how does it break down by party? >> most american workers actually think dei is a good thing. what we see is the majority say it's a good thing. 56% overall who think diversity training programs are a good thing. among republicans it's just 30%. that's why you're seeing all these republicans coming out against dei. >> quit final point, bud light, boycott over trans in an ad. sales drop 30% for them. what's opinion after that? >> do you believe american society is too accepting of transgendered people, look at this, back in june of 2020, just 15%. it's up po 4 % now. i believe a lot is drawn by the attacks on transgendered people on the right side of the aisle. >> that's amazing. thank you very much for sharing that. that is sobering. thank you to all of you wore watching. it's time for "ac 360" with anderson. good evening tonight on

"360." the former president stays silent a day after exclusive cnn reporting that he is on tape admitting he kept a classified document about a potential strike on iran. also tonight, how president biden is doing after a tumble on stage while visiting the air force academy. new details on what caused it. later, a conversation with a sherpa guide, who saved a climber barely clinging to life in the so-called death zone on mount everest. good evening. we beginning with a story about the former president caught on tape and admitting to people without the proper security clearance that he kept a classified document, and might even have been waving it around, or waving it around as he spoke. we're going talk right now with kaitlan collins and cnn's alyssa farah griffin, who join me now. earlier today, former president trump was shouted questions about cnn's exclusive reporting, did not answer those questions. what does it say to you? this is the former president who

speaks out about just about everything that he has remained silent so far? >> yeah, and hiss comments on the documents as he did multiple times at our town hall. i remember after that if i asked he had ever shown the documents to anyone, and he said not really. we obviously followed up with members of his legal team asking about that comment. we do know at this point they were aware during that town hall of this audio recording where trump was talking about what we believe is classified information with other people making clear he couldn't show it to them. so they have been aware behind the scenes that this is something that was in the special counsel's possession. i think it's notable that he stayed silent on it today. he only commented in one print outlet, the cedar rapids gazette, saying it was fake news, but not really disputing the heart of the reporting. i think this has caused consternation among members of his legal team. i don't think all of them were fully aware that jack smith's team had this recording. but it raises real issues because you've seen trump's attorneys last night, one who is still on his team, one who is no longer on the team having a

difficult time explaining their past explanations and standing by them because they're undercut by what he says on the document, according to -- or on the recording, according to our sources tell us. >> i just want to play cnn's jeff zeleny yelled some questions at the former president. let's just play that. >> mr. president, why did you take classified documents concerning general milley? mr. president, why did you take classified documents concerning general milley? can you talk about that, please, mr. president? mr. president, how do those documents get to bedminster, sir? mr. president, will you talk to us about the classified documents? how do those documents get to bedminster, sir? >> i mean, we talked about the former president wanting to keep documents, or wanting to keep some documents. does it make sense to you what's -- what we now learned yesterday? >> this latest reporting is probably the most damning around the classified documents. i mean, obviously, the former

president's argument hinged on this notion of a, he could declassify anything, and anything he had in his possession has been declassified. but he obviously acknowledges that he knows he simply can't decap classified things. there is a process. i've said before when i was serving in the west wing there were a number of times he wanted to declassify documents, and he ran through to hoops of trying to do that, talking to his national security adviser, his then director of national intelligence. i can think in a number of cases where we weren't able to declassify something because he knows of the hoops he would have to jump through. he knows how the process works. what you also can't forget in this, we're not talking about a keepsake like a love letter from kim jong-un as absurd as that sounds, we're talking about war plans with iran. something that is actionable u.s. intelligence that has broad impact that is sitting at a country club in new jersey. this is the height of irresponsibility, recklessness. and if we have any laws governing how we handle

classified documents, this is a rock solid case. >> the former attorney for president trump spoke to cnn's jake tapper a short time ago, tim pelatory. >> i don't think. really, when you get down to the facts of the case and the law, i don't think it warrants an indictment. this is a situation where failure of process is what led to documents leaving the white house, going to mar-a-lago. failure of nara to get a facility in palm beach as they have for every other president since reagan, get a facility within the hometown of the president where they move to move the documents to. that's what led directly to the documents going directly to his house. i think when you take all that together, it becomes a very difficult case to bring. >> john dean also joins us now. john, do you agree with that?

