recovering. he underwent intestinal surgery to treat a hernia that had been getting painful. according to sources it was likely related to a surgery in 2021. the pope is 86 and back at work. he is expected to remain at the hospital, though, for the next ten days. the pope did not only have half of his colon two years ago, he also had part of a lung removed after suffering pneumonia as a young man. tonight, though, he is back to work, and we wish his speedy recovery. thanks so much for joining us. thanks so much for joining us. "ac 360" starts now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good evening. tonight on "360," lawyers for the former president are told their client is a target in jack smith's probe, as the former vice president is running. american cities shrouded in

smoke because of canadian wildfires. 75 million americans under air quality alert. when will the smoke clear? plus amanda gorman has her book pulled from a miami area grade school because one parent complained. turns out the parent never actually read the book. we begin with the growing legal jeopardy that former president trump faces in the federal documents investigation. a letter from the justice department to the former president's attorneys saying he is a target in a federal investigation. it's often but not always a strong sign that the person in question will be indicted. it is hard to overstate the unprecedented nature of this latest development. kaitlan collins joins us now with what we know. what is the latest on this letter and what is the trump team reaction? >> we haven't gotten a formal reaction from the trump legal team so far. we do know that justice department prosecutors did inform the former president's legal team that he is a target in that federal investigation into whether or not there was

mishandling of classified documents, of course an investigation that we've been tracking closely here at cnn. the reason this is significant for people sitting at home is that this could mean that the special counsel's investigation is moving closer to a possible indictment of the former president. it's not guaranteed, of course. and i should note that we have several sources on this. they have not directly seen this letter, anderson, but they have been informed of it and its contents. so, this is a troublesome sign, obviously, for the former president's legal team. i spoke to one person in their orbit who said, yes, everyone is alarmed by this. it's a great cause for them. the question, of course, what happens next, remains to be seen. it doesn't mean he will be indicted, but it's not a sign and not a letter that any legal team wants to get. >> and has the former president himself addressed this somewhere? >> he's writing on truth social today. he said earlier, quote, no one has told me i'm being indicted and i shouldn't be because i've done nothing wrong. but i've assumed for years that i'm a target of the weaponed doj

and fbi. it's obvious to point out here, not being told that you're being indicted is not the same as not receiving a target letter. you would get the target letter before the actual indictment, what happened. and trump also spoke to maggie haberman of "the new york times." he denied he's been told he's being indicted. that's different than saying you have not gotten a target letter from the doj. i should also remind viewers that earlier this week, trump's attorneys went to the justice department to meet with justice department officials. they were in the fourth floor of that building. jack smith, the special counsel, was in the room for that meeting. but i'm told he did not say a word in there. he walked in there, he said hello, he said good-bye, but he did not have anything else to say in that meeting, which was more of the trump team airing their grievances, their complaints about the special counsel's investigation. >> in term of a time line or next steps, it could be very quick. >> it could be quick. we don't exactly know. this is kind of uncharted territory in what exactly this would look like.

i should note that it doesn't guarantee that trump is going to be indicted here. but this is the likely pattern. now, of course, trump will have a chance to respond to this, to come in and basically push back on the -- on what the prosecution has here to defend himself. we don't know what the next steps here are going to look like. we just know that they have recently been informed of this letter. and it comes as there's been, you know, all these questions and reporting about what is at the center of this investigation. and we've seen just a trove of evidence that jack smith does have, whether it ranges from the cell phone of a maintenance worker or that audio recording of him talking about classified documents that was part of mark meadows writing his book. certainly a lot of things adding up here, as we do believe this investigation is coming to an end. there is more late word that steve bannon, the former president's one time strategist was subpoenaed to go before the

grand jury. sara murray has that. what have you learned? >> we have learned that steve bannon has been subpoenaed for documents and testimony. this came about a month ago. and bannon is someone who, you know, was riling up the gop base, spreading falsehoods about the 2020 election on his podcast. he predicted all hell would break loose a day before the january 6th attack on the capitol. you know, this is what prosecutors are focusing on with bannon is the january 6th investigation. you know, according to the book, "peril," he was talking to trump in 2020 and urging trump to focus on january 6th, focus on the electoral college. it is an indication that even as the mar-a-lago documents probe may be winding down, there are still witnesses that the justice department, the jack smith team, wants to hear from or try to hear from on the january 6th investigation. >> so, is there any indication of whether bannon will cooperate or has? >> well, that's a great question. we've reached out to him and his attorney for comment to see how

