>> what they were proposing i thought was nuts. >> i don't think any of these people are providing the president with good advice, and so i didn't understand how they had gotten in. >> there were people shouting at each other, throwing insults at each other. >> whoever the other guy was showed nothing but contempt and disdain of the president. >> i'm going to categorically describe it as you guys are no tough enough or maybe i would put it another way a bunch of [ bleep ]. >> so after the eting ended, trump sent out this tweet. you meer this, called on his supporters to gather in d.c. on january 6th for that big protest. he told them be there. will be wild. now another key date the special counsel is looking at december

14, 2020. that's the day that alternate republican electors signed bogus certificates falsely claiming that trump won the election. here to break this all down for us is cnn's senior legal analyst elie honig of the southern district of new york, former federal state prosecutor. elie, for people watching this from the periphery, let's start with the fake elector scheme. what was it? >> victor, this was a key part of the effort of trump's team to try to steal the 2020 election. it's important to understand this effort was focused on seven crucial swing states all of which voted for joe biden but by fairly narrow margins. the way it's supposed to work is after the votes are counted in each state, state officials certify the election and send in paperwork saying these will be our allotted number of electors. they will be casting their vote for joe biden. that was done. the problem is people who supported donald trump tried to

send in their own set of electoral paperwork. let's look at what that paperwork looked like this is from the paperwork submitted by the state of arizona, the false paperwork submitted by trump supporters. important to note they actually did send these documents into the senate and the national archives, both of which are federal agencies, potentially punishable by criminal charges. the false documents also say we have chosen our state has chosen donald trump for president, mike pence for vice president. all seven states had actually voted for joe biden. and the actual people who were going to serve as fake electors signed their names to those documents and they were sent in to the archives and really important to keep in mind, victor, if even three of these seven states had flipped their votes, it would have changed the outcome of the entire 2020 election. >> talk about the broader schemes prosecutors are looking at because i think what a lot of this tells us looking so closely at this meeting, right, elie,

it's beyond just fake electors. >> we're learning prosecutors are casting a much wider net. let's look at who prosecutors have been talking to and who they have not spoken to yet. first of all, the lawyers are really important here. starting with rudy giuliani, rudy giuliani was a key architect behind the fake eleelect or scheme, one of the coordinators among those seven states, reportedly. jack smith's team has spoken with rudy giuliani. sidney powell and john eastman had key roles in the wild meetings that you spoke about a moment before. they have not spoken with doj, as far as we know. john eastman took the fifth when the january 6th committee in congress tried to talk to him. we also know that doj has spoken with all three of these, what we'll call other lawyers, white house lawyers, who stood up against these ideas, who basically told giuliani and sidney powell, these ideas won't work. they're not legal. we know that prosecutors have spoken with certain crucial state level officials who were

on the receiving end of pressure campaigns. of course brad raffensperger who received the call from donald trump asking him to just find 11,780 votes. another georgia official we learned this week in an interview with kaitlan collins, doj is looking at other states, arizona, the former house speaker, told us that he has spoken with the fbi. so we know doj is looking more broadly. and, finally, remember the fake electors? doj has spoken with some of them. they've given them immunity. they have to testify but their testimony cannot be used against them. doj is casting a very broad net and, finally, the last gasp effort was the pressure campaign on mike pence, various concerns and people around trump tried to pressure him to throw out the electoral votes. doj has, in fact, spoken with mike pence as well. >> there could be far more than two people indicted like we see in the classified documents case on this special counsel investigation.