>> i think he's doing a lot of what aboutism. and he did that throughout his interview with jake where he said this is what happened in the past. and he really didn't address the questions. we know from reporting that it appears a very solid obstruction against mr. trump for way he did handle it. and to blame it on the national archives, that he is in an obstruction situation is kind of absurd, anderson. >> kaitlan, your reporting says that -- we know mark meadows' autobiography references a document that he said mark milley had typed up. >> uh-huh. >> i don't think there is -- is that accurate? about an attack on iran? >> we are told -- because it all has to do with trump being furious at mark milley. he always didn't like how general milley was portrayed in the press and how he was. >> there was an article that had come out around this time about this recording in "the new yorker." >> basically saying trump might try to take military action in

iran. it was a concern that milley had as trump's trying to overturn the election results. they were worried what he would do in those last few weeks when he was still in charge of the nuclear codes. commander in chief and had all this access. i'm told that document is not from general milley. it wasn't produced by him. that it actually predates since he was chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, which i should note he was also hand-picked by trump to be the chief of staff. i think there is questions about that. that's the other thing here that is a big part of this, was trump trying to settle a score here, because he was mad about the reporting that made it sound like he wanted to take military action in iran. he said something to the effect of if you could see what i have, it would undermine what was portrayed as milley's position in this story. so i think that's the other aspect of it. and i'm curious obviously what the special counsel is looking into when it comes to that of trump using it -- i don't want

to use the word blackmail, but using to it the sense to say what milley was saying, what israel his advice was versus what trump was doing. >> did that make sense? did he use documents like this? >> it makes sense in the world of donald trump. that something as serious as national security secrets about war plans with one of america's adversaries would actually be being held on for no reason other than to settle a score that is actually like classic donald trump. but i think you can't lose sight of how serious this is. i've mentioned before mark esper, mike pompeo, robert o'brien all still travel with full-time security details after the strike, because they're still targeting him on u.s. soil. this is an adversary nation. to have war plans sitting at a country club is so incredibly dangerous. >> john, in your opinion, this conversation has been accurately described by sources. does this add to the likelihood that jack smith, special counsel could see a charge of destruction.

>> the conversation that is on tape apparently does certainly show intent, and does certainly show a rather reckless disregard for standards if he was indeed putting out a good bit of information from what was in this apparent classified memo, but yet not letting people actually see it as a very fine line. so i think it does show his very loose attitude toward complying with the regulations that govern and the laws that govern national security information. >> john dean, kaitlan collins, alyssa farah griffin, thank you. joining us is olivia troye, who served homeland adviser to vice president pence. in your mind, what is the most concern about a document like this being outside of a secure facility? and again, we don't know the details of this document. >> yeah, look, immediately, i think of the great damage to sources and method, and also what is in the document that constitutes military planning or names or bases or anything like

that that could really put people at risk. and like i was just listening to alyssa and kaitlan and you all talk about this. iran is a dangerous adversary. this is not someone that you want to just sort over strategically mess around with. we've seen that they are targeting americans, targeting john bolton, they're targeting mike pompeo. there have been apparently assassination plots on u.s. soil. so i think to me is how many people accessed these documents? how many people saw this information? and where did it get traveled to? who else saw it? saudi arabia would probably be very interested in this, wouldn't they? maybe israel, maybe russia, maybe china. if this gets into the wrong hands, this could be years of damage. and it's also about lives, right. it's also about the lives that are involved with this. and the reason i raise that is because there was just this trivial attitude when it came to military planning and the intelligence community. i think a lot of -- trump and a lot of his inner circle forgot

that these are people who served. these are family members who serve our country, who deploy, who serve overseas. it's a long time planning effort that goes into a lot of these situations, and it's just -- the plain disregard for their lives and the implications for these individuals, that never really factored a lot of the time into the equation because it was all a political game and for political plots and ploys. >> the other question, of course, why would somebody keep something like this, whether it's some sort of a trophy, to settle a score, as alyssa was intimating. or, there is even far more nefarious things if you want a business deal with this certain country, and trading information or sort of dangling that access to information, i mean, that would be unheard of for a former president. >> right. it could lead to bribery. it could lead to bribery of others who knew that these documents were there, right, for people who want access to that information.

