allowed to do, it's -- i equate it to mountain climbing. so this movie is my mount everest and this is kilimanjaro and this is fuji, and i've spent all that time on the mountain and like i said i'm an entertainer. i want to leave you wanting more, you know, and not just work and i don't want to work to diminishing returns. i don't want to be -- i don't want to become this old man out of touch and already i'm feeling like an old man out of touch when it comes to the current movies out right now. i right now i don't even know what a movie is. is it something that plays on netflix or amazon and everyone -- people watch it on their couch with their wife or their husband? is that a movie? because my last movie opened up in 3,000 theaters. and played all over the world, you know, for a couple of months, now the thing is, i don't have the answer to that question but i don't think

anybody else does either. i think it's remains to be seen situation and so by that time i'll know what movies even are a few years from now. >> thank you for watching. you can catch my full interviews with quentin tarantino as well as with dr. phil and jay leno any time you want on max. please join us here on cnn every friday night to find out who's talking next. on 360 where is the document? exclusive new cnn reporting that the former president's attorneys were unable to produce the classified document he's reportedly on tape saying he had. what sparked investigators to go after it in the first place. also tonight, president biden speaking to the face spreading the credit for the budget deal praising democrats and republicans for coming together to get things done. later we take you inside ukraine's effort to build and

acquire 200,000 drones. this year, what kind of impact they may have on the fight against russia. we begin on the classified document the former president had. his lawyer said they were unable to find the document. evan perez joins us with the latest. they can't find it? >> reporter: they can't find this thing and the question is does the president have the document somewhere, did he lose it? did he have it during that july meeting that cnn reported waving it around in a meeting where he was meeting with some bio biogrbiog biographers working on a book for mark meadows said to be talking about this battle plan to attack iran and what the issue is that the prosecutors that are handling this

investigation, jack smith's prosecutors have sent a subpoena asking for any and all documents related to iran, related to this possible meeting from july of 2021. they, of course, did this after bringing in margo martin. she was inside that meeting. she was brought before the grand jury. she was played a recording from that meeting, and that's when prosecutors then issued a subpoena to the trump team asking for all of these documents, any of these documents to be brought in. according to the trump legal team, they don't know whether this document exists, and they also don't know whether during that july meeting, anderson, whether the president was just making it up or whether it's somewhere else right now. >> and is that the trump legal team's position right now, that they still don't know? what's been the response to all of this? >> well, you know, they respond -- as you've seen a variety of their responses over the course of this investigation, including calling this, obviously, a political witch hunt.

the former president in a town hall with fox news said that he has no knowledge of this july meeting, and they say that they still don't know, obviously, where this document is that prosecutors are so interested in. the thing is, anderson, the bottom line here is that prosecutors throughout months have insisted that they believe trump has -- continues to possess classified documents that must be returned. so, they've gone to court trying to force the president to be found in contempt, and so far, they still believe documents have yet to be returned. the former president says that he doesn't have anything left in his possession, anderson. >> evan perez, appreciate it. conservative lawyer george conway joins us now, also a contributing columnist to "the washington post." george, we're talking about a document about a potential attack on iran. we have not seen this document. we don't know exactly the nature of it. how concerning is it, though,

that these attorneys say they're unable to find it? >> well, it is concerning that the document was apparently flying around from washington to mar-a-lago, perhaps, and then to bedminster, but i think at the end of the day, in terms of a potential prosecution, it's not going to matter. what matters is the fact that he is said to have acknowledged president trump on this tape, that he possessed classified documents and that he knew he possessed classified documents. and the fact that that was his state of mind when he was requested to give the documents back later, the next year, and then refused to give them back, and then gave some of them back and then lied about giving them all back and so on and so forth. i mean, it's just another smoking gun in a smoking arsenal. >> secretary cohen, again, we don't know what this exact document was. would there be other copies of it that prosecutors would have access to, or would they be able to reach out to somebody in the pentagon to find out exactly what this document may have been? >> well, if the document did

exist, then certainly the pentagon would have access to it. if the former president is quoting something about chairman milley, then chairman milley obviously would be a source to go to to say, what was involved. rather than look at the legal side of it, george can certainly do that, i'd like to talk a little bit about the implication for our national security. we spend billions -- tens of billions -- of dollars collecting intelligence in order to protect the american people. the notion that we are so cavalier, our elected leaders, the president of the united states, is so cavalier about those documents, puts our men and women in grave danger, and just today in "the washington post," there's an article talking about iran planning to help kill american soldiers in syria at the behest of the russians. so, this is what's involved. why are we making a big deal about this? because lives really are at stake.

