another big decision day, a consequential morning in america, one hour from now, supreme court decisions on student loans and a battle between free speech and the lgbtq rights are expected to drop. the case is promising to be major rulings that will impact the nation. the new plot, ukraine's intel chief says the kremlin now has in the works. is russia planning to assassinate the man who led the revolt against vladimir putin? >> multiple guns, materials to make a molotov cocktail, and perhaps barack obama's address. that is what a january 6th fugitive had when police arrested him just blocks from the former president's home. i'm john berman with sara sidner and kate bolduan, this is "cnn

news central." >> decision day, round two, two consequential cases standing before the supreme court breaks for the summer, and next hour, the final rulings, the fate of student loans right now is uncertain as the justices soon decide whether or not president biden's debt forgiveness program can take effect. the plan would erase up to $20,000 in loan payments for borrowers. and with more than 40 million eligible borrowers in limbo, $400 billion of taxpayer money is on the line. will the court block biden's plan? plus, was a web site designer's free speech violated by a law in colorado? the designer opposes same-sex marriage, and if the court rules in her favor, civil rights groups are worried it could leave the door open for business owners to deny services, not just as same-sex couples, but even along racial and religious

lines. let's bring in cnn justice correspondent, jessica. can you walk us through exactly what the significance of this day is and these cases going forward? >> yeah, sara, typically the supreme court does save its biggest cases until the final day or two. we saw affirmative action yesterday, and today, two more big ones. first, i'll start with student loans. the supreme court is deciding, unless of course they dismiss this on a technical ground, they're deciding whether the biden administration has authority to grant student loan december forgiveness for 40 million americans. it's a price tag of $400 billion. lower courts have struck down this program. it has been on hold, but it's possible that the supreme court will say the challengers maybe never had the right to bring in lawsuit or the court might decide that the administration was within its power to enact the debt relief program, where millions of borrowers could have

up to $20,000 in debt wiped away. the tone at the arguments for this, though, really was skepticism from the conservative justices. they wondered about the administration's ability to do something like this with such a massive price tag, and there were also questions about fairness. justice gorsuch in particular asking how is it fair to have debt wiped away for some when others have already paid. you mentioned the second case we're waiting for, the case about a wedding web site designer refuse to go make web sites for same-sex couples, basing it on free speech, saying it was violated by a state law that prohibits businesses from discriminating against or refusing to serve same-sex couples in particular. what she's saying is that by being forced to speak in a sense, she's being forced to speak by making web sites for marriages that she disagrees with because of her religion. there's a little bit of question here about her right to sue in this case because she hasn't actually gotten her business up and running yet.

she's asking for a ruling before there's been anyone forcing her to make these web sites but it's still a significant case here, and sara, the concern from the liberal justices is if the court sides with the web site designer, could it open the door to other creative businesses to refuse service to people they don't agree with, whether it's on the basis of sexual orientation or religion or race. there is a lot riding on two big cases. they come down today, the last day at 10:00 a.m., and a lot riding on it, including the fate of those student loans for millions of americans. >> there's always the historical record of the supreme court, and this court leans conservative. is there any indication on how these last two big rulings may go? >> it's always hard to guess with the supreme court. i mean, they were very skeptical of the loan program, so i would guess that if they find standing, they will strike it down. as for the gay rights case, we'll see. they did seem inclined to side with the wedding web site

designer. we'll see at 10:00 a.m. >> jessica, thank you for being all of this this week. we appreciate it. kate. when it comes to biden's student loan program, we're talking about millions of people who could be immediately impacted with what the court decides told. 40 plus million people are eligible for the program. wiping out their student loan debt. some of their student loan debt. about 16 million people have already been approved for the program. cnn's christine romans has much more on this. it really can't be overstated, the financial implications of this. i mean, this is a $400 billion program, and it's all been on hold while this has been working its way through the courts. >> it's a campaign promise the president wanted to keep and the supreme court gets to decide whether it will happen. we're talking about $20,000 of student debt relief, if you're a pell grant recipient, for everybody else, $10,000 for people who make less than $25,000 a year. 20 have applied and 16 million have been approved through the portal that the department of

