this was a massacre on february 14th. the only person to blame was that monster. >> a father of one of the victims is outraged by peterson's comments after the verdict. >> i think that the right thing to do, the manly thing to do, the honest thing to do, is to walk out of that room quiet. be quiet, tory and scot peterson. keep your mouth shut, get in your car, and go to your perfect life. but don't cry in front of national tv. >> a wrenching day and a meaningful one to so many people. the news continues. "cnn primetime" with kaitlan "cnn primetime" with kaitlan collins starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

good evening. i'm kaitlan collins. tonight it just keeps going. we have now learned the federal grand jury in miami is still investigating three weeks af donald trump was indicted. first tonight, to the ruling that will change the landscape of the education world and also maybe upend diversity policies across the country. the fallout has been fierce from the supreme court's decision to gut affirmative action from higher education, with president biden condemning it, saying, quote, this is not a normal supreme court, as he blasted the conservative supermajority, saying he believes they may be doing too much harm to the country. the dissent from the liberals on the court was scorching. ketanji brown jackson writing, with less than eat cake majority today, pulls the rip cord and announces color blindness for all.

but deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life. conservatives are cheering this decision. john roberts, who wrote the majority opinion, said harvard and the university of north carolina, the two schools at the center of this, that those programs violated the constitution. writing, quote, the student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual, not on the basis of race. joining us now with more on what all of this could mean going forward is a member of the senate judiciary committee, democratic senator alex padilla of california. senator, thank you for joining us tonight. do you see this ruling as a step backwards? >> kaitlan, thanks for having me on such an important day. not only is it a step backwards. this ruling really does take us back decades. yet again, another example of an extremist majority on this supreme court undoing decades -- decades -- or precedent. and in this case, undoing affirmative action, which, you

know, maybe they just don't understand what affirmative action is or what affirmative action isn't. affirmative action is not quotas. it's simply allowing university systems to consider race among all the other factors and criteria in admissions process. we've been through it here in california. measure on the ballot in 1996. that was approved by the voters. forced this upon the university of california. other state university systems. and they have not fully reco recovered after nearly three decades of trying to make up for that loss of an important tool, increasing diversity on college campuses. >> you mentioned what people want. and you mentioned of course what your home state of california has done. looking at the polling on this, there was a recent cbs poll. it says that 70% of americans agree that colleges should not be allowed to consider race in admissions. 30% say it should be allowed.

but that appears to be, you know, quite a gap between where leaders in your party certainly stand compared to the country as a whole. how do you explain that? >> yeah, well, you know, always got to take polls with a grain of salt. again, not everybody knows what affirmative action is and what affirmative action isn't. we're not talking about mandatory quotas in this case. it's a matter of just considering race and the experience that comes with that, as one of many factors in the decision. might have taken that poll to say this is going to be used to allow people in and improve diversity on a college campus. my opinion, that's not just a good thing. it's a great thing. others may have interpreted that question in the form of excluding people on the campus. so, who knows what drove those numbers, but this is what i can tell you. i referenced that we've had this in place in california for decades n. 1996, two years after the infamous proposition 187,

one of the first major anti-immigrant initiatives that this country has seen soon af proposition 209, the affirmative action measure, came antilabor educations, antieducation initiatives. california has come a long way since then, not just the demographics and the population, but the policy making that has led to california being the fourth largest economy in the world. so, i do think opinions have changed as people are enlightened. most private sector leaders can tell you, most academic leaders can tell you, and our federal government knows we are better as a country, as a democracy, as an economy, when we are more inclusive, not less. but those leaders in the future public sector are educated on college campuses. when we undo diversity, we really sort of undermine the quality of education, the educational experience we're providing. >> your home state is such an

