supporting the whole you.

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ukraine scabbard. all the city's military administration says moscow's forces launched ground based tactical misses, all of which were shot down. the casualties came as debris fell on a health care clinic, a residential building in a roadway. russia, meantime, is reporting new shelling across the border from ukraine in the belgorod region. the governor says five people who were injured thursday morning, hundreds of people are being evacuated, meantime, after days of attacks in ukraine -- blames russian forces for an explosion near the three sisters monument along the border with belarus. now, a border guard spokesperson says putin probably feared the -- on russian territory. meantime, nato foreign ministers are scheduled to meet this hour in oslo, norway, with ukraine's push to join the alliance up for discussion. the secretary general james stoltenberg says he cannot anticipate the out come but added that nato's door is open.

-- half a billion dollars a year to help ukraine's military. we want to go live now to london and cnn's clare sebastian, who has been monitoring all of this for us. good to see you, clare sebastian. despite what is really extraordinary nato unity since this war began there are contentious issues here from the for the alliance. what can we expect? >> yeah, it's really delicate situation, paula. because, on the one hand, the secretary general stoltenberg has said nato's doors open. but ukraine is actively involved in youth defending itself in a war right now. so, i think, most people would agree that now is not the time for them to join. but the task at hand is to advance them beyond the decision made that the nato summit in 2008, when, back then, the airline said it supported ukraine's bid. it would sort of actively engage on a part to membership, and since then we have not had any official advancements. so, they're looking for some way to push forward while stopping short of actually joining, whether it's bilateral security guarantees, or some kind of other mechanism to do

so. that is one of the key tasks we've just actually had from jens stoltenberg as he entered the summit in oslo. and he said, look, it's not just about the short term. obviously, we support ukraine. we support the right to defend themselves. but they are looking, as well, as you say, as at the long term and multi year commitment to support ukraine's transition away from soviet weapons to the kind of army where it's equipment has interoperability with what nato has. so, that is a key task. they are also looking at advancing sweden's bid to join nato, which has been held up, as you know, by hungary and turkey, and things like defense spending and all of that. so, a lot of thorny issues as they have this meeting -- it sort of a prelude to the vilnius summit of the entire airlines we will see in july. >> yes. it will be an important centerpiece for the summer as they decide how to go forward on those issues. meantime, u.s. military aid for ukraine keeps pouring in. 37 billion and counting. what will the latest a do for

ukraine's military aid capabilities? >> so, if you look at the choice of weapons in this latest package, the 39th drawdown of u.s. stocks for ukraine since the beginning of the war, you can see exactly what is happening here. they get a really increase the number of air defense missiles. they're sending ammunition for the battlefield. we know that in the east of ukraine, there has been an extraordinary consumption of ammunition. now, that's -- really characterized this war. they are, you see it. and of course, aerial bombardments -- you had another one over night. they've become a real hallmark of this conflict, stepping, up paula, in the month of may. that was the 18th overnight assault on the capital, kyiv this month. so, that is critical, i think, as well, essential to look at the russian reaction to this. it's absolute fury by the russian ambassador to washington. let's take a look at some of what he said in a telegram post, saying, instead of calling the zelenskyy regime to account, washington is clearly demonstrating it's a difference to the crimes of the banderites

-- that's, of course a, reference to stephen bandera, who is i ukrainian ash lust collaborated with not season world war ii -- don't support incursions by the ukrainian armed forces and -- not worth a penny, a reference, of course, to the fact that all of this comes after all those drone attacks on moscow were averted, but blamed by russia on ukraine. paula? >> interesting choice of words. there clare sebastian, you are going to be following the nato meeting for us and -- to australia, where there are some developing news, a judge has just dismissed the multi million dollar defamation lawsuit brought pry a highly decorated war veteran against several utterly newspapers. after the more than 100 days of hearings of the past year, the judge ruled the articles in fact did not defame ben roberts smith when they alleged he had a role in the unlawful killings of afghan prisoners. the judge found that the papers established substantial truth, in fact, in the number of

claims, though not all of them. cnn producer angus watson has been following the story closely. and he joins us now from sydney. an extraordinary, really, hearing here and verdict -- i know that, in fact, australians have been watching very closely. but how will this affect australia's military legacy in afghanistan? >> well, paula, this is a major victory for these three newspapers, and a major victory for the three journalists who delivered these highly researched stories back in 2018, which allege that ben roberts smith, australia's most decorated war soldier, the winner of the victoria cross, had committed war crimes in afghanistan, that he had been a part of the unlawful killing of six afghan non-combatants between 2009 and 2012. now ben roberts smith has always denied those charges.

