>> if you are watching president biden in helsinki, finland today, perhaps you did not realize in this very presidential palace, where he was standing five years ago, on the same stage, a very different scene played out. it was in 2018 as president trump stood next to russian president putin, and sided with him, even though u.s. intelligence agencies had already told him that moscow interfered in the 2016 election. it was, essentially, our a universe away from today's -- -- normal -- >> there's no possibility of him winning the war in ukraine. putin has already lost the war.

>> people came to me. dan coats came to me, some others, and said, they think it's russia. i have president putin. he just said, it's not russia. i will say this. i don't see any reason why it would be. >> one stage, two very different moments. thank you so much for joining us tonight and "cnn primetime" with laura coates starts right now. hey, laura. >> i forgot about that moment. i'm surprised i forgot about that moment. because we are still wondering, as he said, what the heck happened in helsinki? >> a lot has gone on since then. >> you think? how much time you got? kaitlan, thank you so much. good evening, everyone. i am laura coates. so, did donald trump privately admit that he lost the election? tonight, we are learning with that a special counsel is asking that very question to his inner circle. trump's son-in-law, jared kushner, as well as close aide hope hicks. they have now testified before the grand jury in jack smith's investigation, on efforts to overturn the election.

and by asking that question, it might show that prosecutors are interested in something in particular, whether trump acted with a corrupt intent, what he knew, when he knew it, and how he was acting on it. now, kushner, according to the new york times reporting, testified that he believed trump truly believed the election was stolen. now, i should note, of course, that that contradicts what other witnesses have claimed, including what cassidy hutchinson said that mark meadows told her. >> -- a lot of times he would tell me, like -- that he lost but he wants to keep fighting it and -- thanks dear might be over enough to overturn the election but -- pretty much acknowledges that he lost. >> well, separately, tonight, in a classified documents indictment, the special counsel delivering -- we will call it -- a blistering response, to trump's request to delay the trial, not for a week or a month or even six months, but until after the 2024 election.

prosecutors say the law requires the trial happen as soon as practical. and it's worth noting, they also called trump's arguments that the presidential records act gives him a defense, quote, borderline frivolous. very -- telling. let's unpack all of this and more with former trump white house lawyer james schultz, and also cnn opinion contributor and former house gop investigative committee council, sophia nelson. glad to have you both here today and let me begin with you, james. you are in the trump orbit. have you ever heard trump or have you heard from others that he acknowledged that he actually did lose the election? >> no. that's not something i would have been privy to or heard from. but it's not surprising that, at this point, you are seeing folks like the kushner family and others that are in that orbit coming into the grand jury at this juncture. you are seeing other

high-profile folks coming into the grand jury. i think that is largely crossing t's and dotting i's from information they have gathered from other folks. and i think that's also a signal that this thing is coming to a conclusion. >> do you think so? the idea of kushner and beyond -- and i do think it's interesting, the idea that you wouldn't have been privy to our a. conversation, about something as really foundational as whether he won an election. i'm not criticizing you, of course. but just the notion that -- of all the time it has come up, or that he has fought against that notion, it's never been discussed? >> no. look -- not to my knowledge, in terms of the orbit that i run in. but i can tell you this. that he has been out there, constantly saying that he won the election. it is clear he did not win the election. and what he said privately is going to be very important if he did in fact say that, yeah, i lost that election. and that is going to be a key

fact for the grand jury in terms of decisions that they have to make, and decisions prosecutors have to make going forward. >> sophia nelson, i see you nodding your head. let me turn right to you on this issue. because, i wonder -- the fact that he is denying, or he is not -- he may have believed, he says, that -- i see the face already turning. you don't believe that? i take, it i see it, i receive it. but legally speaking, what would be the consequence of him really believing that he won the election? >> well, look, you know this as a former prosecutor. i know this as an attorney. it goes to the state of mind, right? so, that is what he is trying to probe. did he really believe this? thus, did he lose his mind? because, honestly, he would have had to not have been in his right mind to believe that he won an election that he clearly lost. aides we're telling him that he lost the election. you have text from fox personalities and others going back and forth on january 6th about, he needs to shut this down. you opened with cassidy

hutchinson and her testimony, which i think was devastating. and mark meadows and how they felt about the president's state of mind before january 6th -- and otherwise, chris christie has talked about it many times on the campaign trail. so, i think there is no way that he believed he won that election. i think he decided he was going to take the election and overturn it. and if you really go back and look at trump's rhetoric, starting as early as before the conventions of 2020, he was leading up to that about, well, i don't pledge to accept the results unless -- you know, i have to see. there was this wishy-washy quality. >> the hedging -- >> -- giving myself this plausible deniability, this out of, i don't want to box myself in, like every other ordinary person who runs for president says, yes, if i lose the election, i congratulate the other person and we do a transition and we move forward -- >> -- that's the word that i hone in on. plausible deniability. >> there it is.

