oceangate, the company that owned the submersible that imploded on its way to the titanic wreckage says it has suspended its exploration and commercial operations. the decision comes as five men were killed when the titan sub suffered what was called a catastrophic implosion last month. since the tragedy, new details have emerged about warnings and safety concerns over the sub. oceangate charges each passenger $250,000 to ride on titan and explore the 111-year-old titanic shipwreck on the ocean floor. that's it for us. the news continues. "cnn primetime" with kaitlan collins starts right now.

good evening. i'm kaitlan calollins and tonig we're learning more about what the special counsel jack smith is zooming in on in what is believed to be the closing stretch of his january 6th investigation. this is exclusive reporting tonight, new reporting, on cnn. our sources are telling us that jack smith and his team have signaled a continued and seemingly renewed interest in what was one of the most chaotic meetings to ever happen inside the oval office. this was december 18th in 2020, six weeks after trump had lost this election, as the lawyer, sidney powell, trump's former national security adviser, mike flynn, and the former ceo of overstock.com floated some of the most desperate suggestions to keep trump in power. martial law was brought up. so was the proposal to have the u.s. military seize voting machines. you may remember hearing about it from the people who were there and later testified before the january 6th congressional committee. >> i was not happy to see the

people in the oval office. i don't think any of these people were providing the president with good advice. >> i mean at times, there were people shouting at each other, hurling insults at each other. >> cipollone and hirschman and whoever the other guy was showed nothing but contempt and disdain of the president. >> i think that it got to the point where the screaming was completely, completely out there. >> i'm going to categorically describe it as, you guys are not tough enough, or maybe i put it another way. you're a bunch of [ bleep ]. >> tonight we are learning that federal investigators are asking about that very meeting, and they've asked several witnesses about it, including rudy giuliani when he sat down with them voluntarily last month. we are told that was in two

back-to-back days where giuliani went before them. he was asked about multiple incidents, but that was one of them. they've also asked about those outsiders that were there. as i noted, sidney powell, mike flynn, the former overstock ceo patrick byrne. this meeting is also notable because it came four days after members of the electoral college met in all 50 states to officially cast their ballots declaring that joe biden was indeed the winner. after that chaotic meeting, as it ended late into the evening, that was when trump sent this tweet about the january 6th rally that was going to happen in just a few weeks, saying it will be wild. all these developments are coming tonight as we also know that trump's body man turned co-defendant, walt nauta, has finally appeared in court for his arraignment today after quite a delay. it's nearly a month after the former president was indicted in the classified documents probe. the former navy vet from guam is facing the very real possibility of years behind bars now for allegedly helping hide government secrets and lying to

investigators. all of this is raising the question of what is going to happen to nauta going forward, what his legal strategy will look like. in the past, we have seen people who were loyal to the former president flip before. tonight my first guest is trump's former attorney, michael cohen. michael, thank you for being here. of course, you're author of "revenge." before we get to walt nauta, on this new reporting on that meeting that lhappened in the oeflg office. what does it say to you? >> well, i don't know as they're talking about the chaos. donald trump lives in chaos every single day of his life. it's why he's referred to as captain chaos. so why is it that they're now looking at it? it's possibly just more for superseding indictments, and i think it probably affects others more than donald trump.

>> yeah, they're looking at those others who were there. on walt nauta, he finally was arraigned today. there was quite a delay as he was trying to get a florida-based attorney to go in there with him. he pleaded not guilty. you think that's the wrong decision? >> no. i think he believes that by being the trumpiest trumper, that donald will protect him. so the answer would be, yes, i think it's a bad decision on his part. again, being the trumpiest trumper, he thinks donald will protect him and not throw him under the bus. well, the benefit for someone like walt nauta is the fact that he has the example of michael cohen to look at. he has the example of rudy giuliani to look at. he has the example of half a dozen other people, including people like stewart rhodes, who got an 18-year sentence. what happened to donald taking care of them? what happened to donald paying their legal fees? in fact, tomorrow i'm back in court for pretrial conference on legal fees where i'm suing

donald in order to recover. that's after 4 1/2 years. >> you're suing the trump organization for those legal fees. you think walt nauta should learn from your example, do you mean? >> i think he probably should. i mean, you know, history repeats itself. and in this specific case, one thing that we know for certain is that donald does not pay legal fees. donald doesn't pay fees at all. >> the other side of that is that he is paying his legal fees right now from the super pac, we should note, which is also paying trump's legal fees. walt nauta worked for him in the west wing. he took him down to florida with him. he does seem to have this sense of loyalty to trump. i mean, is there any incentive for him to flip in that sense? >> it's not really flipping. it's providing testimony, whether he's going to do it voluntarily or he's going to get subpoenaed. it's one or the other. you're not going to not be responsive when government wants the information from you. and so if there's something that walt can do right now that would

