>> before we go tonight, to cnn presidential town halls to tell you about. tomorrow night, former vice president mike pence is going to take questions at a town hall moderated by dana bash. tomorrow nine pm eastern. and also, this coming monday at eight pm, anderson will moderate a town hall with a new declared and big trump critic no republican chris christie. thank you for joining us, the news continues right here on cnn. >> a warm welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world, i'm paula newton.

ahead here on cnn newsroom. investigations intensifying as cnn has learned that donald trump's former chief of staff testified before a federal grand jury even as the classified documents probe picks up steam in florida. cnn is on the ground in parts of ukraine after the massive dam collapse in kherson. what we are learning about who is responsible for the damage. we have a live report. plus, shooting a one 80. after slamming lid golf for taking saudi money, the pga is now putting up a hypocritical slope. to partner with the liv golf. we begin with two major developments in the special counsel investigation of donald trump. forced, sources tell cnn a second graduate based in south florida issuing testimony of

the former president's handling of classified documents. that panel is expected to hear from another witness in the day ahead. this is in addition to a grand jury already meeting in washington. another source says former trump white house chief of staff mark meadows has testified before a grand jury investigating his former boss. cnn senior legal affairs correspondent paula reid picks up the story from there. former trump white house chief of staff mark meadows is not just a witness for special counsel jack smith, he is the witness. why? well when it comes to the january 6th investigation, he was at the center of everything. the house select committee that looked into the events surrounding january 6th came to the conclusion that all roads lead to mark meadows. in and around the events on the day. the so-called pressure campaign on states and officials to try and overturn the results of the election. now when it comes to the investigation into possible mishandling of classified documents, meadows increasingly

appears to be possible a critical witness there. well only would he have been at the white house, present when things were packed up towards the end of the administration, but recent cnn reporting on a bombshell audio recording, where trump talks about having classified documents. revealing the conversation was recorded by meadows autobiography years. so clearly investigators can have a lot of different questions from meadows in either investigation. that this point it is unclear if he spoke to investigators about both probes or just one. certainly solves a swollen question in trump circles. wants to know is one of. meadows citing an executive privilege. we would expect medals testify but there has been no communication between meadows attorneys and those of the former president leading to some concerned of whether meadows was indeed cooperate

with investigators. the special counsel spoke to meadows that signals that leads the classified documents investigation that in its final phase but likely ramping up sometime soon. paula reid, cnn, washington. >> chicago, now former u.s. federal prosecutor and host of the it's complicated podcast. we can say that again, it is complicated. more so now as we have learned that mark meadows is talking to a grand jury. how significant is that? >> it's incredibly significant. or one thing, he was the chief of staff to the president. so traditionally, the united states presidents chief of staff it's the person that everything goes to. in the middle of a lot of activity when there was testimony regarding the events of january.

six a lot of reference to mark meadows. in time he had not testified. now it is very significant getting documents packed and sent to mar-a-lago. would certainly be aware of any orders. that the president game in terms of declassification of documents if that actually happened. and then i would say on top of that, he is also the person who was getting text messages and emails. other electronic communications that president trump did not use those funds communication. >> right, so he is almost going to be a bit of an echo for everything that the president, the former president said ended during these times. specifically the, if the grand jury is talking to him at this point in time, if they are getting evidence now, the big question here is are we any closer to indictment? can you read the tea leaves here from this?

>> i think we are getting closer to an indictment. a recent piece of news that gives us that the investigations in the late stages. four presidents attorneys. suggest me it's pretty lame the game. what a stage where they are trying to convince mr. smith to pursue an indictment. which i think would likely be unsuccessful. that's, and i do think there has been a premature rush. . mr. has testified to me that it's gonna be some time. but i think it is a matter of days and weeks, not months. some cnn reporting -- what surprised me about? that cnn's reporting is that this entire thing of how the documents ended up there. how they left mar-a-lago.