our men and women serving us are at stake, and the american people's security is compromised when this kind of information gets out. >> george, the former president was asked about this document and the recording acknowledging he had classified documents. here's what he told fox. >> i don't know anything about it. all i know is this, everything i did was right. we had the presidential records act, which i abided by 100%. >> i mean, obviously, it's a ludicrous answer, just saying he doesn't know anything about it. there's allegedly a recording of his voice on this. he could easily look at his or ask somebody about it if he wanted to answer that question. how does all of this complicate the former president's defense as it relates to the special counsel's investigation? >> well, he doesn't have a defense, so i guess he can say whatever he wants. i mean, everything he does say, though, will be used against him. the fact of the matter is, there's no dispute. even at the time of the search warrant execution back last august, we saw the search warrant affidavit used by the

fbi to get the search warrant. it was virtually an open and shut case then. i mean, he had the documents, he refused to give them back, he lied about giving them back, and then they went and executed the search warrant and found all these documents. so, i don't know that statements like that make it any worse for him. they certainly don't make it better. >> secretary cohen, obviously the u.s. works with, relies on, allies in its intelligence gathering. how does not being able to locate a document like this or even the notion that a former president would be waving around a document like this, how does that impact other nations' willingness to work with and share intelligence with the u.s.? >> well, it really erodes and corrodes our credibility, and, for example, the former president following the firing of the fbi director, the very next day, released information to the russian foreign minister, the russian ambassador, that may have compromised the intelligence from israel. compromising one of their

assets, so every time one of these plays, the other countries say, is the information we're giving to the united states going to be protected because we have people at risk on the front lines, our ambassadors, our military, they're all at risk, so when we turn information over to the united states, we expect it to be really handled with the greatest of care, and that clearly is not the case here. the president demonstrated it time and time again. >> george, what does this signal to you about the timeline? does it? i don't know if it signals anything, but what do you think about the timeline in the special counsel's investigation? >> i think the timeline generally i think is just suggested by the fact that we know so much now about the investigation, because what happens in these investigations is that there are lots of witnesses. and the witnesses one by one go in, and they're interviewed by the justice department or the fbi, and they're sent to the grand jury, and now you're getting to the point where there is so many people who know, and

the lawyers all share information to make sure their client is not saying anything that is being contradicted by some other lawyer's client. they're sharing all this information. that means lots and lots of people know a lot about this investigation, which is why we're seeing this flood of information coming out. >> that's interesting. >> which tells me that this investigation is nearly done, and when you think about it, you look at the calendar, i mean, you want to get -- i mean, if you were jack smith, you're not rushing it for political purposes, but you're rushing to avoid the political implications of having this -- having an indictment issued during an election season, and of having a trial too late next year. if you want to have a trial next summer or earlier next year, you've got to bring this case sooner rather than later, and you want to bring these charges before the campaign really gets underway because that way you insulate yourself from the charge that you're doing it for political purposes, but i think when this indictment comes out, it's going to be a blockbuster

because given what we know, it's an open and shut case many times over, and i'm sure it's going to be a very, very interesting indictment to read. >> george conway, william cohen, i appreciate it. thank you both. coming up next, you think the republican primaries are just days away by how the former president and ron desantis have been going at each other. the latest on the war of words and what it says about the race ahead. plus, president biden addressing the nation tonight with the debt ceiling done. can he translate that to better approval numbers as he gears up for his campaign? we'll talk to david axelrod ahead. pedro was born with a cleft lip and palate that threatened his future and impaired his speech, but his cleft condition didn't define him. he's playful, smart, loving. pedro is like any child you know and love. children like pedro need your help. thousands of children are born with cleft conditions and have no access to surgery. with your support, operation smile can heal them.

