>> in four years after jeffrey epstein died by suicide in her jail cell. just as time released a report in the litany of failure says that led to epstein's death in 2019. after he was arrested on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors. including fuller to conduct, rounds wrongly giving him extra bad leanings. he used to hang himself. and failure to assign epstein a roommate after he was put on suicide watch. two guards on duty that night later admitted to falsifying records. the report found no evidence to suggest foul play. the news continues, cnn prime time with cancun starts right now. good evening.

i'm kaitlan collins. there's so much news to talk about tonight, when it comes to the former presidents legal troubles. it's almost hard to know where to begin. there is brand new, cnn exclusive reporting, that is from the personal attorney rudy giuliani, he's recently been interviewed in the special counsel january six investigation. there's also fresh details coming from the new york times tonight, on the documents case, and how investigators zeroed in on another one of his properties, not mar-a-lago. there is also a new defense coming from the former president himself tonight, who is reacting to the blockbuster audio that you heard here last night first. this is the defense, that donald trump is now offering. today >> i had a whole desk full of lots of papers, and mostly newspaper articles, copies of magazines, copies are different plans, copies of stories. i meet with many many subjects.

and, what was said was absolutely fine, and worked very perfectly. we did nothing wrong. >> cnn was the first to report that recording existed, and it was even quoted in the former presidents indictment. and now, in an interview with after those comments he made in new hampshire today, on the plane right back, he had a new defense. insisting that what you heard was quote, bravado. shelley -- writes that when trump was asked about his views of the word plans earlier in that clip, he said quote, what i'm referring to is magazines, newspapers, plans and buildings. i had plans a building, as you know, building plans. i had plans of a golf course. >> that of course is what he is saying now, but remember, it was on a tape that he was openly discussing what he himself said, we're highly classified papers, and secret documents. >> as president, i could have declassified it, now i can't. [laughter] now we have a problem. >> isn't that interesting? >> with us now is attorney --

who used to represent the former president in this case, i should note, and on several other fronts. tim, thanks for joining us tonight. you and said that you thought, when he will actually listen to that type, which you yourself at listen to, that you believed it was more open to interpretation about whether or not he was actually referencing a document. but after listening to it, it does not like he is actually referencing a document in his hands. >> we will certainly you can hear the rustling papers there. but as to what he is specifically holding, the tape is in my opinion, is unclear. and you can, when you hear the sound of his voice, he does seem to be acting with a bit of bravado in playing through the crowd. and i think that the tape, now that it's out, certainly is and

provides more context than just the transcript, which is a lot more flat, as you can hear the inflections. at the same time, this is one of the reasons why in the criminal justice system, you don't want these things coming out in drips and drabs, and being analyzed before the trial. it's better to actually go into court and actually put all the evidence out there, and let people hear it fresh out, like that. >> he says look, he says a happy stack of papers, i have a big pile of papers. this thing just came up. he says look, this is highly confidential. he is talking about, this is secretive formation. if you look at, this you attack. of course you know this is reportedly about plans to attack iran. and mark meadows even reference this, references this in his book, where there is people who are in the room that were writing his book. so why do you think it's not the actual document? >> well first of, all no document has been found, that would match this description. it's my understanding that mark milley has even denied that any such document exists. >> no, he denied that he created the document. >> well, if he is taking it out and saying this proves, that merely gave it to me. there would have to be some

indicator on their, if he's actually using it for that purpose, to show that it came from. >> but could it. you said it's not clear the document exists here. obviously, we reported at one time that the trump legal team hugh used to be on was told, or was asked to ask to produce it. what efforts did you make when you are on the legal team to find the document that is referenced here? >> sure. unfortunately, that was some inaccurate reporting. what happened is, they did send this subpoena, asking us for whatever document he is referencing here. and our response was, we have made a complete and thorough searches of all the properties, and we have returned any and all documents that any

classification markings on them whatsoever. and so, we sent back to the special counsel and said, we don't believe that any further searches would be fruitful. if it exists, it is something that we've already given to you. and, they did not, pushback they didn't say oh no, we need you to search again. and the reality, is i don't know if it's something we had already found and turned back in, because what our teams did was any document that they found that had a classification markings on it, we want to keep a copy of, it we were allowed to keep a record of. it we just put in a folder and turned it over. >> but of course, there were concerns about whether or not every. there were concerns about whether or not everything was turned over. because, they sent some boxes back, and then of course we know from the search warrant that everything wasn't turned over. but when they asked about this document was referenced in the reporting. did you ever ask anyone who is in the room, if they had seen the document, or asked trump himself about the document? >> so obviously, i can't go into the discussions i had with my client at the time. >> what about other people in the room? >> other people would also be represented by counsel, we have to discuss that with their lawyers. so, this was a matter of, we were given a subpoena, we were