benefit him, then my belief is that he should probably consider it. >> what leads someone i mean you were in this position. trump once tweeted, chael is a businessman for his own account lawyer, who i've always liked and respected. he said, most people will flip if the government lets them out of trouble. sorry, i don't see michael doing that. of course the michael he is referring to there is you, and you ultimately did flip. what leads someone to do that? >> there came a point in time where i said my first loyalty has to be to my wife, my daughter, my son, and my country. that's was when i made the decision. i was actually speaking to george stephanopoulos at the time. and there just came a point in time that i said enough is enough. while i understand that right now trump or the pac is paying for walt nauta's legal fees, let's not forget he did the same thing with me. but there's a pattern to what he does. he will pay a little bit, fall

behind, pay a little more, fall bigger behind. and that way, which is again what this case i have going to trial at the end of this month is all about, what will ultimately happen is he will leave walt nauta the same way he left me, the same way he left giuliani, stewart rhodes, and dozens of other people. >> one thing that's different about nauta is he is a co-defendant of trump's. you know, they've been told not to discuss the case as a list of other witnesses. but there's been no secret of how closely they've continued to work together. i mean you've seen walt nauta at rallies that trump has done. they were orders cheesesteaks together in philadelphia. does it strike you that trump hasn't tried to keep some distance from him? >> no. no, because donald trump doesn't believe that the rules apply to him. they apply to you. they apply to me. they apply to everybody else, but they don't apply to him. if you tell him not to do something, being the petulant child that he is, he will then go ahead and do it simply to be

spiteful. >> one thing you did say, you talked about how trump, with your legal fees and how they paid some and got behind, do you think trump has learned his lesson, though, with this given the consequences of your testimony eventually leading to him being the first ever president indicted? >> yeah, twice. i actually think he has learned the lesson. >> to keep them close? >> to keep them close. he made a big mistake. i think he knows he made that big mistake, and he's not going to make it a second time, at least not with walt. >> i'm joined by former u.s. attorney for the southern district of florida where the trump documents case is expected to be heard, as well as former federal prosecutor jennifer rodgers. marcos, we spent a lot of time together when trump was himself being arraigned in florida. nauta has struggled to find an attorney in florida. he did today.

how does she fit in this picture in the sense of how well known she is in that circuit down there? >> well, she is not well-known. in fact, if you look at the docket today in the case, you'll see that the magistrate judge had to enter an order provides expedited procedure for her to obtain permission to file documents electronically. all attorneys in the southern district of florida must register for electronic filing, and she was not. so that indicates to me that she does not have substantial federal criminal experience. i believe that her experience has proimarily been in the stat criminal court process, as a public defender in the state system. of course, we know that she ran for office as a republican politician. >> of course we know he has another attorney, stan woodward, who has been with him for most of this. she's just the legal-based counsel in florida. jennifer, we are told that trump

and nauta both believe right now that taking these cases to trial is the right strategy for them. they are hopeful they'll be acquitted by a jury. do you see that as the best strategy at this point based on what you've read in that indictment? >> well, i don't know that it's the best strategy for walt nauta because he likely has the option of cooperating against trump, becoming a cooperating witness, pleading guilty, and getting a more lenient sentence at the end of the day. for trump himself, i find it impossible to believe that he would plead guilty himself. so that leaves trial really as his only option. i think he's probably hoping that some of his most, you know, verdant supporters will be on that jury and refuse to convict him. so i think that's his play. and so far we haven't seen this divergence where walt nauta, you know, takes his own interest as precedential, and maybe he will, maybe he won't. we'll have to wait and see. >> yeah, no indication of that

yet. marcos, yesterday, we got additional unsealed portions of the search warrant that was used for that search that happened at mar-a-lago in august. it says essentially that they saw walt nauta on surveillance footage moving more boxes out of the storage room than were ultimately brought back. if you're nwalt nauta, what is your defense for something like that? >> i think walt nauta's defense is going to be that he did not know what the boxes contained, that he did not know anything about classified information. i think that's going to be difficult because i think the indictment says at one point that he walked into the room and saw there was a classified document that had spilled out onto the floor. and his bigger problem is that the government alleges in the indictment that he lied to the fbi agents when they interviewed him about moving those boxes. that's a difficult -- sometimes very difficult charge to overcome because you have an fbi agent on the stand who is very

