♪ ♪ ♪ donald trump's attorney seen leaving a meeting today at the justice department. we'll tell you what we are learning about it and what it could mean for the special counsel as his work appears to be in its final stages. authorities in india are investigating one of the deadliest train crashes in the country's history. did a signal failure lead to the disaster and the staggering loss of life? we will take you there live for more on the investigation. plus unsafe and unprofessional, that's the white house's response to a massive chinese war ship sailing dangerously close to an american naval destroyer. ahead, the impact this is having on already tense relationships with beijing and we're following developing stories all coming in right here to "cnn news central."

♪ ♪ new signs today that a special counsel investigation of donald trump could be nearing its final stages. lawyers for the former president held a lengthy sitdown with justice department officials today. this is video of those trump attorneys leaving the building this afternoon after their extensive talks with doj officials. this is a meeting that is coming after trump's lawyers recently requested to meet with attorney general merrick garl and accusig the doj of prosecutorial misconduct. today's face-to-face discussions may signal the special counsel's investigation into classified documents and possible obstruction is nearing its conclusion. cnn senior justice correspondent p evan perez is with me. what do we know about this building? >> we know they were in the building for about 90 minutes. we know they did not meet with

the attorney general which is the person that they had asked to have this meeting with just in the letter just a few days ago where the lawyers for the former president said that they believe there had been prosecutorial misconduct committed by the investigators in jack smith's office. so we know they didn't meet with garland and they didn't meet with lisa monaco which is the deputy attorney general. we do know that it was led by the top career prosecutor, the top career official inside the justice department. again, that's a sign that certainly for merrick garland, he's trying to keep politics or the political appointed officials out of the work that the special counsel is doing. he's insisting that the special counsel finish his work and make charging decisions and then, of course, if garland disagrees with anything he can try to overrule that, but until then, you know, the president's lawyer, the former president's lawyers can make their case, right?

it's not only about their complaints about what's going on with the larger investigation and the point they want to bring across to merrick garland and the justice department is that they believe the former president should not be charged with a crime. >> we had andy mccabe, former deputy director saying this is akin to a hail mary. what are you hearing? >> absolutely. there are all these signs that we are seeing that this investigation is near the end. it's in the closing stages and we know that the grand jury that we haven't seen in action, this grand jury, the one that's handling the mar-a-lago documents has not met since about this time last month and so the fact that we expect some witnesses to be called before the grand jury in the coming days tells us this there's additional work that the prosecutors want to wrap up and they could be near making a final decision on charges and that could be somebody around the former president who may have been involved in the handling of these documents and

maybe the former president himself. we do not know. jack smith is not telling us right now, but certainly, i think the body language from the former president and they tell us that they believe this is coming to a crucial point. >> all right. we'll be waiting. it could be very soon. evan perez. legal analysis, the cnn legal analyst. so as we know, trump's attorneys they've alleged prosecutorial misconduct and not an uncommon thing to hear from trump's teams in various prosecutions. is this meeting about making the case for that or is it about equally trying to figure out what they can about the doj investigation? >> these meetings aren't that uncommon, jim. as investigation goes they will sit down and make their case saying i shouldn't be charged with a crime or maybe you should

charge me with a different crime or maybe i might agree to plead guilty to something and that happens all of the time and it's not uncommon. prosecutorial misconduct, if you're going to raise that, raise it with the court and not the people you've been talking to. >> we know that the grand jury has effectively finished up his work although they called back some witnesses for a second columbo moment. just one more thing, ma'am. this is reading tea leaves and what we know about the grand jury, can you glean your best guess as to where the investigation stands? >> it's moving along and they're getting close to charging somebody with a crime. it's highly unlikely -- >> close to coming to a decision or close to charging. >> close to coming to a decision, and i should be careful with that. >> right. >> so it's often the case that as prosecutors approach a defendant's attorney and say we are likely to charge you or somebody else with a crime. you can come in and talk. now, look, they will keep a