>> because, in the law, one has to have some plausible basis to believe that statement in terms of the intent. it's very difficult thing to prove, though. and i wonder, do you agree with what jim talked about, the fact that kushner, hope hicks had now question that that makes us -- this that much closer to the beginning of the end? >> well, laura, he would be derelict in his duty as a special prosecutor if he did not go to that inner sanctum -- of people who would have had those conversations with the president on election night, after election day, and get to his state of mind. so, i think he is closing the loop. i agree with your earlier guests about that, that he is winding this down to bring an indictment, is what i expect. and so i think at the end of the day, i don't believe donald trump thought he won that election. i think all the evidence is to the contrary. i think donald trump wanted to overturn an election. he felt entitled to the election. and when he did not get his way after losing 60 cases, i believe it was, that they brought in different states around the country, they

decided to do january 6th and cause an insurrection and overturn. >> let me bring you back in here, jim. because i'm really curious about the calendar at issue here. obviously, we are about, what? 480 or so days away away from the presidential election? we know that the department of justice does not want -- to be perceived as interfering with an election. they don't want to get up to the very 11th hour of things. but we are still significant in the time away from it. a couple -- about a month or so away from a debate, of course, and they have said, in order to prosecute this case, you are going to need shy of a month, unlike the e. jean carroll case. right? he has to actually be present for that. that means removing him from the campaign trail -- but even with that, what do you make of the fact that trump's legal counsel is trying to postpone this past the election? obviously, the speedy trial, right, belongs to the defendant. but there are limitations here, right? >> yeah, there's a couple things at play. so, i think, first, they're trying to delay it, because it's going to take him off the campaign trail. and i'm sure the former

president wants to stay on the campaign trail. number two, there's an opportunity here, if it gets delayed beyond, and he ends up being -- winning an election, winning the primary, and then winning an election. that creates an opportunity. he has already said in the past that he has the power to pardon himself. i am sure that that is probably in the back of his mind if he is in fact convicted. and lastly, if it happens after the fact, and he ends up, in his mind -- if he ends up being president, he is then in charge of the justice department once again. so, i think he is -- they are looking to create opportunities and stretch this thing out. that being said, i think the judge in this case probably feels a little stung by some of her earlier decisions and likely wants to be -- wants to appear impartial on this thing, wants to make a decision that is in the best interest of the country on this thing. and i think she is going to be hard-pressed to extend it out beyond the election. i just don't see it. >> the idea of -- i guess you ask for the world, right? give them --

cookies, sophia, and then you try to negotiate backwards from that. i'm not calling anyone a -- mouse. we are talking about direction of the cookies -- just to be clear, america, that's not what i said. i am a mom. my kids have read these books all the time. but the question is, you asked for everything. but there is a political activist aspect of this. at the same time, when the doj doesn't -- want to be perceived as interfering with an election, isn't it one reasonable way to say that saying -- look, we are going to handle it way before the election. but we want to do it quickly. and -- >> i'm sorry. i would call, somewhere, i think -- in 2016, in about october. the justice department, one, comey, who went after hillary clinton and announced that there is an investigation weeks before an election. so, i am a little bit remiss to say that the justice department won't be political in the sense of feeling like they have the power to pursue were not pursue something. in the way that donald trump is trying to argue in these briefs, that somehow they have to wait until afterwards. i think that if they believe they've got the goods on him,

they are going to go forward with an indictment, and i think it's going to happen sooner rather than later. because i agree. you don't want to delay. but we are not even in 2024 yet. so, i would think that he is going to bring that indictment soon. it is a follow on to the first one. and then, i expect fani willis and others to pick up. >> we will see. this is a twice indicted president. -- and of course federal level, james schultz, thank you. sophia, stick around. we will be right back as well. everybody, up -- next. who left cocaine at the white house? that's actually a question i'm asking tonight. and secret service says it has no clue. -- and their story. but is it and should it be the end? really? plus, lisa marie presley's cause of death revealed tonight. and it involves a surgery she once had. and a conversation about one song, two artists, three decades apart, and what it says about american culture. ♪ ♪ ♪