credible, saying, we know this fact to be true, and he told us the opposite when we interviewed him. and that is a separate federal offense. that, by itself, if you're convicted for that, results in a felony conviction. i think walt nauta's hope here is that somehow the jury will have compassion on him because he simply was a worker for donald trump. and maybe his ultimate hope is that if donald trump is re-elected, that he'll be pardoned if he's convicted. and there's nothing stopping donald trump, if he's re-elected, i meant to say, if he's re-elected president trump in his second term, could easily pardon mr. nauta if he's convicted. >> and you make a good point about the picture that nauta sent that was to another worker at mar-a-lago that we know was also interviewed. jennifer, returning to the

reporting that we had at the top of the show, this is from me and from the riest of our reporting team on this about jack smith having this renewed interest. people are being asked about it recently, about that insane oval office meeting that happened, you know, even by trump standards, probably one of the craziest meetings that happened in the oval office. what do you think when you hear that is something that jack smith and his team have also focused on? >> it strikes me, kaitlan, that if they are headed towards a brought conspiracy indictment against trump and others in relation to the attempts to overturn the election, that's the sort of evidence that they would be interested in because they're going to want to set out not only these individual strands of the conspiracy about the fake electors and the improper pressure on state election officials, state legislatures, mike pence, and so on, but they're going to want to set out how it all came together and who was applying that pressure.

so the renewed interest in that says to me, as they kind of come to charging decision time, maybe they're leaning in that direction, and we'll see a broad conspiracy indictment instead of one or more smaller indictments for some of these more discrete parts of the conspiracy. >> jennifer, if you're bringing in a rudy giuliani or sidney powell or someone who was there, which i should note we don't think that sidney powell has talked to the special counsel's team, what kinds of questions are you asking about that meeting? >> well, they will have asked him questions under a proffer agreement, so that protects rudy giuliani from those statements being used against him. but they'll just ask him everything. i mean obviously the obvious things, who was there, what was said and all of that, but then they'll want to know the rest of it. what did you do afterwards? not only what was talked about, but what were the action items and who actually executed those as they try to fill in what happened here to make this case. >> thank you both for your expertise tonight.

she's pushed 9/11 conspiracies, heckled school shooting victims, spoken at a white nationalist conference and more. but none of that was what got congresswoman marjorie taylor greene booted from the far right freedom caucus in the house. we'll tell you what was ahead. an update on wagner yevgeny prigozhin. he was supposed to be in exile in belarus, but the president of belarus says he's not there. (fisher investments) it's easy to think that all money managers are pretty much the same, but at fisher investments we're clearly different.

(other money manager) different how? you sell high commission investment products, right? (fisher investments) nope. fisher avoids them. (other money manager) well, you must earn commissions on trades. (fisher investments) never at fisher investments. (other money manager) ok, then you probably sneak in some hidden and layered fees. (fisher investments) no. we structure our fees so we do better when clients do better. that might be why most of our clients come from other money managers. at fisher investments, we're clearly different. this is remington. he's a member of the family, for sure. we always fed him kibble it just seemed like the thing to do. but he was getting picky, and we started noticing some allergy symptoms. we heard about the farmer's dog and it was a complete transformation. his allergies were going away and he just had amazing energy. it's a no-brainer that remi should have the best nutritious and delicious food possible. i'm investing in my dog's health and happiness. ♪ get started at longlivedogs.com

kayaking is my thing. running is awesome. but her moderate to severe eczema would make her skin so uncomfortable. i was always so itchy especially when i was hot. now my skin doesn't itch as much. now we're staying ahead of her eczema. there's a power inside all of us to live our passion. and dupixent works on the inside to help heal your skin from within. it helps block a key source of inflammation inside the body that can cause eczema. so, they can have clearer skin and less itch.

serious allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems such as eye pain or vision changes including blurred vision, joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines without talking to your doctor. healing from within is a wonderful thing. ask your child's eczema specialist how dupixent can help heal their skin from within. wake up, achievers. you're making the most of every hour of your life. except the hours that you're sleeping. so why do we leave so much untapped potential on the table? this is a next level bed, for a next level you. my circadian rhythm is kicking your circadian rhythms butt! it's not a competition. i know, but i'm still winning! so, it is a competition. the queen sleep number 360 c2 smart bed is now only $899. plus, free home delivery when you add an adjustable base. shop now only at sleep number.