go over the possibilities and potential defenses. >> what might prosecutors actually charge? obstruction of an official meeting, meaning they were trying to interfere. that's been charged against over 300 people who stormed the capitol successfully so far. the broader way is conspiracy to defraud the united states of a free and fair election and then finally potentially false statements because, remember, those fake archive statements were sent in to the national archives. also, what could the defenses be here? with respect to the fake elector scheme, there could be an argument this was not intended to fool anybody. this was a political stunt. this was a political protest not criminal. the problem is they sent the documents into the archives. another argument is these were just sent as alterp nate electo. in the off chance this would have succeeded, two of the seven

documents do say that. finally overarching there could be an argument all of these pressure schemes were blessed by lawyers. rudy giuliani, sidney powell, and others. i'm not sure if that will hold up. we could see a defense along those lines. >> elie, thanks so much. former white house senior policy adviser ashley allison and cnn political commentator and former assistant to former president george w. bush. donald trump is still 30 points ap ahead in some of these polls. the legal element not influencing the political, at least in the favor of some of his opponents. >> it's influenced it in his favor. we've seen his fund-raising go up in the wake of some of these issues. we've seen him submit his lead in the republican primary. there's at least half, maybe slightly more than hatch of the republican electorate that just isn't buying any of this and aren't worried about any of this. another half of the party thinks

carrying all this baggage may not be -- >> do you think it's half? >> i think it's half and half. half wants to do it again and half wants to find something else. and the trouble for the people who are in the non-trump half all the fragmentation going on against him. there's no doubt these issues that keep coming up with him have cemented in the minds of his supporters why it's so vital that he be returned to the nomination and returned to the white house. it has nothing to do with issues, nothing to do with ideology or are we going to be more conservative or less. it has everything to do with this personal, to him, vendetta that they think democrats have to just get him and throw him in jail, and they're not going to let it happen. it's quite fascinating. >> the thinking was ron desantis would be the most formidable competitor for donald trump. he's way behind in the polling. boy, he just got a lot of money, $20 million in the second quarter. here is what he said about it yesterday.

>> the analysis of ron desantis of why not yet is connecting. >> well, i think did you just see the news today about the record fund-raising haul we've had? nobody has been able to match that in the history of modern presidential politics. we have a huge amount of support to be able to take the case to the people. we haven't started that yet. we're in the process of building out a great organization, and i think we'll be on the ground in all these early states. it is three yards and a cloud of dust type situation. >> you've been an adviser to the white house. do you believe that if he's able to catch up with that money helps momentum in terms of polling? biden always talks about consider the alternative. biden wants to run against trump, what about desantis? >> well, i think that he did raise a lot of money, but he's known to be a good fund-raiser. going into the race he had something like $80 million in a

superpac, is not known for being shy in raising money. he's raising a lot of money, but so is donald trump. he's not able to catch him in the polls. to scott's point, 50% may want donald trump and 50% may want someone else but that republican field needs to consolidate some so the folks like a nikki haley, tim scott, mike pence, they can throw their support behind ron desantis, behind anyone really, to have a chance to defeat donald trump. with the field so large, donald trump could easily walk into this nomination. but it's also a long way away. a lot can happen. i don't think the indictments will be the thing that takes donald trump. >> you don't think that either? >> we've already had two. what's three at this point? if you don't believe one and done you're not going to believe the third indictment probably. something else has to be a political strategy for those other folks in the race. >> and it won't be advertising about indictments.

the thing about trump is money is almost irrelevant. he is who he is and we know what we know and the things that are going to happen are going to happen. and so it won't be, oh, we ran some extra tv ads about the indictment. >> i introduced myself to people who don't know who i am. >> he's in a strong position now. really the core question is do more indictments, more baggage ultimately lead to a collapse? there's no evidence of that yet. let's say that it did. then which of these other non-trump candidates is in a position to pick up the ball? >> do you think it could -- if he's indicted in efforts to overturn the election, that is an indictment about a direct attack on our system, a direct attack on democracy. >> the way his supporters see it, the direct attack on the system actually came from the people who rigged the election. so they see it exactly the opposite which is why they're so fervent in their support of him. they think he got a raw deal and so, you know, for the system