we've earned documents that national security implications. all of that put together. what does that say to you about that particular mastication? because the former president has made it seem like this is clerical stuff. this does not rise to the level of criminal indictment. >> i have to say that i think that is a false statement. a bit of a misdirection by the former president. i think that there is no question that if the former president had made a clerical error, an administrative error and inadvertently kept a document, i think his fate would have been more like mike pence is. the former vice president, his running mate, who inadvertently kept the document or two that were classified. he notified the government of them, returned the documents. and i think the matter was very quickly resolved. as to the former president, what happened was that he not only kept a whole lot of documents, but then when the government asked him for the documents back, he fought for

quite some time. in the words of former attorney general bill barr, he jerked them around. i think that was a pre actor characterization of the former attorney general. strict, around delayed them, didn't respond. and then when they issued a grand jury subpoena. when the justice department actually visited mar-a-lago to cross the documents back, he ultimately did not return all of the documents. there was a false statement made to law enforcement. and ultimately they had to literally go and sees the documents against his will. very different situation. >> we don't have a lot of time left. and look, i'm not asking you to weigh in politically, some people said this doesn't mean anything politically in fact, it might embolden him. but if he's indicted, if there's a trial going on. if you could even be found not guilty or guilty during all of this, how does it affect his ability to actually be president again? >> what a big question.

i will just say that as a lawyer, it is obviously very distracting and a very big deal for anyone under criminal indictment or trial. of any of my clients who've had to deal with a very challenging situation for anybody. that said, i'm not even sure that this case could get to trial before the election here in the united states. and even if it did, a mere criminal conviction would not prevent donald trump from serving as president. although it would create quite a crisis if the judiciary was dry to impress in the executive. i don't think it's anything we've seen in the united states before. >> yeah, once again, buckle up. thank you so much, really appreciate your insights here. >> thank you. >> the u.s. state of virginia, joyful occasion turned into tragedy tuesday. police say a gunman opened fire on a crowd of people gathered after a high school graduation ceremony.

at least two people were killed. including an 18 old student who had just graduated. five others were wounded. here is how officials describe the scene. >> as they heard the gunfire, who's obviously chaos. we had hundreds of people in monroe park. people scattered, it was very chaotic at the scene and i can tell you that the person we believe is the perpetrator was detained initially by vcu security. >> police say they have detained that suspect, a 19 year old who they believe may have known one of the victims. >> ukraine and russia are trading blame as questions mount over what caused the collapse of a critical dam in russian occupied southern ukraine. now you are not official says the coach could be quote, the most significant damage to civilian infrastructure since the start of the war. video shows a deluge of water gushing from a huge breach in

the dam after it suffered a collapse. early tuesday. led to mass evacuations amid flooding in towns and cities downstream. including kherson. officials say that more than 1300 homes along the west bank there of the dnipro river appear to be already underwater. now while kyiv and moscow accused each other of being responsible for the clouds, they also acknowledge the destruction will cause severe environmental damage. cnn's sam kiley has more. >> a new phase in russia's war on ukraine, a dam under moscow's control burst. soon vast areas downstream were flooded including parts of kherson city. ukraine and its allies blamed russia for the breach but that might have backfired. >> he escaped, but according to a ukrainian officer who commands a team in the area,

many russian troops who hold the east bank of the dnipro did not. >> positions were fully destroyed, they have a lot of people. they are just running. trying to evacuate themselves. they left the positions. they left weapons, equipment, ammunitions. and vehicles, including armored vehicles. >> if this is to ukraine's advantage, can you be sure ukraine didn't destroy the dam? >> no, ukraine did not destroy the day. because that's the problem for us to. the main problem is surveillance. a lot of them need evacuation now. >> [sound of artillery] ukrainian drone footage has been held back by the government amid a campaign of secrecy surrounding its plan counteroffensive. satellite imagery shows the dam

suffered structural failure at the end of may. as the late waters above broke through. it has been under russian control since march of last year. >> it was mined by the russian occupiers and they blew it up. >> russia says ukraine did it to offset battlefield losses in the east. but again, ukraine civilians suffer. 80 settlements, tens of thousands of people face flooding. clean water and power systems destroyed in kherson. >> everything is going to die here, living creatures, all the birds. everything will die. people will be drowned. >> ukraine evacuated civilians entrances waters. rose they now face an ecological and humanitarian disaster. but one that might offer a military advantage. sam kiley, cnn, kharkiv.