a stunning revelation about the leader of the failed mutiny against vladimir putin in russia. it turns out that the wagner chief, yevgeny prigozhin, is in russia, not belarus as originally believed. at least that is according to the president of belarus, alexander lukashenko, who brokered this deal between putin and prigozhin as his forces were approaching moscow and gave an extraordinary news conference today in minsk. >> he is in st. petersburg, or maybe this morning he would travel to moscow or elsewhere. but he's not in the territory of belarus now. >> that surprised many people at that press conference, who believed that prigozhin was there. a reminder that prigozhin has not actually been seen in public since he stopped his march on moscow on june 24th. what many saw as the biggest threat to putin's rule in 23

years. my colleague matthew chance is one of the few journalists who questioned lukashenko today. matthew, this idea, this surprise announcement that prigozhin is not actually in belarus and is in russia raises all kinds of questions about his status, about where he is and what he's doing. how surprised were you by that answer? >> reporter: very surprised. in fact, i was half expecting yevgeny prigozhin, the wagner leader, to be at the press conference with alexander lukashenko. it's one of the reasons, you know, we came. but obviously that didn't happen. we got this extraordinary revelation that prigozhin is not in belarus, nor are any wagner fighters, but they are elsewhere. they are in russia. and none of us, none of the journalists that had gathered here in minsk were expecting that. now, lukashenko says that prigozhin is a free man in russia. he's not in jail. he raised the possibility of an assassination of prigozhin by

the kremlin but quickly dismissed that as being not something that putin would consider although i think that the fact that he raised it is a possibility, you know, indicates how precarious the position is at the moment of the wagner leader. he also said that wagner fighters, who were also invited to come and sort of operate out of belarus, were not coming either, or they hadn't come so far. and i sort of got the sense that possibly this was, you know, a blessing in disguise for belarus. take a listen to that line of questioning. >> are you concerned that that would have destabilized belarus? i mean the russians thought it was, you know, it was safe to have them, but, you know, they were wrong. >> translator: this is not a situation where i was lending wagner a helping hand. this was reached in a process of negotiation. you know what was at stake.

i made this decision at that time, and i would stick to it. but i don't think wagner would rise up and turn its guns against the belarusian state. >> reporter: really extraordinary he would say that given that's exactly what wagner did when it came to the russian state. anyway, look, i mean the fact that yevgeny prigozhin is still free and in russia does make vladimir putin look somewhat weak, you know, in the sense that this is an individual who, you know, is accused of fomenting an insurrection against the russian state, yet he has so far gone unpunished. that may not last forever, though, because already russian state television is working overtime, painting prigozhin as a criminal, as a traitor. today they aired dramatic footage of a raid on one of his houses in st. petersburg in which gold and cash and guns were seized along with wigged for disguises and passports with

various aliases. so the groundwork seems to be being laid inside russia for perhaps some sort of criminal prosecution against prigozhin to take place. it hasn't happened yet, but we're keeping a close eye on it. >> just an extraordinary development. matthew chance, thank you. here tonight with their insights on today's developments, bet sanner, the former deputy director of national intelligence, and william taylor, the former u.s. ambassador to ukraine and the vice president for russia and europe at the u.s. institute of peace. thank you both for being here tonight. ambassador taylor, how shocked were you to hear that prigozhin is not actually in belarus and may actually be in russia according to what the president of belarus says? >> so, kaitlan, there's obviously a whole lot that we don't know about the deal. we know that there was some deal struck, but it was unlikely. it's not written down. it was discussed among three or

four or five more people. we don't know what the deal is, and no one's living up to the deal that we thought we heard, that is, that prigozhin would go to belarus and his soldiers would have the option of retiring or joining the ministry of defense or going with him to belarus. so there's a lot we don't know. mr. putin doesn't know. he's got this prigozhin, who still has a lot of troops roaming around russia. this can't make putin very happy. >> beth, you were the deputy director of national intelligence. prigozhin is known for using body doubles, obviously having these kind of costumes that he had. do you think he was ever actually in belarus, and what's your sense of how they assess is he alive? is he in prison? where he is right now. how does u.s. intelligence assess something like that? >> well, they do some of the same things that we're seeing in the open source now. open source is just a wonderful place with watching the flights go back and forth with a plane

that's associated with prigozhin. and perhaps they have some way of tracking his communications. i'm not sure. but there are a number of different ways, and then there are sources talking about where he is. so there's lots of ways to track him. you know, i really don't know where he is now. i don't know if -- i'm pretty sure the intelligence community has a much better sense than we do, and i think that looking from the outside in, you know, even the intelligence community has to have a lot of humility about figuring out what happens in such a closed and byzantine system that is russia. it's difficult. >> it's quite difficult. i mean matthew chance was saying they thought prigozhin might show up today, and they find out he's in russia. ambassador, the other announcement that we're expecting tomorrow when it comes to the front lines of ukraine is that the u.s. is actually going to start providing ukraine with cluster munitions, something that kyiv has been pushing for for a long time.