straight face and not tip their hand as to what you're doing and it's your right to your attorney to try to make the case for your client and either to lower what you could be charged with or try to get out of it altogether. so it's a sign that something's happening whether it's up or down, we just don't know. >> final question, you were a prosecutor and you've not seen the evidence here and you were in the grand jury room as you were asked questions and based on what you know and the significance of this recording and the recent discussions about the classified documents release and the president's understanding of what the rules were, is there a significant chance that the former president is charged and indicted with a crime? >> i would think if i were the president i would be most concerned about the obstruction of justice about boxes being moved and the documents, there's an estimate as to the number of documents that were turned over and then not turned over. it just doesn't look right with respect to the obstruction of justice. some of those possession of obstruction of justice documents

can come, too. >> how many cases said it's not the crime. it's the cover up. or the attempt to cover up. >> absolutely. >> thanks, elliot. another story we're watching. a chinese boat came near international waters. this was in the taiwan strait where the u.s. was conducting a joint exercise with canada. the navy released this video of a chinese war ship cutting in front of a u.s. navy destroyer. the u.s. said the chinese were being unsafe and unprofessional. china is blaming the united states. now we want to show you the moment the two war ships nearly collided. the pentagon saying the vessels came within 150 yards of each other forcing the u.s. ship to abruptly slow down to avoid a direct hit. cnn senior correspondent joins us with the details. alex, what do we know about the

ships' close call. >> there were three war ships, the chinese war ship and the u.s., and the canadian. the frigate called the montreal and the canadian and u.s. ships were sailing together in what the u.s. called a routine transit of the taiwan strait. they came within 150 yards or 13 meters of each other. in terms of context you can see there the uss chung-hoon is just a little bit longer than that gap. that u.s. war ship iss more tha 8,000 tons and it is very difficult for a war ship like that to slow down or to turn very quickly. so the u.s. indo paycom which is the command out there in the pacific said that the chung-hoon had to slow down to around ten knots to avoid colliding with this chinese war ship. this is a statement, part of their statement saying that the chinese actions violated the

maritime rules of the road of safe passage in international waters. if this were an isolated incident it would be already be tremendously concerning and it comes immediately on the heels of another incident in the skies over the south china sea where a chinese fighter jet just last week crossed in front of a u.s. spyplane in rc-125 and in just a couple of moments you will see the turbulent from the jet caused in the u.s. cockpit. so taken together these are part the what of white house calls a growing aggression by the prc and just a short time ago the white house's john kirby called unacceptable and unprofessional behavior by the chinese. >> also saying that the united states is not going to be leaving what is international waters. the chinese dispute that. obviously central to this conflict. alex marquardt, thanks so much for the reporting. brianna? >> turning now to russia's war on ukraine. kyiv is refusing to concern if the major counter offensive has begun. a top defensive official

declared that ukrainian forces have advanced in several directions of the east in the long-disputed donetsk region. this is video from ukraine's armed forces press services. russia has released its own video saying that it shows a skirmish also in donetsk. they're killing 150 ukrainians and ukraine has not confirms those details and russia is known about making inflated claims about ukrainian losses. i want to go to frederik pleitgen, tell us whether this counter offensive may have begun. >> we certainly could be in the early stages of the counter offensive, brianna. a senior adviser to the ukrainian presidency said to me a couple of days ago, when you see certain skirm inches and the advances by the ukrainian armed forces that are happening by

ukrainian for instance on russian arms depots in occupied areas, all of that most likely is going to be a pre-cusrsor to the large-scale offensive. the ukrainians have come out and said they are not going to make an official statement when that starts and they put out a video this weekend calling on people to not talk about the offensive and the message they have with that, plans love silence. they certainly are saying that they're not going to announce that. nevertheless, there are telling signs on the battlefield and what they saw were the russians were saying that the ukrainians had launched a large-scale attack. the russians thwarted that attack. however, what we're hearing from a russian installed official in the area is that ukrainians came back today and it seems that the ukrainians gained some ground in the south of ukraine. the big thing that the ukrainians are trying to show case is their gains in back mo bakhmut and the ukrainian forces

have made gains and that's significant for the ukrainians because the russians recently announced that they had completely taken that city and now we're seeing that that is not the case and the ukrainian central command came out and said, look, the russians are talking about the ukrainians launching an attack in the south of the country are trying to divert attention that the russians are losing ground in the east in bakhmut. what we are seeing on the front lines and it is a very front line, no way that the russians are advancing and there are areas where definitely right now the ukrainians have their foot on the gas and are putting russians under pressure and of course, all of that comes on top of the fact that you have that situation across the border in russia, in belgorod where there are those anti-putin russian forces that have crossed the border in some cases, they say, and are putting the russians under pressure and the russian military still not able to come to terms with that. right now, the bigger picture vantage point it certainly seems like vladimir putin has a big