they're going to proceed with this. and you know, bannon was subpoenaed by the january 6th committee that was investigating the attack on the capitol, the house january 6th committee. he defied that subpoena. he was convicted of criminal contempt of congress and sentenced to four months in prison. and a judge put that sentence on pause while he appeals some of, it's unclear exactly how bannon is going to wrangle now with this federal subpoena. >> joining us now is senator riggleman. congressman, what do you make of this reporting that the former president has been told he's a target of the classified documents case? >> i think it's not a big surprise, you know, with the -- i don't believe in coincidences, anderson, so when you see mark meadows, him being questioned, some of the reporting we've seen there, i think mark meadows has always been center of the january 6th events. we saw in the data, anderson. if we go back a year ago and we said he's the roadmap, the text messages, meadows was involved

with everything. and i have never -- i think it's part of his m.o. you saw him going down on his knees with bainer after he failed to oust bainer from the speakership. we got the text messages, i was so surprised that we had that treasure trove of text messages, which indicated a roadmap. it's not a surprise to me that meadows is talking to jack smith. it's not a surprise to me that he could be a very key witness in not on the classified documents case but also january 6th. i think they have the data they need to pursue this in a great manner. >> even in the case in georgia, he went down to georgia, he was involved in that effort as well. he's really at the nexus of this. what do you think the likelihood is that he may have struck a deal? >> you know, it's absolutely possible. i think when you have this sort of overwhelming verified forensic evidence, it's very difficult to get away from that. we saw that in the j-6 committee with over 30 million lines of data. jack smith and his law enforcement authorities have more access to data than the j-6

committee. not only did they get phone calls, they probably have geolocation data, communications, virtual communications, whether it's emails, smss or mmss or landlines. with that kind of warrant authority and subpoena authority, my guess is there's people in real trouble. and my guess is when you see people come in to talk and talking for the hours they're talking, i think you're seeing them dead to rights and you're seeing the dominos fall. >> there are phone calls to the white house on january 6th that were not identified to the january 6 committee. do you think it's possible jack smith might have been able to identify where some of those calls were from? >> i wish they did. you know, i asked for those for months. i want to know about the white house phone numbers that we found. we do know that oath keepers were texting white house staff. we also know that the white house called a writer. your own network reported the

name of that individual. we know that there's phone calls to the white house that we could not identify the other end of the call. my guess right now, they have so much data. we delivered 30 million lines of data. they could be looking at the actual switchboard calls, the phone calls in the white house right now. we don't know that. my guess is that they're pretty good at this. my guess is that they did get our data in some way or some fashion because we had to send it back to congress. so, right now, it would be really interesting after one year, anderson, after we talked about this, it would be really interesting to see if they do have those white house phone numbers and if there's other individuals that are going to call us in and shock us all. >> what about steve bannon? there's new reporting he was subpoenaed in the january 6th doj probe, he obviously didn't cooperate. he obviously defied the january 6th committee. he was convicted in federal court, we should also point out, and later pardoned by the former president. >> well, i think with steve bannon, anderson, you know -- >> i'm sorry. he was convicted of contempt -- he was convicted of contempt of

congress. >> contempt of congress, yes, sir. and i think, anderson, with bannon, i call him the four horsemen of the grifter verse. you have steve bannon, alex jones, and mike flynn. they practice good operational security. the thing we're going to find in the data is that their assistants did not. a lot of times the people working for them are making calls to individuals that could be pretty dark or nefarious. i think bannon could be in trouble again. we had access to massive amount of data. the doj, the fbi, they have access to data that i used to use when i was back in the intelligence community. anderson, i'm not telling people to be overly positive. it's been a long time. but i do think when you're looking at these individuals being called in, there are data threads that have been pulled. and i do really want to thank the team that i have, the forensic team. they really are the anonymous heroes. it was hurtful what happened right when i came out to talk

about this. but the thing is, the committee did a good job. what we're seeing is we're seeing what's going to happen in the future. and i want people to understand the data does react how people are going to react to 2024. i think that's where we need to look. we know how they're going to do things. so, i think we need to look to the future to stop these type of activities going into the 2024 election. more now on all that would come with any decision to charge the former president with legal primes. elliott williams is with us tonight. when someone has been notified by federal prosecutors that they are the target of an investigation, how common is it for that notification to be followed by an indictment and when? >> extremely common, anderson, and relatively soon that have. it would be highly unlikely for any target to receive a letter and not get charged. what a target letter means is that the justice department has what's called substantial information or substantial evidence linking that person to a crime and they are a primary target of an investigation.