interesting kind of experiment for this because you did reference the actions they took in 1996. but when democrats in the state, when democratic leaders, tried to reinstate it in 2020, prop 16, which is what the measure was known as, it failed and it failed badly. it's not just the poll numbers. it's also how people are voting on this. >> right. and, again, i think it speaks to the difficulty in communicating what's at stake here, what affirmative action, what affirmative action isn't. i'll tell you this, kaitlan, go back to those 1994, 1996 measures. that's what inspired me to leave a mechanical engineering career behind. you know, i am a product of affirmative action. would i have gotten into the institute of technology with or without those decisions, i don't know. i won't reveal my s.a.t. scores on the show today. i do know with a promising

engineering career in front of me, looking at the risk, the danger, the cruelty of a lot of policies that were popular at the time -- doesn't mean they were good policies or the right policies, but they were popular at the time -- is what motivated me to get involved in politics and help california into a more responsible, more inclusive direction. and have my work cut out for the rest of the nation. >> you won't reveal your s.a.t. scores, i won't reveal my a.c.t. scores. president biden was asked today by my colleague, arlette signs, if he sees this as a rogue court. when he was asked about expanding the court, something your party has certainly suggested -- members of your party have suggested -- he said that would be a mistake. what do you say? >> look, i don't disagree that there is an absolute crisis of confidence when it comes to this

supreme court. you know, if you take decisions over the last decade from a democracy standpoint, this is the former secretary of state of california talking now. this supreme court has made it easier for wealthy people to influence elections and harder for people to exercise their right to vote. and surprise, surprise, it tends to be, you know, historically disenfranchised communities. and here we are now talking about higher education. with today's ruling, supreme court has made it harder for young students of color, young diverse students, from a life experience standpoint to envision, let alone access higher education. and, you know, i don't want to assum assume what's going to happen tomorrow with the student debt case before them, the student loan case before them. but we could be very well on the verge for those who are able to get into colleges and universities, for it to be much less affordable for them to obtain their four-year degree. so, there is a crisis of confidence, lack of public

confidence, at the supreme court level, absolutely. >> yeah. one major ruling after the next. we'll see what they do decide on the president's student loan plan. senator alex padilla, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you, kaitlan. what we do know, there are so many unknowns in this. but what we do know is this decision does mark a foundational shift for race in america. my next two guests tonight come at this decision from very different perspectives. as we've seen play out across the country today. cornell williams brooks is former president and ceo of the naacp and win fa is the director of legal affairs at the beacon center of tennessee. thank you both for being here tonight. wynn, chief justice roberts said today -- basically said admissions committees can consider race as long as it's limited to the specific contest of a personal essay, for example. is it clear to you how that nuance is going to work when it's actually put into practice? >> well, i think it's clear that

the supreme court has told universities that they must consider each individual as an individual and not as a member of an arbitrary racial rule. and i think this decision today is great for equality before the law, and it's great for individualism. individuals should be judged based on their individual aspirations, their individual achievements, and their individual abilities. and they shouldn't be subject to a process that distributes benefits on the basis of race. so, overall, i think this decision was great for the rule of law. it was great for equality before the law. and it was good for individualism. >> cornell, what do you think? >> let's be clear. the supreme court described the world that we may aspire to. it is not the world we live in. so, when students write about themselves, they write about themselves in the context of a 2023 america. so, in other words, the george floyd generation, which has

literally seen on television, you know, discrimination and violence and america's racial legacy, what are they to write about that? what are they to write about that in the context of themselves, that might be considered constitutionally suspect. the point being here is that, yes, individuals apply to college. but they apply to college from groups, from communities, which are segregated, which are subject to racial discrimination. that cannot be ignored. and that is nowhere near -- nowhere in the history or the context of the 14th amendment. this decision is unfounded, constitutionally speaking. >> wen, he says constitutionally unfounded. we do know there's room for groups to test this, to see what colleges and universities can do. what do you predict could happen in the aftermath of this ruling? >> well, i think one open question after this, a question

