movies. these two films e essentially opposites, as you can tell in this viral meme of barbie smiling in front of a mushroom cloud. some people pointing out it's a blond bomb shell and a nuclear bomb. analysts predict the double feature opening could give the movie business a much needed $200 million boost. that combined with other films already out could make it the highest grossing weekend of the year so far. and ryan gosling, a blond ryan gosling people are online debating which one to see first. there's a whole theory about which one you want to see first. i'm christine romans. "cnn this morning" starts right now. good morning, everyone, let's go ahead and get started with five things to know for this thursday, july 20th. first, breaking overnight, intensifying attacks on ukraine's southern region

targeting grain storage and the infrastructure for exporting food for people who need it across the world. eu's top diplomat calling the strikes bar baric. big developments in the are federal investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. the former president has now 18 hours left to respond to special counsel's letter informing him that he has been the target. this morning also severe weather in the u.s., a powerful tornado rips through north carolina leaving several people hurt and buildings severely damaged. moments ago i assume you were all up and watching the first game of the world cup, the american team set to kick off tomorrow. we have a winner, a single player in california takes the entire $1 billion power ball jackpot. he's having a great day, and "cnn this morning" starts right

now. >> i think there's a lot of disappointed people. i'm not one of them. you know why? you said earlier this week if you won, you wouldn't be hanging out with me for the week. i'm just happy. >> it's not personal. i just want to be on an island somewhere. >> it's a little person but i like that energy. i'm with that. >> we do have a lot of news this morning. we are seeing the damage from the worst night of shelling and artillery fire in odesa, ukraine, since putin's invasion began. russia launching an intense barrage of trdrone and missile attacks, damages a building, destroying a nursery and killing one person and leaving at least two people injured. they urge people to quote, take care of yourself and your loved ones. the eu's top diplomat is wang that this series of attack , not only did russia withdraw

from the black sea grain deal, they are now burning the grain too in attacks he calls ba barbaric. russia launched 38 air attacks hitting the port city of mykolaiv striking a three-story residential building. at least 19 people were wounded including several children. cnn's alex marquardt is live with us in odesa. alex, lots of destruction behind you. what are you seeing there? >> reporter: enormous destruction. this city has never seen anything like this since the gin beginning of this war. i can't overstate the terror the citizens of this city have had to experience over not one but the last three nights. it is no mistake that odesa is home to ukraine's most famous port. i want to show you some of the destruction from last night. this is an administrative building. it looks like it was around four stories high. you can see it has completely collapsed. we are told this is still a

search and rescue operation. we know that at least one young man was killed. there were several people who were injured. you can see those firefighters trying to put out the fires in this building both from among the rubble and up on that ladder up there. there are firefighters. there are rescue workers. there are volunteers and residents of this neighborhood who are just trying to make sense of what we experienced last night. we are on the edge of the port, the biggest port in ukraine, which we can't show you for security reasons. but that is almost certainly why according to ukrainian authorities russia has been carrying out these strikes on ukraine. now, this attack started just before 2:00 a.m. local time. it was a combination of drones and missiles. we could hear those drones very clearly buzzing the rooftops in downtown odesa. i want to play you some of the video that -- sorry, we're going to get out of the way of this

water. i want to play you some of the video shot of one of the explosions of the missiles here in odesa last night. take lia listen. that is the kind of thing we heard from an hour and a half. it was not just odesa that was hit. it was also mykolaiv, which is another southern port city. there 19 people were wounded. this was an incredibly sophisticated attack, almost 40 drones and missiles, most of the missiles got through. russia used long range strategic bombers, supersonic bombers. they used four different kinds of cruise missiles. they used those iranian camkamie drones. president zelenskyy has said it is very clearly russia trying to target the grain infrastructure