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during a rally today in south carolina, governor ron desantis was asked by an attendee about the former president's election denialism and whether it was time to move on from the, quote, 2020 stuff. his response was, success means looking forward, not backwards. i'm quoting from desantis now. he said, i think the candidates who have focused on the past have not done well. clearly referencing the former president. as you may know, the back and forth between the candidates has escalated in the last few days. >> governor, how come you're not taking questions from voters? >> what are you talking about? i'm not here with people. >> are you lying? >> he had a very bad day today. he got very angry at the press. you're not allowed to get angry at the press. >> i think it's a project that will begin on day one, and it will require a daily grind for not just one term, but i think for two full presidential terms. >> eight years. we need eight years. you don't need eight years. you need six months. we can turn this thing around so quickly. >> why didn't he do it in the

first four years? >> you don't change your name in the middle of the election. changed his name in the middle of the election. you don't do that. >> that's ridiculous. listen. stupid things. the way to pronounce my last name, winner. >> i'm joined by cnn contributor adam kinzinger, former republican congressman of illinois, and member of the january 6th committee. congressman, last time we spoke was right before desantis announced his candidacy. you said he's not really the best campaigner. do you think his recent back and forth with the former president is working for him? too soon to tell? >> i don't -- look, i think it's important that he goes at the former president to an extent. he's still kind of keeping his powder dry. i mean, he doesn't mention trump by name. he speaks kind of in generic terms, says candidates need to look forward, not backwards. he doesn't talk about donald trump. and, i mean, there's still somehow this belief that some magical pony is going to come into this race and sweep ron desantis in by default. the truth is, you have to go

after donald trump, and you can't out-trump trump. and that's what i think ron desantis is trying to do. so i think all you've got to do, frankly, anderson, is take a peek at twitter and watch the desantis and trump camps right now. they're absolutely destroying each other. i think this is really anybody's game, including either of those two possibly being the nominee. >> audie, do you think what's happening on twitter between the campaigns, that's going to eventually start happening from the mouth of ron desantis? >> i think this is the challenge for anybody who really wants to kind of come at the former president. if you can't out-trump trump, if you can't be a smaller version of him, what is the actual lane that you occupy, and once you occupy that lane, does it actually have a constituency? this is a real struggle for the party right now is figuring out what that lane is and drawing a sizable constituency to it, but in the meantime, desantis has to not get kind of metaphorically punched in the

face. whenever you draw the attention of trump and he goes back and forth, this means he's taking you seriously, and watching desantis kind of bob and weave, for example, on the name thing, making sure that he is not robbed of his name or that no big nickname sticks, this is a reflection of what people have learned about trying to parry with him. >> you talk about trying to wait for a magic pony to deal with trump. do you think these candidates are expecting an indictment to somehow or prosecutors to somehow take care of the problem of, you know, this man in the race that they don't know how to run against? >> yeah, i certainly think that's a hope that none of them will ever speak out loud. they shall say nothing about donald trump in public. i think it's that. i think it's also maybe somebody will come in and actually do the dirty work for them and take out donald trump, i think is why some people are excited about chris christie coming in, even though i remind people that he actually took out marco rubio and was one of the first to

endorse donald trump in 2016. so, i think it's a lot of -- and, look, it's not a bad play. if you're ron desantis and you've decided not to try to be a better person than donald trump but to just try to out-trump trump, it's actually an okay strategy if you know that donald trump is not going to make it to the primary election day, and i think that's what he's banking on. if for some reason donald trump gets indicted and he goes down, ron desantis at this moment today is probably there to pick up the slack, but the way these guys were fighting with each other and their camps were fighting with each other, i don't think there's going to be much friendship left between any of them. >> everyone does look to what happened to marco rubio, who decided to try to out-trump trump and talked about his small hands, et cetera, and kind of annihilated himself. >> that's true. at the same time, if you look at the long list of people who had thoughts about trump, who suddenly thought he was great, like a ted cruz or a chris christie, you know that trump sees this all part of strategy

and gain, and i think in some way his voters see that way too. the campaign is quote, unquote taking punches. it's a very aggressive way of going about the process, and people kind of don't take it as seriously as they could because they've also got evidence from the last few years that republicans will come around, you know, to him if he is in power. >> congressman, what about the field? i mean, it's already crowded. it's going to get more crowded. obviously, the comparisons to 2015/2016, that the more crowded it gets, the better that helps the former president. do you see -- how does somebody decide to drop out? i mean, because a lot of these candidates won't even come close to him in the polling, and everyone wants the other candidate to drop out thinking, oh, if only they could stay in and everyone else drops out. >> yeah. i mean, this is an exact repeat of 2015. everybody is running. literally everybody that ever thought about running is running

or thinking about running right now, and it's exactly what happened in 2015, and the problem is -- so, right now, you know, having a lot of candidates in the race, technically, i guess it's fine because there's still a lot of time before the first primary. people can drop out after the first primary, but the problem is, narratively, this is allowing donald trump to be in the lead forever and over and over. if he's getting 30% and the next candidate's getting 5% or 6%, and that is emblazoned in the people's minds for the nexxt ten months, he's going to be the republican nominee. everyone has a right to run, obviously, but i wish some of these candidates would just say, look, i'm not going to win, so i'm going to stay out because donald trump will get 35%, at least, of the republican base. anybody splitting up the rest of that just makes him the nominee. >> adam kinzinger, audie cornish, thanks so much.