education put up here at a cost estimated at $400 billion. so what are we talking about here? we're talking about people's budgets. on average, between 210 and $314 a month is what people stay on student loan payments. for three years they have had a pause. that money has been in their pocket, building up savings and paying down debt. that is a significant bill that will come due again here. 43.8, about 44 million borrowers overall with about 37, $38,000 is the average balance. i think it's interesting, half of these people have 20,000 or less. so half of the people who are borrowers do have a manageable debt load here, and that's one of the arguments against forgiveness. >> you pointed out to ne,me, an this is important in the context of the court deciding this. no matter how the court decides told, borrowers are in for a rude awakening no matter what. >> yeah, you're going to have to start paying your bills again in october. this time-out, the covid

time-out on debt payments is over. everyone has to go back and student loan payments, no matter what happens today, student loan payments resume soon. >> but today is going to be so consequential for people, immediately in what their budget is going to look like going forward. john. with us is cnn legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, elliot williams. romans, and kate, they were just talking about the policy, whether it was good policy, or what the policy would do. the supreme court justices shouldn't be focused on that. they should be focused on whether it's a legal policy. it's a two-step consideration. >> it's always a two-step consideration. there's something known as standing, which is the person who was wronged by an action is the one who can sue. for instance, if you and sara sidner are having a dispute. >> never. >> never, but i can't join a lawsuit on her behalf or sue you

because she's my favorite an sor -- an anchor on cnn news central. she has to sue you. the problem in this matter is it's not clear who has sitting. the supreme court grappled with this in oral argument. a bunch of states sued the bilden admbiden administration, but the loan service providers didn't. they could make this going away saying the wrong party is suing here. >> missouri is suing saying there are loan servicers in our state are wronged here. but they're not in it, it's state doing it on their behalf. the justices could decide to do their case. if there is standing there's a separation of powers argument. >> there's a straightforward congressional statute that says in the time of a national emergency, the secretary of education has the authority to amend loan spending or student loan programs, right, so the question was, president trump declared covid an emergency, and then president biden years later

forgave a lot of student debt. the question is did president biden go too far, besides amending loan servicing rules, and forgiving debt. the justices might grapple with that a little bit. >> no guarantee it will get past standing. see what they say if they do. the other case which i find legally interesting has to do with colorado, whether this wedding web site company, which by the way, hnadn't started doig business yet, could refuse service for gay weddings. it seems as if the court wanted to in oral arguments rule on the side of the company, however, it's the language they will use in deciding this that could be truly fascinating. it could open the door to what, elliot? >> it could open the door to discrimination or open questions as to whether someone's discriminating or not. colorado law is clear, and says that businesses open to the public must make their services

available to everyone. this individual, this business said that, well, you know, i don't want to service people who have gay folks i don't agree with. >> i don't want to make a web site for a gay couple, right, and so the question is this her free speech rights or is this these people's rights to participate in a free and civil society, and the court grapples with this tension all the time, weighing one person's right, fact they could not be discriminated against, and that could be a tricky one, depending on where the court goes with it. >> if they say the person does not have to create the web site, could they say my religion says i don't have to service people of a certain race. >> my religion says i don't have to service interracial couples because it makes me uncomfortable. i don't have to serve people of a different race or people who are handicapped or whatever else it might be.

and so it could create far more of a gray area. >> one will think the could would address this in their decision. >> one would think the court would. the court does often leave questions open to future litigation. they may resolve some of the issues around this right now but open the door to figuring out around the margins down the road. >> elliot williams great to see you, i'm sure we'll talk to you again very soon. >> cnn has learned that a top russian general was a secret vip member of the wagner mercenary group, the same group that started a revolt against putin's regime. we're live in moscow with the details. a fugitive arrested near the home of former president obama. we have details on that security threat. investigators have zeroed in on efforts to overturn the 2020 election. sources say a former trump campaign official is now talking with the special counsel. what does that witness know