asked for something that if it exists, we would have already turned it back in, so no further search was required. >> did anyone ever suggest to you that this document may have been destroyed? >> no. i've never heard that before. >> the new york times is reporting tonight that jack smith's team also subpoenaed surveillance footage from bedminster. we know they did so when it comes to mar-a-lago, can you confirm that they did, and when did they subpoena that footage? >> i'm not aware of any subpoenas and footage from them. >> so when you are on the legal team, you are never, you've never received the requests or heard of the trump organization was getting a request for surveillance footage of his bedminster club? >> it's not something i have any recollection of. >> why do you think prosecutors, if according to the new york times were interested in this surveillance footage, because you yourself were part of this searches for additional classified documents, at additional properties. >> sure, part of the problem is that when we were trying to

work with the doj on this, and in fact for the search of bedminster that we did, i invited the fbi to send a couple of agents to participate in that, and they refused. they wouldn't tell us really, what their theory was. now, reading the indictment, i can see where they have at least a theory of certain boxes being moved up to bedminster. but that's not something that my team found. it's something that, if they had some specific information, that they wanted us to search for, they should have communicated to us. and at the time, they should've taken my invitation to have a couple of fbi agents joined the search. but, we didn't find anything like that. again, i can see from the indictment why they would be interested in it. but if they really were on a search to find these things, they really should have been

better at communicating with, us and trying to work together to actually get the. six >> so the new york times is reporting that they were actually interested in potentially having a subpoena for another search, at bedminster. but when it comes to that, what you're referencing there, when you say you understand why they would be interested, is because in the indictment, it says that trump took boxes with him to bedminster. when he left from mar-a-lago to go out there for the summer, as he does every year. what happened to those boxes, do you have any idea, the ones that he took to bedminster? >> all i know is that allegations have been made for the indictment. it's not allegations that i was aware of at the time. it's not something special counsel ever communicated to us. so, the first time i read it was in the indictment itself. so i can't really answer any questions as to where boxes went, that i was not aware of at the time that i was on the team if, they even exist. >> well, they did do searches. i mean, i don't think that they're just making it up in this indictment. but, referencing that. >> no, we did searches at bedminster. the special counsel did not, they declined the opportunity to send fbi agents with us, they claim. >> did you search all of bedminster when you do those? searches >> we searched all of the areas that we recently believed would have contained

documents. >> but, well i guess i would say to that. i guess i understand, that but when you read the indictment. tim, hold on give me a second. tim, when you read the indictment, it says that trump was keeping documents in a bathroom, and in random storage, truman in a ball. like, you probably wouldn't reasonably think those are places they would have been kept. so i guess that's why i'm asking, why not search all of? bedminster >> because, this was a subpoena to the study of records, and a custodian of records subpoena requires the search of all areas where there's a reasonable expectation a document we found. if the special counsel's office, or at that time the national security division wanted us to exceed what would ordinarily be required under the circumstances, they should have communicated that. twice they should have send the fbi ages we invited to join the team. but what happened is, we did the search, we provided them with the report of everything we did.

we were before the grand jury, myself and the searchers. we testified about this, and nobody from the special counsel 's office made any inference that this was an incomplete search. >> well day. >> if there is a, probably should have brought it up at the time, instead of crying about a month. slater >> well, it is interesting. i mean, if there was a subpoena for surveillance footage of bedminster, and you are unaware of, why would you have been unaware if it, because you are part of the searches? >> i don't know anything about any surveillance video, subpoena. i don't know that, has that actually been confirmed? that such a subpoena exist, or is that just a? rumor >> it's being reported in the new york times. but let me ask you about today what happened down in florida. walt nauta, who is trump's co-defended, still has not been arraigned because he did not make his flight to get his arraignment today. of course, he wasn't arraigned two weeks ago when trump was, because he did not have a