and he brought his defamation case against the newspapers and the journalists who wrote the stories. and the big news today is that the newspapers one. now, the newspapers played a truth defense. more evidence was brought before the court in their efforts to prove the veracity of their journalism. the judge decided that the most egregious elements of their reporting we're true. some of the allegations that the newspapers had brought forward in the reporting could not be proved by this truth defense. but the judge ruled that the context around there was allegations was enough to ensure that ben roberts-smith had not been defamed by that reporting. now, this is not a criminal case. this was a defamation case. but what it did was, it served as a proxy for a war crimes hearing. this was the first time that war crimes allegations have been tested in a chalian court. and, as i've said, the most

egregious of those have been proven to have been most likely true. those include the shooting of an unarmed non-combatant with a prosthetic leg. there is included the allegation that ben roberts-smith had kicked an elderly afghan man off a cliff and then othered ordered australian soldiers to shoot him. some of the people who served with ben roberts-smith in afghanistan testified against him in this blockbuster trial, which has been called by some here as australia's trial of the century. afghans from their villages beamed into achilles federal court by video link to describe what australian soldiers had done in their villages over ten years ago. so, this has -- huge traction here in australia. it will have huge impacts on australia's military legacy in afghanistan, as we know, a separate australian military war crimes investigation has shown that 39 afghan civilians,

or non combatants, were killed by australian soldiers throughout australia's longest war. ben roberts-smith faces the possibility that he might face other charges -- criminal, once potentially -- in the future. paula? >> and that's the interesting part of this case, it's not over. and as you point out, one of the most decorated soldiers australia has ever seen. you saw him there meeting the queen in 2021. angus watson, appreciate the update. still to come, as u.s. is closer to -- tens of trillions of dollars in debt, the results of the house vote and what happens next.

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>> after weeks of deadlock and threats, the u.s. house has finally passed a bill to extend america's debt limit until 2025. now, the final tally on the -- vote 314-117, with much of the opposition, in fact, coming from hard line conservatives. the senate will take up the biden mccarthy deal in the hours ahead. it takes the threat of default off the table until after next year's presidential election.

it also caps federal non defense spending, expands work requirements for some food stamp recipients, and clause back on used covid-19 relief funds. joining me now is cnn's senior political analyst ron brownstein. he's also a senior editor at the atlantic. ron, we have been talking for years, right? but they never get anything done. no bipartisan winds -- there is one here. there's -- a deal looks like it could actually happen. why doesn't it feel like it? why does it just feel like both parties are still coming out bruised from this experience? >> because the process by which this happened was so excessive and disproportionate to the issues under debate. to risk global financial catastrophe for the set of policy issues that they were debating here was just a wild miss match of ends and means. at least in 2011, the last time we did this, the two parties

were debating it true grand bargain that had everything on the table and would have had a material long term impact on the u.s. fiscal picture. here are the republicans ruled out -- the pentagon changes, and they ruled out anything to do with our large entitlement programs, which are the principal driver of increased spending. and so you were left arguing about a relatively small slice of the federal budget, the kinds of things you would argue about in a normal appropriations process. and against that, you had the guillotine of unprecedented debt default. so, i think everybody felt kind of soiled at the end. >> you have put that so well, ron. because we do all feel soiled at this point. you just have to go through the senate. it likely will be fine there. if we take speaker mccarthy, and president biden, political winds winds for both? >> yeah. in the sense that the alternative was catastrophic. it's not clear we really had to go through this, except that mccarthy had -- that he was standing up to