>> cnn's clare sebastian is following developments for us in joins us now live from london. clare, just so much to try and go through here when you look at the scope of this tragedy. in terms of how ukraine will cope with such a catastrophic piece of infrastructure being damaged this way, what more do you know about that. and of course the evidence of who may be behind this? >> paula, the intensity of the flooding we are hearing certainly from ukrainian officials in kherson. decreasing on day two now. of this unfolding. also on the russian side, the mayor of the town where the hydroelectric power plant is saying. one of those decreased. no longer exist. you get a sense of the summer shade other. right now in terms of the

cleanup, and evacuations they are continuing. but as for what is exactly happening. it's not clear. both sides are blaming each other. whether it was a structural failure. we have one from late may which shows close up these sort of structure of the dam. take a closer look at the middle of the image. we can now fast forward. the breach, move to that image. there you can see a piece of the structure and think. we don't know how. but it is clear there was damage to the dam that predates. having said, that both sides are stepping up rhetoric. president zelenskyy accusing russia of saying they will face criminal liability. multiple officials saying this is an act of sabotage.

one thing both sides agree on though is that there will be widespread and long spread consequences of this. and i think in particular the people of kherson suffering as they have for many months. this is a region, a city of what ukraine took back from march in november. it has been around a list the shelter ever since. and catastrophe unfold, you know one person killed in the region. 60 70 kilometers north of mykolaiv region, hearing of bridges collapsing there. the dnipro river, you can see that this is not isolated to a particular area. >> hour after hour, class of action for us, thank you for giving us the update. now a great day, when we come back for golf, sell it to the saudis. details on the new lines between pga tour and liv golf.

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when i'm from cnn world sport anchor don riddell. >> for the past, year the world of men's professional golf has been in a state of civil war. now it seems that the embattled factions of cultures. on thursday, morning the pga tour, dp world tour and the saudi backed breakaway live tour announced they were in business together. it was an absolutely stunning development. it is a remarkable you turn for the pga tour whose commissioner jay monahan said this about live a san diego. >> thank you have to be living under iraq to not know that there are significant implications. and as it relates to the families of 9/11, i've to families who are close to me that lost loved ones. so my heart goes out to them and i would ask any player who has left or ever consider

leaving, have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the pga tour. >> so when they became a reality with its first tournament outside london last year, they managed to lure some of the game's top players with contracts with tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars. as a result, the players were suspended from the tour. now we learned they will be allowed to return to the tours at the end of the season. so no wonder phil mickelson tweeted this. within minutes of the announcement. awesome day today, smiley face. it will be that those players, guys like mickelson, dustin johnson, brooks koepka, patrick reed and bryson dechambeau cube all of that money and return to the full? and if so, how are the loyal to a place supposed to feel about that? roy mcilroy was the most outspoken of it. became nosed golf's moral compass. but last month said he did not want to talk about a more. he said it was hurting his game.

he said quote, roy mcilroy took a stand from what he believed is right. peña can't be measured. so that by the very thing that he was trying to defend. there is still so much that we do not know about all of this. no doubt there will be a lot of reaction from this. next week we have another major tournament. the u.s. open in los angeles. there are of course going to be winners and losers. who they are will be depend on your point of view. but golf fans should be happy because now they can see their favorite players on the same golf course. at the same time. the big question must be, i will cost? back to you. >> thank you to don riddell. there still to come for, us a historic day in court for prince harry. who testified for hours and faced grueling cross-examination in a phone hacking lawsuit. we have the latest on the travel from london.

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>> prince harry will be back in court in the coming hours to finish his testimony in a lawsuit against the british tabloids. he faced hours of questioning

tuesday. including a grueling cross examination with phone hacking claims against group newspapers. cnn's max foster has the details from london. >> prince harry's years long battle with the tabloid press, reaching its most dramatic moment yet. as he arrived at london's hard court to testify in a landmark trial against british publisher and gm. court sketch is showing a senior royal in a witness box for the first time in more than 130 years. prince harry's tell-all mom our spare, and recent netflix documentary have detail so many of the princes grievances with the press. what she partly blames for his decision to leave the uk. and life is a working royal. >> while this is the duke of sussex's first time giving evidence, it's just one of several lawsuits filed by him and his wife meghan in which