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♪ the biggest ideas inspire new ones. 30 years ago, state street created an etf that inspired the world to invest differently. it still does. what can you do with spy? ♪ ♪ >> the whodunnit mystery at the white house will apparently remain unsolved. because tonight they secret service says that it has no idea who brought cocaine into the peoples house, and that it is ending the investigation. so, poof, over, the case is closed. no fingerprints, no dna, no leads, no video. and no suspect -- which is pretty wild, considering it is the white house, after all.

this all happened at the lower level entrance of the west wing. now, there are cubbies there for visitors to drop off, say, their phones or maybe their bags. people come in there for tours that are led by white house staffers. there is also, apparently, a blind spot for video cameras that are actually near those cubbies, which are not far from the situation room. on the floor just above it it is everything from the oval office to the roosevelt and cabinet rooms. >> so, let's take a look from an investigative lens, shall we? because here are the big questions. what if the object had been a dangerous object? what if it was a piece of spy equipment? and how are they are blind spots in the white house surveillance? how could the fbi and all of its technology not be able to figure this out? how are visitors being vetted? is the building that houses the president of the united states truly secure?

let's bring in larry pfeiffer, former senior director of the white house situation room, and director of the hayden center at george mason university, and sophia nelson is also back with us now. i hate to belabor the point, larry, but just the notion that they don't know who brought in something like this, if it had been something else, is cause for concern for many people. but just talk -- to us for a second. walk us through these cubbies, they are talking, about where this was located, even came to be in the white house. >> so, there have always been cubbies, lockers to put phones and electronic devices before you would go into a secure portion of the white house, like the situation room and some of the offices of the national security council. at some point during the trump administration, these cubbies had been inside the doorways of the situation room, some time during the trump administration, they decide to put more cubbies on the outside of the situation room to try to encourage people to not bring them into the scif even accidentally.

it was reinforced after omarosa was caught using a recording device in the situation room to record, i think, when she was being told -- so, they have been there for several years now. and the idea is that people should be voluntarily putting them in these lockers to avoid accidentally having a phone in a secure space, which can be a dangerous thing. the phone could be surreptitiously hijacked by foreign intelligence service to pick up conversations in a room, for example. >> so, given all that, and the proximity to the situation room, for example, is it satisfactory to have the answer, we don't know? >> it's kind of trite to say we are talking cocaine here. we are not talking some kind of electronic device. we are not talking anthrax, we are not talking some radiological device -- >> that's the point, though. we could be. >> i think the secret service actually has the capabilities

and the focus to catch those kinds of substances. they have dogs that are trying trained to pick up the scent. they have other sensors in place that can pick up that material. but they are probably not focused on catching cocaine or marijuana or things that are not going to be directly harming the president or any of the other protectees in the white house. >> so, essentially, there is still surveillance, there is still patrolling. the idea that there is something that is hanging in the white house just unnoticed for stretches of time is not going to be the standard. >> correct. >> take a step back away from how this is devolving into the cocaine -- movie at some point in time, right? but when you think about this, sophia, this is a talking point that will likely be used, the security of the white house. we know about the white house being accused in other administrations as well, as a sieve, a lot of leaks -- the security. who has been at the white house since this may have been there? it has been the sight of international diplomatic relations and meetings.

will this -- haunt the administration? >> let's talk about the politics -- over the last few weeks, as this has become a story, there have been insinuations that -- maybe it was the vice president. of course, you know, person and suspect number one is the president's son hunter biden. so, in the right-wing echo chamber, this is a big issue. it is a security breach. but really, it's a cover-up, right? and you have a lot of americans that believe that. hence, i think the president of the united states, when he gets back from his business internationally, needs to direct the secret service to figure this out and reopen this. because not only is it good domestic and national security, but it is also important, i think, for credibility that he says it is unacceptable that, with all the technology that we have, that this gentleman just explained so well, and as someone who cover the white house from 2010 to 2012, and has been in there many times,