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so we can better protect our customer data? absolutely. can we provide health care virtually anywhere? we can help with that. is it possible to use predictive monitoring to address operations issues? we can help with that, too. with global secure networking from comcast business. it's not just possible. it's happening. in a speech to the nation tonight in the passage of legislation to avert a government default, president biden didn't hide who he is or what he believes, nor did he shy away from criticizing a number of republican policy priorities. that said, he was also quick to

praise both sides involved in the budget talks and the compromise they reached. >> i want to commend speaker mccarthy. you know, he and i and our teams, we were able to get along and get things done, we were straightforward with one another, completely honest with one another, respectful with one another. both sides operated in good faith. both sides kept their word, and i also want to commend other congressional leaders, house minority leader jeffries, senate majority leader schumer, senate minority leader mcconnell. they acted responsibly and put the good of the country ahead of politics. >> in a moment, david axelrod, who witnessed many important moments in the obama/biden white house but first more on the speech itself and what the white house hoped to achieve from cnn's phil mattingly. what else did the president say tonight? >> reporter: anderson, the focus of the president's reports

tonight were several prongs to some degree. he wanted to make clear to the public just how near they were to potential disaster as these negotiations worked in fits over the course of the last several weeks, eventually reaching a resolution. and he wanted to explain what was in the deal and why a lot of the things that were kept out of the deal by white house negotiators were just as critical as the final outcome itself. he also wanted to highlight, as you noted, the bipartisan aspect. it's what he believes, who he's been, something he campaigned on in 2020. and he wanted to make clear there were results on that front. take a look. >> i know bipartisanship is hard and unity is hard, but we can never stop trying because in moments like this one, the ones we just faced, where the american economy and the world economy is at risk of collapsing, there's no other way. no matter how tough our politics gets, we need to see each other not as adversaries but as fellow americans. >> reporter: anderson, as the president made clear, there were

policy disputes, and that's what the battle was when the negotiations was over. this moment, the president's first ever oval office address in prime-time when compared to what he had been doing over the course of the last several weeks, very intentionally quiet, not talking about what's being negotiated, not talking about priorities. that was something white house officials said was part of the process, didn't want to unsettle anything in the ongoing negotiations, a very different approach than he saw from speaker kevin mccarthy and his top deputies. tonight was an opportunity, with that backdrop, to have the last word, anderson. >> also with the re-election looming, the campaign beginning, it was also about that. >> there's no question about it. the entire time, i think the entire 13 minutes that i listened to those remarks, you realized how inextricably linked in the eyes of the president and in the minds of his top advisers, this was to achieve an outcome at this point, and his campaign message, which is fairly unchanged since 2020, his theory of the case throughout and the ability to lay that out in a detailed and coherent

manner, lay out the fact that this has been his message throughout, and he believes, based on his legislative accomplishments, many of which were bipartisan like this agreement here, that he has delivered results, and i think the jobs numbers today underscore they feel like there's real strength in the economy. i think the big question, which has long been the case, can they connect that reality, in their minds, to where voters are. the president's approval ratings are no secret. the views of the economy, the direction of the country aren't either. this could be a moment given this has been hanging over the administration for the better part of six months where they see a pivot point, an opportunity to really deliver that message, where they feel like they've gotten results, critical moment to do so, given the fact the general election is a year away. whether or not that will actually happen though, an open question, certainly a first start tonight, anderson. >> phil mattingly, appreciate it from the white house. reaction now from cnn political commentator, david axelrod, who served as senior adviser to president obama and worked alongside then vice president biden. so, david, how important do you think this moment is for

president biden? i mean, can he turn this debt ceiling compromise, these better than expected job numbers into some kind of a rallying cry for his campaign? >> well, look, this was a big moment, but largely because of the disaster that it averted, and i think what he's trying to sell here is steady, mature stewardship of the economy in the midst of all this political chaos around him and as an island of experience and wisdom and so on, and i think that there's some value to that. whether that has some durable value, i think, remains to be seen. there is an eternity, anderson, between now and when people vote next november, and i think there will be many intervening events that will probably supplant whatever he achieved here. >> we've also seen other successes for the administration, the bipartisan infrastructure deal,