problem on his hands and the initiative certainly seems to be with the ukrainians, brianna. >> fred pleitgen live for us from the capital. jim? >> still to come on "cnn news central," we'll take you live to india the scene of horrifying train crash that killed nearly 300 people. traffic resumed there even as the tangled cars and the belongings of countless victims lay strawn by. the ntsb is looking into whether the downed plane that sent fighter jets scrambling across washington, d.c. had black boxes onboard as we get the images of the crash site and the mother of one of four murdered idaho students is speaking out publicly and why she has no intention of attending the trial of the accused, bryan kohberger.

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train crash rocked india over the weekend. crews have now cleared the rails allowing other trains to pass through the crash site. it is one of the deadliest india has ever seen. nearly 300 people were killed, more than a thousand injured. we want to take you now live to the scene in eastern india with cnn's ivan watson who is there for us. how exactly does something like this happen? >> the authorities are saying this was some kind of a switching malfunction that resulted, boris, in this kind of perfect storm of a train crash with a staggering loss of lives. the trains have started run again through this area because the work crews have been working feverishly there, but dozens of victims, their bodies have yet to be identified. >> working on the railroad.

an army of laborers laying new rail by hand, racing to re-open this transport route after one of the deadliest train disasters india has seen in its modern history. on friday night three trains collided in this area and everywhere on the side of the tracks in this rural part of eastern india there are massive railroad cars that were -- as you can see, severely damaged in this collision. this vehicle here, this car was reserved for people with disabilities. you can still see people's personal belongings down below right outside. it began with a passenger train moving at 128 kilometers or 80 miles per hour slamming into a parked freight train, colliding after dark in this rural area. villagers rescued passengers by the light of their cell phones.

did you actually, as volunteers, pull survivors from the train wagons? >> translator: yes. yes. one in the train wagon where i told the other guys, i entered into it and there was no space literally because it was so inclined that everybody was, male, female, everyone was dumped in a place. we had to pull them very carefully and we pulled them out and we separated the dead so we don't have to waste the time. >> crowds of volunteers gathered outside local hospitals and local reporters interviewing a crash survivor being transferred for treatment. among the crowd here, a worried mother. she's still searching for her missing son who was a passenger on the train. inside the hospital, some of the more than 1,000 injured in the crash. the road to recovery may not be easy. this 52-year-old farmer in so

much pain he can't lie down. i'm blessed to have another chance at life says monto kumar. the 32-year-old said the collision felt like an earthquake. afterwards i took my shirt and wrapped it around my head and started looking for my friends, he says. kumar says he shared an ambulance with his friend who lost both legs and later died. the indian government launched an investigation into this disaster and vows to punish anyone responsible. the pressure is on to ensure a catastrophe like this never happens again. >> boris, the authorities say that the initial passenger train was traveling at a speed of just under 80 miles per hour when it slammed into a parked freight train loaded with iron ore, and the -- the derailed cars, the

train cars then fell into the opposite track and another passenger train that was moving at 80 miles per hour hit some of those cars and that led to all of this carnage. some of the survivors we've talked to they said they were in train cars where people were standing in the aisles it was so crowded, and today, as i saw trains running again through this area, we once again saw these passenger cars just packed with people just cheek to jowl in there. a big question is going to be for the indian government which is investing so much in modernizing its infrastructure, will it also invest in trying to prevent these types of terrible accidents from happening again? are aboutis? >> so difficult to listen to those firsthand accounts. ivan watson in india for us. thank you so much. . jim? coming up, who dumped more than a dozen migrants in

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this just in to cnn. the fbi once called him the most damaging spy in bureau history, and today convicted former agent robert hansen has died in a federal prison. hansen received pages of $1.4 million in cash and diamonds for information he provided to the soviet union and after that to russia and he's been in custody since july 2002. according to the fbi's inspector general, hansen compromised some of the nation's some of the most important intelligence and military seekets including the identities of dozens of human sources, three of whom were executed. josh campbell joins me now. >> you worked for the fbi for a number of years and the fbi has long placed hansen in the pantheon of the worst spies that affected not just the bureau, but the country, as well.