that they say rigged the election to now then try to indict trump for doing what they did, this is an outrage that we cannot abide. i think that's why you're seeing the opposite impact of what you might expect. >> let me ask you, and considering the alternative, rfk jr. raised $6 million. not suggesting he's going to win a contest to win the nomination obviously but what should the biden campaign take from $6 million in the second quarter? >> 20% in polling. >> they cannot ignore rfk or any third-party contender of this notion. it's not like rfk is going to win, but he could hurt joe biden from winning. >> how? >> just because he gives an alternative. and so for folks who are just really frustrated with the political system, they could just say, you know, throw their hands up, disengage. the biden campaign, which i believe they're doing, needs to go out and meet those voters

that are supporting rfk where they are, do the polling, why are they supporting that? i do think the kennedy name has great name recognition in this country and particularly in the democratic party. you can't take it for granted and say they'll eventually come. no. the role of the campaign is to go find those voters, talk to them, and bring them along and bring them as participate of your coalition. that 20% is crucial particularly in a general election. >> especially dealing with problems of enthusiasm. >> that's right. >> there could be some of these rfk supporters that wind up not wanting -- they could vote for trump. >> i was thinking about that. >> they wound up voting for trump. >> rfk is promoting how proud he is of trump's support. >> for as many people that are democrats that vote for rfk i think there will be probably just as many republicans that if donald trump is the nominee will go back to joe biden as well. up next, threads, are you on

it yet? we're trying to figure it out. >> i'm on it but now i have to tweet and thread and then there's instagram. >> all of it. it just launched, the new social media app. already 30 million people have signed up. twitter is threatening to sue. what elon musk is accusing mark zuckerberg of doing. >> matthew chance getting a firsthand look at the camp the wagner fighters would be located if they came to belarus. what his tour uncovered. together we provide nutrients to support immune, muscle, bobone, and heart health. everyone: woo hoo! ensure witith 25 vitamins anand minerals. enter ththe $10,000 nourishing m moments giveaway.

new this morning cnn just visited a site in belarus where the country's president says wagner fighters could take up residence should they take up belarus' offer to move to the country. this comes after the surprise announcement that wagner's military leader, yevgeny prigozhin, is not in belarus as previously believed. the president of belarus, lukashenko, revealed he was in russia on thursday. this revelation contradicts the terms of that ceasefire brokered to end wagner's rebellion in russia. our matthew chance has the

reporting. >> reporter: all right, you join me here in this military base in belarus about an hour's drive outside of the capital minsk. it's a vast tent city with all these enormous canvasses, which we're told can house about 5,000 people erected in the past few weeks. there were satellite photographs of this place before and after, and we all believed this is the location where wagner forces, the mercenaries from russia, would be located if they came to belarus. that was part of a deal, remember, with the belarusian leader inviting wagner and its leader to come into exile in belarus as a way of defusing their military uprising in russia last month. well, at the moment, though, these tents are completely empty. have a look inside at one of these here. completely empty. there's nobody in there. it's too dark for us to show you inside. it's just wooden platforms. nobody in there at the moment.

ultimately it can house as many as 5,000 people. the problem is, of course, the events of yesterday here with the revelations from alexander lukashenko, the belarusian leader, that plan is no longer in operation. it's on hold at the moment. and at the moment yevgeny prigozhin, the wagner leader, is not here in belarus. he's said to be in russia. and not a single wagner soldier has so far come here. and so we don't know whether there is going to be a transfer of wagner to belarus or not at the moment. all we can tell you, it hasn't happened yet. back to you. >> matthew, thank you. this just in, ukraine says it has advanced more than a kilometer around bakhmut in the past 24 hours as it continues to apply pressure on russian forces in the area. this comes as the u.s. is expected to take a controversial step in assisting ukraine by sending cluster munitions as participate of a new military

aid package nato's chief stoltenberg condemned the use of cluster bombs last year. watch. >> we have seen the use of cluster bombs. we have seen reports of use of other types of weapons which will be in violation of international law. >> well, this is video of an alleged russian cluster bomb attack in kharkiv, essentially a projectile that rains down other smaller bomblets, more than 100 nations have banned its use because of how devastating it can be to civilians. joining us now is retired u.s. army major mike lyons. good to see you again. first, what do you think? do you think this is a good idea and this is the right time to give these cluster munitions to ukraine? >> it is a good idea, because they're not game changing but they're difference making. the artillery much more effective on the ground. right now for military targets