for people watching at home and don't know what they are, they're these controversial weapons. they're deadly. washington has resisted sending them. you know, russia has used them, we believe. you can kind of see this is what actually makes up the cluster munition. do you think sending that is the right idea? is that wise? what's your sense of what's behind that decision? >> kaitlan, it clearly was a hard decision. however, it sounds like the ammunition shortage, the shortage of 155 millimeter artillery rounds that the ukrainians need for this counteroffensive are getting very low. these cluster munitions are good against troops on the ground. they are area weapons. they're not as precise as the single shot. so in order to keep the ukrainians in the fight, this decision sounds like it's going to provide some ammunition that

they need for this counteroffensive. >> beth, what does it say to you about how the u.s. is assessing these decisions? >> well, they're assessing them, i think, you know, with the big strategic question in mind, which president biden has focused on, is, you know, am i going to push russia over the edge and push him into some kind of nuclear confrontation? i think that that was probably in hindsight a misassessment of the risk of that, but, you know, hindsight is 20/20. but then i think the other is just the very practical matter here in that ukraine needs to have enough men and munitions to fight this fight, and they do not have enough. and it is probably eye-opening, and it's eye-opening for us when we look at a taiwan conflict. >> beth sanner, ambassador bill taylor, thank you both for joining tonight. back home, there is word that one of the most controversial members of

congress, marjorie taylor greene, has now just been ousted from the far-right house freedom caucus and perhaps the biggest question, what finally did it?

here's how tommy lost 30 lbs on noom weight. i'm tom. noom helped him use psychology to lose weight. the mindful aspect made me feel more conscious about what i was eating and why i was eating it. it's actually working. lose weight and make it last with noom weight.

i got into debt in college and, no matter how much i paid, it followed me... everywhere. so i consolidated it into a low-rate personal loan from sofi. ditch credit card fees and high interest. borrow up to $100k. sofi. get your money right. is it possible to protect my business from cyber threats? it is, with comcast business. helping every connected device stay protected. yours. your employees'. even... susan? hers, too. safe. secure. and powered by the next generation 10g network. with comcast business, advanced security isn't just possible. it's happening. get started wih fast spees and advanced security

for $49.99a month for 12 monts plus ask how to get up to a $750 prepaid card with qualifying internet. sleepovers just aren't what they used to be. a house full of screens? basically no hiccups? you guys have no idea how good you've got it. how old are you? like, 80? back in my day, it was scary stories and flashlights. we don't get scared. oh, really? mom can see your search history. that's what i thought. introducing the next generation 10g network. only from xfinity.

a group of hard-line conservatives with no shortage of firebrand members have now voted to kick out congresswoman marjorie taylor greene, a member of the house freedom caucus, maryland congressman andy harris says they booted her just before the end of last month. before we tell you what did cross the line, this is the kind of stuff that did not with the house freedom caucus in the past. >> so-called plane that crashed into the pentagon. it's odd there's never any evidence shown for a plane in the pentagon. >> the democrats are now controlled by the jihad squad, led by aoc, the little communist from new york city. >> january 6th was just a riot at the capitol. and if you think about what our declaration of independence says, it says to overthrow tyrants. >> before you ask, no, it was not the suggestion from 2018 that the wildfires in california

were started because of pacific gas and electric, and former california governor jerry brown conspired to fire lasers from space. the breaking point was apparently this heated exchange you see playing how here between marjorie taylor greene and the other person, colorado congresswoman lauren boebert. greene accused boebert at this time of copying her article of impeachment and reportedly called her a little "b." congresswoman greene refused to comment on her status in the house freedom caucus but said in a statement in part, quote, in congress, i serve northwest georgia first and i serve no group in washington. joining me now to discuss is scott jennings, former special assistant to president george w. bush, and bakari sellers, former democratic state rep from south carolina, and the host of the bakari sellers podcast. >> son of a "b," you can't be do

thatting. >> -- be doing that. >> scott, what happened to the 11th commandment from ronald reagan, thou shall not speak ill of any republican? >> i wonder if this is really the thing or if the fact that she's actually been a pretty good ally of kevin mccarthy. she helped him become the speaker. she voted with him on the debt deal. he's used her a lot here. he's got a narrow majority, and they're using this as the trigger point. but i actually wonder if they don't like the fact that she's, you know, become a card-carrying member of the establishment. >> it definitely shows how fractured house republicans are. >> oh, they're a mess. look, you know, there's an old saying my father would say, you never argue with a fool because people watching can't tell the difference. when you look at that, you just can't tell the difference of what's happening. when you just sit back and you understand the dialogue that was happening between the two, it