they have a lot of security and there are a lot of things you cannot do -- i find it incredulous that some member of the public or someone else just brought in illicit cocaine and left it somewhere. like, that's actually ridiculous. so, there has to be somebody who did this. whether that person works there or is in the secret service, who i have a great deal of respect for, i don't know. but it is unacceptable and not politically tenable for biden not to say they have to get an answer to this. >> is there some moment in history that has a parallel here, where a president or -- in the administration has to come out and talk about a potential security risk of this kind? >> there have been security incidents at the white house before. there have been circumstances the, for example, when unclassified communications or unclassified emails were known to be targeted by foreign intelligence services. so, they have had to tighten up the security around communications. we had the incident back in 2001 were actual anthrax was mailed to the white house. sadly, it killed some postal

workers at a remote facility where the mail is first taken in and gone through. but there have been instances. and these are human beings. the secret service people, god bless them, they are working hard. they are underfunded and overworked. their primary mission is to protect the president and the other protectees in that white house. i know they have done the best they can. but they are human. so, they are going to make mistakes. and they are probably beating themselves up more than just about anybody else's right now. i guarantee you, someone's purchase and cameras to get them there so that blind spot is no longer there. because, again, cocaine itself is not going to threaten the president of the united states. but it is quite an embarrassment to have cocaine, an illicit substance, found meters away from the situation room and just downtown fathers the from the oval office. >> and the fact that it was in a blind spot tells me a lot. and i'm no secret service agent -- that somebody probably knew that was a blind spot. again, because, if you are bringing cocaine into the white house, that was an intentional

thing, whoever had it. and spend their money on it -- lost it or got rid of it, i don't know. >> there are a lot of questions. they are closing the investigation right now. but one thing certainly is true. if you are the president of the united states, coming back from the nato summit, and you have got the national defense agreements and budgets ahead of you, the last thing you want to be addressing back on american soil is a baggy like this. but nevertheless, here we are. everyone, larry pfeiffer, sophia nelson, we thank you so much. everyone -- next, lisa marie presley's cause of death has now been revealed. and involves complications from a weight loss surgery. dr. sanjay gupta joins me. plus, hollywood's crippled tonight. actors have joined the writers on strike. and this is shaping up to be a big, big fight. >> there's a level of expectation that they have that is just not realistic.

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>> tonight, we now know the official cause of death of lisa marie presley. elvis presley's daughter, who died back in january, who died just at the young age of 54. the l. a. medical examiner says she died from a small bowel obstruction, which was caused by complications from weight loss surgery that she had years ago. joining me now to talk about more of this is cnn's chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta. sanjay, i'm so glad you are here. -- but the notion of someone dying of obstruction of the small intestine might sound very surprising to people. in fact, the deputy medical examiner in this case said it

we likely related to bariatric surgery that she had years ago. what do you know about the this sort of condition and potential even side effect? >> yeah. there are certain parts of this -- what happened to lisa marie presley -- that sound pretty common. we know that this sort of thing can happen after a previous operation. and some things that are more unusual. let me sort of talk you through it. what we know is that she had an operation years ago. after you have an operation on your abdomen, you can develop scar tissue. these are called adhesions, inside the abdomen. and over time they can develop and actually cause pressure and the blockages, sort of blocking off parts of the small intestine. and someone might have pain intermittently. those blockages may come and go. and it sounds like maybe she had pain off and on. certainly, the morning that she died, she had significant enough pain that she was taken to the hospital. she was unresponsive. and subsequently had died --

now, we are getting the official cause of death, which they say was due to this strangulation of the small bowel. so, think about this, scar tissue sort of pushing on the small bowel, and a part of the small bowel really not getting adequate blood flow, and then becoming completely blocked. that is what they are saying, ultimately, led to her dying. the first part of that, developing the scar tissue, developing the adhesions after the operation -- again, that is something that happens, laura. and people sometimes have to have repeat operations too sort of lift up the score tissue. dying of this, though, is a bit more unusual. it could be that the small bowel actually opens up, that strangulating part opens up, and someone develop severe infection, sepsis. that could be the problem. sometimes just the necrosis, the dead tissue, of the small bowel, that can lead to someone dying. but again, i want to be clear that that is unusual.