you have russian troops that are dug in, vehicles that are dug in. if you look at a quick video, the same thing, artillery is called the king of battle for a reason. it will improve the effects on military targets. what russia does on civilians is different. these are for military targets, russian troops that are dug in. what they'll end up doing is save ukrainian crew lives. every artillery round has a reverse address, a return address. this will allow our ukrainian crews to move, shoot, communicate and get out quickly. >> the administration has said that changing battlefield conditions over the last couple of weeks are why they've made this decision. you think that is an acknowledgement of, let's say, slow progress of the counter offensive? >> yes. i think the administration has been results oriented all along, and we don't want to send too much equipment that gets out in front if ukraine starts losing that is it left on the battlefield?

the counter offensive is going well if this is the objective, to find russian forces where they are, probe initial defenses, shoot artillery, save ukrainian lives and still find that weak place as to where it should be. it's not a classic counter offensive. it's not a blitzkrieg that's taking place. we have to make sure also ukrainian forces don't accumulate. what that means is the ukrainian forces get stopped and they're not effective. they are tripped and they run out of ammunition. this will allow them to keep the counter offensive going. >> what is your concern about the potential bomblets that are duds or that don't explode immediately? >> well, so, the ukrainian government recognizes this. they're fighting for their survival and will fire them on their own ground. they will know where the rounds have landed and when they've used them, and they're willing to do that, willing to do it against an enemy that's invaded their land. it will be against military targets. you won't see them against targets like we saw before.

it's a risk the government and military is willing to take. >> this new reporting that the ukrainians say they have advanced a kilometer around bakhmut, we've talked about bakhmut. there's not much there left. it's a symbolic victory. what's a kilometer worth? >> i don't want to diminish what they've done here. they have to be attacking the russian troops dug in around bakhmut, but this is that symbolic victory russia has. if they can use this to find out reports of about 120,000 more troops in the northern area, if they can use this fight right now to determine whether that's true or not, then they can determine whether they can reposition air forces or decide this is where they have to put their reserves in. >> major lyons, thank you. poppy? ahead, a member of the so-called central park five wrongly convicted of rape in 1985, spent seven years in prison before getting that conviction overturned and being

exonerated. now he just won the democratic primary for new york city council seat. he joins us on his remarkable journey yet. except the hours that you'u're sleeping. so why do we leave so much untapped potential on the table? this is a next levelel 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.

you saw where i was on the ballot. started from the bottom. now i'm here. >> it's been a rise. what a rise it has been. yusef salaam, one of the exonerated five formerly known as the central park five, won the democratic nomination. salaam was wrongly accused in 1989 and convicted along with four other black and latino teenagers of raping a jogger in manhattan's central park. he spent nearly seven years in prison before dna evidence emerged linking someone else to the crime and became known as the exonerated five. the case against salaam and the others dominated new york headlines and drew national attention. former president donald trump then still a local figure, took

out a full-page newspaper ad that read, bring back the death penalty, bring back our police. trump now has been indicted on criminal charges in new york over hush money payments while salaam, not expected to face a serious general election opponent, is poised to help lead the city. years after his exoneration salaam talked about how that day in 1989 turned his life upside-down. >> i was telling the officers the truth, and they took my words and they twisted it. i said, i'm going to go to the cops, and i'm going to tell them what i saw, and i'll be home before my mom gets back. i came home seven years later. >> yusef salaam joins us now. sir, good to see you. congratulations on the primary win. >> thank you. >> public service and public office. when did this become a goal? when did it become a dream? >> my goodness, i think early on