inflation reduction act, 2022. both of those, he got those passed but without a substantial change in his approval ratings. why do you think the administration has such a difficult time when it comes to public opinion? >> first of all, i think we live in a time of deep polarization, when it's very hard to move numbers. we have a red team and a blue team, and most voters fall into one column or the other, and it's very hard to move numbers. secondly, i think there is a hangover from the recession -- coming out from the pandemic, that has left people unsettled. i mean, objectively, in many ways the economy is extraordinarily strong compared to when the president took office, but there is this sense of unease and a lot of things driven by inflation, and so his economic approval numbers are actually quite bad, especially relative to what he has achieved. i think the hope is, by

underlining what happened today and what happened overnight, that he can jolt those numbers a little bit, but, again, we are sitting here in june of 2023, and we're talking about an election that's going to happen in november of 2024. so, you know, i think subsequent events will determine whether, in fact, he can move those numbers. >> also just events like what happened yesterday, the fall at the air force academy. there's rightly or wrongly a lot of attention on it. if you were advising president biden right now, how do you think he should approach the upcoming race? >> well, look, i think that you can't change your age. so, those kinds of incidents are going to get outsized attention. i thought it was really interesting that the day that he tripped over a sandbag and fell, he kept the american economy from falling into a great big and disastrous hole, which seems

more important to me, but the fact is that age is going to continue to be an issue for him, and so he tells people, watch me, and i think the reason he's speaking to the nation tonight is he wants people to focus on the substantive things that he's doing and not on things like the trip at the air force academy. >> how much faith do you put in polls that show a relatively close race between president biden and former president trump this far out from a presidential election. as you said, there's so many things that can happen between now and then. >> yeah, i don't put all that much stock in those polls other than to say that there is sort of a floor beyond which both candidates will not fall, and so you're going to have a close race. one interesting number to watch is, you know, trump was hovering around the 45% level in these polls in the last election. can he get higher than that, because i think that's going to

be important, and how high can biden go in these polls, but i think for a while now, it's going to be stable. i don't think you're going to see a whole lot of movement in the direction of one candidate or another. the desantis numbers are quite the same. basically a tie, and it's been that way for some months. i expect it's going to stay that way until late in this campaign. >> david axelrod, appreciate it, thanks. >> all right. good to see you. >> coming up, a look at a ukrainian company building combat drones. according to the company's owner could reach moscow, which saw its first drone attack earlier this week. fred pleitgen is in ukraine, joins us next. [music plays]

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attack on moscow left at least two people injured and several buildings damaged. there was a significant turn in the war that until recently had left russia largely untouched. today vladimir putin appeared to acknowledge these strikes on his country, calling them attempts to destabilize and, quote, stir up the situation within the russian federation. our fred pleitgen joins us from ukraine with a look inside the drone war. questioned, can you just talk about how things have changed for ukrainians with this now constant threat of drone strikes? >> reporter: it certainly changed a great deal, and for a lot of people it's really unnerving, especially in the capital kyiv. anderson, i can tell you, there's a lot of nights where people here simply don't get any sleep because they live in fear the entire time. the way these drone attacks work is usually have swarms of those iranian made drones coming toward the ukrainian capital. you hear the engines hovering above you, and you hear the ukrainians trying to take them down, but of course what's happening now is the ukrainians are fighting back.

they've launched their own massive drone program which is a huge priority which they can project power and reach not only into russian-held territory but into russian territory as well. here's what we're learning. >> can this fly into russia? >> yeah. >> reporter: this company makes combat drones for ukrainian frontline troops, and they allowed us to film test flights at a secret location. he says, reaching moscow is not a problem. >> 700 kilometers with warhead, 20 kilograms. >> that could fly almost all the way to moscow? >> yes. >> reporter: while ukraine denies direct involvement in the recent moscow drone attack, kyiv has drastically expanded its use of drones for everything from surveillance to directly bombing russian ground troops. cheap, easy to use, and lethal, uavs, once considered toys, are now vital to kyiv's war effort.