if someone goes to the hospital, oftentimes they can have this treated. it sounds like by the time she got to the hospital it was so far along that they simply could not do anything for her. >> sanjay, one more question. because the report also listed therapeutic and not dangerous levels of oxycodone. can medications like this play a role in what happened? >> i think there's two parts to the question here. one is this idea -- could you take so many of these medications as someone could have an overdose, that they stop breathing and that leads to their death? and it sounds like with the medical examiner is saying is that that did not happen in this case. on the other hand, though, medications like opiates, if you have a small bowel problem, they slow down the motility and the movement of the small bowel even more so. so, was it the cause of death? no. i think that's what the medical examiner is saying. could it make things worse in a situation like this? perhaps.

she is having pain. she takes opiates. that is the wrong thing to take when you have a small bowel obstruction. because it can actually make that problem worse. >> dr. sanjay gupta, thank you for your expertise. it's just so sad to think about this happening. she leaves behind her children relatives. it's really stunning to think about how this all happened. thank you for your expertise. >> you've got it. thank you, laura. >> it's the summer of strikes. actors will now join writers on the picket line. and i will speak with actress yvette nicole brown on just what they're demanding. plus, he first made waves by suggesting white nationalists are not racists. now, the highest levels of the military say senator tommy tuberville is putting national security at risk. wolf blitzer joins me next.

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>> it's the summer of strikes,

everyone. actors are now joining the writers on the picket lines, as both unions demand more of the streaming pie. this marks the first time since 1960 that both actors and writers have been on strike together, and the first time since 1980 that the actors stopped work. just think about that. 43 years ago, "caddyshack" and cheech and chong -- ruled the box office. and some of the stars born that year chris pine and kristen bell and, of course, yours truly that same year. sag president fran drescher slamming the studios. >> i cannot believe it! quite frankly -- how far apart we are, in so many ways. how they plead poverty, that they are losing money -- left and right, while giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their ceo is.

ceos. it is disgusting. -- they stand on the wrong side of history. >> however, disney ceo bob iger is pushing back on this strike, saying the unions expectations, he says, are just not realistic. >> there is a level of expectation that they have that is just not realistic. and they are adding to a set of challenges that this business is already facing, that is, quite frankly, very disruptive. >> for more on this i want to bring in actress and sag national board member yvette nicole brown. you can currently catch her on bounce tv law's at your age. -- film festival. i'm so happy to see you. i've been such a fan of your work for so long. and i've got to tell you, when you think about what is happening right now -- i mean, sag-aftra the's demand, they include better pay, benefits, streaming residuals

and protections on a. i.. why do you think studios, yvette nicole brown, are not meeting your demands? >> first of all, the love is mutual, i want to say that. it's funny to me. i want to go back to what we was said before i came on, the idea of unrealistic expectations. those of us who are in this industry, whether we are writers or actors, we started despite dreaming and having unrealistic expectations. so, you are talking to the dreamers. so, we are continuing to dream that we can have a life in this industry and pay our bills at the same time. call us crazy. we would love to be able to do that. i don't know why they refused to just allow us to make a living wage. and i want to say, over and over -- i've been saying over and over -- this is not about the movie stars and the huge stars you see. this fight is for the rank-and-file actors in the rank-and-file writers, who are just starting out and want to be able to build a career that will last for generations. you can't get there when you are only working on six episodes and you've got eight months to wait until you get your next shot. you can't get there when you

have to pay for self taping to be able to audition for a job. you can't get there when they take away your residuals, and you can't live off of them. these are just basic things. can we -- get some -- you know what i mean? this is not hard! >> when you say all those things, it occurs to so many people. we see the final product so many times, right? we are watching it, we are consuming, it we are enamored with it. but what goes into making it? when you see the list of credits that go at the end of any production, you see all of the blood, sweat and tears, of people whose names might not be on the marquee, but i want to understand, in the short term, what are the implications of these strikes for actors and writers? because for the very reasons you just talked about, it is going to impact the rank-and-file especially. >> the sad thing is it's not just the rioters writers and the actors. they are the people that show work, the crew. if people that bring your food every day. the people that are cleaning the studios. all of these people are out of work. makeup and hair people are out of work. this is everybody's problem