help everyone understand the damage he did over the more than 20 years he was spying for russia. >> yeah, jim. this was arguably the most damaging high in the history of the united states. robert hanssen as you mentioned was an fbi agent and he smarted spying for the russians in 1979 eventually working his way up to fbi headquarters having access to some of the most classified information pertaining to the u.s. government's efforts to target russia. he pleaded guilty to passing thousands of classified documents to his russian handlers. he also, as you mentioned, his work in the execution of numerous russians who were spying for the united states, one of them dmitri polyokov executed after hanssen provided that information to the russians and there was this plot called operation monopoly and an effort by the u.s. government and this is straight out of spy fiction to build a tunnel out of the russian embassy into the united states to spy on the russians.

hanssen betrayed that to the russians saying, look, the u.s. government is able to spy on you. that obviously, allowing the russians to take countermeasures. hanssen himself was betrayed by a spy in russia who was recruited by the u.s. government. at that time there was a feud between the cia and the fbi regarding where this mole was. they knew there was a mole and didn't know which agency. this russian spy carted out a file that the kgbh on robert hanssen and in the basement of fbi headquarters that group looked at a fingerprint that was uncovered and that matched to robert hanssen and as you see on the video screen he was eventually taken into custody by the fbi and at that point, jim, there wasn't a death penalty under the aldridge aames case. robert hanssen eventually decided to plead guilty rather than go through the death penalty and he was found this morning dead at 79.

>> this is footage from his arrest in 2001, and he was from an age of dead drops, right? he would walk into a forest or a park and leave something he'd stolen to be picked up later and received things as well that way, but one essential fact of his is that he was doing this for more than two decades and he stopped two or three times and once when his wife discovered him handling classified documents and convinced him to stop and he went back to doing it. that was quite a breach from the fbi's perspective, was it not? because there was suspicion for some time before they came time to making this arrest. >> no. absolutely, you mentioned the dead drops. what's interesting is the person in the russian embassy who ran robert hanssen, also ran aldridge aames who was the infamous cia spy. the handler would meet with ames. the russians didn't know who hanssen was until he was arrested and he took such great care to protect his identity and

he wrote a book and said i didn't know who the guy was until i saw it on my tv screen. this rocked the bureau and the largest intelligence community. even though he worked russian cases and had access to the highly sensitive information he was never polygraphed and when i was in the bureau we were polygraphed every five years and when you sit in the polygraph room, the first thing they asked you have you provided information that you should not to, and are you a spy? that aloud robert hanssen to spy for over 20 years. >> some of this persists and with technology you can have someone take classified documents and as we're seeing with the airmen. as holes are plugged new holes open up with technology. brianna? >> gavin newsom reports called

florida governor ron desantis a small, pathetic man. newsom and the state attorney general say that they will investigate whether any kidnapping laws were broken. we have cnn's isabel rosales here for us. what can you tell us? what's the latest on this story? >> hey, brianna. we have brand-new information coming in to cnn and cnn able to confirm now with the attorney general's office there in california. that's attorney general rob bonta that a second flight arrived into california this morning with 20 migrants on that flight. that is on top of 16 migrants who were dropped off on friday. his office is working to get us more details. the attorney general saying that he believes the state of florida is responsible for this. also pointing the finger at a vendor, an aviation company who

is a common name and it was responsible for the last round of migrant flights in the last fall of 2022 dropping off two planes full of migrants into martha's vineyard. we spoke with a non-profit helping out on the ground saying they were approached by individuals, representing a private contractor, we will offerio jobs, clothing, food and free support. brianna? >> all right. two flights now. isabel, thank you for the very latest there for us. boris? iowa officials are looking into a 911 call just one day before the partial collapse of an apartment building. plus a warning from farmers in georgia. the reason they say 90% of the state's peach crops were ruined. we'll be right back.