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the man who staged a rebellion and posed the greatest threat to vladimir putin, he could now be facing an assassination threat. that comes from the intelligence chief. the russian sfb has been charged with taking out yevgeny prigozhin. nick paton walsh is in kyiv, ukraine, with more on this. what more are you hearing from the military intelligence chief about this claim? >> reporter: the statement is limited, who is basically tasked with finding out information russia doesn't want ukraine to have but also spreading information at times that would compromise russia, and this may possibly fall into the latter category. we don't know where he received

this piece of data from. ukraine does have good intelligence sources in russian ranks clearly. he's aware that the sfb, the russian security services have been tasked with assassinated yevgeny prigozhin. whether that's successful or not, we'll see over time. the mere prospect being raised suggests it's fair to say, we really don't know how well the supposed deal between yevgeny prigozhin who led an armed rebellion against vladimir putin. prigozhin was supposed to go to belarus and say there, but a man who's not publicity shy has not emerged in belarus. his president has said he's there. there have been unconfirmed sightings of him in st. petersburg, planes affiliated with him have gone moscow, st. petersburg, minsk and back again. a lot to suggest he's certainly not settled in a quiet hotel in minsk, but the broader question is who knew what when really,

and if the sfb were as some intelligence officials in the west were getting hints ahead of the plot, why did they not act beforehand, if russian military had an inkling, why did they not act beforehand? why potentially are we seeing this order coming out now. a lot to be answered and all of it undermines putin's grip on power. >> absolutely. and you posed the key questions that still need to be asked and answered. it's good to see you. thanks for being there. a cnn exclusive this morning, documents show a russian general who has not been seen in public since the insurrection, since the revolt, was a secret vip member of wagner. russian general sergey sur surovikin. there were 30 other names on the list. cnn east matthew chance in moscow this morning. this is quite a stunning report.

>> i mean, it's a stunning revelation, and it sort of talks to the kind of issue that nick was mentioning in that report from kyiv where he was saying basically what was it that led the russian military to allow this mercenary wagner group to take over a russian city, for instance, with such ease, and there are questions in moscow circulating in the kremlin about the possibility of divided loyalties. this revelation, these documents speak directly to that, because it seems that, you know, general surovikin, the deputy commander, you know, of ukrainian forces, i'm sorry, russian forces in ukraine appears to have been since 2018, a vip wagner member. and you mentioned he's not alone. there are 30 other senior russian military and intelligence officials that have also been fanned to be on the list by the dossier, which is a

russian investigative group, and, you know, we don't know what vip membership means for wagner, they're on the payroll or financial benefits, we haven't seen any evidence pertai pertaining to that. it implies a relationship between the russian military and mercenaries that were allowed, as i said, to stage in military uprising without a shot, virtually being fired and so that's something that is, i expect, being looked at very closely now by investigators associated with the kremlin. >> that implication of some kind of a tie, honestly, have huge ramifications. matthew chance, thank you so much for being with us this morning. sara. >> in less than an hour, the supreme court will make significant decisions, promising to have a major impact on society. we're waiting on two major decisions. first, the fallout from the court's decision to gut affirmative action.

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in about 30 minutes, we expect the supreme court to release their rulings in two major cases that will impact millions of americans. one will decide the fate of president biden's student loan forgiveness program, the other is a battle between free speech and lgbtq rights that could have far reaching consequences. just 24 hours ago, the court gutted affirmative action, and we now know the biden administration has been preparing for this possibility for months. here's what the president said

after he learned the court's decision. >> we cannot let this decision be the last word. while the court can render a decision, it cannot change what america stands for. we need a new path forward. a path consistent with the law that protects diversity and expands opportunity. what i propose consideration is a new standard where colleges take into account the adversity a student has overcome when selecting among qualified applicants. >> cnn white house correspondent arlette saenz joins us now from the white house this morning. can you give us some sense of what the administration was doing behind the scenes as this was coming down, and what they're going to do going forward? >> reporter: yeah, well officials have been clear that there can't be just one sweeping action from president biden that would reverse the decision from the supreme court yesterday on affirmative action, but the president did make clear to senior staff that he wanted to