right now. and i am kind of offended that they are acting, as if, because the actors and the writers are fighting for us to get a fair wage, we are the bad guys. as president drescher said, we are on the right side of history. we are trying to fight this right now so that there is an industry left. we are working on contracts that are outdated. and this is the thing about the producers. they never move forward with a new thing until they know it is lucrative. so, the idea that they are saying a. i. -- oh, we don't know about this a i -- it could be -- no, you know, you know that a. i. is going to make a lot of money. and -- that is why you want to make sure that you control. it -- it will make a deal about dvds, -ing that the video streaming is not lucrative, and then you find out three or four years later by the time you are in the contract they're making millions and buying yachts. so, we are trying to stop that process and not have to chase it. that is what this is about -- so we can have an industry later. >> the leverage at the issue, though, when you think about that. the powers that be, as people often speak about, compared to those who are the most creative and, yet, relatively powerless, this is really a moment in

time. it's been decades, literally, since this happened. do you have any sense of how long, do you think, this would last? and is it that much far away from any resolution? >> if you hear the producers talk about it, they are going to keep going until nobody has a home well to live in. isn't that nice? that's how long they want to go. so, i am hoping that by doing interviews like this and more of us talking, that the people that love entertainment will understand that we work hard, and we deserve to make a living in the same way everyone deserves to make a living. this is like the summer of union labor people saying enough. and we are part of that. and so if you look at us as just human beings, working a vocation where everyone else is working a vocation, take the fame and whatever you think it is -- we are just people working a job. and we would like to have health care. and we like to make sure that we can take care of our kids who are in school. these are not hard things to imagine and imagine if it were you. >> and to your point, should these be dreams.

you know? yvette nicole brown, thank you so much. -- helping us to understand even more. >> thanks for having me. >> well, republican senator tommy tuberville, now kicking ticking off both the president and the nation's top military leaders. wolf blitzer joins me next, on the standoff. also, it's the chart topping cover that is sparking quite a conversation. we hear it right now, tracey chapman's fast car, or is it luke combs is now? that's ahead. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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at the very highest levels of the military. defense secretary lloyd austin telling cnn's wolf blitzer that the republican senators hold on hundreds of military promotions is a national security issue, and is impacting u.s. military readiness. tuberville takes issue with a pentagon policy that offers time off for service members and dependents seeking abortions, wolf joins me in a moment, but first, listen to president biden's take. >> the idea that we don't have a chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, the idea that with all of these promotions that are in abeyance right now, that we don't know what is going to happen -- the idea that we are injecting into fundamental foreign policy decisions, what in fact is a domestic social debate on social issues. it is bizarre. i don't ever recall that happening. ever. and it's just totally irresponsible. in my view -- >> i want to bring in wolf, joining me from --

vilnius, lithuania, where he's been covering this week's all important nato summit. he also had an exclusive one-on-one interview with secretary austin. wolf, i'm so glad to see you, and this interview that you had with the secretary was so impactful in illuminating what else secretary austin said, say, about senator tuberville. >> he's very unhappy with what senator tuberville is trying to do, blocking these promotions of generals, to star generals becoming three star or four star generals, admirals. he says it's undermining u.s. national security, and it's hard for him to believe that a u.s. senator is actually doing this, potentially sending the wrong signals to u.s. adversaries around the world, whether russia or china or others. and, he's not very happy about what senator tuberville is doing. earlier today, we sat down for this exclusive interview here in vilnius. and we had this exchange, on what senator tuberville is doing. listen to this.

>> this is a national security issue. you know, we just talked about, only sent out a couple of minutes ago, what a complex environment this is. around the world, quite frankly. we see tough things that we are dealing with, here in europe, as we continue to provide support for ukraine in its efforts to defend its sovereign territory. we are working hard to make sure we keep the right balance in the indo-pacific. and strengthen our alliances, and we need leaders to be able to do that. this is a national security issue, it's a readiness issue. and, we shouldn't kid ourselves. i think, any member of the senate armed services committee knows that. >> senator tuberville said he's only spoken to you about this once. that was back in february. why not have a conversation with him, and get this resolved? >> i will, wolf.