they accuse british tabloids of breaches of privacy and publishing false stories. the duke of sussex's central allegation in this, case the publishers, journalists hacked his phone and others in a circle. using other illicit means to gather information about his life. between 1996 and 2009. he alleges about 140 articles published by m gm contained information that was gathered using unlawful methods. 33 of the articles include stories of his time in his school uneaten. caveola. stories such as these about is for serious relationship with being considered at the trump. he says that these invasion of privacy, especially when he was a minor, calls him distress. affecting his mental health. speaking in court, in a measured and hushed tone, harry accused some british editors angela analysts of having blood on their hands. for the distress that caused

him. adding that perhaps inadvertently death. referencing his mother princess diana. faced forensic and detailed questioning from mgm's lawyers andrew green. green question how the articles in harry's witness statement could've caused him to stress. if the duke was unable to specifically recall reading each article. when they were published. greene also pressed terry on whether the articles contained information that could only have been obtained through illegal means. just phone hacking. >> harry believes the uk pressing government are iraq bottom. according to the witness statement. his time in london isn't over yet. he is expected to continue giving evidence wednesday. max foster, cnn, london. >> for more on this, i'm joined by a broadcaster, presenter in the uk. joins me from london. thank you for weighing in on this as we wait for more

cross-examination. that was an extraordinary in court by all accounts. you will face more of it today. i do you think you will stand for this in the sense that there was mixed reaction, as to how he weathered this in the first instance. >> max's word grueling is exactly right. there were no fireworks at all. instead what you got is a number of celebrities on one hand feeling extremely violated. yeah a group on the other hand. this is a legal trial. prince harry's general level of unhappiness and trump are not legally up for question. and the entire culture of british tabloids, that is not on the stand. what prince harry is going to have to prove is that all of 147 specific articles, newspaper articles he put forward, information and that was produced through

surveillance, hacking, private investigations. reading somebody else's voicemails. a mere group are not saying that any of this is okay and fine in dandy. what they are saying i think is two contrary, could you have been betrayed by your friends and family and people and they will hustle. is it on us or is it on your side of things. this is why you have this level of disjunction of prince harry repeatedly having to say look, i don't exactly remember the moment that this article 74 b was read to me. and it's going to be like this for the whole number of weeks that this trial runs to. a huge feeling of overwhelming violation nda taken from the side. their legal arguments from the side of the mirror group. >> when you say the mirror group, this is their point

right? they say perhaps the information to leaks, we didn't do anything illegal. yes. >> maybe it's true, maybe it's not true. but that is the legal length they're standing on. precisely because they will never be a moment in british culture where you have the entirety of tabloid culture's staining have been going, yes it is to jan. we are not very nice. we gossip about the rich. we go around looking to peoples, they will not really be that moment. i get the feeling that is what prince harry wants. he wants a massive mea culpa on behalf of an entire culture. and i don't think that will happen. >> to that mea culpa, you've laid out that legally that is not exactly possible. because that is not the case is about. do you think that any verdict of kill at this point in time would change the behavior of the tabloids? >> it might incrementally.

but what establishes, this entire culture tends to do is even when given a little bit of a slap on the wrist, even when you've had entire media groups closed down or reconfigured, they are rising again. and they are either more careful the next time to do whatever it was they were doing in the first place, where they find loopholes in the law. they find a way to stretch legal limits. so that what they are doing is always in the realm of possible deniability. the argument the tabloids will always use, and i don't think it is an untrue one is to say look, there is an almost public interest in this. we just go after cookson views on paper. and if the general public were not completely lapping it up, we wouldn't do any of it. and i will say that celebrities in royalty, who are also celebrities of course. our happy with good press. i'm not very happy with the more intimate process. >> certainly the scope of the issues on trial here are fast.

we will continue to see what happens in the coming hours, thank you so much for discussing it with us. appreciate it. >> now hundreds of wildfires are leading the scenes like this. smoky, hazy skies. hazardous air quality from millions of people in canada. and the northern united states. the latest health warnings next.