florida-based attorney. now, the state has been pushed to next week, almost a month after trump himself was arraigned. do you think this is any kind of delay tactic from the trump team to slow things down here? >> i wouldn't think so. these dates are set by the court, and it is standard dates to try to give a defended the opportunity to retai n counsel. and so, this is not a day that's being asked for, as i understand, by the trump team. but rather, being set by the court. unless the court's spin delaying it, i don't think. so >> while they are setting the dates, but he didn't show up today, because he missed a flight, and he didn't show the last time with florida-based council. and that's why it could be arraigned in. on the news that cnn has broken tonight that rudy giuliani has been interviewed by jack smith's team, the team that has been investigating january 6th, do you believe that rudy giuliani is indicted, that that means that donald trump could potentially be in legal risk as

well, given rudy giuliani was obviously acting in trump's past? >> that's a lot of hypotheticals, i don't know what he would be indicted for. i would need more information to be able to say that. i do know that, the special counsel's office has been looking at a lot of different theories, when it comes to the january 6th situation. and, a lot of this does go to various theories, as to how codes was allegedly obstructing, or whether they were pushing a theory that had legal merit or not. and so, it certainly makes sense to be interviewing all these people. but i think that you say that rudy giuliani might be indicted as a little bit premature at this stage. >> well, we will wait to see. there is been certainly an uptick in activity there. tim parlatore, thanks for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> and coming up, kevin mccarthy was asked a simple question today, is donald trump the best candidate to win in 2024. why the speaker is cleaning up his answer, next. this is your summer to smile. to raise your glass and reconnect. to reel in the fun and savor every bite. to help you get ready your aspen dental team is celebrating 25 years of affordable care

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visit noom.com and start your trial today. >> i was speaker kevin mccarthy is doing the cleanup tonight after he question whether donald trump is the best republican presidential candidate who can win in 2024. >> can he win an election in -- >> you think he can? >> the question is is he the strongest in the election? i don't know that answer. >> that answer did not sit well with donald trump's allies, and sent the speaker to damage control mode today. not long after you had that interview on cnbc, mccarthy rushed to make clear his

loyalty to the former president, saying in another interview with breitbart that he believes, quote, trump is stronger today than he was in 2016, and accusing the media of taking those comments out of context. of course, mccarthy as a fragile majority in the house. he won his post as the house speaker after a bruising 15 rounds of vote, in part by agreeing to his snap vote to oust him at anytime. with us now for perspective on this is colorado republican can't block. congressman, thank you for joining us. today i wonder what you made of what speaker mccarthy said there about whether or not trump is the strongest candidate to win in 2024. >> well, i think he is the strongest candidate right now to win. and i will tell you why. he has run three times for president. the other candidates have not yet run for president. so, that gives him strength by self. he also has the persona that he's willing to take on the tough issues. he's willing to take on the issues that a lot of conservatives americans, but other americans care deeply about. now, there is another candidate,

rise, that will rise and sort of show that strength of personality and character, that he would be willing to take on the swamp, that's yet to be seen. and i think that's what kevin was saying, is this is a long time that we are going to see between now and the primary elections. so it's hard to say that donald trump is gone to the strongest. lana -- giuliani speculation, but at the time donald trump is the strongest candidate. >> he is the front runner in the republican race, of course, right now. but is he the strongest one in 2024 based on his numbers with suburban women, his number with independent voters, that you have said are so critical to winning a general election. >> yeah, i think he can win the general election. i think there are other republican candidates that can run the general election. i haven't made a choice at this, point but i do think that -- and obviously, donald trump has some legal issues that have to be resolved. and as the facts come out, there are trials before the election, that is going to

impact the perception of donald trump. but right now, the perception of donald trump among a lot of voters in america is that we -- this is a country that's, you, know overspending. it has a lot of very serious issues that donald trump showed in his first term and he was willing to take on those issues. and that's what they're looking for. we didn't want four more years of barack obama, with the hillary clinton campaign or presidency. and we don't want for more years of joe biden. and donald trump appears to be the person who has the strongest personality to change that trajectory. >> congressman, you are a former federal prosecutor. you worked for several years. when it comes to the tape of the former president, we have now heard this audio recording.