when i first read scripture about a prophet named joseph, who i'm named after, i said is it possible? of course i was 16 at the time, and i kind of buried it and said, you know, maybe. kept on trying to make sure that i didn't succumb to the pressure of what prison was trying to turn me into, which was a monster. of course years later i'm looking back at that journey, the journey i've come to, and saying to myself, wow. every single piece, the good, the bad, the ugly has prepared me for this moment right now. >> you refer to scripture and what it tells us about what joseph endured so similar to the path you endured. then you've also said god gives us permission to live life. can you speak to how your faith has guided you to this moment and how it will guide you leading the city? >> absolutely. i was listening to a good friend of mine, les brown. every single one of us were born on purpose and the reason we

know this is because when our parents were in the process of creating us, it's the birds and the bees story but cleaned up for all audiences, we were one of over 400 million options and god chose us. and if we don't know anything, we were born on purpose and, therefore, we have a purpose. that purpose, once it uncovers itself, reveals itself to us, we get the opportunity to say it's time. for me, of course, i've been waiting to figure out why. they say if you can find the why, you can live the how. all throughout the journey, i knew my faith was guiding me, was helping me. i was hanging on to the rope that god extends to all of us. that's what allowed me to jump over barriers, leaps and bounds. figure out ways forward. really in many ways i call it resuscitating my own life. that life that was altered,

interrupted, arrested development, if you will, i wasn't supposed to be able to come out unscathed. we still have indelible scars, of course. those scars allow me to be able to peer into the darkness, to understand where those pain points are for our people and say i've been so close to the pain, we have to have a seat at the table. if we're not at the table, our lives are being decided for us, therefore we're on the menu. >> speaking of being on the menu, your life being decided for you. i mentioned the full-page ads back 30 years ago now from donald trump. i want to t the side-by-side of his ad and your ad aftehis arraignment. the similarities are clear here. what does this moment mean to you in that context, and what do you say to him now? >> it's the juxtaposition of knowing that we are in a divided united states of america.

we are constantly being tried to unite as a people. and the type of energy black people have always had has been energy of love, of acceptance, of equality and equity. we've never wanted revenge. that's never who we've been as a people. but the juxtaposition of being able to see here a sitting -- well, a former president -- has received what i call karma in this life. it's us being able to put the mirror up to all of us as americans to say, hold on. if the exonerated five, as we are now known, did not get justice 34 years ago in a country that says you're innocent until proven guilty,a country that says slavery is alive and sick because of the punishment of crime, is this going to be a moment where we will finally see justice?

and i'm saying that in the reality of knowing if we were guilty of these crimes, should have gone to prison, but we weren't guilty. >> your mother spoke to "the new york times" and i was so struck by her quote because she was out there campaigning for you, up on 125th street in harlem and remembered what it was like walking into the precinct, right, which you never came out for seven years, you never came out of prison. she said walking into that precinct it was like after all of those years the clan had come after me, talking about the ku klux klan and how they came after your father. how can you in that seat change the justice system, change the impediments that are still there? >> our job is to reflect the light. i was plunged into darkness, and i had to find tools to build light in that dark space. and i think that is the challenge. we have to lift as we climb.

it's about moving mountains. it's about removing the barriers that are disallowing us to see clearly. in fact, when they told me what they told me about myself, the hope was that i would accept it. the hope was that i would say, you know what, i was born a mistake. so, therefore, now i'm going to live my life as if i'm a mistake. that's why i had to remind myself, you know, reading the letters that my grandmother sent me accepting the visits that my mother gave when she came to visit me, it was those moments that allow me to remember i was born on purpose, that i was -- i am my ancestor's wildest dreams, not their nightmares. and i think because of that, those stories that my mother told me as i was growing up, she would always say i was raised in the jim crow south. i had no idea what she was talking about. telling me she had to drive as a child in darkness because they heard the klan was out. she had to run to the front door

and open it so everybody would be able to get in because, of course, they would just pom up on you. and here it is now in new york, i'm 15 and this happens to us. the wheels of justice runs us over, lays out flat, and leaves us there. >> and now you're bringing that full life experience, full narrative, to the new york city council. yusef salaam, thank you for being with us. congratulations on the primary win. >> my pleasure. i tell people to follow us on social media, on our website. it's important we're building this platform for us. >> all right. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you, yusef. well, ahead, elon musk accuses meta and mark zuckerberg of cheating and creating this new social media app threads. now he's lawyering up threatening to sue.