just a few days after russia pulled out of that critical grain deal. guys. >> alex, you and the team, you mentioned your photojournalist, have been there every night the last three nights. can you take people what it's like on the ground in the midst of these strikes, particularly as they've accelerated? >> reporter: it's almost like clock work, phil. it starts just before 2:00 a.m., the first warning are those air raid sirens that our viewers have seen over the course of the past year and a half. that is the warning for residents of o'desa and elsewhee to stay inside and get in the basement. for three nights in a row are kn these bright yellow and red tracers. those are trying to take down those drones. you can see those spotlights searching the sky looking for the drones. then you start to see the much bigger munitions, the rockets, the interceptor rockets going up to try and knock down and

destroy the incoming cruise missiles. sometimes they're successful, you'll see these huge explosions in the sky. the glow lighting up the black sky. sometimes like here the missiles land. certainly a terrifying experience. last night we saw families running into the shelters. this was the middle of the night around 2:00 a.m. it's not brief. it lasts for a long time. at the end of these -- at the end of these nights, at the end of these attacks, there is an all clear that is given by the ukrainian authorities. thankfully there are some very good detection, early detection warning systems put in place, so we do have some sense of what is coming and people do have to some extent some time to get into shelters, but obviously it is not a perfect system, and obviously russia is using incredibly sophisticated weaponry to target odesa and other cities. >> nearly 600 days into the war, it's still completely jarring to see the destruction behind you, alex marquardt live in odesa,

ukraine, thank you. hours from now, a federal grand jury is set to meet as donald trump faces another potential criminal indictment. we're expecting the panel in d.c. to hear more testimony from witnesses in special counsel jack smith's investigation of the alleged scheme to overturn the 2020 election. the big question is when the jury's big decision on charges might come down. midnight is the deadline for trump's lawyers to respond to smith and to decide if they want to put trump in front of that stand, but new overnight, we are also learning trump has beefed up his defense team and he's hired another attorney. the former president's lawyers are scrambling to find out if smith has any more witnesses and evidence they don't know about yet. let's bring in cnn's crime and justice katelyn polantz on this. this is a potentially big day. the grand jury is expected to meet. what can we expect today? >> it's going to be a day where we're watching yet again the grand jury at the federal courthouse in d.c., but their

proceedings are secret, and it is really hard to predict exactly what moves the justice department is going to make in the coming days. clearly they've signaled to donald trump to expect an indictment related to january 6th, related to his actions after the presidency, but you know, a lot of things can happen with the grand jury. they will be looking at the indictment. they would have to vote on it in secret to approve it. that typically happens, it would be very unusual for them to decline to approve an indictment, especially after they've spent months and months and months hearing from witnesses, looking at evidence in a case like this. there's also the question of when is the justice department ready to ask them to approve that indictment. there is at least one witness going in today, a man who actually has been before the grand jury twice before, will russell an aide to donald trump. we expect him to talk to the grand jury. we expect maybe one other, maybe others to go into the grand jury as well and wrap up their testimony, maybe button up little parts of the story that

the grand jury hasn't heard yet. and then of course trump does have the opportunity to testify if he wants to to the grand jury, which also would be highly unlikely in this situation. he didn't in florida, and so we're watching there. he did add a lawyer to his team, john lauro who is being brought in to help as well. >> there's still a lot they knead need to do in terms of building this legal team. "the new york times" reporting the specific laws in that letter informing former president trump that he was the target of the federal january 6th investigation. cnn legal analyst elie honig is here. i think it's the third statute that has people surprised to some degree. we expected the first two but the third, the one related to civil rights historically goes back to post-civil war era. that being on the table right now. tell people what that means. >> let's break down what new

we're learning about the potential charges here. the first one is a conspiracy to defraud or commit a crime against the united states. a conspiracy means two or more people, meeting of the minds to commit a crime. does not necessarily mean someone else will be charged along with donald trump. charges could come later or not at all. two or more people that refers to the broad effort to steal the 2020 election. the one you're talking about that is interesting here is deprivation of right. forget about the legalese, the important part two or more people getting together to i interfere with any right or privilege a person has under the constitution of the united states. as we sort of speculated yesterday, now it looks like we were right, this looks like it refers to the right of every person to cast a vote and to have that vote counted. and then the third potential charge that we're learning about is witness tampering, but that asterisk is there on purpose. we have to be careful here. there is a very broad law called witness tampering, but the titles of law sometimes can be misleading. one section does deal with your