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there's new video just in to cnn, chopper footage from high above that crash site in rural virginia where a private plane went down yesterday killing, sadly, four people. federal investigators are now on the scene. just before the cessna jet crashed f-16 fighter jets intercepted it over washington, d.c. air space it had entered. the cessna headed from tennessee to long island, new york. instead, though, went down in virginia. turned around, flew south, entering d.c.'s restricted

airspace, crashed soon afterwards. >> cnn brian todd is near the crash site in vesuvius, virginia. brian, there are a lot of questions here. how it went down and what might have happened in the cockpit prior. what do we know from the crash scene so far? >> well, jim, we were just updated by a local sheriff who told us that ntsb and faa investigators are still at the site of the crash. that is several miles deep into these mountains behind me. it takes hours to get in and out of that crash site and it is an arduous trek. we spoke to greg schott, the chief of the augusta county and fire rescue department and his teams were the first teams to get there last night. this is what he told us about what it was like to get to the scene and what it was like when they came upon it. >> very hard to get to. a lot of overgrowth and they had areas where they had to get on their hands and knees and crawl

to get under it. you could tell there was some debris as well as some logs and things burning. >> other members of chief schott's team told us when they got to the team they did see recognizable pieces of plane debris and one of them said it was no bigger than your arm. they also saw human remains there and they said that the plane left a noticeable crater in the mountain, and from the contours of that crater, they believe that the plane went in at a steep angle and there wasn't a gradual descent. investigators are looking to see if, if they can find a black box with a flight data recorder. if they can find that it would obviously provide invaluable information in this investigations. we are told these planes are not required to be outfitted with those, but some are outfitted with them anyway. they're hoping, of course, that they find one, jim. >> you look at that scene and you feel lucky it was in a

populated area and brian todd in revi re vesuvius, virginia. otthe mother of ethan chapi said she will not attend the trial of bryan kohberger. the man accused of killing her son. listen to these comments. ♪ >> it doesn't change the outcome. it just is energy that doesn't feel like it's well spent. you know, there are other places to put it. >> kohberger's trial is scheduled for october. he's had pleas of not guilty entered on his behalf last month. and the city of davenport, iowa, is, quote, looking into a 911 call that was placed before an apartment building collapsed in that area. cnn previously reported that authorities received a call warning about an apartment building prior to the may 28th collapse. officials also announced that the three remaining victims have

now been recovered from that scene. and thingses in georgia not so peachy. state researchers are reporting that the state has lost over 90% of this year's crop. bat weather especially an unseasonably warm winter is being blamed for this shortage. brianna. >> that is very upsetting. coming up, while tucked away in a secure room the top two lawmakers on the house oversight committee reviewed an fbi document that included a whistle-blower's allegations about then vice president joe biden. we are live on capitol hill with the details of that next. when i first brought her home, she was eating little brown pieces in a bag and it was just what kind of came recommended.. i just always thought, “dog food is dog food” i didn't really piece together that dogs e eat food. as soon as we brought the farmer's dog in, her skin was better, she was more active, high-quality poops. if i can invest in her health and be proactive, i think it's worth it. see the benefits of fresh food at betterforthem.com

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ready to run. today's -- today donald trump's former vice president mike pence filing the paperwork for a presidential run. we have the lead's jake tapper here with us. he's going to be the tenth republican candidate and it's not going to end there and he's not the only one announcing just this week. >> come on in, the water's fine. lots of candidates coming in there. you have mike pence filing the paperwork today. he will formally announce tomorrow -- i'm sorry, wednesday, right before the town hall that cnn is doing in iowa. dana bash will moderate that. former new jersey governor chris christie is going to announce tomorrow and then also if you are sensing the bergum momentum will announce his candidacy on wednesday. >> you didn't tell me if you were feeling the burgumementum.