and so i think i think what's concerning about all of this is there are also apparently in this conversation that's been reported now other people who didn't have security clearances and this cavalier attitude. to me i know the question is was it a document for general milley? was it military planning? look, the commander in chief can tell someone to go draft out a plan. they may disagree with it, but they still have to go right at that document and present options to them. it doesn't mean that it's going to come through. and certainly i know of plenty examples. it doesn't surprise me that perhaps it might have been related to iran, because this wasn't the first time that this came up. it came up along the way where he potentially was very interested in engaging with iran and potentially striking them. >> olivia troye, i appreciate your time tonight. thank you. coming up next, after president biden trips and falls at the air force graduation, the video went viral. also, the growing gop presidential field about to get

bigger. a former candidate thinking the bigger the better. howard joins us. and a daring rescue on mount everest. i'll spepeak with a sherpa guid who risked his own life to save another. eward card.

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but because this isn't the president's first stumble and he is 80 years old, it has gotten questions. phil mattingly is at the white house tonight. i understand the president just got back to the white house. what did he say about this? >> the president had several hours on air force one to think through his response before he met reporters on his way back into the white house on marine one, and he chose levity. and he pointed a very clear fing either the guilty party. take a listen. >> i got sandbagged. >> adding a little jig there at the end to try and connote the energy that we saw for most of the day at the air force academy. and i think when he talked to white house officials, they made clear they believe he is fine. everything they have seen and heard are the president he is fine. his real focus on the way back was ensuring that the issue that has kind of dominated his agenda over the last several months, that debt ceiling immigrant actually got across the finish line. in the u.s. senate at this

moment. senators are voting on amendments to get to the final passage of that bill, get it across the finish line. the president is expected to watch tonight. so is his team as well. that more than anything else is their priority, making sure that gets to his desk in the coming days before that june 5th deadline. not necessarily the fall a few hours ago. >> how was it initially handled by the white house? >> it was interesting. white house officials were very quick. the communications director quickly getting to twitter, making clear that the president was okay, making clear that the sandbag was what was the issue, what the president tripped over. the president, in the video in points to the sandbag. the irony to some degree, and you rempxed what was said in "the new york times" report, this tradition which is something that spans pres presidencies, the president going to a service graduation, not only includes remarks, the president spoke for over 30 minutes, but also includes standing there, exchanging salutes and shaking hands to every single graduating members of the graduating class.

that's hundreds of cadets today, something that went off without any issues whatsoever. it was when the president handed out the last diploma, he turned around to walk back to his seat to finish the ceremony that he tripped. it was a very long day, several hours, the president engaged throughout the time. it was when he was over that he actually tripped. but according to white house official, totally fine. >> phil mattingly, appreciate it. whatever problems the president has, he does not have the problem that presidential republican candidates have, candidates that is not name donald trump. all the rest now have to worry about standing out in a field that's already crowded and about to get even more so next week. the crowded field that could be just what the former president is looking forward to. more from cnn's jeff zeleny. >> reporter: so far, donald trump is getting most everything he wanted from the republican presidential campaign. >> there is no way i can lose iowa. let's see what happens. i don't think so. we'd have to -- we'd have to do some really bad things to lose at this point. >> reporter: including a list of rivals that's growing by the week, with the anyone but trump

race becoming remarkably clouded. >> i think it's advantageous to trump. i don't like that. >> reporter: julie is a loyal republican and is sizing up several contenders. but she offered pointed words of advice for those entering the race. >> stay for a while. see what happens, but then don't stay too long. because we need -- we need to beat the democrats. >> reporter: as summer approaches, the republican field is starting to burst at the seams, with former vice president mike pence and former new jersey governor chris christie set to jump in next week, joining former governor nikki haley and tim scott of south carolina. former arkansas governor asa hutchinson and swami already in the race. d and chris sununu promises a decision soon. and virginia governor glenn youngkin is not ruling out a run later this year, if some contenders flame out. >> if that many contenders stay in the race, that will benefit