typical witness tampering, trying to influence a witness. there's a different subsection that tedeals with obstruction oa proceeding. >> that's good context. when you see that you immediately think there's some kind of mob-related. the espionage act isn't always about spying. witness tampering isn't always what you think. there were several legal developments in the president's world yesterday, including ruling the manhattan district attorney's case involving hush money payments to the adult film star stormy daniels, what does that say? >> we remember alvin bragg, we have a trial date in march. he has indicted donald trump for those hush money payments to stormy daniels. donald trump made an interesting motion. he wanted to walk his case from state court over to the federal court where i used to work. why would you want to make that move if you were donald trump? you would get a different judge. you could have a more favorable jury pool because in federal

court, you're going to pull your jury from many different county. in manhattan it's only going to be manhattan. most importantly the way you get from state to federal court is you show that what you are charged with related to your official job responsibilities and if you can make that showing not only do you get to federal court, but you get the case dismissed because you have immunity as a federal officer. that was the argument donald trump made, has been squarely rejected now by the judge. the judge ruled that hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a president's official acts. doesn't seem like breaking news, not a surprising decision but that motion has now been rejected by the federal court. >> you guys studied that in law school, right? >> this took a long time to figure out. >> there was also news or developments in the e. jean carroll case. >> this is a civil case. the jury found that donald trump was civilly liable for sexually

assaulting, not raping, they rejected the rape charge but sexually assaulting and defaming e. jean carroll. they awarded her $5 million in damage. donald trump asked the judge to throw out that verdict. the judge declined to do so. he said its verdict, the jury's verdict is not a miskacarriage justice, meaning their verdict was within the realm of reason. >> we expect the grand jury to meet. we obviously have seen the target letter. a lot of people are speculating about a lot of things. what should people be expecting if the grand jury meets today and what happens next. >> difference between a trial jury and grand jury is important. a trial jury has 12 members plus some alternates, but 12 that vote. a grand jury is bigger, 23. in a trial jury you need all 12. in a grand jury you need a majority, 12 out of 23, and the proof in front of a trial jury is what we call beyond a reasonable doubt. in a grand jury it's lower, just probable cause. that's why people say it's easy

to get an indictment out of the grand jury, ham sandwich and aum that. what's left to happen, the final witnesses have to testify. will donald trump be among them, he's been invited. one former staffer will be testifying. when your witnesses are done, you show the grand jury as a prosecutor your draft indictment, and then they take that vote. if they vote yes, then we have an indictment. >> but they've been having interviews in the mar-a-lago case after the indictment. why? >> yeah, you can continue investigating even after you get an indictment. we used to say you investigate until the moment the actually trial jury comes back with a verdict. >> okay. grand is bigger. >> grand is big. >> that was 3l for elie honig, thanks, man, appreciate it. also this morning, more extreme weather is still pl plaguing the country coast to coast with tens of millions of americans still facing heat advisories. in kentucky, the governor declaring a state of emergency after potentially record rain flooded the state. this was the scene in mayfield in southwest kentucky, and in rocky mountain, north carolina, a tornado packed 150 miles per

hour winds pummelling a pfizer pharmaceutical plant and a twister tore the roof off that building sending medical and debris pleverywhere. diane, what are you seeing there? >> reporter: you know, abby, here in dor ches, nash county, north carolina, this is where we're seeing the predominant amount of damage here from that ef-3 tornado. it's things like this, we're talking about large pieces of people's homes, nails, shingles, as though 150 miles per hour winds ripped through town hall road where we are right now, it's only 16 people, we're told, who were injured. if you take a look, the stories of survival from that, thankfully no one was killed. there were people inside this home when the storm came through here. look, according to the national weather service, this is the first ef-3 tornado in the month

