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♪ we now have the crucial evidence that is at the center of the special counsel's criminal prosecution of donald trump. >> president i can declassify it. now i can't. >> this is why tapes are gold to prosecutors. >> it bolsters the government's claim under the espionage act. >> one interesting quote is not included in the indictment is that the former president said these are papers. >> you probably almost didn't believe me, but now you believe me. >> no, i believed you. >> it's incredible, right? >> no other american that does something like this that gets away with it. the president can't be any different. russian president speaking out three days after the armed

rebellion led by his former ally. >> this is a weakened russian president and a very angry one indeed. >> we made clear that we were not involved. this was part of a struggle within russian system. >> russian officials say they're dropping charges against the wagner group for armed insurrection. >> also putin tried to get back some of the authority that certainly lost over the last couple days. >> we're beginning to see the fish sures at the highest moment of tension in putin's regime. ♪ good morning, everyone. we're so glad you're with us. and if you went to bed at 8:00 last night and not 8:05 like i did, you missed something pretty big. that is cnn exclusive. >> cnn exclusive, the audio tape, what we reported, cnn reported first several weeks ago, the transcript. now there's the audio. now you know the basis and why prosecutors appeared to feel very confident about their case against former president. we'll play that and more. >> to hear it is really everything. former president trump on tape

in his own words bragging about holding military secrets he did not declassify as president. that's what he says. this recording was made at trump's bedminster new jersey golf club in 2021. hear the moment trump appears to indicate that he was holding a pentagon document containing plans for an attack on iran. listen. >> these are bad, sick people. >> that was your coup. you know. against you. >> well, started right at the beginning. >> milley is talking about, oh, you were trying to do a coup. no, they were trying to do that even before you were sworn in. that's right. trying to overthrow -- >> well, with milley. let me see that. i'll show you an example. he said that i wanted to attack iran. isn't it amazing i have a big pile of papers. this just came up. look. this was him. they presented me this. this issed or the record. but they presented me this.

this was him. this was the defense department and him. >> wow. >> we looked at some. this was him. this wasn't done by me. this was him. all sorts of stuff. pages long. let's see here. >> yep. >> isn't that amazing? this totally wins my case, you know. >> uh-huh. >> except it is highly confidential, secret. secret information. look at this. >> hillary would print that out all the time, you know. private email. >> send it to anthony wiener. >> yeah. >> pervert. >> please print. >> by the way, isn't that incredible. >> yeah. >> wow. we were talkining about it. he wanted to attack iran. >> you did. >> this was done by the military, given to me. i think we can probably -- >> i don't know. we'll have to see.

we'll have to try to -- >> declassify it. >> yeah. >> as president i could have declassified it. now i can't. >> now we have a problem. >> isn't that interesting. >> yeah. >> so cool. look -- you probably almost didn't believe me, but now you believe me. >> no, i believed you. >> incredible, right? >> the audio you just listened to is crucial evidence in federal prosecutor's case against trump over his alleged mishandling of classified information after he left the ite house. overnight, trump responded writing on truth social, quote, the deranged special prosecutor jack smith working with the doj and fbi leaked and quote spun a tape a transcript of me which is rather an exoneration rather than what they would have you believe. sara, when you listened to this, when you talked to lawyers and

sources, how damning do they feel like this audio is? >> reporter: you know, i think one of the things that's striking is we heard from folks before we ever heard the audio tape that it will be clear to you when you finally do hear the audio why this is such a boon for prosecutors, why this is so damning for donald trump. but i think when you listen to that audio, i mean, you hear him saying things like, i'll show you an example. these are the papers. and then there's this sort of rustling sound again where he appears to be referring to this document about a potential attack on iran and he's in this meeting we know with auto biographers working on a mark meadows autobiography with two sta staffers, none of whom have clearance. he no longer has the power because he's no longer the president of the united states, to declassify it. and he sort of callous in how he's discussing this. everyone is laughing. he's talking about bring me some cokes in. at one point a staffer says now you have a problem when he's talking about how this is not a