there could be no mentum. it kind of reminds me of a crowded jacuzzi. >> nice. is that how you think of it? >> at some point, isn't there too many people in the. >> jacuzzi. they're worried about what happened last time. donald trump essentially getting the nomination with a support of the third of the republican party as all of the other candidates divided. in fact, governor chris sununu of new hampshire who announced today that he is not running for president. he has said if your campaign has not taken off by november a referee to make that call. we'll see how that works. >> it is interesting to see his role there. let's talk about the democratic side and rfk jr., because it's pretty interesting that he's actually polling at 20% in the last cnn poll. >> look, he used to be a very

respected environmental lawyer and activist. but in the last 20 years or so, he's become something of a crank, pushing this false conspiracy theory, long debunked, that childhood vaccines lead to severe side effects like autism, and it's not true and it's been debunked many times. stories he's written have had to be taken down. >> banned from some social media. >> yeah. he was banned from social media, although now he's back on because he's an announced presidential candidate. he's polling at 20% among democrats, which i think represents a number of things. one, dissatisfaction with the incumbent, president joe biden. two, a hunger for a new generation, even though i think he's like 69, but that counts as young in today's politics. and third, look at him. he looks exactly like his dad. >> that's the thing. how much of it do you think is people look at that and see kennedy and go, yeah? >> i think that's part of it. you can't -- look, i mean, the stuff he says about vaccines is

crazy, but that said, he's an eloquent guy. i mean, i get the appeal. he's also, because he's been polling so low, really evaded any serious media scrutiny. he is supported by a bunch of these, like, kind of maga-ish tech bros like elon musk. i don't know where jack dorsey stands these days on politics. he used to be a blm guy. now he's backing robert kennedy jr. steve bannon has a hand in this. it's a strange stew. >> and when they do start looking at his past statements, some of the things he's said about nazi germany and the political climate in the u.s., it's going to raise some eyebrows. >> his family has already distanced themselves from him long before he ran for president. in 2019, thisere was an articlen politico by two of his siblings and a cousin. "rfk jr. is our brother and uncle. he's tragically wrong about vaccines." real concern that the words he's saying about childhood vaccines,

not based in science, not based in medicine, are causing people to not get their kids vaccinated, which is causing, in the view of many people, a potential for serious harm. >> yeah. it makes them unsafe in many cases. jake, we're looking forward to more of that on "the lead." >> i can't get the image of the gent jacuzzi out of my head. the fbi was on capitol hill today sharing information with top members of the house oversight committee about republican allegations surrounding president biden. lawmakers reviewed a document that some republicans claim shows that biden was involved in a criminal scheme, they say, with a foreign national during his time as vice president. cnn's elena joins us now. tell us what evidence they're presenting here. >> reporter: well, jim, this was really the culmination, this briefing today, with members of a weeks-long effort for republicans to get their hands on this document, the fbi came in and in a secure room at the

capitol, briefed house oversight chairman james comer and congressman jamie raskin, allowed them to review it and this is the effort from the committee republicans to see whether there's any truth to the allegations that joe biden, while he was vice president, was involved in some sort of bribery scheme. now, even though the fbi allowed them to review this document, and gave these members a briefing, the chairman came out after that briefing and said he still plans to move forward with contempt proceedings against fbi director christopher wray. let's listen to what he had to say. >> at the briefing, the fbi again refused to hand over the unclassified record to the custody of the house oversight committee, and we will now initiate contempt of congress hearings. americans have lost trust in the fbi's ability to enforce the law impartially and demand answers, transparency, and

accountability. >> i'm just surprised that my colleagues want to try to litigate this in public, much less hold the director of the federal bureau of investigation in contempt for complying with their request when there was a whole process that was undertaken, and that process came to its natural end. >> now, jim, there was a key discrepancy from these two lawmakers after they left the briefing. it's all about whether the fbi is still investigating these claims and whether they plan to, you know, look at these charges in the future. now, chairman comber says that they are still going to be investigating this and the claims related to this document are part of an ongoing investigation, as you just heard from congressman raskin. he said that the fbi has closed the investigation into these allegations, and so that's the big question that we're still looking for. i will say, i spoke with the fbi, and they told me that that investigation has been closed, but regardless, chairman comer

plans to move forward and hold the fbi director in contempt of congress. >> important point there. thank you so much. thank you so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us. "cnn news central" is back tomorrow at 1:00. but for right now, "the lead" with jake tapper starts after a short break. - elites. now that we've made travel so expensive, we have this hotel to our...selves..? - how'd you get here?? - kayak! they comompared hundreds of travel sites to find a great deal on my flight, car, and hotel. - kayak. search one and d done.

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♪ it's always been uncharted waters when it comes to donald trump, but now, there's a literal flood. "the lead" starts right now. right now, exclusive cnn report