that the supreme court, i think, hinted at in the last paragraph of the majority opinion, is this notion of facially neutral or race-based proxies or racial proxies, that we see used in specialized school in the k-12 context. we've seen that in thomas jefferson in virginia, the new york specialized schools, mag nat schools in montgomery county. i've worked on those cases and covert racial discrimination is just as wrong and just as illegal as over-racial discrimination. and i think that's an issue that you'll see before the supreme court in the coming years. >> cornell william brooks, i think the other question is, you know, beyond colleges and universities, they now have to revisit their admission p practices. how do you believe this sets the stage for challenges in businesses and other aspects of american life? >> absolutely. the ripple effects of this are

of tidal wave proportions. in other words, by calling into question, by holding constitutionally suspect, as in unconstitutional, the diversity rationale, or the use of diversity, what you are going to see is perhaps diversity, equity, and inclusion offices are closing. companies are rolling back their commitments to diversity, which has consequences and implications for a great many people, not merely african americans, not merely latinos, but a variety of other ethnic groups and women. among the most prominent beneficiaries of affirmative action have been white women. when we think about, say, any of the cable networks, major newspapers, where they were when affirmative action started, we didn't see the diversity on television and in print that we see today. the consequences here could be devastating, likely devastating. california has yet to recover

from its repudiation of affirmative action. and the point being here is -- think about this -- where you have literally people being underserved because they don't have access to black doctors, which has an impact on life expectancy, maternal expectancy, infant mortality, where people would literally go out of the court system is less than legitimate, where they don't see lawyers, a variety of ethnicities. the point being here is that racial proxies are not enough. we live a country that is color conscious, color coded, and segregated. and to pretend otherwise is to literally choose cement to solidify america's legacy of racial supremacy. we cannot duck the question, and we certainly cannot ignore the victims. >> it seems to be the point that we were seeing justice ketanji brown jackson make, talk about there's a law and there's life, and what that looks like.

thanks to the perspective from both of you, cornell william brooks, wen fa, appreciate you being on tonight. coming up, we know the identity of one of the folks in donald trump's indictment that said he showed them a military map. she has been speaking to investigators. the former president may have already been indicted but the special counsel's office and the grand jury in miami hasn't stopped investigating the case. we'll tell you what that means next. every day, more dog people, and more vets are deciding it's time for a fresh approach to pet food. they're quitting theibble. and kicking the cans. and feeding their gs dog food that actually well, food. developed with vets. made from real meat and veggies.

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we have new developments that we are tracking tonight on the trump legal front. multiple sources are now telling cnn that that florida grand jury that indicted donald trump in the classified documents case three weeks ago is actually still investigating. while it's unclear what information prosecutors are looking for, we do know they're couldn'ting to question witnesses and subpoena them. speaking of witnesses, we've learned the person who is effectively running trump's 2024 campaign might be one. suzie whiles is often around the former president, on the tarmac, getting on his plane, going to campaign events. she is also the person trump allegedly showed a classified map at his new jersey golf club in the fall of 2021. that's according to jack smith's indictment. in the meantime, we have also learned the special counsel's team has secured the cooperation

of the former trump 2020 campaign official, mike roman, in the other ongoing probe related to trump and his allies' efforts. maggie haberman joins me now. maggie, there's a lot to go through. there's been, like, five developments every single day it feels like. what does it say to you, as you were the first to report this earlier today, that the miami garage is still investigating? what does that signify to you? >> it's interesting, kaitlan. it could be a couple of things. as we understand it, there have been a bunch of subpoenas that have gone out, and that indicates it's still active. it could be they're looking to charge additional people. it could be they're looking to do the superseding indictment with additional charges. it could be that they're looking to bolster evidence. but it means that this case is still very much ongoing, which, again, just adds another fascinating and kind of shocking

dimension to a political candidacy, that this investigation, which has been really the most potent against trump, is still in stages of discovering information. >> and the other complicating factor here is that we now know it's suzie whiles who -- anyone who covers trump knows her. people at home may not recognize her name. but she is the individual from trump's political action committee that he showed that classified map to. they had referenced it in the indictment saying during the meeting trump commented that an ongoing military operation, country b, was not going well. he showed the representative a map of country b and told the pac representative he shouldn't be showing the map to them and not to get too close. the pac representative did not have security clearance or need to know information about the military operation. but the fact that trump is still with suzie whiles nearly on a daily basis adds another layer to the potential witnesses around him on a daily basis.