just shows that the decorum between congresswoman boebert and congresswoman marjorie taylor greene is below the dignity of the united states congress. when i was growing up and i'm sure when scott was growing up -- he's older than i am, but when we were growing up, i think we held the united states congress to a higher esteem. the individuals who served us, we believed them to be carrying themselves with a decorum and a dignity, and these two ladies simply have not been able to do that. by exchanging that type of terminology, that type of rhetoric on the floor, by somebody else to quote you, kaitlan, a little "b," it's below the dignity of office. i think all americans, democrats and republicans alike, should have some shame. >> and that it's over who got to file impeachment articles first against president biden. on another issue, though, on the campaign trail of who may be president next, we have learned from the desantis campaign that they have raised $20 million in the six weeks or so since he has entered the race. that came after we learned trump

raised about $35 million. that's a lot of money for desantis, $20 million in those six weeks. but he's had a series of missteps on the campaign trail. is that enough to make up for it? >> well, and you add it to what he brought into the race from florida. he's got plenty of money to communicate. you know, the higher you climb in these campaigns, the less money matters. you have enough to communicate, you have enough to operate. obviously he does. obviously trump does. i worry about the rest of the campaigns having enough money and oxygen to last. but he's got plenty of money to get his message out there. the question for him is not money. it's is there an audience for this? right now, donald trump is so dominant in the primary that no amount of money may be enough. obviously he's fighting hard and he's bringing up some issues right now, but trump's been hard to dislodge so far. and the money has not deterred the other non-trump candidates. that's his first mission is to get rid of everybody else. >> ron desantis has one singular problem. it's the more that people meet him, the less they like him. i compare him -- >> florida excluded? >> florida excluded probably.

i think many people in florida, once they -- i mean you and i could have been charlie crist. that's a whole other story. but ron desantis is not a very likable politician. he does not do well in retail politics. people like his policy, i think. certainly people like his policy. they just don't like the person. and i believe we're seeing him turn into scott walker. we're seeing him turn into tim pawlenty. i don't know if viewers remember those names. at one point in time, they were the next big it thing. everybody thought they were the front-runner to be the gop nominee. >> desantis was just on fox before we came on-air and he was asked about why he's not resonating with voters. it was really fascinating. this is what he said. >> i've also been attacked more than anybody, as you know, will. donald trump has spent over $20 million attacking me. that's more than he's spent supporting republican candidates in last year's midterm election. you can't win with just republican voters.

i think we showed in florida, if you want a big victory, you have to win independent voters. i've shown i can do that. i think we can do it nationally. >> is he doing stuff to do that, though, to appeal to independent voters and people who haven't voted for republicans? >> look, he's got to win a republican primary first. but his electoral success in florida came on the back of a lot of independents and a lot of democrats, and he flipped some big areas in florida that traditionally vote democrat. so he has a history of doing that. but you can't get to that part of the game unless you win the republican primary, and the issues that resonate in the republican primary right now he is hitting on. again, i just go back to trump's got half the party. the other half wants to do something else, and you've got a whole bunch of people that are fighting for that second half. it's not trump. he's got to dispatch the rest of the field. >> the problem is most americans know him to be 5'8". most americans know him to be the governor of florida who is not donald trump, who fought against mickey mouse and lost. so when those are the characteristics people know you for, you have to stand for something, and he doesn't stand

for anything right now in this presidential primary. >> bakari sellers, scott jennings, thanks for keeping this panel so pure tonight. up next, new york city mayor eric adams is facing controversy tonight over this photo that he carries of a fallen new york police department officer. he carries it in his wallet, often flashes it at press conferences. but now a new report is saying it's all an act and that that story behind the photo isn't true. after advil dual action back pain... yo! uh! ha! ha! [dog bark] what? my back feels better. before advil... new advil dual action back in fights back pain two ways. for 8 urs of relief.

every day, more dog people, and more vets are deciding it's time for a fresh approach to pet food. they're quitting the kibble. and kicking the cans. and feeding their dogs dog food that's actually well, food. developed with vets. made from real meat and veggies. portioned for your dog. and delivered right to your door. it's smarter, healthier pet food. get 50% off your first box at thefarmersdog.com/realfood

sometimes it takes a different approach to see the possibilities all around you. [ laughs ] yeah, what if i catch it first? then what? ♪ with capella university's game-changing flexpath format, get support every step of the way to help you stay on track. imagine your future differently with capella university.