it's also the suggestion it's not just the people around that person. it's that person themselves. it's not a requirement that the justice department charge that person with a crime. but it would be unlikely for it not to happen within a relatively short time thereafter. >> based on what we know publicly, if an indictment is handed up to the former president -- if -- what are the likely charges. >> obstruction of justice is likely. we know that -- at least the reporting suggests that the target letter was related to the documents probe, not the january 6 probe. at least that's my understanding. number one will be obstruction of justice. number two, possible destruction of documents or removal or retention of documents. each of those things could potentially be a separate crime. or the mishandling of defense information as well, but that's another crime as well. it's a number of different crimes that could be at play here, not all tied to whether they were classified documents, just merely that they were

government property that was sensitive in a place it shouldn't have been. and potentially an investigation got tampered with. >> what are your thoughts on the florida grand jury that continues to hear testimony in the federal investigation? can you learn anything from the fact that the focus seems to have moved to that location? >> the very important caveat we don't know, you really bring a grand jury in another state because thing about bringing charges there, different crimes -- the justice department charges crimes based on where they happen. a document retention or possession crime may take place in different places, right? it's something that was taken from washington, d.c. but brought to florida and maybe destroyed or mishandled in florida. that's probably two different crimes. same thing with obstruction of justice. it may have happened in one place or another. my guess is that the justice department would be looking at bringing charges in the places that they'd have the clearest and most obvious venue. that seems like florida, but again it remains to be seen

based on the evidence they have the crimes they're charging. >> if mark meadows did choose to answer questions when he testified before a grand jury, rather than simply take the fifth, what -- i mean, he was involved in so many different things. what questions do you think are the top priority for the justice department? >> oh, goodness. there's two big buckets of things that mark meadows could testify about. so, first, on january 6th, he would have been in the oval office with the former president as january 6th was playing out. so, he would have been privy to conversations with the president or overheard other conversations that the president had with other people. and he can testify to that. he can testify as to conversations he had with third parties. and remember that mark meadows is a former member of congress and would have been or potentially could have been a liaison or speaking to members of congress who were seeking to either overturn or disrupt the election. so, there's plenty -- >> i mean, everybody had mark meadows phone number, it seems. >> everybody -- i mean, the text

messages, the conversations, it's all there, and he can be asked about all of that with respect to january 6th. >> now, moving to documents -- let's just call it the la fair document. and there's plenty there, given that as white house chief of staff in his role, he would have been, number one, just the most senior person in the white house and both the political aide and a policy aide, but also the liaison to the national archives. any time he got information from the archives about where documents were or what should have been done with them, he can testify about that. and whether the president was put on notice that he needed to send documents back, he can provide evidence on that as well. >> elliott williams, appreciate it. i want to get perspective from democratic congressman and former january 6th committee member jamie raskin. congressman, great to have you on. how likely, in your view, is an indictment of the former president? >> well, it truly seems like they're closing in on the target and the person who undoubtedly

set all of the events of january 6th into motion. i mean, i recall one of the things we've learned in the january 6 committee was that all of the right-wing protests against biden were set up for january 20th, for inauguration day, as if to say, we are going to be your opposition. we question you and so on. but not january 6th. but donald trump got everybody to switch it to january 6th. he galvanized the focus on january 6th. so, you know, donald trump really is the mastermind and the ringleader of the entire operation. and i think that it's his intimates and his enablers in his vicinity who have now been called forward, including steve bannon and including mark meadows. so, nobody knows what's going on with the investigative questioning. but it certainly seems like it's a serious and methodical investigation. >> what about -- i mean, from what you know and mark meadows cooperated for a short time with

the committee, handed over some important text messages and then chose not to cooperate. what do you make of his role in all this, how important he would be? >> well, right. he was sort of doing the hoke key pokey, 1 foot in and 1 foot out. when trump dot mad at him, he pulled the plug on his participation. but you'll recall from the january 6th hearings, cassidy hutchinson recording in a lot of different ways that mark meadows was really privy to what was going on with donald trump. >> and also cassidy hutchinson's testimony was so stunning to your committee, and she was just kind of an ear witness and an eyewitness to a couple of things. she was adjacent to mark meadows. mark meadows would have seen everything or heard, certainly, exponentially more than she did. >> and he intimated to her at numerous points that donald trump wanted to keep the insurrection going. he didn't want to interfere.