biden. as i said, to risk the global economy to get two years of a spending freeze on one sixth of the federal budget and changes in a work rules and some of the federal entitlement programs that would not even qualify as a rounding ear or in their impact on the budget, plus a few other things, was just so wildly disproportionate that it really was illogical to -- accept on its own terms -- the fight was the point of the fight. in that sense, it is a win. because we are not going to pummel through the break glass window. but it is just a reminder of how much mischief having this debt ceiling law in place invites in the first place, and really makes you wonder why democrats did not try harder to either extend it passed 2024 or limited to tall together when they had unified control of government through 2022. >> yet, you make an interesting point there. because there were some wins to

have here on this deal on the sidelines. one of the winners, apparently, is senator joe manchin, right? the democrat from west virginia. he got a whole pipeline, ron. apparently he's going to get it. the nine valley pipeline. it would be built in his home state. of course, i don't have to remind you that environmental activists are fuming about this. what does that tell you about the environment, the political environment in d.c. right now? >> it tells you joe biden is a dealmaker. you can take the boy out of the senate. you can't take the cenotaph of the boy. he has shown himself to be a very skilled inside player as president. and he -- you know, has been able -- in his first two years, he's been able to get a bunch of things done including -- including some bipartisan deals. and he did, generally, by lowering the temperature and quietly negotiating. he has a lot of reasons to keep joe manchin happy even though joe manchin is probably one of the principal reasons they did not deal with the debt ceiling in the first place, in 2022,

parenthetically. joe biden is someone who, generally believes based on all those years in the senate -- you know, catch more flies with honey than vinegar -- you are more likely to make a deal with someone rather than punish someone opposing -- >> -- ron, about 30 seconds left. donald trump saying, look, i would have gone to default. ron desantis basically saying the same thing, this deal is no good. what do you make of that? >> inevitable, right? and here's the strange paradox, paula. with trump openly calling for default, it meant that there were always going to be dozens of republicans voted against the deal, which meant that mccarthy, if he was not willing to default -- and i'm betting the big donors of the republican party tell them, don't think twice about that -- if he was not willing to default, he was always going to need democrats to pass it. because so many republicans were inevitably going to vote against it. but what did that mean? it meant he had to make the very concessions that the conservatives then denounced in a voting against it.

their opposition reinforced his need to make the concessions that they then complained about. and much of that rolls back to donald trump's open calls for default, which he thought would help him by integrating domestic and global chaos. >> and a reminder -- there was no such threatening about donald trump when -- ron brownstein, we will leave it there. thanks, as always. >> thanks for having me. >> ethnic serves return to the streets in kosovo. but there's no major violence this time around. instead, they try to send a message with a flag that is more than 800 feet long. stay with us. dig in" day... mm. ...a "chow down" day... a "take a big bibite" day... a "pererfectly delicious" day.. - mm. [ chuckles ] - .....a "love my new teeth" da. because your clearchoice day is the day everything is back on the menu. a clearchoice day changes every day. schedule a free consultation.

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>> north korea remains determined -- military spy satellite mentor bit. that's according to the sister of north korean leader of kim jong-un, whose comments were reported by state media just one day after north korea's

failed satellite launch attempt captured in these new images. south korean lawmaker says his country's intelligence agency says that -- north korea rushed preparations and tried to change the flight path. ethnic serbs rallied in kosovo again on wednesday, according to serbia state tv. but this time, they carried an over 800 foot flag, a serbian flag, that is, through the same town where violence broke out two days earlier. serbian protesters clashed with nato peacekeepers on monday, leaving dozens of people injured. the alliance is sending in reinforcements to kosovo. the protesters were furious that ethnic albanian mayors took office in the area following local elections that the serbs boycotted. sudan's armed forces has suspended participation in the u.s. saudi brokered cease-fire talks in jeddah. they are accusing a rival

military power forces forces of violating relates to this latest trees, which was extended on monday. now, in the month and a half since the civil war broke out, cease-fires have been constantly violated on both sides. on wednesday, at least 17 people were killed and more than 100 people were wounded in a market in khartoum hit by heavy shelling. all right. i'm paula newton. for our international viewers, world sport is up next. for viewers here in north america, i will be back with more cnn newsroom right after the break. ♪ ♪ ♪