trump. trump will win by the power division. that's why we'll see if we learned our less on well. >> reporter: an influential evangelical leader in iowa said the party should not repeat the mistakes of 2016 when trump claimed the election with a divide republican electorate, rather than facing a head to head match with one strong opponent. >> my concern is not how many get in. it's when do they get out, and when do they give america a clear choice between the former president and an alternative. >> reporter: a big field is precisely what trump is banking on and basking in, as he shook hands and took questions at a series of small events in iowa, while making clear he is fixated on one rival above all. >> ron, as i called him, ron desanctimonious. >> reporter: the former president seized on a leading argument that desantis made this week. >> we could bring back george washington. i don't know that he would be able to get it done in just four years. >> reporter: and sought to mock the florida governor's pitch that he is eligible for two

terms, not simply one more like trump. >> you don't need eight years. you need six months. who the hell wants to eight years? you don't need eight year. >> reporter: and in new hampshire desantis hitting back at trump. >> why didn't he do it his first four years. >> reporter: signs are emerging that it's far too early to presume it's a two-man contest, as candidates begin blanketing the state that begins the nomination battle early next year. laurie hartson also believes the field is cluttered. in her mind, it's already a one-man race. >> president trump already made america great. now we need him back to fix it. >> she drove for hours to catch a glimpse of the former outside of one of his iowa stops. do you think others should step aside and let him run and focus on president biden? or do you think a competitive republican primary is fine? >> i will say step aside, but they won't. and i don't know if it's eagle, they won't. and more keep coming in. come on, mike pence, really

mike? give it up. >> jeff zeleny joins us now. hearing how some republicans don't want to make the same mistakes of 2016, is there any talk among former or future candidates or those who aren't doing so well to drop out? no one thinks -- everybody thinks the other guy should drop out. >> exactly. and that is exactly the challenge here. there is considerable talk about it. but in terms of actual planning, no, there is not. the one thing that is different this time, talking to a variety of republican leaders, and even voters, it is the lesson of the fall of 2015 into 2016. they see what can happen with the divided electorate. but, again, we're talking about individual egos of these presidential candidates. every man and woman running thinks they can be the candidate. but this is certainly something that will likely happen after the debates, which will begin in august and continue throughout the fall. at that point, if it is still a large field, look for donors and other republican leaders to begin making these arguments. but again, this is a very difficult thing to orchestrate,

which is why it has not been done before. but that lesson of history is something that comes up again and again. even in conversation with normal voters. so that is one thing that's different than last time, anderson. >> jeff zeleny, appreciate it. thanks. i want to get perspective now from someone who knows what it's like to run in a large field. in howard dean's case, the 2004 democratic primary campaign. he had as many as nine opponents. he is also former head of the democratic national committee and former governor of vermont. it's good to see you. so next week, vice president pence, former new jersey governor chris christie expected to jump into the race. is this turning into 2015-2016 all over again? >> not yet. but it may. the big difference is that there is a fair amount of appetite among republicans not to have trump. i mean, trump is the leading vote-getter. but he's only sometimes at 50%. so if the field were held, if the vote were held today, trump would get the nomination easily,

because everybody else is going to split the vote. who is going to be the person that survives is i'm not donald trump. and that makes a big, big difference. and that's what this is about. and jeff is right. it's going to come down to what the donors are going to do. they're not going to support 15 people in the race. they're going pick two or three. >> do you think there will come a point when some republican candidates will drop out and coalesce behind a singular opponent? you talk about the donors. some of these candidates can probably limp along without much money for a while. >> well, that's true. and one of the problems is i personally don't think desantis is a particularly good candidate. i did in the beginning, but he's cranky. he's short with the press. he is not very articulate. he is not a nice guy. and that matters in a general election. so he -- up until recently has been the candidate that would be the obvious one to take over the mantle from trump. i think it's much more open today than it was a couple of weeks ago. i think this business with walt

disney just insane, and he's just got some terribly bad advice on that. >> what does it say, though, about the state of the gop that there are so many members of the republican party willing to go up against the former president at n this moment? >> well, i don't think it says a lot. there is always a lot of candidates. when i ran, there were nine. six were serious and three were really serious, myself, john edwards and john kerry. and it usually does come down to something like that. and then the voters weed us out, as they weeded me out after iowa. so it goes pretty quickly. i don't think we're going to see something coming to the republican convention that's decided on the floor of the convention. >> have you seen any of the candidates who have announced they're going to run or expected to run, have you seen any of them? and do you think any of them know how to run against the former president? >> well, certainly, i know chris christie. i've had other doings with him, and he is a very successful