declassified document. and so there's this very sort of jokey tone around passing around or shuffling some of the nation's top secrets. >> do we know where these documents are? i know it seems like a really simple question, but they did a private company did a search of bedminster and says they didn't find anything. the fbi didn't oversee that search. that's not odd. they wouldn't. but i think the question is now, do they have the document? if they don't, are that going to search bedminster? >> yeah. it's a simple question without a simple answer at this point, poppy. it would be late in the game to be doing another search given the fact that this has been charged. we know that the trump team was subpoenaed for this document. they weren't able to produce it. but what we don't know is if prosecutors may already have this from the boxes that were returned to the archives from an earlier search. we don't know that at this point. we do know, look, there is other corroborating evidence prosecutors may have been able to get. we know they talked to mark milley and one of the other participants in the meeting.

it's probably likely they talked to more participants in the meeting. and we know that there's a description, a rough description, of this document that shows up in mark meadow's book. so prosecutors will be looking to piece together all of that evidence. but let's just take a listen to how donald trump is trying to spin this document on fox. >> there was no document. that was a massive amount of papers and everything else talking about iran and other things. and it may have been held up or may not, but that was not a document. i didn't have a document per se. there was nothing to declassify. these were newspaper stories, magazine stories and articles. >> reporter: so trump wants to say it's newspapers, magazines and articles. we'll wait and see what other evidence comes out as this case proceeds, poppy. >> murray, can i ask you this bizarre, oh this other thing. one of the aides will be arraigned on charges that he helped the former president hide classified document. what are we expecting? >> reporter: well, sort of like a re-do.

walt nauta did not have the appropriate florida counsel at that point. he could not be properly arraigned. we're expecting him to show up again in court for his proper arraignment. we believe he'll enter a plea of not guilty. it should be a pretty quick hearing. it's aimrtant move for the case, though. you ne a of these defendants entered so they can set a schedule that all of these attorneys can agree to and figure out how this is going to proceed. walt nauta a key player who helped donald trump move these boxes around has been charged with misleading investigators, guys. >> sara murray, thank you very much. certainly a big day ahead and a lot of discussion will be about that tape. let's bring in our experts, elie honig, adam kinzinger and margaret hoover. so nice to have you at the table. >> you take your kids to a jungle gym on the weekend when it's raining. >> yes. that's all i do. >> they're constantly screaming and laughing and having fun.

that was these guys for the ten minutes before we got on air trying to do television. >> we bring the fun. >> bring that energy to this. >> i said, isn't it loud in here? we're so glad you're here. thank you, thank you, thank you. let me begin legally, elie. it's one thing to hear it, but for your case you were a federal prosecutor, does this help you so much you can hear it? >> back when i was a prosecutor, smart defense lawyers on the first day of the arrest, the first thing they would say, is this a tapes case, do you have tapes? if you did, how bad is it. if i was asked that here, yes and really, really bad. i mean, we just saw donald trump's statement. he says this is exonerating. i mean, i tried to read this and listen to it with a skeptical ear. how would i approach this as a defense lawyer. i got nothing. i don't know how he -- >> you got nothing? >> on the defense side, i don't know other than trying to exclude it from evidence all together which is not going to work, i don't know how you spin

this other than -- >> what if they can't find the document? >> well, we don't know folks in the jury whether this is a real document or not. even if that's the case, it shows his intent. he knows this is sensitive materials and he's sharing with the world. >> the reaction in that crowd of whoever is onlookers or adorers sitting there with him and i know exactly what that looks like, all sitting around smiling. reaffirming everything he says and he's just look at me. any way, the reaction of when he goes, look at this. and you hear that wow. right? again, the first time i ever saw classified information was in the military. and it kind of takes your breath away. not because there's anything specific. you're just like, i am looking at the secrets of the united states of america. so, i think that reaction in there -- i'm sure these people have testified or looking to get them to testify, that reaction will be like, not just a newspaper article. it's something big with a lot of red that says top secret. >> you also think about how hearing it matters to voters and

to average citizens. obviously the jury and the court is the primary audience here. but i think about friends of ours in iowa who are self identified republican primary caucus goers. and they're not going to be able to defend it either. there's no -- there's only what aboutism. only look over there. that is really the only defense. the tried and true trump defenders can generate under any situation. it's important for the public and political process to just hear him say it. it resonates more. >> compared to his lies to brett bare, all the other explanations and the desperate lie he puts out on truth social which you read which this exonerates me. that's i've got nothing. knowing significant portion of his base will buy it. >> that's a key point by the way as well. this completely undermines all of the publicly stated defenses, i declassified.