i certainly will and continue to engage with him. >> but you are not doing it right now. and the last conversation was in february. >> it was in march, the end of march. but yeah, i'll engage. >> you will talk to him? and you are message to him will be? >> he needs to lift the holds, wolf. this is a national security issue. it's a readiness issue. >> it's a very significant national security issue, and i say that as a former pentagon correspondent myself. i don't remember a time when these promotions have been held back, as a result of some policy difference between a member of the senate and the department of defense. it's a very significant development. and i will say this -- laura, we ran that excerpt from the interview earlier today. and i'd like to think that as a result of playing that excerpt here on cnn, the two men, tuberville and secretary austin, did have a phone conversation, and they began a little dialogue on what to do. and maybe can they can resolve this, but i'd like to think that that exchange that i had

with secretary austin played a role in convincing tuberville to go ahead and have this conversation with secretary austin, and maybe they can resolve this. it is so important, you can't imagine what it would be like if they held up the confirmation of a new commandant, for example, for the u.s. marine corps. it would have very very significant developments, and let's see what happens, and hopefully they can work this out. >> wolf blitzer, joining me earlier. and thank you so much. up next, a country star covers tracey chapman's 80s hit. and it sparked a conversation about music, and diversity. we're gonna go there, next. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ wherever you go. wherever you stay.

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one song, two artists, three decades, and a conversation about culture and diversity in the world of music. >> ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> ♪ ♪ ♪ singer tracy chapman's popular single from 1988, fast car, is back in the spotlight, after country star luke combs covered the song this year. his version is currently number one on the billboard country charts. and, number two overall. for perspective, chapman's version went as high as number six. >> for more, i want to bring in hollyg, she's the founder and co-director of black opry, and organization for black country music singers and fans. hollyg, i am so glad you are here. thank you for joining me this evening. i wonder, from your perspective,

why do you think that combs's version has seen, maybe more immediate success on the charts then, say, tracy chapman's version? >> well, tracy chapman has never been acknowledged by the country music -- luke combs, who is a great artist that i am a fan of, but he put a white face to the music, and so it stripped the barriers that tracy chapman we have faced in this industry and made it easy for it to be a hit. because it's a really great song. >> oh, it's an incredible song. i mean, the lyrics, the intonation of her voice, everything about it. but, people, do they usually associate tracey chapman with country music, the way they would say, luke combs? or is that just the way that we as a society, have pigeonholed artist, particularly black artists. to suggest, if you're a black artist, you must be this, and cannot be xyz. >> i think you hit the nail on the head. a lot of fans of music, myself included, before i started this work, don't realize that genre,

so much of it is just marketing effort. and so when people see a black woman with a guitar playing music, it gets coded as something else. even though if you listen to her original version a fast car, luke didn't change very much. and so, for him to be able to sing such a close to the original version, and have a hit with it, just lets you know that there is absolutely being prejudice and discrimination, as far as what's allowed in the genre. >> you know, not to take anything away from his rendition, because it is a beautiful rendition. he has credited her, in terms, i think of learning how to play the guitar, in terms of that particular song, has fond memories of his childhood learning this music, and certainly has had a string of successful hits, adding this one to it. but, it does also mean that fast car, because of combs's success, is going to make tracy chapman the first black woman to score a number one country song, as a solo writer. what is your reaction to this? >> well, first of all i want to make it clear, that i am not

angry, upset, or frustrated with luke combs. i think it's great he did, this and i'm glad it had the success that it had. as. because now, we get to have this conversation. as i said, i'm a huge fan of his, so my hope is that he recognizes, the opportunity that he has to really, really do something important, and impactful, with the success that he's created from her song. this would be a perfect catalyst for him to sit down with our community, and have a conversation, take a black woman on tour with him, or a queer artist or whatever he can do to help -- due to level the playing field. and honestly, that's the reason that i think someone with his platforms, if he really wants that message to get to him, that this is a huge opportunity for him to be a part of doing the right thing. >> you know, we think about music and genre, and just how confining we at times are as a society. we are in a world of remakes, right. whether it's a movie, hollyg, whether it's a song, the battles of whose rendition was better or worse. >> -- >> what did you say?

>> it's nostalgia era -- >> it is nostalgia era. and so, even neon is coming back. we can talk about that for other reasons. but, thinking about the way that some would say, no, this is not an opportunity. there are critics that will say, hollyg, look, it's just music. there need not be a moment to politicize, or a sociological -ize >> well, if that were true it wouldn't have macon, i mean, the billboard chart started back in 1929 and it is 2023 and it is the first time a black woman has ever topped the charts as a songwriter, so if it wasn't as a race, how did we get this far without black women seeing success in