of july ever to hit north carolina. it went from here in nash county through edgecombe county where there were injuries, damages to businesses and homes. according to the mayor this just all happened so quickly. >> i don't ever want to see another one like it again because it went from sunshine to pitch black, and i guess this storm here lasted probably less than a minute, and you see what it's done. >> reporter: now, in rocky mountain, north carolina, that pfizer manufacturing plant, that's the largest employer in the county. it also provides more than 25% of all sterile injectables to hospitals across the country. pfizer says it is still assessing the damage. there were no serious injuries, but the sheriff, abby, of nash county said he had reports of more than 50,000 pallets of

medicine that were thrown about. there are transport trucks that have been damaged as well, including rain and wind damage. it's something that here in the county they're very focused on because it's an employer but also what that ripple effect may be across the country. >> it's the impact on the supply of medication. it's a huge problem potentially. dian dianne gallagher, thank you. coming up, troubling new reports detail the inhumane treatment of migrants at the u.s./mexico border. we're going to take you live what the justice department plans to do about it. plus -- >> i didn't think anyone who was sane would want to go to north korea, so i assumed it was some kind of stunt to, you know, run to the north korean border fence. >> we're now hearing from a woman who watched a u.s. soldier bolt into north korea. our will ripley is standing by near the dmz with new details on this story this morning. check it out, you could save $700 dollars just by swswitching. ooooh, i'll look into that.

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the why, but what can you tell us about what we've learned from people on the ground who actually watched this play out? >> reporter: yeah, i mean, there are a lot of questions that are kind of emerging, phil, as we put together how this happened. we go back to monday when as you mentioravis king, this army private who had just gotte here for an assault charge. he was accused of getting into basia fight with people. he was on his way back to texas. he was actually checked into an americ airlines flight bound for dallas we was going to get kicked out of the army. he cleared customs and then he reported a missing passport, didn't get on the plane and somehow was able to make his way back to this area. we are standing five kilometers or so from the joint security area where this incident took place on tuesday. he was able to get on this tour. he took the tour inside the demilitarized zone. his name cleared the passenger manifest, which the united nations had to approve before

they let any of those people in there, and then he was able to run across the demarcation line into north korea. he was driven away by north korean guards. haven't heard from him on wednesday, today thursday, we don't know his whereabouts and we really don't know what's going to happen with the north koreans. there's no official line of communication, nothing publicized by the north koreans as of yet. he will be questioned, the question is when, for how long, and when, will it be a matter of days, weeks, months or longer before he's actually to go home. >> and we're starting to get some eyewitness accounts. we had been trying to figure out on this show for a couple of days, where could he have done this, how could he have done this given structurally how that area is set up. there was a woman who witnessed the crossing. what did she say? >> reporter: yeah, she took a picture of him. he was standing right there in the jsa, the joint security area where president trump walked into north korean soil when he was meeting with kim jong-un. he described sergeant travis's crossing as being very quick, very confusing.

she almost thought it was like a prank at first. listen. >> someone ran close to me very fast, and i thought what is going on. i didn't think anyone who was sane would want to go to north korea, so i assumed it was some kind of stunt to, you know, run to the north korean border fence and have someone film it or something like that a couple of seconds after i saw him, that's when the soldiers shouted and started running after him. >> reporter: she thought it was a tiktok stunt. when he jumped in the north korean van and was whisked away, he's basically in one of the most isolated countries on e earth. he ran there willingly in a matter of seconds. when he gets out of there, that could take a very long time. >> great reporting live near the korean dmz, thank you. a disturbing new report from the border is raising eyebrows at the justice department.

the report alleges that texas troopers were told to push migrants back into the rio grande and ordered them not to give them water in those scorching temperatures. in a statement to cnn, the doj called the report troubling and said it's assessing the situation. it could be the first step toward an investigation. cnn's rosa flores reports. >> we're in the middle of the rio grande. >> reporter: jesse fee entas grew up, in 2015 he turned his passion into a business launching epi's canoe and kayak. >> what was business like? >> it was beautiful. >> reporter: fuentes organized races on the river, but not anymore. >> we're securing the border at the border. >> reporter: governor greg abbott has deployed shipping containers and 1,000 feet of floating border barrier and netting on the river. the buoys are 4 feet in diameter and anchored to the bottom of the waterway.