>> yeah, that's right, kaitlan. and we've seen this in a number of instances, you know, other people who are key witnesses. and you guys have reported extensively on this in terms of that audio, the other instance that the indictment focuses on, which is this recording of trump talking to a bunch of people in a room, where he, you know, waves papers that the indictment says was something he called a plan of attack, that was a classified document that he had from his white house days. one of the people in that meeting was margot martin, who travels with him frequently. other people who are connected to his world in various ways are also part of this indictment. walt nauta himself, his codefendant, is on the plane repeatedly. it does speak to the unprecedented nature in terms of the sprawl of this case, the level of his prevalent on the political scene, and his dominance of the race on the republican side for the presidential nomination. and the fact that it is overlapping with all of these legal matters.

it is complicated. he is fundraising off of these indictments. he is fundraising off of these investigations. taze core part of his messaging. so, yes, this is going to, i suspect, keep coming up as a question. as you know, the judge has told him that there is going to be a list of -- or a bunch of witnesses. the government has produced a bunch of witnesses that are connected to the case, who trump is not supposed to discuss the case with. that adds another wrinkle of complication for him too. >> suzie wiles is kind of connected to all of these different facets here. she knows the attorneys, the trump legal team. she's around all of that. i thought it was interesting that when cnn had confirmed that it was her, that we got a statement from this spokesman. they pointed out that she has no plans to step away. what do you read into that? >> i think that they are very much, you know, treating this as something as a political effort -- that's how they're describing it -- by jack smith. and they are not going to give into what they would see as, you

know, bending to what the special counsel is looking for. i think they are going to not give in to critics. i think they are going to just go about their day and their campaign as if things are not playing out in a certain way. i think it's going to be a question as to whether that's sustainable in all cases. and we're going to find out. but i think that right now, this is very in keeping, kaitlan, as you know as well as anyone, with the donald trump playbook, which is never give an inch. >> yeah. you reported last week that michael roman, who is a former trump 2020 campaign official, was in talks to potentially cooperate in the other investigation, the january 6th one, that's looking into fake electors and fundraising. we are told that he has this agreement, that he is cooperating. this is notable because he had direct knowledge of this fake elector scheme that they were putting together. >> that's right. his cooperation is significant. we don't know what he's going to say. we don't know what the scope is of the cooperation. we don't know what the parameters are. he is, as you say, a key figure

in the january 6th investigation, as it relates as far as we know anyway -- i don't know if he connects with other aspects of this investigation as well. but he is connected specifically to this so-called fake electors scheme. and he was central to trying to figure out ways to stymie the congressional certification of joe biden's electoral college victory. so, he is in a position to offer prosecutors information. usually these kiensnds of agreements take place when someone is trying to be as cooperative as possible and prosecutors are looking to give them a choance to say what they want as they make decisions about charges. so, we will see where this goes. >> we will see what information he offers them. maggie haberman, thank you. for more perspective, i want to bring in former federal prosecutor and cnn's legal analyst, elliott williams. there's, like, four different developments we just went through. to start on the most recent one, mike roman and the proffer

agreement. explain how that works and its significance. he's the first person we know of that's cooperating when it comes to the fake elector scheme. >> there's a reason they're called proffer agreements, the queen for a day agreement. where you come in and you're given the informal promise of benefit from prosecutors. if someone agrees to be truthful and straightforward, prosecutors might take something off their sentence if they plead guilty. prosecutors commit to not using things that person says against them to bring charges against them. that's all contingent on being honest. if prosecutors find that he lied, they can number one, throw the book at him, but also charge him with lying to investigators. >> how does it benefit michael roman? this is someone we reported got a subpoena and had his phone seized in recent months. if he's going in and he can do an informal sitdown with prosecutors, as opposed to going