and of course we know through his inaction that he did not operate like the commander in chief. he did not get in touch with the armed forces. he did not get in touch with the local police. he did not activate the national guard. but what we need is more intd cations of what he was affirmatively saying during that time. and undoubtedly, mark meadows was in a position to know. >> do you think, if he was offered a deal and he took it, do you think that would have been a good move by this special counsel? >> well, yeah. i mean, look, mark meadows proved to be a very weak chief of staff. i mean, what i took from all of the people who testified about him before a committee was that he agreed with whomever was talking to him at the time. but fundamentally, he would go with whatever donald trump's will was. so, he was really an empty vessel for donald trump's determination to stay in office and overgrow the 2020

presidential election. so, i think trump was obviously the mastermind and ringleader, not mark meadows. so, i think it would make sense to, you know, figure out how to get his complete comprehensive, truthful testimony. that makes sense to me. >> sources are saying, telling cnn, that steve bannon has been subpoenaed to provide documents and testimony to a federal grand jury regarding january 6th. he famously defied a subpoena with your committee, was found guilty of contempt of congress. what would you like federal prosecutors to ask steve bannon if he testified? he had the war room thing. there's a lot he theoretically would know. >> yeah. let me take one moment to observe that the people we held in contempt in the last congress, like steve bannon or dan scavino or peter navarro, were people who did not provide a single document to our committee and did not come and testify before our committee and utter a single sentence before us.

so, it was primarily people like that. whereas, they're talking about holding the fbi director, christopher wray, a trump appointee, in contempt for actually turning over a document, giving the majority exactly what they wanted to see. but they just want to be able to keep it and to, you know, distribute it as they see fit. but he overwhelmingly and substantially complied with what exactly they were asking for. but in any event, look, steve bannon, i think, was primarily involved at the strategic and philosophical level for donald trump. he was trying to develop a plan based on how the electoral college works, based on the convening of congress in joint session, kicking everything into the house of representatives for so-called contingent election. i think that he was probably involved in trying to get vice president pence to step outside

of his constitutional role and simply declare that certain states' electoral college votes wouldn't be accepted. so, i would want to ask him about all of that. what was the grand theory of how they were going to overturn the election in the final analysis? and what was the interaction contemplated between the violent insurrection, the unleashing of the extremist groups against us with the inside political coup, the attempt to put the oppressor on pence and to put a rabbit out of the hat in terms of the machinations of the electoral college. >> it's incredible when you lay it all out. congressman raskin, appreciate it. coming up next, the latest on the smoke, where it's coming from, how to stay safe, and when it might lift. also a conversation with amanda gorman, about how she and other authors are facing off with people who have never read the book they want removed. tourists photographing thousands of mileses

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so, take a look at that. that is the empire state building, about three quarters a mile from across town from where

i'm sitting right now. on any otnight, it would look - earlier today showing manhattan skyline slowly vanishing. take a look at that behind the wall of smoke and watching the gray turn to orange, as the sun moved across the sky. it's been surreal. there's also this one passenger's view aboard a flight into laguardia. conditions there forced a ground stop for flights and delayed many other flights across the region. the smoke also triggered health alerts for schools to cancel outdoor activities. although the end could be in sight, the worst isn't over yet. talk about how historic this is for new york city. i mean, i can't think of a time it's been like this. >> reporter: even longtime new yorkers who have seen everything have never seen this. >> i'm a longtime jaded new yorker. >> true, true.

but the air quality index goes from 0 to 500. on an average day, it's around 100 or so. today at 5:00 it was 484. mayor adams said today, the city has not seen this kind of air since the unregulated pollution days of the 1960s. >> canadian wildfires have burned an area 15 times above average for this time of year. and in a world connected by climate crisis, fire and wind are now creating other worldly scenes across the american northeast. and on the streets of new york, a mixture of amazement -- >> i've been living in new york for the most part of 35 years, and i've never experienced anything like this before. >> reporter: -- and concern. >> for years, we've been wearing masks indoors and taking them off outdoors. and now it's the reverse. >> well, we're from australia, and we have a lot of bushfires in australia, so we're used to

this. this season hasn't been as bad. it did shock me how quickly it came in last night. and the air quality was bad later in the evening. >> reporter: the sky over lower manhattan turned from dirty yellow to frightening orange in just a few midday hours. the smoke forcing ground stops in laguardia and the street lights in central park to come on in the middle of the day. the apock lip tick ball in the sky. on quality with new delhi, india. and just today, the american lung association dropped a new report where they examined how many lives would be saved if the u.s. could electrify its vehicle fleet by 2050. it would be almost 90,000 lives saved, and that doesn't account for the prevalence of wildfires, now more common on a planet heated up by fossil fuels. >> the study is really only focused on emissions from those