this is a photo of a fallen new york police department officer that mayor eric adams says he carries with him in his wallet every day. he often talks about that officer, robert venable, who was killed in the line of duty in 1987. >> go back to the days of thinking of robert venable, my close colleague who died in the line of duty. i still think about robert. i keep a picture of robert in my wallet. >> the photo that he's talking about looks wrinkled, weathered like something he has carried

around for decades. except today we learned from a new report in "the new york times" that the photo was actually printed out last year by city hall employees who even spilled coffee on it to make it look for convincing, more weathered. tonight, the mayor's office is denying that report saying, in part -- and i'm quoting this emnow -- to be clear, mayor adams made a photocopy of a photograph of officer venable that was printed in a news bulletin from november 1987, which mayor adams still has in possession of this day and which "the times" saw. our cnn political commentator errol louis is here to talk about this story. what was your reaction as someone who covers this area and has interacted with the mayor when you read this story from "the new york times"? >> in covering politicians of all kinds, politicians take a couple of liberties with the truth here and there. you know, if somebody is cutting a ribbon at a library branch and they say, i used to spend every weekend in the library, and you know they really didn't.

it's kind of a white lie, relatively harmless. what's striking here is it's not entirely harmless because it seems city employees were asked to do something and they felt strange enough about it that they told "the new york times" about it. this falls into a different category of people kind of inventing something that didn't have to be invented. everyone knows this is a mayor of who spent a couple of decades in the nypd. everyone knows this is a mayor who supports the men and women of the nypd. there's no particular reason to exaggerate, you know? i mean if you remember him in your heart, if you remember him through a photo that you used to carry, it all sounds the same. it all works the same. why would you go to this much effort? and i think that's the thing that i and a lot of people are wondering about. >> what would be an answer to something like that, of why he would go to these lengths? i know there's been moments before where he's said one thing, and it was kind of like what you were saying earlier, not a full fabrication, but an

exaggeration. is that what your sense is? >> i'm not sure what's going on here other than that it's a mistake. i bet he wishes he could take the last couple of days back and maybe take some of those speeches back and some of those actions back because it doesn't help him in any way, shape, or form. it doesn't get him a single new vote. it doesn't shed any new light on his commitment to the nypd or the policies that the city needs to follow to battle crime. it doesn't do anything positive at all, and it makes you wonder why go to such efforts in that way? and it starts to get into questions that are going to be raised about character, and that's where it really starts to get difficult for everybody. >> does hurt him politically at all? a recent poll of registered voters in w york city had his favorability at 46%. it was down about 3% from the same survey back in may. he was someone who was seen as the way he came into office was aspirational to democrats nationwide. >> sure. look, he is one of the first homegrown mayors we've had in a generation in new york. we have a lot of outsiders who

come here and end up as mayor. so he's got a real opportunity here. he's only the second black mayor, as he never stops reminding us. he's got a real opportunity to bring the city together, move the city forward. really important policies that he promised on the campaign trail that people voted for back in 2021. we seem to be turning the corner on crime in many respects. there's a lot riding on this. it's really, really important. that's why it's all the more important we just lived through this through the pandemic, kaitlan. every word that comes out of the mouth of our mayor or our governor, it's got to be true. it's got to be accurate. when we were talking about masks and ppe and how to deal with this pandemic, we learned the hard way everything you say has got to be true. there's no room for these facfacbles and fibs that seem to be coming out of city hall. >> thank you. up next, my colleague, abby phillip, is going to talk to the niece of that fallen officer

venable. also, it is mark zuckerberg's biggest swing yet at elon musk. we'll talk about the big launch and what it means next. - this was our second purchase through carvana. it was super easy and really fast. this time, we traded in a car and couldn't believe how easy it was, and we found the car our fafamily really needed and in red. next thing i know, our new car was here and our trade-in was gone. bye! ta-da. (sheena chuckles) i literally tell people all the time how fast and easy carvana is. - [announcer] buy your car with carvana today.