this is before he knew that it was going to potentially result in a criminal case. he says could have declassified when i was in office but i didn't it. by the way, let me show you what's in it any way. can't think of a way to defend that. >> can i ask you, a colleague pointed out, in our original story about the transcript which was the first crack in this, it ended up in the indictment as well, now we have the audio tape, our colleague, our great colleague kaitlan collins, katelyn polantz, doing great work. they noted in the story, meadow's auto biographer, an account during the same meeting recalls a four-page report typed up by mark milley information containing the general's own plan to attack iran, deploying massive numbers of troops something he urged president trump to do more than once during his presidency. that's a very specific citation to some degree which seems to align with this. whether or not prosecutors have the document, there seems to be corroboration in the autobiography itself.

do you assume that everybody who was in that meeting has been interviewed, has given their side of what happened? >> absolutely. there are witnesses. let's remember, prosecutors are not going to just play this tape into a void. what you'll do is you'll -- first of all, talk to everyone in that room. the two biographers of mark meadows. the assistant, if you can get the assistant to talk. the person at the end who ever he says go get a coke. could it be walt nauta, we don't know. that's important to know. you'll have someone on the stand narrating it. that's how you get the tape in evidence. you call a person who was there. were you here for this conversation? yes. does this tape accurately portray what you heard? yes. so you'll have someone who will describe really importantly the physical movements. what did he show you? what were you able to see? what did it say on that document. that's really important. they'll have human beings to flesh that out. >> i think what's really important and was a good move in the speaking indictment, i guess. is the citations of donald trump's own words about classified information.

because people forget the whole lock her up chant because of classified stuff. his whole campaign was about classified stuff. to put that there -- and i guess you can probably do it in trial, too. that's important. because it shows the hypocrisy. >> move to strengthen the laws on classified information, which is just so sort of mind blowing in this. >> it's a sign of somebody who doesn't believe they will ever be held accountable for anything or ever held accountable for anything. this may be the very first time. by the way, to your point about the narrative of trump's own words about classified documents, independent expenditures in the three primary states right now running trump's own words about lock her up and classified documents targeted to self identified gop early primary voters. >> yeah. cnn's most recent poll showed softening in trump's support, softening being the operative word when the indictments came out. this adds more fuel to the fire and evidence. >> what was so interesting about what, most independents think

that the indictment is just and have even said that the majority of independents think it's basis for him not running. >> it's all independents. 26% of republicans in that poll said he should drop out of the race on the basis of the indictment alone, yeah. >> big question, tell me how you win the general? i'll look at your primary numbers and grant you them. we'll talk politics later in the show. stick with us. we have a lot more on this. we also have more on what happened over the weekend in russia. just moments ago, president putin spoke in moscow and praised his forces for, quote, stopping a civil war during that rebellion in russia. what comes next. and florida governor ron desantis unveiling hard line border security policy largely mirroring his rival former president donald trump's. how desantis's plan may be more aggressive. that's ahead. ♪

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♪ major developments in moscow this morning. vladimir putin making a live appearance moments ago to thank security forces who defended moscow against the mercenary rebellion over the weekend. the speech comes after putin's regime announced it would be

dropping charges against the wagner mercenary group. >> translator: you defended the constitution, the lives, the security and the freedom of our citizens. you saved our homeland from being shaken up in actual fact. you stopped a civil war. >> we still don't know where the wagner mercenary group's leader is. we have not seen yef goeny prigozhin since saturday when he abruptly stopped his march and struck a deal to go in exile in belarus. this morning the kremlin is refusing to share any details on that agreement. putin is giving the wagner mercenaries i a choice, go home, go to belarus or join the russian military. the fighters are preparing to turn over their heavy equipment to russian troops. let's go to fred pleitgen who joins us this morning. what stood out to you from what