power plants and the vehicle tail pipe. so, we really need to take a comprehensive view. and that new study really illustrates that making these changes today can help bring out major, major public health benefits over time. >> any number above 300 on the air quality index is considered dangerous for anyone regardless of health. since parts of new york stop 400 today, doctors are bracing for what comes next. >> i'm very worried as pulmonologist, who takes care of patients with copd and lung cancer, asthma, i'm very worried about my patients. patient who is had covid, covid injuries who are may not have had other lung injuries have survived covid only to have this exposure and the risk to them of the reexacerbation of their underlying lung disease. >> how concerned should people be that outdoor pollution is getting indoors? even in my house today, it smelled like smoke.

>> absolutely. we have this sort of false sense of security. we spend 90% of our lives indoors. but the way municipalities come together to make sure your water is drinkable, that doesn't exist for air. you're kind of on your own. and indoor air monitors today were showing three times the level of that tm-2.5 that normally doubles emergency room visiting for asthma sufferers as well. so, now a great time to check. make sure if you have the out the window air conditioner, that it's recycling, not pulling the smoke into your house. and if you have a central ac, good reminder to check those filters. >> appreciate it. now to miguel marquez, who is in lower manhattan. i know you've been covering the smoke throughout the day. what's it like out there tonight? >> reporter: it's a little bit better, but it's sort of -- it got better in the afternoon and then it seems to have gotten worse and worse. i want to show you. we're down in the west village right now. so, just, i don't know, a half

mile or so or quarter mile from the world trade center. i want to try to show that to you if you can see it. the street lights just coming on here, a regular downtown day. it looks like it is foggy here. but that is all smoke. and the shocking and surreal thing about this is that these fires are hundreds of miles away. just a massive amount of smoke in los angeles, in san francisco, in australia, places that are accustomed to this. cities get inundated with smoke. the fires are usually 10, 20, 30 miles away. this is so far away, and there is so much smoke. i mean, people are very concerned. we do see a lot of mask wearing here. we were up in times square earlier. there's a lot of tourists here, people weren't as prepared, not as many masks. you are seeing more mask wearing. it's the kn-95 or the n95 mask that officials say is the best. the best thing is to do is stay home and keep those windows

closed. even that, as you know, is not a panacea for everything with the smoke. it looks like it's going to be with us for a while. anderson? >> miguel marquez, thank you. in florida, take a look at this packed event hosted by a bookstore. it's not a book signing. people were there to support amanda gorman, who donated 1,200 books to be given out, including 400 copies of her book. the books are being restricted after one parent's complaint. gorman's book is titled "the hill we climb," the same title as the poem she read at president biden's inauguration in 2021. months later her book was published and had been available at the school library for all students until one parent's complaint. by the way, that parent did not read the book. now the district says only middle school students have access to amanda gorman's book.

the parent's statement said it includes, quote, hate messages. here are a few of the lines she took issue with. >> we've braved the belly of the beast. we've learned that quiet isn't always peace. and the norms and notions of what just is isn't always justice. and yet the dawn is hours before, we do it, somehow we weathered and witness a nation that isn't broken but simply unfinished. >> and amanda gorman joins us now. it's so great just hearing you do that inaugural poem again. it's lovely. it's great to have you back. i'm sorry it's under these circumstances. when you heard this, what was your initial reaction when you found out that your book was being restricted by somebody who had not actually even read it?

>> i think my first response was this dual experience of shock and grief for the first part because over-40 million people saw that moment at the inauguration. and i couldn't imagine a reason of erasing that from a bookshelf for young leaders to see. and on the flip side, i felt this anguish and pain because so much of the excitement that i had while writing "the hill we cl climb" was in knowing that young people would be able to see themselves represented in this moment in our democratic history. to have that representation taken away from young people just felt devastating. >> you know, this is happening obviously in places across the country. and often it's parents who have not read any of these books. they often just get a list of books from an organization, a conservative organization, that wants books removed. and they send that in and show up at a school board meeting, and the books are taken out.

>> i think you get absolutely to the core of the issue, which is that you can in effect ban, restrict, remove a book like that. all it takes is one person who often isn't a parent or doesn't need to read that work to sign a complaint. and that complaint can be accomplished pretty quickly, as we saw with what happened with my book. that form can even be filled out inaccurately, and that can still lead to that become being restricted for that school, that community, that library. and so what we're witnessing is a real loophole in the educational system, where it's really easy to mobilize a small select group of people to ban thousands of books over time. >> now, to get your book, you've got to go to the media center. you have to -- in the school, you have to prove that you're at a fifth grade reading level in order to get access to the book. that's -- kids aren't going to discover a book like that.