republican governor of an eastern state. i think he'd be a very interesting guy, but he is going to have trouble raising the money. and his politics is not as extreme as the average primary voter in the republican party. i think a lot of them don't have much experience. and it's going to show very quickly. >> what do you think candidates need to do at this point to stand out in primary politics? >> they need to raise a lot of money and get the press buzzing about how much money they raised. and that's going to be very, very -- the money primary comes first. and that's when the press starts buzzing. that's what got us off when i was running. i was the governor of the second smallest state in the country population wise, but we raised -- all the kids that worked for me invented the internet strategy, and we outraised john kerry. people were shocked. >> yeah. >> and that's what got me into the top tier. somebody is going to have to come and have a lot of money raised of all these folks. desantis has made a decent start, but i think people are

looking around for somebody else, because i don't think they think he can beat biden. >> tim scott has a fair amount of money ready to go. but we'll see how long that last. >> he does. we'll have to see. and we'll have toe see how he does on the stump. >> howard dean, appreciate it. >> nice to be here. >> take care. coming up, one of the biggest flash points, immigration. gary tuchman is in florida tonight on that. gary? >> reporter: anderson, i came to this farm in north florida, this large farm to volunteer to work for a day to help harvest watermelon to get a firsthand idea of why no americans have applied for the very same job that story coming up next on "ac 360."

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today was dubbed a day without immigrants by latino groups who oppose an immigration law signed last month by governor ron desantis. according to local media, thousands in florida and around the country took part in a wide range of activities to protest the law aimed at undocumented workers in florida that puts more requirements on those who aid or employ them. governor desantis called it the most ambitious anti-illegal immigration legislation in the country. one florida farmer told cnn's gary tuchman he is concerned the law could lead to a shortage of workers to do the kind of job this farmer says few americans want. gary tuchman decided to see just how difficult those jobs can be. >> reporter: it's 7:30 a.m. in humid north florida, the beginning of a long day. and large farm. where hired workers are in the middle of harvesting roughly 2.2 watermelon, about 32 million pounds worth over the course of about six weeks, with more than

150 people working to harvest the watermelon. i asked farm owner trevor bass this question. how many u.s. citizens pick crops on your farm? >> none. >> reporter: zero? >> zero. >> reporter: actually, on this day, there is one u.s. citizen, me. i requested a chance to work for one day on this farm, to learn more about why so many farmers have such a difficult time getting americans to work on their pharmacy. farms. >> this watermelon is ripe. it's ready. you turn it over to the yellow part is on top. so then the people who pick it up know it's ready, because they see the yellow part on top. everyone i'm working with here is from mexico, all part of the u.s. government's guest worker program known as hh2a. they can hire under the h2a program as long as they follow strict provisions, which means only hiring them after they tried to employ americans first, which the farm owner did and got no takers.

>> the idea is we have this chain here, and we're going to be taking these watermelons, putting them on this bus. and we're going to be doing it for hours straight. >> reporter: dust and blankets and represents other farms when selling finished product to stores. >> chief farming operation. >> reporter: and you represent how many farms? >> over 30. >> reporter: and how many u.s. citizens do you know of who work on any of those farms? >> short of management, zero. >> reporter: under h2a, guest workers can't get paid less than americans. salary is $14.43 an hour, and at this farm the mexicans are permitted to work as many hours as they want, for extra bonuses for the amount of work they've done. they can easily work as much as $1,000 a week. they are subject to income tax. edgar hernandez is a husband and father who sends all his money to his family. i asked him why he doesn't think there are any americans

harvesting with him. "it's heavy," he says. "the work is hard." these farm owners don't disagree. americans have other choices and just don't want to do, this they say. >> i would say this work on a scale from one to ten would be at a nine. i mean, it's about as hard as it gets. >> reporter: there are about 18,000 pounds of watermelon on each of these buses. in addition to these being packaged, it's extremely monotonous. both of these men describe themselves as politically conservative. however, they say this government program is not only a necessity, but should have an application process that is faster and more flexible. >> yes we don't need to open the borders and let everyone across. but these guys are coming here for a reason. they're coming here for serious work, to try to support their families in mexico, or wherever they've come from. they're not here to play. i mean, it's very obvious. look behind us. >> and gary tuchman joins us now from florida. you've clearly rested and showered. you look kind of exhausted there.