to the grand jury. >> they might have charges they can bring against them. this is speculation. when someone might be facing criminal charges, it might be to their interest to sit down with prosecutors to see what they can do to make them go away, for lack of a better way of putting it. >> we'll wait to see what happens there. but the fact switching to the documents investigation because there's two tracks that jack smith is tracking. the fact that the grand jury of miami, which indicted trump three weeks ago -- the fact that they are still investigating and bringing people in and speaking to witnesses, what does that signify? >> i think two things. they're either looking at additional charges. and, look, there's 5,200 crimes in the federal criminal code. there could be anything they're additionally looking into there. or the crimes that they've already charged, they could be just bolstering the evidence that they have, getting additional witnesses to help support the case they eventually plan to bring anyway. >> could there be additional charges for other people? could that mean additional charges talking about a superseding indictment

potentially for trump and walt nauta? >> all of the above. you could charge more people with crimes, you could. i don't want to cause alarm, but you could charge more people with crimes. you could add crimes to the indictment that you'd already brought. >> but would that delay the trial? >> i don't think so because, look, the trial's going to take a while to get to anyway on the account of conflicts with national security issues that are involved. but, no, i don't really think it would delay the trial far beyond it already would. >> we'll wait to see what they do. we know they're still investigating. elliott williams, thank you for being here tonight. he did not rush in as a gunman entered marjory stoneman douglas high school in florida. today a jury delivered their verdict for the school's resource officer. we'll tell you what it was next.

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earlier today, a jury in florida acquitted the former school resource officer who stayed outside and failed to confront the gunman who entered marjory stoneman douglas high school and killed 17 people.

scot peterson wept today as he found out that he was not guilty on 11 counts, seven of which were felony child neglect. families of the students who were killed that day sat in silence and shook their heads in the back of the courtroom. after he left, peterson said he felt like he got his life back. >> don't anybody ever forget this was a massacre on february 14th. the only person to blame was that monster. it wasn't any law enforcement. nobody on that scene from bso, coral springs, everybody did the best they could. we did the best we could with the information we had, and god knows we wish we had more. >> joining us now tonight is democratic congressman jared moskowitz, an alumni of marjory stoneman douglas high school, and represents that district, i should note. congressman, thank you for joining us. scot peterson was accused of taking cover for more than 45 minutes, as that shooting happened inside the high school. of course a reminder that the shooter was actually sentenced

to life in prison without parole last year. what was your reaction when you heard today's not guilty verdict? >> well, it's shameful. it's no justice for the parkland families first. the shooter, who is solely responsible, you know, got life in prison instead of the death penalty. and now officer peterson, who not only did not go into the building for 45 minutes and hid in the stairwell outside, he prohibited other officers that arrived on the scene from also going into the building. so, you know, what is the message this now sends to parents around the country that a school resource officer that the kids trusted, he took that job knowing that his job was to protect those students. and he decided that his potential retirement was very close to retirement -- his potential retirement was more important than their lives. i'm glad he got his life back, but the 17 families that lost

loved ones, the 15 kids in cemeteries, they don't get their life back. >> you saw those families in the courtroom today, some of the victims. and they were just kind of silent as he was sobbing, sobbing a lot, as this verdict was read. i know you've talked to some of those families throughout this trial, as this was going on. what were they thinking on this? >> well, they wanted to see, you know, some responsibility taken here. because at the end of the day, he did not do his duty. and based on the information we have -- and i'm not going to share some of the private information of some of the families. but there were some of the kids that were shot who did not die from their gun wounds, and they died by bleeding out, by not getting medical care. and in those instances, they blame the officer for not letting other police officers and medical care get into the building soon enough. so, to say that, you know, ultimately he had no impact on that scene, we'll never know

that. that's why people depend on school resource officers. these students who walk the halls with them every single solitary day depend on them. the good guy with the gun, he's the good guy with the gun, he failed, he didn't act. he didn't help those students, not once. >> the parents see someone like that as a source of comfort when they are worried about something like this. this wasn't an unusual case. a conviction would have paved the way for law enforcement to be held accountable for their response to mass shootings. as you know, the police in uvalde are being investigated for their response to that school shooting. do you think there's a lane to hold law enforcement accountable for something like this? >> well, look. this is an egregious case, right? this is a mass shooting at the high school. he arrives on the scene, and he never goes into the building, never. for 45 minutes, he stood in the stairwell and he gave instruction to other officers who arrive.