>> no. i think you're absolutely correct. and one of the things that keeps getting said around the circumstances, my book that's been banned and other books that were removed through the elementary school shelves at that same school due to that same complaint. a lot of what gets said is, oh, it's not banned. it's just moved to the middle school. but what you have to keep in mind, exactly like you said, if a child now needs to jump over hurdles of going through a different location, speaking to media specialists, proving themselves worthy and ready of reading a book, those types of hurdles are going to really impede students from having a free-ranging, welcoming experience of being able to pull a book from a bookshelf and experience it. and what you just said also about the role of parents, i am totally accepting and at peace with the fact that not every parent, not every guardian, is going to like my work. and i think that's absolutely

par for the course. but i think the issue is, when one person's dislike for my work leads to everyone else not having access to that book, we're really encroaching on the right to families and parents and teachers and libraries to really create access for that that exists for other people who still want that door open. >> there have been a lot of ques questions about the motivation behind the number of people doing this in school districts. our correspondent ellie reed went to a moms for -- nationwide group of people who are behind this and talked to a leader of a group from moms for liberty. and i just want to play some of what she had to say. >> to me, it sounds like you're saying there's some kind of high-level, coordinated effort to make more children trans and gay. >> yeah. >> well, who's directing that? >> teachers unions and our

president and a lot of funding sources. and teachers unions are also heavily backing the curriculum that we're putting into school. >> why would they want more kids to be gay and trans? >> because it breaks down the family unit, conservative values. it breaks down a lot of things in this country. it changes the way people think. it changes the way people handle politics. >> which is sort of a fascinating unpeeling of the onion that at the core for this woman in particular, she believes this is part of a conspiracy by teacher unions and others to destroy conservative values and destroy the american family. does that make any sense to you? >> it absolutely makes to me and explains why we've seen such an increase and spike in book bans over the past few years. for example, out of the 2,500+ book bans that we saw last year, the majority of them, according

the "the washington post" came from just 11 people. so, this book banning isn't representative of the opinions and instincts of most parents, teachers, students, but from a really small subset of people who believe that they're protecting children from indoctrination of ideas of race, of gender, of sexuality. but at the end of the day, what they're ultimately doing is eradicating the freedom of children and students from exploring those issues in a safe and protected and educational space that can be combined with the love of learning and reading. >> you're also partnering with pan-america to help others speak out against book burning. how can people help? >> absolutely. so, if you want to learn more about book restrictions and removals and also how you can have your voice heard, you can visit pen.org/action.

we've made a web page there where you can get all the information you need about standing up. >> amanda gorman, thanks so much. >> thank you. just ahead, we're going to take you live to ukraine for an up close look at the dangers rescuers are facing trying to help civilians trapped by flood waters after a major dam collapses. which saved investors over $ $1.5 billion last yea. that's decision tech. onlyly from fidelity. when migraine strikes, you're faced with a choice. ride it out with the tradeoffs of treating? or push through the pain and symptoms? with ubrelvy,there's a. one se works fast to eliminate migraine pain. trt it anytime, anywhere without worrying where you are or if it's too late. do not take with strong cyp3a4 inhibitors. allergic reactions to ubrelvy can happen. most common side effects were nausea and sleepiness. migraine pain relief starts with u. ask about ubrelvy. learn how abbvie could help you save.

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tonight, according to president zelenskyy in ukraine, hundreds of thousands are without drinking water after a major dam and power station in russian occupied ukraine collapsed on tuesday. according to the international humanitarian organization, c.a.r.e., land mines have been seen floating in the flood waters. fighting continues. fred pleitgen is in ukraine tonight. >> reporter: raging flood water with whole towns submerged. this yukrainian military drone video purports to show a family trapped, pleading for help. all the small drone can do is drop a bottle of water. we went on a rescue mission in kherson, where the water levels are still rising. so, these guys tell us that they've been at work here since last night. they said the work during the night was extremely difficult and that they're really tired

but of course they have to keep going. they found this house abandoned but rescued three kittens. roman tells me the volunteers face russian shelling on nearly every -- of course, it's extremely dangerous, he says, especially today, it's very loud. russia and ukraine continue to blame each other for the destruction of the nova kakhovka dam and hydroelectric power plant. the ukrainians say on their side alone, hundreds of thousands are without normal access to water, and nearly 2,000 homes are under water. while the rescue efforts are hampered by the constant artillery and mortar barrages. look, we're working despite the possibility of us being shelled. we're taking risks every day, ukraine's interior minister tells me. we understand that this is war, and it is very difficult to completely avoid a drone or incoming missile.