we just heard from putin? >> reporter: it's remarkable that vladimir putin went out and gave that speech in the first place. i think one of the things we can discern from that he is sort of trying to calm down the situation. show he is still in charge of things. interesting about that speech, there was no criticism or critique to the reaction from the security forces when that wagner convoy was rolling towards moscow. of course, yesterday, poppy, we heard from yevgeniy prigozhin himself. we haven't seen him, but we heard from him, justifying himself and saying if he wanted to, he could have rolled all the way to moscow. he said that people who were there on the side of the roads were cheering the wagner mercenaries on. he said they were able to block air bases and military bases along the way. now, here is vladimir putin coming out and praising the russian security forces. i think that's one of the things that he's trying to show that he's in charge, that he's in control. but also the other thing that i think is really important for him right now is to show that

there is still unity within russia. that everybody is on the same page. yevgeniy prigozhin is out of the way now. however, they want to make sure the wagner fighters will remain part of the russian security forces. one of the things we heard last night from vladimir putin which is also very important as well, very late night address where he said, look, they could have stopped this rebellion but would have led to bloodshed, russian on russian bloodshed and that's why they did things the way they did. whether or not that is fully true is obviously something that we don't know. but it is certainly what vladimir putin is trying to portray at this point in time. the big winner in all of this, seems to be alexander lukashenko, the belorussian strong man. we heard from him earlier today. he, of course, brokered that agreement with yevgeniy prigozhin to make him back off there. he was saying that it was painful for him to watch that situation. but i think one of the other things, poppy, that also shows just how dramatic that situation was and how concerned the

leaders there were about the situation. he also said that he had put the forces of belarus on to combat readiness. they were extremely concerned about the situation, poppy. >> it really does. fred pleitgen, thank you for that analysis and reporting. here with us now to discuss, kim dozier, bobby gauche and former cia chief of russia operations, steve hall. steve, i want to start with you. what exactly is president putin thanking his armed forces for doing over the course of the weekend? >> this is less about what he's saying. it's more about damage control and who he is saying it to and why. so first of all, this is sort of the failure of dictatorship 101. you shouldn't have to do damage control if you're the dictator. you're not concerned about what people are saying on the streets. you have no political opposition. so when he's speaking to the security forces. this is a message to his local population, the domestic russian audience.

hey, everything is okay. the thing is that six months ago he never would have had to do that. he wouldn't care what the russian population thought because he has the ability to repress them very easily. when he saw how quickly the wagner troops were able to cut through the security forces. he is concerned about what the russian population thinks let alone other power centers in moscow. it's a serious situation to him. >> kim, so interesting when anne applebaum said to us last hour based on the little resistance, if any, the wagner faced over the weekend, we got a very rare lens into the real russia because state media is so government controlled no, reliable polling, this is was a real lens. do you agree? >> absolutely. prigozhin managed to create a popular following. he's the every man of russia at the front lines speaking for them. some people within russia are hearing from their troops at the front lines that they're not

getting enough supplies, that they don't have enough air cover, itself. and prigozhin gave voice to all of that. and the lack of resistance was a message to putin that we have to tear this guy down. and you're starting to see that. some of moscow's mouthpieces have started going on radio tv talking about prigozhin's past as a criminal, how he ended up spending 13 years in jail because he joked a woman and one of these mouthpieces said that's all you need to know about prigozhin. they're going to start laying out his crimes so that the public sees him as a criminal, not as a challenger to putin's power. >> bobby, you hit on something last hour that steve talked about yesterday, which is prigozhin is not the threat necessarily for putin. it's the people around him, his close inner circle that are watching and keying on everything that's happening right now. to that extent, the idea has