>> ukrainians say for them, drones are the big equalizer in this war. they say the russians have more tanks, more artillery, and more planes, but the ukrainians have the creativity of their population. this is a drone competition organized by ukraine's government with simulated attacks on ground targets, chasing fixed-wing drones, and even drone dogfights. we were granted exclusive access on the condition we don't reveal the location. it's like a start-up fair for fpv, or first-person view, drones. small uavs that can drop mortars and grenades flown by pilots wearing vr goggles from a makeshift trench to simulate the battlefield. [ speaking non-english ] >> translator: our drones are very easy to use, especially if the pilot has flown similar drones. i think they will intuitively understand how they work. >> reporter: the stakes are immense.

a general involved in drone procurement for ukraine's military tells me about 30 companies in ukraine are already mass-producing these drones, and our goal is to purchase up to 200,000 by the end of the year. their backs up against the wall when russia's massive army invaded last year. the ukrainians quickly realized cheap air power could help keep them in the fight. first using modified consumer drones now with more sophisticated uavs developed in ukraine, what the government here calls the army of drones project, spearheaded by the minister of digital transformation. >> translator: this is a technological war, and it's very important to understand how technology is developing and what we as a state can do to increase the number of drones. a certain revolution is also taking place regarding production scaling. >> reporter: and while the ukrainians still won't admit direct involvement, the russians do admit they are concerned they might soon see more armed drones

flying towards moscow. >> it's incredible to see up close like that, fred. is there any indication when we could see these drones, ukrainians purchasing above the battlefield in the fight? >> well, i think it could be very soon. you know, some of the drones that we saw there at that drone competition, they've already been on the battlefield but in small quantities. and i think one of the things, anderson, that we all need to understand is that on every battlefield here in ukraine, whether it's bakhmut or whether it's in the south, in the rear echelon of those battlefields, you always have a small, little shop that's developing new drones and that's trying to improve some of the drones that are already there. for instance, to make it impossible for the russians to geolocate the person who's operating the drone or to make it impossible to hack into those drones. so, that's already happening all the time. what the government here tells me is they want to make it as quick as possible that they find a startup, identify that that startup could help them, and then scale up production as fast as possible. you could see some of these drones on the battlefield very soon.

anderson. >> that's incredible. fred pleitgen, appreciate it. perspective from cnn military analyst retired general mark hertling. what do you make of how drones are being used right now in the war in ukraine? >> well, the insertion of these private sector operators is very good, anderson. you know, these are not that new. drones have been around for a while. i had, back in 2008, when i was in iraq, all of our units had small, what we called raven drones, which were literally hand launched, would give infantry units the opportunity to see ahead of them in the battle to even look inside buildings at times. so, ukraine has actually taken this to a new level. the drones in the past, the unmanned aerial systems, as we like to call them, are something that is an advancement on the battlefield today, but i've got to tell you, what we've seen in terms of using drones in ukraine

beyond reconnaissance but to actually drop munitions, to counter electronic warfare, these are some new opportunities, i think, in warfare, and it's certainly going to change the scene. we're learning a lot from ukraine and their use of drones. >> so, do you think that the u.s. military is looking at that as something they may want to incorporate or figure out how to incorporate or explore more? >> oh, we've been looking at it for a long time, anderson. in fact, at our training centers five or six years ago, they actually introduced drone swarms. we saw those kind of things in the war between armenia and azerbaijan just a few years ago when there were opportunities to destroy tanks with drones, and in the battle it was an area that surprised a lot of people. iranians have been using them for a very long time, but, again, the publication and the

social media aspect of what's been happening in ukraine, i think it surprised a lot of people who don't know drone warfare is part of the modern battlefield. but this has been going on for quite some time, but a great report by fred pleitgen just now. >> to see the private sector components fascinating. russia said a group of chechen special forces have begun an offensive in ukraine. we heard about the wagner forces. there were probably chechens involved in that as well, but there were chechens involved early on in the attempt to decapitate the leadership in kyiv in the first days of this war. we haven't heard much about them over the last year or so. do you think that's -- i mean, is that significant that they're announcing that there's chechens now? >> yeah, i don't believe it is, anderson. what we've seen is mr. putin attempting to get a variety of groups to do his fighting for him. >> right. >> and part of the reason for that is there are people who are selling him on these groups being capable of conducting operations when they're really not. they're used to certain kinds of