if you are prosecuting a case like this, and you had a tape like that, how powerful do you believe that evidence is? >> well, it's not powerful in the way that people think it is, in my opinion. i don't know what document he had in his hand. and i think the critical factor is that, again, i don't know the evidence. and it will come out a trial with testimony. but did someone see, in red ink, a classification on that document that said top secret or some other secret or some other classification. if not, then it's just the presidents word. what i think is important in that audio is when the president says i could've declassified this before, and i didn't, i can declassify it now, that's an admission to his mental state, that's an important element in the case. but i don't think the actual document being classified is as important. because obviously, documents were found during the search at his residence in mar-a-lago. so, he is saying in some way i didn't declassified documents before i left office. >> yeah, and that undercuts what he has been saying publicly, of course, about this. you have said that you would

not feel comfortable with a convicted felon in the white house. but would you feel comfortable with someone who, if he is in fact holding that document, as it's alleged, handle national security secrets like this, given he's laughing and talking so casually about it with people who do not have security clearances? >> yeah, i don't think there is any doubt that there were lapses in judgment, that there were opportunities to treat these documents in a more secure way. it's really baffling to me why when the archivist contacted him and they were negotiations, or at least his attorneys established negotiations, to return some of these documents, or all the documents, why at that point he didn't just turn the document back over. he would've had access to them in a secure facility, if he wanted to have access at some point in time in the future.

so, i don't -- there are a lot of questions i think need to be answered before we make a judgment about just how comfortable americans should be with the president handling classified materials at this point. >> but you think this is all self-inflicted is what it sounds like. >> i did think itself inflicted. i think i was a prosecutor for 25 years. i know when i handled classified documents, i to go into a special room. i couldn't have my phone with me. or, in more recent times, we don't have those kinds of phones all the time, didn't have my phone with me. i did not have the ability to take a document. out i don't even have the ability to take notes and take the notes away with me. so, there is sort of this training that donald trump never went through, the training that tells people that this is so important that you can't violate this set of rules. and again, a lot of it is going to go to what proof jack smith has of the president's mental state. >> yeah,, we'll see what other evidence is in his possession.

congressman ken buck, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> and we have a cnn exclusive that i mentioned at the top of the hour, rudy giuliani, a fierce trump ally and his former attorney, has been interviewed by federal investigators in the special counsel's 2020 election interference probe. how significant this could be not only for giuliani but also for his former client, next. the minute you drive off the lot. or more. that's why farmers new car replacement pays to replace it with a new one of the same make and model. get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. ♪ farmers mnemonic ♪

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>> tonight, we are learning that the former trump attorney rudy giuliani has been investigated by federal investigators as part of the special counsel's investigation january 6th. cnn's paula reid has the exclusive. paula, obviously, rudy giuliani is someone who has played a key role in trump's world. what we know about this interview? >> well, you had it right there, kaitlan. this is someone who is at the center of former president trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. we know that giuliani, along with his attorney, met with federal prosecutors in recent weeks. and while we don't know what information he shared, we know that giuliani was previously subpoenaed specifically for documents about how much money he was making around the time he was filing all those election challenges on behalf of former president trump back in 2020. but that subpoena was delivered

in november of last year, back when the justice department was overseeing this, before the special counsel, jack smith, was even appointed. and once jack smith took over this investigation, giuliani did not hear a thing for over six months. and i spoke to a lot of sources in and around this investigation, and ask should he be worried? because if you haven't heard anything that far entered investigation, is suggest you could be a target. many -- many people told me that, yeah, perhaps he should be concerned. so, it is notable that he has now sat down with prosecutors. and it does appear that the charging decision in the january 6th probe is getting closer. we have a flurry of witnesses going before the grand jury. so it seems like they may be getting closer to a charging decision. it is totally unclear if giuliani will be, triage or former president trump will be charged. we'll see. but it's clear there's been an

uptick in investigative activity over the past few weeks. >> yeah, and we know georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger is going tomorrow. paula reid, we will keep track of it all with you. thank you very much. joining me now to discuss, alyssa farah griffin, a former trump communications director, and jamal simmons, a democratic strategist and former communication director to vice president kamala harris. listen, when i was covering the white house, rudy giuliani was often there and in trump's orbit. what do you make of the fact that he has now been interviewed by the special counsel's team? >> it's very significant. if you think of kind of every step of election denialism, from election night when it was rudy giuliani who advised donald trump to say just go out and say we want, the weeks that followed, the number of west wing meetings that rudy giuliani was in where he just, you know, would show up and staffers would say what is he here, for he wasn't scheduled, there's nothing on the present schedule related to it. and then, of course, he met with michigan lawmakers to try and put pressure there. and then he was notably at the willard hotel for the war room they had on january 6th. this is someone who kind of has tentacles in all aspects of