come up with some yideas to try to ensure there is diversity in higher education. now, for months, the president's team has been working behind the scenes. that includes the white house counsel's office, and the domestic policy counsel to come up with some options in the event that the supreme court ruled in the way that they did. they talked about the possibility of executive actions and also met with civil rights groups, education groups, to try to feel out and hear what they thought other alternative actions could be and what their concerns would be moving forward as well. ultimately, for the time being, they have landed on the education department issuing guidance to colleges and universities to try to ensure diversity in their student body. they are also planning on holding the summit with students and educational leaders to talk about affirmative action, as president biden made clear in those remarks that this cannot be the last fight when it comes to the issue of affirmative

action. but in addition to this case from yesterday, the white house is also bracing for a huge decision from the supreme court today on the fate of president biden's student loan program. you'll remember, he rolled that out last summer, trying to make good on a campaign promise, and this is a program that could affect roughly 40 million student borrowers. now, behind the scenes, the white house has been preparing for various scenarios over the course of the past few months. that includes coming up with contingency plans, some possible different policy outcomes that they could relay to people if the supreme court were to strike this down. if the supreme court lets it stand, the administration's attention would turn to trying to get that debt relief out to student borrowers as quickly as possible. all eyes will be on the next half hour when the white house will get a huge answer to whether the president's student loan program will be able to go forward as they had hoped. >> yeah, some 40 million people could be affected by this. i'm sure they are watching. thank you so much, arlette saenz for all of that.

>> coming up for us, the coast guard's secret, an investigation into alleged sexual abuse at the u.s. coast guard academy revealing a dark history. what's more is leaders kept the findings quiet for years. it's a cnn exclusive. we have that ahead. and a man with guns and explosive material arrested in former president obama's neighborhood, but law enforcement are saying today about what he wanted to do and how he's connected to january 6th. we'll be right back. using the finest materials, like indulgent memory foam,

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washington metro police say they have blocked a man from

former president obama's house, and they found firearms and the components to make a molotov cocktail. the man also has a warrant out for his arrest already related to the january 6th attack on the capitol. cnn's gabe cohen is tracking this one for us and he joins us now. what more are you hearing now from law enforcement about what this man potentially was intending to do? >> look, kate, that's what investigators including the fbi's joint terrorism task force are digging into right now, but the early details here are really disturbing. police say taylor taranta was in a van in former president obama's d.c. neighborhood, with guns, with those explosive materials that you mentioned, after he made claims on an internet live stream that he had some sort of detonator, police requested a bomb squad to sweep the van, though at this point law enforcement officials tell cnn there is no indication of a direct threat to the obamas. but, look, our team has been looking into taranto's social

media history. he's active on you tube. he has posted videos including one that says he's inside the capitol after storming it, in his words. we know that yesterday morning before the arrest, a truth social account with the same user name as his you tube reposted a post from former president donald trump that included the purported d.c. address of the obamas, and that repost reads, quote, got them sounded. you can see it on your screen there. as you mentioned, he also had this open warrant for his arrest related to the january 6th attack at the capitol, so at this point, he's been arrested and at least charged with being a fugitive from justice. we don't know what additional charges could be coming, kate, at this point. we know that taranto is a defendant in a civil suit filed by the estate of former metropolitan police officer jeffrey smith who died by suicide in the days after the january 6th attack.

kate. >> gabe, thank you for giving us an update on that. much more to learn. john. this morning, new information that a trump campaign official is working with special counsel jack smith's investigation into january 6th. sources tell cnn that former trump campaign aide mike roman is cooperating in the probe in the efforts to overturn the 2020 election. cnn's katelyn polantz is live in washington, d.c. who is microman and what does it tell us about what jack smith is looking into? >> john, micke roman was a campaign official in 2020, one of the people working on the scheme to essentially convince battle ground states that donald trump had lost, to submit to congress that actually he had won, the fake electors scheme. you might not recognize his face. you might not have heard his name before, but this is why

mike roman matters as someone who's speaking to the justice department. it's because this, take a listen to what he said previously when he was being asked by investigators what happened. here's microke roman, testifyin about what happened on january 6th on capitol hill. >> what was your role, if any, having alternate electors meet in states where trump lost, including pennsylvania. >> the fifth. >> did you discuss the alternate electors plan with president trump either before or after the electors met and cast votes on december 14th, 2020? >> the fifth. >> so you see there mike roman is not providing answers to the congressional investigators, but we do now know that he is providing answers to the special counsel's office, the criminal investigators because they reached an agreement for him to be able to sit for an interview, provide them information, and at