always been that putin has done a masterful job of never allowing any of those people to have a clear runway or to be the next man or woman up. how do you think they're watching what transpired over the weekend? do you think we'll see signs that people are starting to position themselves. >> well, this is true of dictatorships throughout history all over the world. looking out every man in that click is looking out for themselves and looking to see if there's any sign of weakness in the boss. and that's true in moscow, just as it's been true anywhere else around the world. whether or not one of them will step forward to present themselves as an alternative that will depend on their calculations whether it's safe to do so, whether they feel that the military is fully behind the czar in this case. for the moment, i don't think anybody will dare raise their head, but they will have taken note of the fact that one of

their member, prigozhin, came close and as far as we can tell, as yet, there's been no consequences for prigozhin except for being sent off to belarus. belarus is not siberia. he's not sent off to a gu lag, not yet. he is being sent off to belarus. >> it's also not very safe. >> yes, especially if you're in a hotel with a high floor and near a window. but, if prigozhin is allowed -- this is very important for putin. prigozhin is allowed to get away with this, then all the people in his immediate circle, thought goes off in their head saying, well, maybe. and that's the last thing any dictator wants. dictator wants to know people around him are absolutely behind him without any daggers in their hands. >> i think that's why we're hearing that charges have been dropped against anyone who is part of wagner that took part in the insurrection. but, they left it foggy, sketchy about what will happen with prigozhin in terms of

prosecution and also given everyone within wagner until this weekend a deadline to make a choice. go to belarus with prigozhin, sign a military contract or go home. so, by this weekend, prigozhin will know if his fighters stayed loyal to him or if they've seen the writing on the wall and chosen the russian state. >> and if you're lukashenko, you're looking good right now because you've been given the credit for having negotiated this deal. but suddenly you face the prospect of thousands of these absolute cut throats being sent off to your country. they become your responsibility. >> that's right. >> i wouldn't want to be in that position. >> or the country's neighboring them. i'll get yelled at, steve, real quick before we go, what are you watching in the next day or two or four ahead that we should key on? >> i a i agree with bobby. you have to see what will happen to the inner circle here. is anybody going to make a move? there's nothing but damage control going on. looking very bad to the russian

population. putin is in a weak position if he goes further, everyday he survives is a better day for him. we'll see if he gets out of this. >> certainly something to watch. control room, i'm sorry. steve hall, bobby gauche, kim dozier, thank you. appreciate it. florida governor ron desantis unveiling immigration plan that plans to end birthright citizenship. liz cheney also issuing a warning to stop, as she says, these are her words, electing idiots. that's ahead. ♪ neuriva plus i is a multitasker supporting 6 key indicators ofof brain health. to helelp keep me sharp. neuriva: think bigger.

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♪ florida governor ron desantis on the campaign trail outlining his border security plan that includes a vow to end birthright citizenship of course enshrined in the constitution. ants u.s. citizenship to anyone born within the u.s. while visiting the u.s./mexico bordtexas yesterday, dangling the prize of citizenship to the future offspring of illegal immigrants is inconsistent with the original understanding of the 14th amendment. and we will force the courts and

congress to finally address this failed policy. let's get right to margaret hoover and john avlon. john, you're itching to say that you think desantis is correct in his reading of the 14th amendment. >> no. the chance to nerd out with you on the 14th amendment, bring it on. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> good morning, america. >> i need another coffee. no, i don't. my energy is coming right from this. >> this is going to right wing catechism lately. the idea of the birthright citizenship is not what it says in the u.s. constitution, it's a reaction against illegal immigration. and this phenomenon of birth tourism that can occur. but, you run right into the constitution. and it's that hostility to the 14th amendment that actually is -- >> promising the moon, right? you can't just -- >> trump ran on this. >> trump ran on a ton of

promises he couldn't deliver. >> and he won. >> is there a border wall? are the classified documents more secure now, i'm just curious. >> to your point, you listen to desantis yesterday, look at the billboards behind him, no excuses, build the wall. does that serve as an actual political avenue for him? trump promised to do all this and couldn't. i'm going to do it even though he won't. >> he sees that's his lane. you cannot win in a republican primary by running to the right of trump. you aren't going to get the further right people from donald trump. donald trump has a certain portion of the base locked up. they are with him. you can't be more pro life than donald trump, who by the way got rid of roe v. wade, right? >> ron desantis went to a pretty good law school named harvard. he understands -- what did you say. >> heard of it. >> he understands these things. it's fair to say trump didn't build as much of the wall at all as he said he was going to, but