and that dangerous work is far from over. the authorities here say they expect they'll be busy all night getting more people to safety. >> and fred pleitgen joins us now from ukraine. what's president zelenskyy saying about the impact of the dam collapse environmentally and on the situation? >> reporter: well, he's saying it's an absolute disaster and it's unfolding. in fact, anderson, he called it an environmental bomb of natural destruction because of all the oil and fuel being swept into the water there. the authorities warning once again that that water is absolutely toxic. that's one of the things they told us when we were on the ground. and of course it's also a disaster, anderson, that is still very much unfolding and getting worse. throughout the day, the water levels continued to rise, and the authorities are telling us they're probably going to rise for another day and at least need five days for the water to recede once again. but of course the environmental damage is being caused by the

lynn in that area. and more and more people are having to flee. and we saw right there how difficult it is for the authorities to get those people out. the authorities there on the ground were telling us the shelling is ongoing, and they are once again going to spend the entire night trying to get people to safety. >> thank you. coming up. breaking news that the former president has been notified he's the target of a federal investigation, as the possible mishandling of classified documents. that news comes as his former running mate, vice president mike pence joins the race for presidency. what pence's entry into the race means for both their campaigns next. with intuitive tech safety radar detector: watch for trafaffic. and our r most advanced safety system ever. ♪

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wonderful pistachios. get crackin' breaking news this hour. the former president has been informed he is a target in the special counsel investigation into the mishandling of classified documents. we're moments away from a town hall with mike pence who officially declared himself for president today. joining us now is van jones, david axelrod, former senior adviser to president obama. alyssa farah griffin, and former lieutenant governor of governor. alice stewart, scott jennings. alyssa, i want to start with you. it's been reported you were interviewed by federal prosecutors. i know you can't talk about this. this is in recent weeks, part of the special counsel investigation. what do you make of the news the former president has been informed that he is a --

>> i'm most struck by mhow quickly the doj investigation seems to be moving. jack smith seems to be moving on a fast timeline. doj doesn't factor that in. but you react to reality. if they wait too long to moves if an indictment is coming, you end up lining up with the primary season. i think that's hard for the public if it comes during that period to think that it's not for one side of the aisle did not think it's partisan. this is moving remarkably quickly. as far as i would go to say, and i did it voluntarily is they're looking at everything. they're pulling every thread that they can. i think they're very interested in the president's mood and mind-set on the january 6th side, leading up to january 6th. and on the documents about who was advising him on what during the transition. >> then in terms of former vice president pence, he is announcing today what he is going to say tonight. do you think the news of the target letter, do you think that changes anything for what he'll

talk about tonight? >> i bet it changes the question he gets asked. >> a safe bet. >> a safe bet. i think he has been very reticent to weigh in until now. you've seen the past 24 hours a very different mike pence. this is a mike pence that is willing to throw real punches at president trump. i think all bets are off. i am surprised, honestly, that he sounds as pugilistic as chris christie. if trump thought he was going to have a bunch of people who were keep tiptoeing through the tulips and not say anything against him, today changed that, yesterday changed that, tonight is going to change it even more. >> david axelrod, he has certainly been cautious what he's said up to now. >> yes. and let's be clear. today we was very strong on his speech and then went on fox news, having thrown the gauntlet down and picked it up again. he said he could support the president if the president were the nominee. >> it's a requirement to take part in debates from the rnc to

say, to promise that you would support whoever the nominee is. >> right. this is hard. mike pence is in a fix. for three years and 11 months, whatever it is was, he was loyal on the verge being obsequious. and then he did a very courageous thing. and he has managed to tick people off on both sides of the donald trump debate. people very loyal to donald trump think he was a traitor. people who watched over the four years give him credit for what he did, but still hold him accountable for essentially being an apologist for trump over the four years. it's a very tough place to be. >> scott, what do you expect? >> well, i think i'd like to know whether mike pence would pardon donald trump. to me, it's fairly obvious that he's likely i guess to hedge, to be indicted that might lead to a conviction. i think it's a relevant question and probably ongoing in the primary. i think pence is in a different