the same time that they're getting answers from him, this special counsel investigation around january 6th, donald trump, the 2020 election, it is laser focused on what happened with those fake electors, so all of that coming together at a moment where it seems like the investigation has really moved quite forward and also may be nearing some sort of conclusion. >> so the other half of jack smith's portfolio into the mar-a-lago documents in which there are already federal indictments, cnn is learning that a witness in this and perhaps someone who was there for a key moment is a key current trump campaign official. susie wiles is practically running the campaign. >> that's right. susie wiles is very involved in not just donald trump's campaign for president now, but also the effort to make sure that people have lawyers, his legal strategy, as he has all of these investigators around him, and

sue susie wiles, we have confirmed, is the political action committee representative whom donald trump showed a classified map of military operations to in 2021, an episode that made the indictment, and she also is a person who spoke to investigators numerous times as a witness. so this person in the political sphere is just highlighting how much these people around trump witnessed so much and are so useful for investigators and could also be useful as this goes to trial. we also heard from our sources that the trump inner circle was quite blind sided by the fact that she had talked to them but she is one of the people in the key indictment. john. >> think about the conflict, a person who is trying to get donald trump elected president again could also be a witness in the federal case against him. katelyn polantz, great to see you this morning. thank you very much. sara. >> a disturbing pattern at the coast guard academy, how a secret inquiry into alleged

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this morning we have a cnn exclusive for you, a culture of cover ups at the coast guard academy, a secret internal probe into alleged sexual abuse there reveals high ranking officials often ignored or covered up serious misconduct. the findings never made it beyond the agency's top leadership, that's according to records reviewed by cnn and dozens of interviews with current and former coast guard employees and students. cnn chief investigative correspondent pamela brown has the details for us. >> reporter: it's called operation fouled anchor and it was an investigation into sexual assaults at the coast guard academy which uncovered a history of substantiated raped and assaults that were ignored or even covered up by high ranking officials. you've never heard of it because no one ever saw the report. it was buried, even though it was cleompleted a few years ago.

the findings were kept secret, and get this, afterall of this time, the coast guard reported it to congress this month only after cnn's investigative team asked about it. the report found dozens of cases of alleged sexual assault at the coast guard academy, even though they only looked at a limited time frame from 1988 to 2006. and here are some more details about what's in operation fouled anchor. it said that there was a disturbing pattern of not treating reported sexual assaults as criminal matters, even in cases where there was overwhelming evidence. leadership was more concerned at the time about coast guard academy reputation than about the victims of crimes who were members of our service, and that the suspects and sometimes the victims were simply disenrolled from the academy request no investigation at all. if there were punishments, some were laughable, minor things like extra homework orr lowered

class standings. even those pushed out of the academy were somehow able to serve in the military. cnn reached out. i want to go now to an interview that i did with a young woman who recently graduated from the coast guard academy. she told me that the culture has not changed. she asked us to hide her identity. this is what she said. >> i was sexually assaulted three times. the first by a superior. the second time by somebody i considered a dear friend, and the third by al cadet. it was completely toxic and devastating to my sense of self. and left lifelong damages to my physical, mental health. the coast guard academy employs, reinforces and cultivates a system that thrives on the trauma and pain of women and minorities. it's designed for their failure. >> the coast guard sent cnn a

statement saying in part they're dedicated to addressing the needs of survivors and holding offenders accountable. we're going to have much more about this throughout the day and on cnn.com in a story by my incredible investigative colleagues who have been working on this for months, melanie hicken, blake ellis and audrey ash. pamela brown, cnn, washington. >> that's our pamela brown. over to you. minutes from now, the supreme court will decide whether tens of millions of people in this country will be getting relief from their student loan debt or not. and also, what will it mean when the supreme court decides, what will it mean about president biden's executive authority going forward? and an important case also grappling with gay rights and free speech. it's also expected. we'll have it all for you right here on "cnn news central." .