♪ you know who always makes money in these things?

lawyers. elon musk lawyering up, threatening to sue meta over the launch of threads. mark zuckerberg's ntwitter-like app. accusing him of hiring former trump flows build the new app. twitter accuses meta of engaengaging in trade secrets. meta denies that and fired back saying no one on the threads engineering team is a former twitter employee. sara fisher is here with more on the fight but, wow, the blockbuster subscriptions. where do you want to start? >> it's been absolutely crazy online. i mean, threads launched and literally overnight became one of the most downloaded apps in the world of all time. according to mark zuckerberg as of thursday morning 30 million people signed up. there is data to suggest well over 40 million people have signed up at this point. that's a major gain for this app. if you think about it, meta over the years launched so many

different copycat apps and features but shuttered them because they garnered only a few hundred how to users. this is a huge threat to elon musk and as a result doesn't shock me he is threatening legal action. he is backed into a corner. >> i downloaded threads. i threaded, if that's the verb now, you know, a meme of arnold jackson from "diff'rent strokes" looking around in confusion. what am i supposed to be doing here that i am not doing on twitter? >> it's sim had lar in the sense you can still post things, re-tweet them, rethread them, if you will. they don't have direct messages yet. i anticipate that will come. you can't sort things through a chronological feed yet. i sassume that will come. where the difference lies is that this app has the same content moderation and safety rules you get on instagram.

you also can import your same following and followers list from instagram which automatically gives you a little bit of a community to start. and so i think that for users who have felt as though twitter is toxic, not moderated, spammy, this is a different type of a more curated and moderated experience. >> i am trying to open mine. i am having a hard time understanding it. >> okay. remember when we didn't know what threads was? >> i have a question about this kindness thing. didn't mark zuckerberg say he sees it as a kinder thing? is it true here? >> well, that's their goal. we talked about this. it's going to be very hard for meta to continue to be in this place where they say this will be a kind and friendly environment because, as you know, these types of public discourse apps invite a lot of conversation around polarizing

topics, policy, breaking news. t they may want to say this is a kind and friendly place, but it will be determined whether or not they can moderate it to be as such without infringing on free speech. if i had to guess, this is going to be the toughest thing for meta to circle. right now this is a friendly and exciting experience. most of the conversations on threads are just about threads. closer to an election, i am curious to see if the tone of those conversations changes. >> yeah, so there will be ads, including as we get closer to the election, political ads. that will be something they have to deal with as they do on facebook. >> so what their plan is for now is to focus on scaling the user base. they probably are looking to get up to a billion users if you look at their other apps, that's like the big threshold. once they get to a massive scale, yes, then they will likely introduce advertising.

if they dowall street is going get upset. i asked sources within meta what would the policies be because you will recall a few years ago twitter before elon musk said they wouldn't accept political ads. now they have broughton them back and that person told me that they think that there will be the same policies that were currently available on instagram. so right now you can buy and sell political ads on instagram. you will be able then, hopefully, to do it on threads which could be a game changer for campaigns. >> i am trying to figure out if twitter is going to be me and threads is my alter ego. >> which is nicer? >> they are both nice. >> sara fisher, thanks so much. all right. okay. we have this ahead. the fda, we talked about this yesterday, approving the proven -- the first drug proven to slow the progression of alzheimer's disease. now the question is, will it be paid for by the government? largely, yes.

and donald trump's 2020 chaotic oval office meeting in the final days of his administration is now the focus of the special counsel's investigation. the witnesses investigators questioned and where the probe is headed. hey all, so i just downloaded the experian app because i wanted to check my fico® score, but it does so much more. this thing shows you your fico® score, you caget your credit card recommendations, and ithows you ways to save money. do so much more than get your fico® score. download the exrian app now.