making this argument that saying that the 14th amendment doesn't say what it says is just -- >> this is partly a dog whistle deal, right? the 14th -- the controversy on the far right around the 14th amendment also has to do with the other things it granted, namely citizenship to formerly enslaved people. exactly. so, look, in term of birthright citizenship also is a whole cycle way back in the day about russians going to trump owned properties in florida for this purpose. there's a certain position heal thoois. the problem is the dog whistle. too smart to know he won't rewrite the constitution, yes. but the purpose is the dog whistle to a certain segment of the base. and that's, you know, we're a long way from constitutional conservative, folks. >> can i ask you before i let you go, liz cheney spoke last night. she's always so subtle in her criticisms. i want you to listen to something she said. >> what we've done in our politics is create a situation

where we're electing idiots. and -- and so i don't look at it through the lens of, is this what i should do or what i shouldn't do. i look at it through the lens of how do we elect serious people? and i think electing serious people can't be partisan. >> yeah. well -- >> amen. >> yeah. she's right. probably what she would have gotten to in the next breath is why are we electing idiots? part of the problem is we have this closed partisan primary process particularly on the republican side, it's on the left too. and i know my husband gets so happy when i say that because he's been saying that for 15 years. but if you look at the republicans who survived in the last election who voted to convict donald trump, who did not vote for brett kavanaugh, lisa murkowski, for example, or the two house republicans that voted to impeach that survived, all of them came from states

that have passed some kind of voting reform, some kind of electoral reform that allows for the primary process to play to a broader group of americans not a closed ideological extreme base of a party. >> independent voters, again. >> no. they're republicans but they're regular republicans not extreme republicans. >> it's about the incentive -- >> she coopted your -- she still has a smarter angle through it. >> the real deal here is it's about screwed up incentive structure. if politics have to play to the base and extreme wing of the base, yes. you have idiots. >> well, there's that. she is so subtle, always. liz cheney. thank you both. please come back more often. >> would love to. >> you're a ray -- she's especially a ray of sunshine for us. >> she is. new development out of -- >> lemons. i said they're pears. >> i knew they were pears. get out of here.

on serious news, new developments out of russia in the wake of the short lived rebellion against vladimir putin. >> we are joined by an american who has long been in putin's crosshairs, escaped a russian plot to kill him. bill bradder is next.

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♪ we're following several new developments this morning out of russia. president vladimir putin just moments ago addressing law enforcement involved in this weekend's armed rebellion by the wagner mercenary group telling the troops that they, quote, stopped a civil war. russia also announced it is dropping charges against the wagner group and its leader yevgeniy prigozhin and the mercenaries are preparing to hand over heavy military equipment to russian troops. joining us now is bill brouder, once the largest foreign investor in russia and now one of the kremlin and president putin's significant enemies. he singled him out in 2018. he is also the author of "freezing order" true story of money laundering murder and surviving vladimir putin's wrath.

bill, thank you so much for joining us. i think i actually want to start there because throughout the course of this weekend and in the days since, i have constantly wondered when is the crack down happening. there's no way that yevgeniy prigozhin can be allowed to just go to belarus or go to africa or wherever he might want to go. that seems like an inevitability. is it? >> yeah. basically putin can't stand -- he can't tolerate being disrespected. this is -- the psychology of russian leadership is like the psychology of a prison yard. in order for putin to have been the leader for 23 years, he's had to be the -- seem to be the meanest guy in the prison yard the one that would cause damage to anybody who even looked at him the wrong way. and yevgeniy prigozhin didn't just look at him the wrong way, he disrespected him in the most massive, humiliating way. it's not just a question of what happens to prigozhin but what happens to all the other people