argument spot than say desantis. desantis' argument against trump is we have to end the culture of losing. the argument mike pence made today is he violated his oath of office and cannot and must not be returned to the white house that is not a political argument that is hard-core american civics constitutional argument. that's a much different argument. how it will land with the republicans, my guess is ca candidly not very well. i don't see much of a lane for mike pence. but if anybody earned the right the run for president, it's the guy who steed stood up for the constitution. >> he is most conservative in the field. >> no doubt. speaking with the evangelicals in iowa, they're welcoming him with open arms, as well as all the other candidates because they are ready to turn the page on donald trump. and you look at someone like mike pence and tim scott and nikki haley and many of these others, asa hutchinson, they have a genuine relationship with the evangelical community. and the faith community. donald trump's relationship was transactional. he says hey, i'll give you the

supreme court justices if you give me your vote. they're done with that. they're ready to have someone that will have the policies that donald trump has but without all of the toxic nature. and what i thought interesting today with mike pence in terms of now he is really going after donald trump, because he has to, but of all the legal issues facing donald trump, he went after the one, to scott's point, outlining the case on the constitution. when you ask mike pence to choose between the constitution and the presidency, he made it quite clear that person no longer deserves to be the president of the united states. and that was a very well explained argument, but also he was very careful to make sure that's the legal issue that he wanted to weigh in as opposed to all the others. and we have bob barr saying of all the issues facing former president on the legal side, this one right here is the most troublesome. >> lieutenant governor? >> yeah, i think going back to david's point, right, mike pence has a place place to call home

camp. the right, the maga crowd is not never going to support mike pence just because of the position he took with donald trump on january 6th. the moderates aren't going to come his way because he has just proven all the way through his political career, he is an extreme conservative. i think campaigns are always defined by surprises, right? all the campaigns i've always been a part of. i think the surprise that's starting to play out right now is the weight and reality of these indictments are real. just imagine, i don't know anybody whose got multiple indictments, federal and state. i don't know how you operate. >> certainly not running for president. >> an hourly job, more or less trying to run for president in 50 states. but the reality of, that so i think the surprise is how weighty that's going to be. the play, in my opinion for the other republicans need to be able to put themselves into position to be the heir-apparent when donald trump falls. and he is going to fall. >> and i do think real quick, with mike pence, he can make the case tonight and going forward that he would be the most qualified and ready candidate on day one to become president. serving as vice president, you

have stood in for the president and n head of state meetings. you've shaken hands with other world leaders. you represent him on the world stage, and you've actually had to make tough choices. wherever you come down on the covid response, when you're dealing with something like massive supply chain issues, the entire eastern seaboard not having food supplies and having to make hard decisions, mike pence did that. he also can make a case, and i want to see him do it that trump's biggest accomplishments wouldn't have happened without him. >> was there in the senate when tax cuts was this close to not passing, but mike pence did arm twisting with his old friend jeff flake, got that across the finish line. unca, he was the one rallying to support it. and he was never one to take credit for things that he did because he was so deferential to trump. >> can i say one thing on alice's point, scott, and sorry i jumped in on you there. but you talk about all the candidates who have relationships with the evangelical community. and pence, his relationship with that community was why trump put him on the ticket back in 2016.

and he became trump's ambassador and trump sort of took that constituency from him. now he is going to have to compete not just with trump, but with scott, with others, hutchinson, others who are going for that same constituency. it's one more complication. if he doesn't win in iowa, with that large, large evangelical community there, he is done. so this is really important to him. >> you know, your point about the weight and reality of trump's legal issues is a good one. but the other side of that equation is does this cause republicans to dig in even more? i mean, if these indictments land, my expectation is that republicans are going to go crazy. they're going see a double standard with biden. they're going to see a double standard with hillary clinton and with others. trump's going to go crazy because this is far more serious than what happened in new york city. my guess is they're going to call for merrick garland to be impeach and put a lot of pressure on republicans in the house. it really is going to be a massive blowup. and there is no guarantee it won't end up politically

benefitting donald trump and causing republicans to dig in. now you could be right. and of course i hope you are. i'm just not certain that's what's going to happen. >> i think 35% of republicans are going to get upset. but a majority of republicans are ready to move on. that's the unfortunate part of this. >> the ones that have already turned their backs on the republican party because of donald trump. those are the ones that all of these other candidates are vying for their vote. and for the trump space, this, again, makes him a martyr. but others, this is final straw. >> thanks, everyone. we'll be back later after the town hall for analysis, following wit mike pence, which starts right now. ♪ [ applause ] good evening and welcome t