>> a strategy that no state has ever before deployed to stop people from entering texas illegally. >> reporter: the state of texas didn't exactly follow the law when it started installing the buoys on the rio grande. according to the u.s. state department, a series of trees between the u.s. and mexico governed the use of the water on the rio grand, and texas not only didn't consult with the u.s. federal government before installing the buoys, it didn't obtain a permit. >> it used to be a beautiful pristine island. >> reporter: fuentes points to an island on the river he says texas destroyed. here's what the island looked like on google earth. here's what it looks like now. the island is gone. the vegetation is dead. a road and concertina wire taking its place. >> it made me want to cry. it was sad. >> reporter: fuentes filed a lawsuit claiming the buoys will prevent him from making a living and mexico's top diplomat

complained to washington saying the buoys prohibits construction that obstructs the flow of the river. mexico is concerned the buoys may be on their territory. >> this is our property. >> reporter: they too have complained about texas, but for installing concertina wire on their land and refusing to remove it. >> has dps taken over control of private properties? yes. are we in spupport of it? no, we are not. >> reporter: the most alarming part of it all, migrants needing help and texas national guard members just standing there. >> i asked, aren't you all going to help? and they just sat there, and they said we can't. we can't get onto your property. they told us not to get onto the property. they told us not even to give them water. and i said, fine, and then i just turned around and we just kept helping people out. >> reporter: texas national forward denies the allegations.

the account comes after texas dps released emails showing top brass acknowledging an increase in migrant injuries from concertina wire and a texas state trooper blowing the whistle to superiors about a 19-year-old stuck on the wire while having a miscarriage, a 4-year-old passed out due to exhaustion, and about being ordered to push migrants into the river and deny them water, allegations the agency denies. maverick county sheriff says he's never witnessed a trooper mistreat migrants, but he's worried the buoys could mean more migrant deaths. >> i hope that i'm wrong, but i think we're going to have some people drowning in that area. >> i want to be the voice for the river. the river can't speak for itself. >> are you afraid of going against the state of texas? >> am i afraid, no. is my business suffering? yes. is my heart suffering?

yes. >> reporter: the u.s. doj saying it's assessing the situation, that it's working with other agencies, but it's unclear if legal action will be taken. as for jesse f uentes he's waiting for a judge to set his first court date. you can see the buoys behind me. he plans to ask a judge to force the state of texas to remove them. >> incredible reporting from you down there, rosa flores in eagle pass, texas. thank you. this morning there are new k questions about the disappearance and reappearance of an alabama woman after she made this 911 call. >> hi, i am on interstate 459, and there is a kid just walking by theirself. >> but it's what she did right before she went missing that has officials asking a lot of questions. we'll dig in coming back. ♪ and the compmpany that's getting us there?

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. on the day a woman in alabama went missing, she looked up the movie taken and one-way bus tickets from birmingham to nashville online. carlee russell vanished after calling 911 to report a toddler on the side of the road. she turned up at her home in hoover, alabama, two days later. >> reporter: carlee russell's disappearance sent shock waves through the state of alabama. for 49 hours as the search for a missing woman worried many, local police, federal law enforcement, family and community members all trying to find the 25-year-old after this 911 call last thursday. >> i am on interstate 459, and there is a kid just walking by theirself. >> reporter: that call coming from interstate 459 south, russell telling a dispatcher a toddler was walking alone on the side of the road.