who either didn't immediately declare loyalty to putin during that day or who kept quiet or who perhaps were even working on the other side. in my opinion, the only way that putin can stay in power is for him to reassert his authority and the only way he can do that is to become extremely aggressive, dangerous and violent towards all sorts of people who he doesn't believe are loyal to him. i think there's going to be a huge sort of purge, crackdown, whatever you want to call it, of the elite, of the government, of the military and of the oligarchs for putin to reestablish his authority. >> we saw prigozhin but we haven't seen any of the inner circle or close advisers to president putin side with prigozhin or speak out of turn at some point. why would this be a threat to his power if no one else is standing up right now. >> well, because the only reason that putin has been able to stay

in power is that everyone is scared of him. and what this showed is that you can basically -- a group of i think it was 8,000 men could drive along the highway and take over rostov, a major military base and drive to the next town and nobody said anything. the people took selfies with them and hugged them. and so if putin can't exert his power by just existing, then all of a sudden other people will say, look, this is a very profitable job to have to be the president of russia. you can get hundreds of billions of dollars if you do this job. there's a huge incentive for anybody to have a go at him. it looks like he's weak, they will have a go. that is the -- it's the psychology of a prison yard there where, you know, unless he can become -- he can be seen again as the scariest, most brutal guy, his days are numbered. >> i was struck yesterday former

ambassador john bolton told my colleague poppy, don't underestimate the possibility that putin could turn this to his advantage. do you think that's overstating his 23 years of ability to do such things given what we saw over the course of the last four days? >> well, what i know about putin is that he is slow to react to things. stuff happens and then, you know, a day, a week, a month might go by, but i guarantee you that putin is now sitting there saying, okay, how do we get control over the situation? he can use the situation to organize and justify a massive crackdown. and it wouldn't be unusual. we saw the same thing with erdogan in turkey, coup attempt made against him. he arrested everybody in sight. literally 50,000 people went to jail in turkey. people he didn't trust. and i'm almost certain that putin will do that. if he does do that, if he takes this coup as his -- as a sort of

impetus to even crack down further, then he may very well end up more control over the russian situation than he had before. it could also go the other way. that's why we're in this period of really dramatic uncertainty. >> yeah. that's the new dynamic, a question about that. bill brouder, your perspective is invaluable. thank you. >> always invaluable perspective to have from him. prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the man accused of killing four university of idaho students last fall. those details. human action caused the earth's axis to shift. we'll tell you why.

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university of idaho students. yesterday they pointed to aggravating factors calling the killings, quote, especially heinous, atrocious or cruel manifesting exceptional depravity. bryan kohberger is facing four counts of first-degree murder. kohberger has pleaded not guilty. last week his attorney said he had no connection to the victims and claimed investigators found dna from three other men at the scene. united airlines ceo is bla -- sent an internal to staff pointing to the faa staffing problem after hundreds of flights were canceled and delayed 2,000. he said the faa reduced arl rates at newark liberty international airport and that led to problems. quote, the faa failed us this weekend. it led to massive delays, cancellations, diversions as

well as crews and aircraft out of position and that put everyone behind the eight ball. he says he plans to meet with the faa of the department of transportation to try to prevent this from happening again. the faa, in response, said they will always collaborate with anyone seriously willing to join us to solve a problem. humans have been pumping so much groundwater it's causing the earth's axis to shift. doesn't seem great. that's according to a study. researchers found that persistent extraction of groundwater more than a decade has shifted the earth's rotation to the east at 1.7 inches a year. scientists say it could add to sea levels rising and affect climate on a global scale over time. coming up, we are going to be joined by erin burnett. she just spoke with a ukrainian foreign ministry in ukraine on wake of the weekend revolt inside of russia.

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isn't that amazing? just totally wins my case, you know? except it is highly controversial, secret. >> good morning, everyone. it is the top of the hour. phil mattingly but my side. it's striking to hear. it's one thing to read the words of a former president. it's another thing to hear it. >> right. and understand why our great reporting team that broke the original transcript then broke this. we are hearing from their sources how critical this was to the case brought against the president and former president and we will have to see how it plays out going forward. now you can hear exactly what he said -- >> into his own word. >> viewed by prosecutors so damn. >> a cnn exclusive. the audio recording of donald trump showing off a secret