events leading up to january 6th. i think it's notable. i think it's notable's attorneys would share anything that he wasn't -- because of fear he would incriminate himself. >> of course, rudy giuliani and going and getting interviewed, it raises questions about whether he'll be indictment. jack smith has not done that yet. but the idea that if he was obvious questions on trump's involvement. what would another indictment in this mean? and how it president biden and democrats handle that, as democrats have been very outspoken. president biden himself, not so much. >> well, let's just set the facts back, right. there have been 60 courts that have looked at these allegations that something went wrong, that it was fraudulent, that something was fraudulent that led to the election not being right. we know that's not true. angie barr looked at it. that's trump's attorney general. we know that's not true. democrats shouldn't stay out of this, because as far as we know, this is moving along the right

track. let the special prosecutor do it -- getting your opponent in his eye. >> we do have trump's challengers in your eye, every turn of the campaign trail. i've been watching, a lot of them are in new hampshire today, and this is what governor haley said versus governor desantis. >> if the indictment is, true i think it is reckless. but there is going to be a trial, and trump will have the ability to defend himself. but we can't keep chasing every drama that surrounds trump. >> if this election is about biden's failures, and our vision for the future,. if it's about relitigating things that have happened two, three, years ago, we're going to lose. we've got to go forward on this. stuff we cannot be looking backwards and mired in the. past. >> and that was a question he was asked about january the 6th, and who's being asked by a high school student, by the way, who

seemed like he was concerned about the democratic effort to overturn the election. and that's exactly the point, kaitlan, that i think there is only so far that you can go in trying to say we need to move on, we need to focus on other things. american democracy, and our electoral system and protecting it does matter to the voter. . we know this is from the 2022 midterms, election deniers, extremist, went down on the ballot. so, even if talking about it is not motivating to the core base of election primaries, it will matter. and a lot of those, you know, registered republicans -- if we need to get vaccines in 2016, that is not gonna cut it for haley or desantis. what >> do you make of how the 2024 candidates are handling it? >> look at what ron desantis has to say. this guy knows very little running for president, okay? he let donald trump spent $1 3

million defining him unanswered. he basically said the baseline for how everybody talks about him not having any personality. donald trump is the one that sent that narrative against him. it's gonna be very hard for him to take out. he gets into this fight with gavin newsom, who's not even run for president, why is he responding to gavin newsom? is it because he's been thin skinned and? can't really take a punch and then he goes on buck sexton's show, and tells him they would consider letting january 6th protesters off the hook. and perhaps pardoning them. why do we do? that buck is a charming guy. but why would you go out there and tell buck sexton and the american people that you'd do something that you would not be able to survive in a general election. >> and i would just note, i tend to think desantis is playing, you tend to think of what slice of the pie they're playing for, politics is about addition, not subtraction, and he seems to be playing to the core maga base and alienating others within the republican party. i think there's a reason his poll numbers are going down, he's got money, he's got name i. d., but listen, you're turning off moderates and independents. >> yeah, still, early we'll see what those numbers look. like thank you both. and on top of that, we are also tracking international developments tonight, as vladimir putin's forces have now launched a deadly attack on eastern ukraine, all while his own country is still reeling from that rebellion. we're going to speak to the former ambassador to russia, john huntsman, about what he thinks could happen with putin and russia and ukraine. all that is coming up, next.

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including a child. at least for the others have been injured, tonight, with more to come. this attack has prompted accusations that putin was deliberately targeting civilian areas once again, and stepping up his attacks after -- facing mutiny at home. the man who led that revolt, wagner chief yevgeny prigozhin, we do now is in minsk, the capital of belarus, that's according to the country's president, who claims he convinced putin not to kill him as that rebellion was happening over the weekend. joining me now is john huntsman, former ambassador to russia under trump, and who china under president obama. he also ran for president in 2012 as a republican, and served as the governor of utah. so, thank you ambassador for joining me tonight. you were the u.s. ambassador to russia for two years, during what you said what is a historically difficult period. what went through your mind as you watch that rebellion at happen over the past few days. >> well, thank you caitlin for having me on. and i think what's important to understand for the viewers is

the nature of vladimir putin. so, there's a lot that we don't know about yevgeny prigozhin. and you used exactly the right word, it's a mutiny. so, there's a lot we don't know about it. but there is enough we do know about what's going on. putin's uncontested leadership is over. so, i don't say that hyperbolically, i say that for 23 years, putin has been uncontested in terms of his ability to call the shots as a final arbiter of all decisions in russia. that, now comes to an end. number two, so, here is a guy who can lose 200,000 of his young man on the battlefield. he can lose half of his helicopter fleet, he can lose two thirds of his tank fleet. yet, when he's humiliated, that's when the trouble begins. so, what else has happened through this whole yevgeny prigozhin episode? putin has been humiliated. that's not happened many times in his career.