police would arrive to find carlee's car, wig, purse, phone, but no sign of her or the toddler. >> she's not at her vehicle. >> nicole russell out of birmingham, we're not getting the female to answer. we're trying to call her back, she's not answering. >> just being honest, her vehicle's unlocked, running, all her personal belongings except for her phone. >> reporter: police say on saturday night, russell showed up at her parents' home. listen to what she told detectives. >> when she got out of her vehicle to check on the child, a man came out of the trees and mumbled that he was checking on the baby. she claimed that the man then pek picked her up and she screamed. the next thing she remembers is being this the trailer of an 18-wheeler. >> reporter: hoover detectives describe what surveillance video at her job showed before russell called 911 that thursday. >> surveillance video from her place of employment shows carlee concealed, a dark colored

bathrobe, a roll of toilet paper. >> reporter: the 25-year-old also stopped at a target where she bought snacks that weren't found in her car when officers arrived and say her internet search history over the last month are, quote, relevant to this case. >> reporter: on july 11th at 7:30 a.m., the tdo you have to pay for an amber alert or search. on july 13th at 1:03 a.m.ings t the day of her disappearance, a search for the movie taken, a film about abduction. >> reporter: hoover detectives say they hope to speak to russell again but so far that hasn't happened. >> we're still working this case until we uncover every piece of evidence that helps us account for the 49 hours carlee russell was missing. >> so many questions about this case, when you think about it, she talked about a man with

orange hair, and the idea that she never saw a woman who might have been playing with -- you think about this and the uproar it's created on the internet, so many questions. detectives want to talk to her again like i said, but man, this is such a story. >> bizarre twists and turns and it seems like many more to come, right? >> absolutely. a vote on donald trump's possible third indictment could happen as soon as today. how the former president is bracing for it and using it to his advantage. >> you just want to talk about the lottery, don't you? >> i want to win the lottery, not talk about it. >> someone in california will wake up $1 billion richer. the jackpot is worth a billion dollars and change with a lump sum payout of just about $558 million. so if you are watching in california right now, check your ticket, and if you won, sen it to abby phillip. >> come on, phil, i know you

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- [announcer] do you have an invention idea but don't know what to do next? call invent help today. they can help you get started with your idea. call now 800-710-0020. . today is the deadline for donald trump to respond to the special counsel's letter. trump is being given a chance to testify before the grand jury, which is expected to be back in court today. cnn is also learning that trump

and his team are scrambling now to figure out what evidence jack smith has and which witnesses he's spoken with. one of trump's 2024 gop rivals chris christie was asked about this on cnn. >> i never sent the target letter if i was not completely sure i had put enough in front of the grand jury for them to return an indictment. >> and back with us elie honig and also with us cnn senior political analyst john avlon. so john, this is obviously a moment of extreme legal peril for donald trump, but at the same time, he is pursuing the same political strategy that he has all along, fund-raising off of his potential indictment i should say. >> yes. >> and using this to squeeze his opponents in the 2024 race. >> yes, and in the primary, in the short run, he may be successful at fund-raising all of this. he may be successful at getting folks to rally around the race.

i would posit that that doesn't matter at the end of the day, that doing this analysis through the short-term horse race politics, yes, you need to take that, but it distracts tfrom th larger issue. donald trump has added inducement, which is trying to stay out of prison essentially. that's a factor in a presidential campaign of this nature. this is historic. it is unprecedented not because of the potential indictment, the indictments and the current potential indictment, it is because of what he did that we all saw trying to overturn an election as a sitting president, and remember, the whole argument in the second impeachment, why that shouldn't go through respirators said was he will be subject to the law as an ordinary citizen. that's what's happening now. that's the accountability. that's what's historic, that's what we should keep our eye on the ball on. >> one of the interesting things after we talked about this yes, the davis after january 6th when you talked to republican lawm lawmakers, also when they said behind the scenes, it was a very different moment than we're in right now, and i want to play