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>> this was the scene at yankee stadium in the bronx tuesday night a smoke from canadian wildfires drifts over much of the northern united states. several states have issued warnings for hazardous unhealthy air. i mean look at, that look how thick that. is new york city was second only to delhi for the world's worst air quality tuesday. the mayor urging residents to limit their outdoor activities. tracking decisions and seeing temperatures have ignited an extreme really start to the

summer wildfire season. cnn's lauren garry has more. >> from the city that never sleeps, to the city that can barely rate. new york briefly topping the list of world sports just air quality tuesday by ike you are not called. iconic views in a haze as smoke from canadian wildfires drifts into the u.s.. across the northeast and midwest, millions of people are under varying air quality alerts. several cities designated as having unhealthy air for sensitive groups. meaning small children and elderly should reduce after activity. in parts of pennsylvania and new jersey, another threat on tuesday, lightning. rare dry thunderstorms are forecasted in the mid-atlantic. four storm prediction center says conditions are primed for possible wildfires spread. >> fires -- >> canadian officials say they're tracking more than 400

active fires and 26,000 people were forced to evacuate. unsure of what they have left. i want to go home. and i'm sure everybody else here does to. >> the country's prime minister made a public appeal for donations to help fire victims. >> people can support their neighbors who are facing incredibly devastating losses. all across the country. >> back in the, u.s. forecasters are watching a cold front that could push the smoke further south and east. before weeks and. i am lora aguirre reporting. >> i'm paula newton, for international viewers world sport is up next. for viewers here in north america, i'll be back with more cnn newsroom. after a short. great pport. subaru and our retailers are there to help... by providingng blankets for comfort and warmth and encouraging messages of hope to help support nearlyly threree hundred thousand patiens facing cancer nationwide. we call itit “the subaru love promise.” and we're proud to be the largest automotive donor to the leukemia and lymphoma society.

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mike pence is expected to announce his candidacy for the election later. he comes after finding official paperwork this week. pence to appear at a cnn town hall about wednesday evening. as well will join former new jersey governor chris christie who made his own campaign announcement tuesday new hampshire. this is christy's second run for the right house after dropping out of the republican primary in 2016. christie believes he's best position to take on trump while also drawing independent support away from president joe biden. cnn's omar jimenez has details on chris christie's big reveal. tuesday >> was a town hall event lasting more than two full hours before new jersey governor chris christie said those critical words. i intend to seek the republican nomination for president of the united states. he joins what has been an ever-growing gop field to try

to break through and be the one to secure the nomination over the course of this hour-long event, former governor christie took questions well also making remarks. and while there are a lot of laughs, he highlighted the seriousness of the moment that he believes the country is in. on the precipice of getting bigger or getting smaller. in his words. pointing to monster at the united states history going back to the revolutionary war where he saw leaders on the precipice of making decisions that made the country bigger or made it smaller. and he believes that former president donald trump is one of those people who would make the country smaller. he also in regards to the former president said that the rest of the field has treated him like he who must not be named. for hypothesis like voldemort. take a listen to some more of what crusted say about the former president. >> -- i've seen some of the press coverage of me getting ready to run. and it just seems like chris christie doesn't care about winning -- all he does is --

trump. let me ask you something. how are those two things mutually exclusive? i am going out there to take out donald trump. but here is why. i want to win. and i don't want him to -- one thing for the republican nomination and he's in front of it. and if you want to win go right through him. >> up to this point, former president donald trump has pulled the highest among the gop candidates. and those same polls show governor chris christie needing to do a lot of work. that said, chris christie said that the at -- this point in the campaign season are not usually indicative of who actually gets the nomination, or at, the very least, could be very different from who eventually gets the nomination. and that dynamic is when he intends to capitalize on. he also said, if you are looking for the perfect candidate, he should go ahead and leave the room, speaking of himself. instead, he says, that throughout his campaign, the voters will know him and know what he stands for and it will

be something to look out for, as his campaign, officially, kicks off. omar jimenez, cnn, st. anselm college. >> cnn will host the town hall with chris christie on june 12th starting at 8:00 on the east coast -- republicans from the first four states to vote in the gop race, as well as voters in new york and new jersey. and later today, you can catch our town hall with mike pence, live from -- and take questions from cnn anchor and political correspondent dana bash. it starts at 8:00 in des moines, nine a.m. 9:00 in hong kong -- great for the game. -- lowering away many top golfers, with huge prize money and no cut tournaments. financial backing from a sovereign sovereign wealth fund chaired by saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman to