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♪ welcome back. the fda has given full approval of the alzheimer's drug leqembi. the first drug that is shown to modestly slow cognitive decline in certain patients. that approval cleared the way for the center for medicare and medicaid services to expand coverage for americans. it was priced almost $27,000 a year without insurance. advocates have been lobbying hard for months after medicare announced last year they wouldn't cover the cost without the fda's full approval. some analysts say we are in the middle of a golden age of

black television. how we got here is a culmination of an 80-year struggle for black artists to be seen and heard on tv. a cnn original series explores the rich history of black television and the creators who brought it to life. here is a look at see it loud the history of black television. >> when you think about the history of black television you really think about progress. for the longest time we were footnotes in history. it is so important for us to have african american representation. >> talk about things that nobody in this country was willing to have a discussion about. >> i was like, do you believe they call us icons? >> that was one of the first times i saw myself in the sci-fi genre. >> that show was so successful. it launched bravo network.

>> tyler perry owns the studio. in 1950 you couldn't have imagined it. >> an era to be as loud as possible and as black as possible. >> we are the story. >> joining us now is cnn's senior entertainment reporter lisa france. good to see you. so, you know, i talked about this being the golden age of black television, but when we start talking about some of the best black television shows, a lot of people start in the '70s and '80s. >> yeah. no. you have to go back further than that. it's so important. i am so excited for this series. it's a wonderful to see black creators and tv shows get their roses because, i mean, when tv first started we had the stereotypical betrayals of amos and andy and things like that because we were seeing black stories through a white gaze. and it wasn't until like the 1960s we had like a julia with diahann carroll where she played

a nurse. these types of shows and this history is so important because television helps to inform people. it's really an educator when it comes to race and race relation as and black culture and black tv is american culture. it is american tv. and it's important and it's extremely influencer al. i am glad we have this series tracing how we got are from an amos and andy to tyler perry owning his own studio. >> so good to sihave you. you think back, you know, 20, 30 years ago about the real dearth of black feature characters in dramas. that has changed, right, when you look some of the most significant characters and dramas on television today? >> yes, absolutely. it used to be that you would just have a character here and there, and now we have, you know, shonda land. i mean, "scandal." tv shows that are mostly black characters and this is so

incredible to see, especially in the drama because when it comes to comedy, comedy is a little bit easier, right? it's a way to be more relatable. when drama there was a sense people didn't want to see dramatic tv with black people, but that changed when -- with the success of "roots" the miniseries. that let hollywood know there was money to be made in telling black dramatic stories. >> great dramas on television now. the queen sugar, p valley. lisa france, always good to talk to you. be sure to tune in, everybody. the all-new cnn original series see it loud the history of black television premiers sunday at 9:00 eastern and pacific only on cnn. >> thanks to lisa. the special counsel investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 election will focus on a coyotic oval office meeting that happened days

before the january 6th insurrection. our exclusive reporting ahead. after a half century of great stages across the world, they performed on, the eagles are finally taking it easy and ending their historic 52-year run. the legendary band announced that the final dates of what they are calling the long good- good-bye tour kicks off in september and continues to 2025. ♪ in the long run ♪ ♪

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we are glad you are with us. i am grateful to you for being here. >> everybody loves a friday. >> you've got to work all weekend. you got your show. >> i still like saturdays and

sundays. >> victor, great to sit next you to. glad you are with us. we start with the exclusive cnn reporting. the special counsel's team of investigators are homing in on a heated oval office meeting in the final days of the trump presidency when extreme ideas were floated to keep him in power. twitter is threatening to sue meta after the blockbuster launch of threads. threads surpassed 50 million signups in the first 24 hours. we will break down the accusations by elon musk's lawyer. also, we are about to get the jobs report for last month. economists predicting a 30th straight month of solid job grains. could it mean more interest rate hikes are on the way? this hour of "cnn this morning" starts right now. ♪ ♪ we begin this hour with that cnn exclusive reporting. we have learned that special counsel jack smith's team of investigator