how do the workers get to the u.s., and where do they live while working on the farm? >> anderson, i wouldn't want to do that job tomorrow. one day was plenty for me. i can tell you, the workers who are at this farm, they've all taken buss from mexico to this little town of newberry, florida for 20, 30 hours to get here. as far as housing goes, that's why this is so expensive for farm owners under this h2a program, because they are required to provide the housing. this particular farmhouses these workers at a nearby motel. you know, we know there are lots of undocumented workers at farms across the united states be, thank you is the way to do it by the book. anderson? >> and how different was it? what was it like? >> yeah, you know, if you have a bad back, you just can't do it, because you're bending down hundreds of times to pick up watermelons in some cases that weigh more than 25 pounds. so the work is hard. my back feels fine because fortunately i have a good back. but it is so monotonous and mind-numbing and dreary. you keep going doing it over and

over and over again. having to do it the next day, the next day, the next day, it's really tough. >> you're also in the sun all day long. it's hot. especially it will get hotter and hotter in the summer, obviously. >> i could do a sunscreen commercial, anderson. i won't name the brand, but it did well yesterday. >> thank you. just ahead, war in ukraine and a closer look at the wagner group mercenaries. yevgeny prigozhin has sent thousands of men to their death so far, but what game is he playing now, feuding with the kremlin's top generals? and almost impossible rescue from everett's death stone, where temperatures can reach 30 degrees below zero. i'll talk to sherpa who risked his own life to save a stranger and carry him on h his back dow the mountain. so researchers c can help life underwater flourish. ♪

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a number of important updates on the war in ukraine tonight. a missile overnight in kyiv killed two women and a 9-year-old girl. a husband of one of the women killed said the doors of shelter they were trying to enter were locked. ukrainian officials announced since the start of the war, 440 children were killed. more than 19,500 children have been deported, though officials caution that number could be higher. as for the par in the east, another explosion in belgorod. the governor of the region says it appears to have involved a drone. social media video shows a plume of smoke rising from a downtown lone lowe indication, broken windows in a high-rise building.

today the leader of the wagner mercenary group, yevgeny prigozhin said his group's next assignment may be in russia, defending its territory. in the latest in an ongoing public field with russian military officials, he asked officials to investigate whether senior defense officials committed a crime. for weeks prigozhin has increased his criticism of russian military leadership. he routinely appears in these self-produced videos where he dresses up like one of his mercenary fighters and verbally attacks russia's top generals. the question is what is his end game? melissa bell takes a look at the manned behind the powerful mercenary group. >> reporter: for months now yevgeny prigozhin has been leading the charge in ukraine and stealing the limelight. >> translator: guys, don't believe the russian military. >> reporter: the taunt typical as he announced the withdrawal of his wagner mercenaries last week after claiming the first russian advance in ukraine in months. power on the ground that has

translated into far more open political confrontation with moscow. long known by his nickname as putin's chef, the oligarch shared the russian president's humble beginnings in the tougher neighborhoods of st. petersburg. reportedly a former convict, he used putin's rise to build a vast catering empire. as putin set his sights on crimea and eastern ukraine in 2014, prigozhin's forces were there. the wagner mercenary group that he founded became known as putin's private army, operating on his behalf, but this the shadows across the middle east and africa for years. but it took the chaos of the 2022 invasion of ukraine for prigozhin to take center stage himself. flexing his power and his voice. which he raised loudly again this week against russia's top

military brass after drone attacks on moscow brought the war far too close to home for comfort. "you are the ministry of defense. you didn't do a damn thing to stamp this out. why are you allowing these drones to fly to moscow?" because propaganda is arguably what yevgeny prigozhin does best, setting up this notorious troll farm in st. petersburg, which was blamed for pumping out disinformation around the 2016 u.s. presidential election. prigozhin was sanctioned by the u.s. despite denying any involvement. now he is personally taking his propaganda machine on the road and across russia, turning his attention to what he calls the enemy at home, with increasingly obvious political ambitions of his own. >> while the system was stable, there was no place for him, and he was waiting and waiting.