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>> two more prominent

republicans are expected to announce next week they are running for -- like pence plants he cough his campaign and iowa on june 7th -- federal education department -- and said that money to the states -- and in a veiled swipe at his former boss, he told supporters in michigan that democracy depends on civility. cnn has also learned that former new jersey governor chris christie plans to declare his candidacy next tuesday in new hampshire. he is a longtime trump critic who ran for the republican nomination in 2016. meantime, florida governor and presidential hopeful ron desantis is putting himself as the top trump competitor. he has just spent another day in iowa, with the all-important caucus will determine the direction of the republican nomination process. cnn's jeff zeleny tells us how desantis is hoping to set himself apart from the former president. >> we can't make excuses. we have to be able to get the

job done. >> florida governor ron desantis is trying to seize the reins of the republican party from the hands of donald trump, but you himself as a fighter who can win. >> this fear autocracy has imposed his will on us for far too long. it's about time we imposed our will on aid and that it answers to we, the people. on >> his first full day of campaigning across iowa as a declared presidential candidate, desantis meekly would draw distinctions with the former president on his term. >> i'm going to count by. time going to -- i'm going to fight -- he gives biden a free pass. i am focusing on biden. >> but long before desantis can confront president biden, he must first get to a republican primary, and a growing field of challengers, including former vice president mike pence. and former new jersey governor chris christie, who are poised into the race next week. but trump still looms largest over the race. he arrives here to offer something of a robot ulta desantis, the latest sign the race is intensifying, with the

iowa caucuses early next year among the first test for the strength of -- simona yantis is one of the i will republicans weighing their options. and this point she's out early undecided. >> i have a tremendous amount of respect for things trumpeted in office. i have to keep that in mind. i also have a tremendous amount of respect for what governor desantis has done in florida. >> desantis address those republicans directly, bluntly saying, trump can't win a general election. >> i think our voters are looking at this and they say, yeah, we appreciate what he did. but we also recognize, there are a lot of voters who just aren't going to ever vote for him. we just have to accept that. >> events questions about his own and electability remain unanswered, desantis touts his deeply conservative florida record. -- he stepped up his subtle contrast with trump. >> at the end of the day, leadership is not about entertainment. it's not about building a brand. it's not about virtue

signaling. it is about results. >> -- it is one of his closest political advisers, his wife casey, who picked up the argument where he left off. >> at the end of the day, i say that it matters in the moment. and you see how a leader conducts himself when the lights are on. >> as the florida governor heads on to new hampshire and south carolina to campaign this week, former president donald trump arrives and iowa we campaigning on thursday. but no big rallies this time. instead, he will be meeting with small groups of conservative supporters, evangelical supporters, trying to make the case that he is fighting for this republican nomination in a new way. but there is no doubt, as this republican field keeps growing and growing, this could be still advantage trump, because that never trump plane is fractured and divided by so many candidates. jeff zeleny, cnn, pella, iowa. >> one of the stars of that 70 show has been found guilty of rape. a los angeles jury convicted

danny masterson on two of the three vote counts he faced. the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the third. this was the second trial on the third charge. -- masterson is facing a possible sentence of up to 30 years to life in state prison. a new york appeals court has ruled oxycontin maker purdue pharma can protect the billionaire sackler family, which owns the company, from lawsuits over their roles in the business. now, the immunity is part of a six billion dollar settlement, which clears the way for purdue pharma's bankruptcy deal. the company calls the ruling a victory. for many victims of america's opioid echoed epidemic are not celebrating. cnn's brian gingrass has the story. >> drugs like oxycontin made one american family very rich, and helped fuel the opioid crisis, killing many of those who became addicted. >> i lost my niece a couple years ago to an overdose. i lost a brother.