okay. he didn't have the courage to go in. he stopped other officers who arrived on the scene from going in and helping those students. and so, yeah, look, i do think they bear some responsibility here, and i do think in these egregious cases, no one forced him to be a police officer. no one forced him to be an sro. he knew what his job was. it's not like school shootings hasn't happened before. any sro knows that's a possibility at their school. look, if the laws have to be changed at the state level, then i would support the stage legislature looking into that. >> congressman jared moskowitz, thank you for joining us tonight. >> thanks, kaitlan. and tonight, of course, our thoughts are with the families of those 17 victims of the shooting. we'll be back in a moment.

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president biden today with a sharp condemnation of the supreme court just moments after they issued that ruling on affirmative action. >> is this a rogue court?

>> this is not a normal court. >> in case you couldn't hear him there, the president telling my colleague, arlette saenz, this is not a normal court. today's ruling has provoked intense -- from each side. republicans saying it was long overdue and saying no one should be judged by the color of their skin. democrats say it will lead to more racial inequality. joining me, former communications director to vice president harris, jamal simmons. also with us, former republican national committee communications director, doug heye. thank you both for being here. doug, i should note, you're wearing a carolina blue tie. that is not the only thing. at issue are these programs at harvard and the university of north carolina. both say affirmative action aids

campus diversity. you're on unc's board of visitors and you're a harvard institute fellow. the idea the court has already had such a massive impact on our landscape, how do you think this adds to it? >> the honest answer is i don't know. it's easy to try and extrapolate large lessons when we just get very recent news and we haven't fully read what the supreme court has decided. and these were long opinions and dissents. so, we have to go through this. and that's part of the reality of what the schools are going through. they're going through this to see what are the rules of the road? what are the lanes that we're in. and part of where we're going to find out what's going to happen politically is what do the schools do? as somebody on the board, i want to hear from my school and my chancellor specifically, not the whole dang statement that everybody puts out. jamal and i were talking about this earlier. you put out the two-sentence statement and you figure out

what you're going to do later. you had months to go through this. what are the schools going to do? not just unc and harvard. those are the immediate ones. this affects schools throughout the country. are you going to be clear and consistent not just in your messaging but what you're doing so that voters and ultimately students who are there and trying to enroll and apply know what the rules of the road are. >> they're all basically revisiting their admissions processes. and there were those two carveouts for military academies and personal essays. what did you make of it? >> i was struck by two very particular things. one is the fact that justice thomas read his opinion from the bench. first time in 30 years he spoke from the bench. it's amazing this is the case that he chose to make a case on. the very thing that got him into yale he is taking away with affirmative action. and justice sotomayor talked

about one thing in particular. she talked about the pipeline problem that's being created by this. we have an america that's becoming far more diverse. if we're going to win the global competitive race, in the words of "jaws," we've got to get a bigger boat. we've got to get more people into leadership. but we're creating a diversity pipeline squeeze. i was on the phone on the way over here with a president of a historically black college. they expect to see their applications grow by 50% to 100% in the election three years if this case has the impact they expect, especially among students who would have gone with some more selective colleges. here's the problem. the problem is in american society we don't have as many places for people to get up the ladder of success, and we're going to make it harder for those people. >> north carolina, again, very important political state, but 11 hbcus throughout the state. if unc can't articulate, all of