battlefields, destroying things like they did in chechnya, in syria -- excuse me -- and they don't take the place of good, well-trained soldiers who are well-led on the battlefield under nco supervision. they're just a bunch of thugs in private military corporations. >> part of it seems to be also psychological, you know, that -- as you said, that there's lots of people in the fight, but also that chechens have a reputation of just being thugs and brutal and, yeah, just horrific. >> yeah, and i'm not sure how to compare them to the wagner group, and i'm not sure you can get more thuggish than the kind of prisoners that mr. prigozhin recruited in the last days of the battle of bakhmut, but, again, it's just trying to throw a bunch of free-floating electrons onto the battlefield that aren't in very large groups or don't have any operational savvy. they're just flat out killers. >> right. >> but when you don't have the

capability to conduct operations either offensive or defensive and you're just throwing yourself into the fight with a weapon, things don't end up too well, and we've seen that with the wagner group. >> bill hertling, thanks. much needed lighter news on this friday night. he is just 14 years old and the best student speller in the country. his winning moment at this year's scripps national spelling bee. we'll see if you can spell the word. i couldn't. and harry enten puts me to the test next. [stomach growling] it's nothing... sounds like something. ♪when you have nausea, heartburn, indigestion♪ ♪upset stomach, diarrhea♪ pepto bismol coats and soothes for fast relief when you need it most. the day you get your clearchoice dental implants makes every day...

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mobile service designed for small business: comcast business mobile. flexible data plans mean you can get unlimited data or pay by the gig. all on the most reliable 5g network, with no line activation fees or term contracts... saving you up to 75% a year. and it's only available to comcast business internet customers. so boost your bottom line by switching today. comcast business. powering possibilities™. an eighth grader from largo florida has won the 2023 scripts national spelling bee. he's one of 11 finalists and became the champion in the 14th round with this winning word.

>> p-s-a-m-m-o-p-h-i-l-e. >> that is correct. >> that's incredible. he took home the first prize of $50,000. his secret to winning he said is focusing on the roots of words. our senior data reporter joins us now apparently to test my spelling knowledge which is abysmal. >> my spelling is abysmal, too. >> i understand you have some actual words. >> we do have some actual words, but first i want to just note there are a lot of americans who think their spelling is above average. it turns out a little over 40% of americans believe their spelling skills are above average. >> is that right, really? >> yes. which is bizarre. and another 40% believe their spelling skills are about

average and only 10% think they're below avr. >> my dad had terrible spelling skills and we used to talk about it all the time, and i think i inherited some of that. >> i think that's one of the things i inherited from a grandparent because my father spelled quite well. he was good at english. >> is it he was good at english or well at english? >> i think it's good. as you mentioned, i have a bit of a test for you, a quiz. there were two words near towards the end of the competition last night. >> well, i'm not going to get them. >> right. and i want to note you can't actually see them and our audience at home can see them. >> you turned off the monitors. >> that's right. we don't want cheating. so the first word is devily. it's an adverb that i think means listlessly.

i think there's a "d" in there. so you go with d-e? it's d-a-v-i-l -- >> i think you pronounced it wrong. >> i listened before, and i want to note this i'm not a perfect pronouncer. >> what is the other one? >> the other one is a noun and a central american ant. now i'm just mixing it up. it's with a "p" not a "b." >> you're not supposed to tell me any of the letters. >> well, i don't think you're going to get it anyway. >> i don't know if you're

saying -- k-e-l-e-p. >> yes, that's actually right. unbelievable. >> yes. so what are some of the -- what are some of the top words that people rely on? >> right, so if you go to google one of the words people are like, okay, how do you spell blank, which i what i do all the time. >> i've written a book and i can't tell you how many times i went to google like how do you spell this. >> maybe you were one of the people that couldn't spell restaurant. how about pneumonia? it's impossible for me anyway. >> p-n-e-u-m-o-n-i-a. >> i think that's close. we're going to give it to you. that was correct. >> restaurant, that's easy. that's one of the most googled words?

that's interesting. how many -- how many people tune in to this spelling bee? >> this to me is amazing right because we've had our own spelling bee here and it turns out when it comes to the overall spelling bee last year 3.7 million people tune into it. and what's amazing about that was game two of the stanley cup, which i know you definitely watched also had 3.7 million. it's like on the same level as some sports events. >> right. and i'm proud i know stanley cup is hockey. >> way to go, buddy. congratulations. we did it. we did it, guys. >> harry enten, thanks. we'll be right back with more. b-a-c-k. king heartburn before it starts. one pill a day. 24 hours. zero heartburn.

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