what we heard from speaker kevin mccarthy yesterday about the potential indictment. listen. >> i don't see how he could be found criminally responsible. >> why? >> what criminal activity did he do? he told people to be peaceful. >> and this was then leader kevin mccarthy on january 10th of 2021. >> the president bears responsibility for wednesday's attack on congress by mob rioters. he should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. >> that's what you call crucial context. that's why those two sides need to be seen together. >> but why? >> because his statements yesterday, i don't see how he could possibly been held to legal account fly in the face of what he said and did immediately after the attack, saying this is on donald trump's doorstep, he caused this. he inspired this. and i think the problem is the

political calculations for republicans beginning when kevin mccarthy went down and kissed the ring at mar-a-lago weeks after the january 6th attack have shifted to a kind of broad denialism that's not only denying about legal accountability, but denying and reversing what they said and did because of what they experienced when he tried to overturn an recollection on the basis of lies. >> trump says i want you to be peaceful, he did say that in the rally, but the way it looks like doj is engineering these charges makes that irrelevant. the focus is on the experience, even weeks and days before january 6th. >> so kevin mccarthy, he's not alone in making this argument that maybe it was wrong, but it's not illegal. we've heard that from vific ramaswamy, to ron desantis, does make any sense to you? >> if the charge was inciting a riot, which it doesn't look like it's going to be, then the fact that donald trump in his speech at the rally, yes, he said we're

going to go to the capitol, he also did say be peaceful and patr patriotic. that's why doj is not interested in that. they're looking at the fraud, the conspiracy. >> there was a hearing related to hunter biden and what's been going on in terms of the charges that were brought against him, charges that weren't brought against him with potential whistle-blowers including this, one of the whistle-blowers saying this. take a listen. >> it appeared to me based on what i experienced that the u.s. attorney in delaware in our investigation was constantly hamstrung, limited and marginalized by doj officials as well as other u.s. attorneys. >> so these whistle-blowers i think need to be taken seriously. they are irs agents, they are legitimate law enforcement officers, and there's not reason to question their credibility. to me it's not a problem the if irs wanted to charge hunter biden more seriously and prosecutors wanted less. it happens all the time. it is a problem if this investigation is cut off, you

are told you cannot go down certain roads, that's where the focus needs to be. >> there's moments that the prosecutor's going to have to speak. john avlon, elie honig, thanks, guys. the florida board of education has approved new standards of how black history is taught in schools. one instruction has to do with how enslaved people may have benefitted from slavery. we have the details coming up. i'i'm currently out of the office [typing] focusing on a little blue-sky thinking. i'll be taking meetings with family and friends. and checng voicemail as my activities permit. i'll connect with you afr reconnecting with me. ♪ get 1.9% apr for 36 months plus $1,500 purchase allowance on a 2023 xt5 and xt6 when you finance through cadillac financial. ♪ my dad was a hard worker.

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history, our history is being told factually and completely, and please do not -- do not for the love of god tell kids that slavery was beneficial because i can guarantee you it most certainly was not. thank you. [ applause ] >> education and civil rights advocates are slamming new black history teaching standards in florida under the new rules, middle school teachers must now include lessons, quote, how slaves developed skills, which in some instances could be applied for their personal benefit. cnn's athena jones is here on this absolutely bonkers story. these changes are incredibly controversial, obviously, but they're also not correct. >> right. it's inaccurate, it's ahistorical. critics are calling this a big step backwards and saying it's a disservice to florida student because they're not going to learn the full truth of american history. this is the latest development in ongoing debates over how to teach kids about black history. you mentioned one of the most

slavery was beneficial.ng that it's an odd thing to say about a group whose labor went uncompensated for generation and generation. here are some other examples, one of them is the teaching of the e massacre. tehers are required to teach acts of violence. the tulsa ssre, the atlanta race riot, rosewood massacre and i want to be clear, these are all cases of violent armed mobs of white people attacking black americans and yet these standards say you have to talk about acts of violence perpetrated by blacks. they're also not required to teach african american history past reconstruction to elementary and middle school students, and they omit the fact that florida in 1957, the legislature passed a resolution opposing the brown v. board landmark decision by the supreme court that ended legal segregation in public education. so these are standards that r