so, we're not going to know in the days and weeks and even the months ahead what the likely outcome for vladimir putin will be. he still controls the state. he controls the security apparatus. he's got more bombs and guns than anybody else. but i'm here to tell you that i think we're witnessing the final saga of flattering putin. and here is one thing that i think we also need to focus on, and that is by november of this year, which is just a few months away, putin has to declare that he will be a candidate for reelection in march of 2024. , now he's already changed the constitution such that he can run two or three more times. so, i was in moscow in 2018 during his last election. he won by 77% of the vote. yes, it's rigged and all of that but i also say putin is a good politician and campaigner. he promises things, he delivers stuff, that's when the hypersonic weapons were on full display, the nuclear torpedoes aimed at the united states. the environment and then in 2018 was a lot more auspicious for vladimir putin.

the stuff that is happened since 2018 and since the war began is completely different. and so, the months ahead, as he anticipates november, when he has to declare as a candidate, remember, there are 150 million good citizens in russia, their voices are going to matter at some point as well. >> you say when he gets humiliated, you get concerned about what he might do. what are you worried he might do? >> well, vladimir putin doesn't forget. and he doesn't freak him. and here you have -- it shows the hypocrisy of the system, caitlin. it's -- you've got people in prisons throughout russia who have committed minor offenses against the state and against putin. and here you have yevgeny prigozhin, who launches a 5000 person strike, i mean, the distance between philadelphia and washington, d. c.. it took the dictator in belarus

to step in and stop this, who probably represented the greatest existential threat to putin and the russian state, and he's let go. so, the hypocrisy that's built into the russian mindset at the governance level is just breathtaking. but i will tell you this, putin is a master actuary, he's a master at leveraged, he's a master deceit. so, he's been nuclear weapons in belarus. of course, he's already given the belarusian government these security guarantees, which effectively means he controls belarus, now as a subsidiary of the russian state. but a lot of it, again, as the leverage that putin manages so well. so, where those weapons are likely to be aimed toward?

well, probably poland, because what he wants to do, he wants to freak out nato, he wants to freak out the people in poland by thinking that something could occur. so, he's a master at these kinds of tactics, not they're going to be used at the end of the day, although you have to take those threats extremely seriously. >> yeah. >> but putin, after 23 years, knows every trick in the book. he's the longest serving head of state. he's known every head of state, everyone's been through the kremlin. he's learn from them, he's a master of trickery, and i think that's likely to come to an end. so, i will just and with us thought, kaitlan, i think what the united states needs to really focus on is how are we prepared as a country to deal with post putin russia? do we have lifelines out to some of the people who could emerge as leaders? do we even know who they are? i can tell you, i spent a lot of time running the embassy in moscow, trying to get answers to these questions, and they're very elusive. because there's no bench in politics in russia, there is no there there. so, for the united states and for europe and for nato for central asia, who comes next? and i don't think it's premature to be talking about

that. it's going to be an extremely important question to address. >> it is an important question. and today, i heard the former president that you work for, former president trump, talking about if he's reelected, he says he could solve this issue in just one day. i mean, what is your response when you hear something like that about such a complicated issue? >> well, i would begin to laugh out loud, but that might embarrass me in front of your viewers. i just think that's nonsense. i mean, i think we've had enough of the games and the statements and the finger-pointing and the trades that -- these are very complex issues. there are steeped in thousand years of history, as it relates to ukraine. they're very steeped in the nature of the russian state that putin runs. it's a singularly unique state that is tailor made and molded to his autocratic style. he has a table of advisors consisting of a few folks who run the security apparatus, the fsb, the suv are, the military, and the gru. and then you've got some

oligarchs thrown in. so, you take putin out of that system, and it becomes almost unimaginable what could befall the russian state, because there's no one strong enough with the leverage, with the clout, to be able to run the country going forward. so, for an american leader to say i can fix this thing in a day, is absolutely ridiculous, and does not comport with reality whatsoever. >> and you are his ambassador