[music playing] subject 1: cancer is a long journey. it's overwhelming, but you just have to put your mind to it and fight. subject 2: it doesn't feel good because you can't play outside with other children. subject 3: as a parent, it is your job to protect your family. but here is something that i cannot do. i cannot fix this. i don't know if my daughter is going to be able to walk. i don't know if she's going to make it till tomorrow. [music playing] interviewer: you can join the battle to save lives by supporting st. jude children's research hospital. families never receive a bill from st. jude for treatment, travel, housing, or food so they can focus on helping their child live. subject 4: childhood cancer, there's no escaping it.

but st. jude is doing the work, continually researching towards cures, giving more than just my child a chance at life. interviewer: please, call or go online right now and become a st. jude partner in hope for only $19 a month. subject 5: those donations really matter because we're not going to give up. and when you see other people not giving up on your child, it makes all the difference in the world. interviewer: when you call or go online with your credit or debit card right now, we'll send you this st. jude t-shirt. you can wear to show your support to help st. jude save the lives of these children. subject 6: st. jude is hope. even today after losing a child, it's still about the hope of tomorrow, because. childhood cancer has to end. interviewer: please, call or go online right now.

[music playing] wake up, achievers. you're making the most of every hour of your life. except the hours that you're sleeping. so why do we leave so much untapped potential on the table? this is a next level bed, for a next level you. my circadian rhythm is kicking your circadian rhythms butt! it's not a competition. i know, but i'm still winning! so, it is a competition. the queen sleep number 360 c2 smart bed is now only $899. plus, free home delivery when you add an adjustable base. shop now only at sleep number.

facebook's attempt to compete with twitter has been active for a little more than a day now. it is called threads and mark zuckerberg says it was down loaded more than 30 million times in the first 16 hours of its existence. big names from oprah to bill gaetz and even the dalai lama jumped on quickly. twitter is threatening to sue facebook's parent company meta. even if you have never sent a tweet in your life you likely heard of the way the chaos ha enveloped the company, twitter, since elon musk bought it for $44 million in october. threads, everyone is getting on it from instagram today. mark zuckerberg is bragging about how many people already down loaded it. twitter is already threatening essentially to sue them. >> let the showdown begin between the two big social media giants. this was a letter that was sent on behalf of twitter to mark zuckerberg directly essentially saying that threads stole the

intellectual property, stole the ideas, and stole a lot of the sort of makings of twitter to create threads. they called it a copy cat and also said in the letter that threads hired twitter employees to create threads. there is a lot of back and forth going on right now. does this look like twitter? is it just like instagram? it is important to note meta says this is not true. this is an independent app. they did not hire twitter employees to create threads. this is going to be a showdown between the two big giants. it sounds like a cage match but that is already happening between mark zuckerberg and elon musk. this is just the beginning. we have to keep an eye on what happens here. >> even if he is claiming they hired all the twitter employees didn't twitter fire a lot of employees when elon musk took over? >> they did. that is a lot of what we're

hearing. people are upset with what twitter has become over the last couple years and that is maybe why people are taking a look at threads. thousands of twitter employees were fired. twitter is charging people for things that were free before, for check marks, for using tweet deck. and so potentially threads has an opportunity to draw some of those people over from twitter. one thing twitter has that threads does not is the longevity. they have years of experience, die hard twitter fans. but threads is an opportunity for meta to potentially make money, draw in a new crowd, make more money in terms of advertisers. one thing to think about is instagram seamlessly interacts with threads which is a great transition for all of those users. twitter on its own has 250 million users. instagram on its own has 2 billion users. more people to get on threads directly from instagram. >> we'll see if they can maintain the momentum.

i said 44 million. it is $44 billion elon musk bought it for. quite a price tag there. thank you very much. >> thanks. it is the story that is in washington essentially taking over every headline in the nation's interests. where did the cocaine that was found in the west wing come from? we have new details about the investigation that is under way tonight, next. give them the nutrients they need with lipo. it's formulated with ingredients clinically shown to protect your ears from dizziness, ear ringing, and even heariring loss. never miss a moment with lipo flavonoid.

every day, more dog people are deciding it's time for a fresh approach to pet food. developed with vets. made from real meat and veggies. portioned for your dog. and delivered right to your door. it's smarter, healthier pet food.

so, you've got the power of xfinity at home. now take it outside with xfinity mobile. like speed? it's the fastest mobile service around. with the best price for two lines of unlimited. only 30 bucks a line per month. that's hundreds in savings a year when you wave bye to the other guys. no wonder xfinity mobile is one of the fastest growing mobile services. you really shouldn't walk out the front door without it. switch today at xfinitymobile.com.

an update tonight on the investigation into the cocaine that was found at the white house. a law enforcement source telling cnn that the secret service is expected to finish its investigation early next week whether or not they can identify a suspect. investigators have already reviewed security footage and visitor logs to get into the white house but they have not yet gotten results of a fingerprint analysis or any kind of dna test. cnn previously rep