criticism over the kingdom's human rights record. pga commissioner jay monahan was one of the most outspoken opponents. but he now has a very different outlook. >> i recognize that people are going to call me a hypocrite. and any time i have said anything, i said it with the information i had at that moment. and i said it based on someone that is trying to compete for the pga tour and our players. and so, i accept those criticisms. but the circumstances do change. >> cnn's brian todd has a closer look at this bombshell announcement. but >> a mega business deal that surprised everyone but the tightest power circles in the sport of golf. the u.s. based pga tour announces it will partner with the rival tour it has been trying to fight off for a year, saudi-backed liv golf. >> just how fast and starkly one 8180 happened was -- and nobody knew this was

coming. >> -- luring away top pga players like -- and dustin johnson. it reportedly offered superstar tiger woods between 700 and 800 million dollars to join, which woods turned down. the pga tour fought tooth and nail to stem liv golf's momentum, borrowing defecting players from competing in some events, engaging in legal disputes with the saudi tour. what's changed? >> the money went out in the end. the saudis had way more money than the pga tour. the pga tour, i guess, came to a conclusion that they couldn't -- didn't have the resources to continue. >> now, one of america's most iconic sports entities teams up with a tour backed by wealth fund -- known as mbs, the crown prince of saudi arabia, the man who u.s. intelligence said approved the operation which led to the murder and dismemberment of washington post columnist jamal khashoggi in 2018, which been salomon has denied.

>> basically, the headline is, never mind. everything we talked about, the pga tour, how they spoke about the 9/11 families and they're concerned about the murder of jamal khashoggi, that's all out the window. the pga tour has win to out. let's just say what it is. >> a year ago, pga commissioner jay monahan told cnn this about the -- >> as relates to the families of 9/11, i have 2 families that are close to me that have lost loved ones. so, my heart goes out to them. and i would ask any player that has left or any player that would ever consider leaving, have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the pga tour? >> this is what monahan says now about the merger to cnbc. >> we've recognized that, together, we can have a far greater impact on this game then we can working apart. >> analysts say the new deal gives the saudis power they have not had before in the

world of sports. >> they are leaping for joy. they are dancing through the streets. because they have won. >> and it's not just golf with the saudis have shelled out massive sums of money for high profile events and stars, with a critics call sports washing. they've invested huge sums of money in formula 1 racing, have lower tennis's biggest names to compete in tournaments there, have paid soccer's biggest stars hundreds of millions of dollars to compete there, and have even stage wrestlemania events. brian todd, cnn, washington. >> now, as you heard, the pga tour's decision to partner with liv golf outrage many families of the -- 9/11 terror attacks -- she's the chair for 9/11 families united. the group says they are, quote, shocked and deeply offended by the decision. >> i'm just completely disgusted with his choice to side with the kingdom when, yes, he used the 9/11 families -- our pain and are suffering to

promote his choice to say no to everything about liv golf a year ago. and now, like you just said, it's a complete 180. and saying that this is going to be good for golf, this is going to be good for our players -- he sold out every single one of us. he's old turned his back on the 9/11 community -- the american people. and for what? what changed that he decided to do this and to take a stand with the kingdom and against the 9/11 families? it is despicable. he is disgusting. >> tiger woods and rory mcilroy were 2 of the most opponents of liv golf when it launched last soon june. reports say that they and the other -- were not aware of the partnership -- some of them learned about it, in fact, from twitter. cnn spoke with u.s. open 2021 champion bryan dechambeau -- 9/11 families. listen. >> --

never be able to pay the families back for what exactly happened just over 20 years ago. and what happened is definitely a horrible. and i think, as time has gone on, and 20 years has passed, we are in a place now where it is start trying to work together to make things better as a whole. i have deep sympathy -- i don't know exactly what they are feeling. i can't ever know what they feel. but i have a huge amount of respect for their position and what they believe, nor do i want anything like that to ever occur again. i think, as we move forward from that, we've got to look towards a pathway to peace, especially -- and forgiveness -- especially if we are trying to mend the world and make it a better place. i think this is what they are trying to accomplish -- liv is trying to accomplish, the p i f pif he's trying to accomplish -- >> dechambeau east a statement in february of last year committing to the pga tour. he eventually joined the liv

golfer just a few months later. all, right i'm paula newton, thanks for your company. i'll be back with more cnn newsroom in just a moment. stay with us. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ hi, i'michael, i've lost 70 pounds on golo. i spent ousands on other diets

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