-- how you handle, how you are distributed, you share those types of classified documents. so i think in the aftermath of this, which i think is a slap in the face to so many public servants. and i don't care if you are republican or a democrat. you have to work, hard and play by the rules. and when you have somebody at the very top, i don't care if you're a republican or democrat who is not playing by the rules, that is a slap in the face. to the great american public servants who have to play by the rules. so i don't think that there is any way that he could win, get the numbers in 24, but here is the strange dilemma for republican candidates running for office. you can't win without part of trump space. so you are walking on eggshells trying to make sure that you don't offensive buddy, but at the same time you want to show some distance. but you have to have a message that basically appeals.

if you want to win the republican nomination to a base. so i think this is going to be a wider, raceway more than people are lining. on i don't buy the wisdom that someone is way up in the polls, and because they are today, it's gonna stay that way. i think the legal entanglements are going to be severe. and i think it's gonna cut into the base that he has. and make the mathematics absolutely impossible for victory. >> legal entanglements are going to be severe. quite an assessment. professor john, thank you for your knowledge on that, and for your expertise and what is happening in russia and ukraine. we will certainly have you back on the program. thank you for your time. >> pleasure to be with you, thank you. >> the supreme court today ruled against a trump backed theory. we will dig into what the theory is. next! new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do.

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as unusual thigh bone fractures have occurred. don't let a break put you on a shelf. talk to your doctor about building new bone with evenity®! >> the supreme court today, rejecting a controversial legal theory that was pushed by the former president and his allies to try to overturn the election results. in a 6 to 3 decision, this court has now ruled, that elected politicians don't have unchecked power when it comes to setting the rules for federal elections. in the same theory, that fueled multiple failed lawsuits, we should, note that suggested president biden's victory was anything but legitimate.

but the states around the nation change roles because of the election and 2019. for instance -- where vaccines were available. joining me now to talk about this is cnn correspondent, and host of the assignment, cornish. this could've gone so differently. because eventually what where arguing is that the state legislatures would have this unchecked power. >> that they would have the final say. in the end, the ruling is saying no. there is still a supervisory role for outside courts. you guys don't have the be all, and all say, and the most interesting part was buried in kavanaugh's opinion. concurring opinion. where he said look, there is a federal standard that can be applied in the future. and we should understand what it should be. what are the circumstances under which of federal court, or elsewhere, can kind of step in in these disputes. so i do not think that this is over so to speak, i don't think

that the people who believe in this theory think that they are completely dead in the water. there is gonna be a lot of state level fights when it comes to elections. >> we see how state officials have push that when it comes to drop boxes, changing those roles. the supreme court is not done yet, they are far from, and we have several big cases that we are watching for this week when it comes to affirmative action, higher education, president biden's student loan plan. what are you watching the most closely? >> the affirmative action case. we've been discussing this as a country for so long. the wars over this. and we are also moving into a new phase where there is discussion about the idea of race neutral policy. so it will be interesting to see what the court has to say, about when is something race conscious, when is something race neutral, and should be talking about it at all in this particular setting. which is supposed to be a meritocracy, getting into college. >> and hopefully the rule this week will get that decision, we'll see what they decide audie cornish thank you. up next he is running for

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>> it feels like there is almost always a foreign policy blunder when it comes to presidential primaries. we already have one for 2024, at this one from republican candidate, miami mary, francis suarez. >> will you be talking about the uyghurs in your campaign? >> the? what >> the uyghurs? >> what's a weaker? i'll do my homework, what did you call it a wheel? >> the wiggle is, you really need to know about the uyghurs mayor. >> i will search uyghurs. i'm a fast learner. >> the uyghurs, obviously, a

predominantly muslim ethnic minority in china. the u.s. has recognized them as a target of genocide, the treatment comes up in many conversations in foreign policy circles in washington. certainly on the debate stage. suarez, who is the miami mayor said, of course i am aware of the suffering of the uyghurs in china. i did not recognize the pronunciation my friend used. that is on me. that's all for us tonight, thanks for joining us, for more breaking news, cnn tonight with abby phillip starts right now. good >> evening everyone, tonight we start with a dissection of the tape that maybe central to the central case against former president donald trump. the tapes that he responded to today, we will get to in just a moment, but first let's start here. >> where starting right at the beginning. >> we're going to try to [inaudible] they were trying to do tha