>> that family should have to start going to funerals. >> that families the sacklers. they will get to keep the bulk of their fortune, and be shielded from current and future civil lawsuits as part of a settlement just upheld by a federal appeals court. their company, purdue pharma, made billions developing opioid-based drugs misrepresenting the risk of addiction. >> this act lawyers directed and approved hiring sales representatives whose job was to doctors and persuade them to prescribe more opiates, higher doses of opiates, and for longer periods of time. >> now purdue will pay up to six billion dollars. our focus is going forward to deliver billions of dollars of value in -- and overdose rescue medicine, the company said in a statement. the settlement also ends years of civil lawsuits against the company and family. the sackler family continues to deny wrongdoing, but expresses regret for the effect effect on communities. >> --

accountability. what they were actually doing to people -- >> dozens of states and individual suit in the wake of the company pleading guilty to federal criminal charges for how it marketed and sold oxycontin. for some victims families, the settlement feels like the best deal they could have gotten. >> the alternative would have been thousands and thousands of lawsuits that could have spread, gone on for years and years. >> it gets the sacklers out of the opioid business. it shuts down purdue pharma. it gave families the opportunity to address the sacklers and tell them how they react to their lives. and it gets money to families. >> don't worry. it's an excellent drug. the >> family dynasty traumatized dramatized in tv series like dopesick. they say the reputation is unfair. >> it disguises me greatly and angers me greatly that the medication that was developed to help people and relieve severe pain has become associated with so much human suffering. >> in a statement, the family

says they are pleased with the settlement, a long awaited implementation of this revolution resolution is critical to providing substantial resources for people and communities in need. there is never been criminal charges against the sap who are family. and look, those who have had an opioid at prediction and diction or lost someone to opioid addiction, they have said this family is no different than, say, a hair when dealer. and they like to see those criminal charges filed. it's important to note that this settlement does not shield the sacklers from that possible prosecution. brynn gingras, cnn, new york. >> and as a task force plans to publish its first report this summer on unidentified anomalous phenomenon, or you and i know it as you and ufos, right -- to turn creepy stories and that grainy footage into hard science -- and hopefully some answers. cnn's tom foreman explains. >> for many years, the u.s.

government just denied all these reports of people seeing things in this guy, the idea that there even were unidentified flying objects up there. but now, government agencies in the past few years have come around, saying, yeah, there's clearly something there. because we have video of it. and we have too many reports of it. but what exactly is it? this is an acid is time to come on board with all of that, with this committee they put together that is going to have a report out this summer, basically saying, here is what we think is going on up there. now, they are not going to answer a lot of things. because they will say some things can be explained as balloons or flights of birds or maybe aircraft that people did not know were out there. some of it, they say, they can't explain. but more importantly, what they are saying, is that they are trying to put together a road map going forward. a way to combine actual scientific observation of these things with the anecdotal observation you have -- because, the problem you have is that, if too much of that -- too many people without influencing, i saw something, and maybe looked like that --

come up with a general idea of what these things look like, based upon what they have heard, anecdotally? yeah. they say, generally, the characteristics of these unidentified, anomalous phenomenon, as they call them now, are -- they around and small, white, silver or translucent, around 10,000 to 30,000 feet stationary to mock to -- twice the speed of sound -- and there's no thermal exhaust. but that is nothing but an average of a lot of people saying, well, i think i saw this. and what nasa is trying to say is, it's easy to say what you think you saw. if we really want to get to the bottom of what is going on here, we need to quantify this. we need to be able to say exactly what was happening, where was it, how fast it was traveling. they think by doing that they will get rid of a lot of the noise and get down to the few items that they really don't know -- advanced weapon systems? are there surveillance assumes from other countries? or, even the nasa people say, or are they from somewhere else?

some other place out in the galaxy. they don't think it's that. they don't think it's that. and even though many skeptics say, even if they knew, they would never tell us -- the nets people at the end of all this said, look, many of us spend our lives wondering if we can find life out there. if we can find it, we -- see with the report says later this summer. >> our thanks to tom foreman there. i'm paula newton. thanks for your company. i will be back with more cnn newsroom in just a moment.

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