those schools are going to see a huge increase in enrollment. >> california is so interesting on this. we were talking to senator padilla from california earlier. they served as this quarter century experiment for this when they got rid of affirmative action in 1996. and they had that exact effect, where it was select universities that saw the changes the most. but the others actually saw more diversity added because of it. >> just take a look at the academic credentials of the people who are on the supreme court and the clerks they choose. so many of them have come from the most selective schools in the united states. the thing is getting into one of those selective schools is the pathway to getting into american society. and we need more people from diverse background es. >> what matters is there has been a crisis of confidence, the supreme court. you've seen the polling and the numbers of the supreme court have dipped. you heard president biden earlier. he was asked about expanding the supreme court. he says he still thinks that's a mistake. are there any changes that come here as a result of any of how people look at the supreme court

these days. >> with a republican house and a democratic senate, the short answer is no. >> and a democratic president who says no. >> absolutely. but if the rules change this time, they can change next time. when we set precedents are big term when you talk about the supreme court. also is true in congress. if you break precedent, this is everything we've argued about with the nuclear option and the filibuster, so forth. this plays well. >> they've talked about joe biden being the best president since fdr. fdr tried to pack the court as well. and it didn't work out. a pair of mysteries when it comes to the russian president. we are learning more about why one of his top generals could be missing and that putin may be an avid watcher of spongebob square pants. this is a sketch he drew today. it's mystifying many, including those who watch the kremlin closely.

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[music playing] there is growing intrigue tonight over a top russian general who has gone missing. documents that were exclusively shared with cnn suggest that general sergey surovikin was actually a secret vip member of

the wagner group is of course as we now knew led the mutiny against pugh putin. it also turns out he was not the only one. the russian investigative dossier center that obtained the documents that were then provided to cnn found the release of 30 other senior russian military members were also listed as vips in the group. that is certainly an unsettling prospect for the russian leader who is often quite suspicious and has been on a rather bizarre and very clearly choreographed pr tour in recent days. just today putin was seen drawing a spongebob like like character on a whiteboard complete with ears and hair. the crowd behind him waited in silence and then applauded he signed his work bizarre moment there. joining me now the president

and ceo of the center for european policy analysis. and you for joining us today. i wonder what you make of the way putin has been handling the fallout of this mutiny doing this strange thing and coming out in public these very choreographed settings as we are learning that dozens of top russian officials were secret wagner members. >> we are seeing a narrative of putin as someone who's in control. he's the strongman again. he has made very loud accusations again and of course bizarrely the leader remains alive in belarus and the recent arrest of a key russian general i think symbols that the kremlin is looking to blame someone for what happened but unfortunately i don't think it's working for them. i don't think they are really getting the narrative back.

it all looks a little too contrived. >> you mentioned for goshen as we were on air last friday what do you make of the fact that he is still alive tonight hiding out in olivers? >> there's a lot we still don't know about the events that happened the fact that he is still alive is really what undermines this narrative that the kremlin is trying to spend that putin is a -- leader. it shows he's quite weak. i'm shocked frankly and so are most russian experts that they haven't taken him out after putin called him a traitor publicly multiple times and i think this is a real sign of a

significant regime fragility that we don't usually see in the public domain in russia. >> is quite fascinating to watch it play out. thank you for joining us tonight. >> thank you. also developing a suspected january 6th writer wanted for the capital attack has been arrested near the home of former president obama with materials to make a molotov cocktail. details ahead.

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closed captioning brought you by meso book.com. >> we only represent mesothelioma victims and their families. a concerning update tonight. a man with numerous weapons and materials to make a molotov cocktail was arrested today to the d.c. home of former president barack obama. turns out he has been wanted in connection with the attack on

the u.s. capitol on january the sixth and there was a warrant out for the arrest. law enforcement officials tell cnn tonight that the suspect, taylor toronto claimed on the internet live stream he had an -- a detonator. he has now been arrested as a fugitive of justice. a spokesperson for the obama's declined to comment. thank you so much for joining us. cnn tonight starts now. >> thank you very much. good to see you. >> and good evening. welcome to cnn tonight. the supreme court handing down a decision that thing described as a generational shift. it will alter the way colleges and universities have -- for decades. they overturned affirmative action. the long-standing president to help level the playing field for black and hispanic students. tonight we will speak to lawyers and students directly involved in this landmark decision. plus another member of donald trump's inner circle is talking to