critics say aren't going to be teaching the children of florida, one of the largest states, the third largest state the proper history and it won't prepare them well for the future. >> what are florida officials saying to justify this? good luck, but. >> they say this meets their goals, all the goals that they've set out for when it comes to teaching history. the florida education association, which says it's the largest union in the sou. it represents some 150,000 membery say how can our students ever be equipped for the future if they don't have a full, honest picture of where we've come from. governor desantis is pursuing a set good people against one another. and in the process he's cheating our kids. they deserve the full truth of american history, the good and the bad, and the union went on to say this confirms their worst fears. last year governor desantis signed into law the stop woke act, the whole idea being that it banned instruction in telling

children that they were either privileged or oppressed on the basis of race or sex or national origin. so this is not over. there is clearly a lot of people up in arms about this. >> very, very disturbing when it comes to actually teaching accurate history in the schools. thank you, athena jones. the 2023 fifa women's world cup has kicked off this morning. hear from the women's national team as they try to do something that no other team, men or women, has done before. >> the nercves are still kind o there and the excitement. there's nothing quite like that, and it only comes every four years. it's a nice little treat every time. cheesecake cookies? the chookie! manage all your sales from one placece with a partner that always puts youou first. (we did it) start today at godaddy.com 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 youroney right.

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oh, he's straight ahead. he's straight ahead. straight ahead. go go go. ♪ cover more ground in the kia sportage turbo-hybrid. kia. movement that inspires. sports this morning brought to you by kia, movement that inspires. the fifa women's world cup has kicked off in new zealand, and it's a new beginning for women's soccer with 32 nations competing and the prize money up 300% are from 2019. the home team took on norway this morning and came away with a historic win. cnn's amanda davis has a preview of what else is to come.

>> as much as the rest of the world is looking at it, like a potential three peat, we're looking at it as this tournament that we have in front of us in 2023, new zealand and australia. >> reporter: the u.s. women's national team are no strangers to leading the way, but on the line over the next month, something that no side, men or women, has ever done before. winning a third straight world cup. >> you can't really say three because it's such a new group. it's a new world cup, and attacking that as a new group. >> reporter: emily son net was there four years ago for victory in france alongside veteran superstars megan rapinoe and alex morgan preparing for their fourth world cups this time around, but 14 players will be making their debut on the world's biggest stage, and the message from the top is clear. we win together, we lose together, we stick together.

>> we did have a, you know, big change in a lot of o'players. we've had injuries. we've had a lot of things we've had to adapt to, and i think that is something that is ultimately going to make us come together and be stronger. we know that even has to pull their weight. >> i think it's just keep the belief knowing that we deserve to be at this level. you know, representing the u.s. in the world cup, and we've impacted the game in different levels and different games, different tournament, so i think now going into world cup, it's keeping that belief and just knowing that we're good enough and we're able to make an impact. >> they started the 2019 tournament with a whopping 13-0 win over thailand, and are aiming to make at statement. in the july c21st opener agains vietnam. >> they're going o'to get our

best. our team is focused on one game at a time, not looking past anything. giving the utmost respect to whoever our opponent is, that we're going to give our best on any day that we have to play. and i think that's our sole focus of the team. >> reporter: the u.s. women's national team have been synonymous with dominance. they've won four of the eight women's world cups ever played. that drive to be the best is engrained in the team's culture. and there's no plan to chaenge that now. >> the goal is just always winning. that's all that matters. that's like our secret sauce is just this like insatiable desire to win, and everything else comes after that. >> i have to say, there are not many people betting against the u.s. success, despite that incredible weight of history that is on their shoulders. the signs are certainly ominous for vietnam, not only because it's their first ever match on the world stage, they lost their last match 9-0