and then the system started collapsing, and he found opening. and he burst into the system. >> reporter: and russia's political system, just like its history, appears to be something prigozhin is very aware of. >> translator: all these divisions can end up in a revolution, just like in 1917. first the soldiers will stand up. and after that, their loved ones will rise up. >> reporter: with prigozhin's very thinly veiled threats, he is also now clearly hoping that russian society may be ready for a message even more hard line than that of the man who helped make him. and that, anderson, is very much the point. there have been so many questions these last few months about why there has been no rebuke from vladimir putin, even in the face of such outspoken criticism on the part of yevgeny prigozhin. the key to that is that prigozhin is himself far more

hardline even than vladimir putin. if it were up to him, there would be mass mobilizations. any semblance of democracy, any veneer would be swept aside in the name of winning the war in ukraine that is vladimir putin's problem. he cannot be cracking down both on the alexei navalny, the more moderate reformist parts of russian society and taking on the ultranationalists like yevgeny prigozhin. so in a sense, he is faced now with a man on whom he has come to depend in ukraine, making it more and more clear that it is perhaps also vladimir putin that now depends on yevgeny prigozhin inside russia itself. anderson? >> fascinating. melissa bell, thank you so much. coming up, it has been one of the deadliest climbing seasons on mount everest, but tonight news of a daring rescue below the summit in an area so difficult and dangerous, it's called the death zone. you'll meet the sherpa guide who risked his own life to save a fellow climber he didn't know.

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this has been one of the deadliest climbing seasons on mt. everest. 12 people have died and five are missing. but today we got word of a remarkable rescue. this man spotted a malaysian climber clinging to a rope and shivering. the sherpa took action, telling his own client they had to abandon their attempt to reach the summit so they could carry the climber down the mountain. they took turns carrying him on their backs and at times dragging him through the snow and ice to a camp where he was taken by helicopter for medical rescue. just before air time, i spoke to the sherpa, who made the decision to risk his own life trying to save that stranger. how did you know this climber from malaysia was in danger? >> yeah.

because i've seen for a long time. he was likely starved in the death zone. >> the death zone? >> yeah. 1,400 meters. no oxygen, no guides. it's quite dangerous for him. >> so, he didn't have any guides. he didn't have any oxygen. you knew he was in trouble. >> yeah. yeah. nothing. because he was about to die. >> how did you secure him so that he was warm and you could carry him down almost 2,000 feet? >> yeah, because he was very cold and it's a very dangerous

place. and impossible to bring him -- everyone just focused on the summit. i just decided to -- and we carried him back. >> we're showing video of you. you packed him in a mat, i think, and you're literally carrying him on your back down the mountain. >> yeah. >> and we just showed a video of him actually shivering. that was when you first saw him. he's shivering. he's helpless, essentially. how difficult was it to bring him down the mountain? >> it was massive difficult because i did more than, like, 55 rescues. hardest in my life. >> you've done 55 rescues? that's incredible. >> yeah. i did more than 55 rescues. >> wow. >> i did, like, long, normal

rescues, everything. but this was a very hard rescue, very hard to do that rescue. >> why has this year been so difficult? i understand this is one of the deadliest years on mt. everest for climbing seasons. 12 people have died. five more people are still missing from their climbs on mt. everest. is it just bad -- the temperatures have been so difficult, the conditions have been so difficult? >> yeah. the weather is quite bad this year. i think that's also why -- and because experienced, like, 1,000

mountains. most people are -- >> they don't have the training to do it? >> yeah. >> yeah. well, it's incredible what you did, and it's such an honor to talk to you. and thank you. unbelievable. up next, why it was such a special and historic day here at cnn. we'll be right back.

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booking.com, booking. yeah. today is cnn's 43rd birthday. and to mark the milestone, staffers and alumni gathered to take photos in front of the iconic letters in cnn atlanta. the building has served as cnn's global headquarters for 35 years. all operations in atlanta are moving back to the original location, just across town, where ted turner launched cnn on this day back in 1980. and two cnn town halls coming up to tell you about. jake tapper hosts a town hall with former south carolina governor nikki haley sunday at 9:00 p.m. and wednesday at 9:00 p.m., our dana bash moderates a town hall with former vice president mike pence. cnn prime time with abby phillip cnn prime time with abby phillip starts now.

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