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we are standing by for two major supreme court rulings, and yes, two more after yesterday's huge affirmative action decisions. and today's president biden's student loan forgiveness plan, and it is to forgive up to $40 billion in student loans. and nebraska and five other states with two individual borrowers sued the department of education saying it exceeded the authority. and also, we are awaiting a lgbtq versus colorado. it involves a web designer which

says that the state of colorado is violating her free speech rights. she says she does not want to enter a website business, because she does not want to work with same sex couples, because she shouldn't be forced to over her objection to work with same sex couples, and if so, it could open up the door to refuse working with other groups based on race and religion and other groups. >> and so for more we bring in our special correspondent jessica schneider, and the supreme court is ruling again, and bring us up to speed on all of the key rulings. >> yes, in a moment, sara, get the last opinions of the term, and the biggest being the student loan forgiveness program, and the supreme court is going to decide if the biden administration has the authority to cancel student debt for 40

million american, and amounts to the price tag of $400 billion. this is put on hold by the lower court so it has not been in effect, and if they rule in favor of the biden administration, they could put this program back into effect. they have approved $26 million applications, and more than 40 million people are eligible here, but the big sticking point is whether the administration has the power under federal law to do this. the conservative justices at argument were skeptical about whether the biden administration could enact this program especially with such a big price tag. there was question about the fairness. justice gorsuch said why fair if millions of americans have paid off the loans, and why certain people get student loan forgiveness, and that is the big case affecting millions of people than the second one. the second one is about a wedding website designer in colorado who is suing saying

that her free speech is being violate by a colorado law that makes it, prohibits people from refusing to service same sex couples because of the sexual orientation. this wedding website design ser getting ahead of it saying that i want to start my wedding website business but i don't want to make web sites for same sex couples, because it violates my free speech, and you are compelling toeme to speak about something that i disagree with. if the justices rule in favor of the wedding website designer is when does this end? creative business owners might take liberty with this and refuse to service any number of people whether it is on the basis of same-sex marriage or the raceer to religion. so we are waiting to see what the course sides on this one. they have been repeatedly been in favor of the religious liberties and citing with the religious causes and the same today? we will know in a few minutes,

guys. >> jessica schneider, thank you. >> we know that rules are coming today and no mystery, arbecausee are told they are coming today. and now with the white house student loan forgiveness plan, and if it a rule that does not go their way, the biden white house is coming up with plans. what are the plans, arlette? >> we are told that behind the scenes, the adviser here in white house, the department of education and across the board are working on the plans for the various outcomes to this case. they have been discussing we are told some policy options that could be put into effect if the court was to rule against this plan. additionally they have talked about ways they can try to promote and advise student

borrowers on other programs to take advantage of. we have heard from the progressive lawmakers and debt relief advocate groups who have urged the administration to consider the use of the higher education act which is a law from the 1960s. it is unclear if the administration would go down that route, because it could have a complicated legal route as well, but in addition to preparing for the fact that it could be struck down, they are also preparing for possibility that they will be allowed to move forward with this proposal. they would be likely sending out the notice to the borrowers and the servicers ahead, and this is a plan that the administration anticipates could affect up to 40 million student borrowers. there have been 26 million applications submitted with 15 million approved. for the americans who have applied, they don't have to apply again if the program is

allowed to move forward, and big questions moving forward for the administration today on the next steps. earlier today, the secretary of education miguel cardona would not say if they had a plan b, but take a listen. >> right now, we are focused on the case we put forward and it is in the dna in the department of education to fight for the students and borrowers who right now need a little bit of support. >> so, we will see what the next steps are once the white house learns of the supreme court case, but it is also something that could have huge political implications for president biden, because the issue of student loan forgiveness is something that he talked about on the campaign trail, and he rolled out the plan in august in hopes to appeal to young voters, and many who are saddled with the high loaded debts at the moment. this is going to be a big issue for him heading into 2024 and they are waiting to see how exactly the supreme court is going to rule on what is one of

the president's signature plans. >> thank you, arlette, and stick close. as we are waiting for this to get under way is joining us right now, is cnn chief legal analyst laura coates, and cnn analyst elie honig, and legal analys