government plane that will land in the middle of the night in washington. qatar acted as a key intermediary. the biden administration says that is not going to change. the united states did impose even more sanctions today after the prisoners were released. the new sanctions target tehran for a lack of answers around bob levinson, an american who disappeared in iran in 2007 and is believed to have died in custody there. we've covered his case closely on "out front" for over a decade, and levinson's family said in a statement tonight, today is good news. and they did say it was good news, and they mean it. but it does not ignore our family's nightmare, and mask the shameful cruelty and lies of the iranian regime. iranian regime. "ac 360" starts now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com zblrchlt tonight on 360, when

does omission admit to admission. an exclusive look on land and on water, as world leaders, including president biden, gather in new york for the u.n. general assembly. another exclusive, clarissa ward on dangerous ground in the central african republic, where russia's wagner mercenaries are still making money even though yevgeny prigozhin is dead. -- potentially alienated supporters on a central issue to many evangelicals. one could cost him votes, the other perhaps his freedom. both from a single interview with kristen welker, which aired yesterday. on the legal side, he made it harder for his lawyers in the january 6th subversion case to claim he was acting on the advice of counsel in trying to overturn the election he lost. >> you called some of your outside lawyers, you said they

have crazy theories. why were you listening to them? were you listening to them because they were telling you what you wanted to hear? >> you know who i listen to? myself. it was my decision. some people said that. guys like bill barr, who was a stiff, but he wasn't there at the time. but he didn't do his job because he was afraid. >> so, when asked why he relied on advice of counsel, answer was he didn't rely on counsel. he said he relied on himself. and he said he didn't do anything wrong in that call when he asked raffensperger to find him votes. that was false, one of a dozen false claims he made in the interview. what is news is the answer he gave when asked about abortion and his position about a proposed federal ban on it after 15 weeks pregnancy. >> if a federal ban landed on your desk, if you were re-elected, would you sign it at 15 weeks -- >> are you talking about a complete ban? >> a ban at 15 weeks.

>> well, people are starting to think of 15 weeks. that seems to be a number people are talking about right now. >> would you sign that? >> i would sit down with both sides, and i'd negotiate something and wooe'll end up wi peace on that issue for the first time in 52 years. i'm not going to say i would or i wouldn't. desank tus is willing to sign a five week and six week ban. we'll talk about that coming up, but first lawrence tribe joins me, author of "to end a presidency." did the former president undermine his own defense by saying it was his decision to go after the results of the 2020 election. there was talk he was going to argue at trial he was listening to legal advice. >> i think he threw his own defense not just under a bus but under a freight train. it's very hard to say that i was relying on legal advice as a defense at trial when you tell

the world through kristen welker on nbc that he was relying on his own advice. it's said sometimes that only a fool hires himself as a lawyer to defend himself. i don't think trump is a fool, but he's certainly a narcissist. he just has to say that he is responsible for everything. he doesn't depend on anybody. that's all very nice politically. but in the courtroom, he's just blown that defense, the defense that i was just relying on my lawyers and therefore i didn't have a state of mind that it takes to commit these crimes. he's just blown that out of the water. >> i mean, he did, sort of, you know, hedge it a little. he said while it was his decision, he also said he, quote, listened to some people. does that give him wiggle room to still attempt the advice of counsel defense? he also said that, you know, he didn't trust and didn't, you know, respect the lawyers who were arguing the

counterargument, which were basically the white house counsel and legitimate attorneys. >> you know, he can say he relied on atrolg jers and he relied on other people, all kinds of people. but the specific defense that says, i was just following the directions of my lawyers, it's a very narrow defense. it's not just, like, saying, you know, i read the papers, i listen to everybody. that won't do. if you are a ccused of the various crimes that jack smith has obtained indictments for and you say that, well, it may be that i did these things, but i was innocent because i was basically a pawn following by lawyer's instruction, that's not an easy defense under any circumstances. but when you have said publicly what donald trump said, then that defense is just not going to fly with the jury, especially if you're not willing to take

the stand. because he has a right not to, but the only way he could explain all of that to the jury is by giving up that right and taking the stand. but he's not likely to because everyone knows that he would perjure himself. so, he's really gotten himself into quite a corner. >> the former president's defensors argue that if he genuinely believe the election was stolen, there's no corrupt intent. is it that simple? >> it's not that simple. you can believe that money was stolen from you, but it doesn't give you the right to break into fort knox and take an equivalent amount back from the government. so, even if he did genuinely believe that he had won the election, which is pretty hard to believe, given what everybody was telling him and given that there are instances where he actually said, i can't believe i lost to that guy, biden. even if he actually believed it,

it wouldn't get rid of his criminal liability. but, again, the only way he could possibly convince even one juror, get a hung jury, that he was just an innocent guy who convinced himself that he was incapable of losing, the only way he could do that would be to take the stand and testify under oath. but i think even though he says he would love to testify under oath, he's always said that, he's never done it in any of these proceedings. so, we'll just have to see. >> you've been vocal in arguing section 3 of the 14th amendment bars the former president from even appearing on a ballot in 2024 because he incited the january 6th insurrection. a cofounder agreed with you but is now echoing an argument made by former attorney general michael mckay zi which is the phrasing of that section, specifically quote, officer under the united states, doesn't actually refer to a president. can you explain to non-lawyers

what that's all about? >> it's pretty hard because it doesn't make any more sense legally than it does logically or in term of common sense. the constitution, in its appointments clause, does talk about the president's power to appoint officers. and those people are not elected. they're appointed. but where it refers in a totally different part of the constitution, enacted not as part of the original constitution, the way the appointments clause was, but as part of the 14th amendment after the civil war, where it refers to civil or criminal officers of the united states, it obviously includes the president. the president is an officer. what else would he be? the constitution in article ii uses that word to describe the presidency nine times. there's no reason to think that just because officers are

appointed rather than elected in article two of the constitution, which was enacted in 1787 and then became the law in 1789, no reason to believe that because their officers doesn't refer to people like the president, that somehow the president is exempt from the disqualification principle. it's, sort of, like a king complex. he says, you know, everybody else has to abide by an oath. anyone else who takes an oath to the constitution and then engages in insurrection against the constitution can never again hold office, except if it's the president. well, that just suggests that when we rebelled against king george, we really intended to have another kind of king, above the law, someone who can take an oath to the constitution with

his fingers crossed, then try to overturn it and say, give me another chance. >> interesting. >> it doesn't make sense. so, why mr. cal bray zi changed his mind on this bizarre basis, probably the least persuasive of all possible reasons to doubt applicability of the disqualification clause is quite beyond me. it's not a new argument. there were people who made this quite silly argument about the president not being an officer years ago. it wasn't new and yet somehow mr. calibrazi says, well, i now buy that bizarre argument. >> i appreciate it. thank you. ron desantis just responded to the former president's abortion remarks and his refusal to signing a 15-week federal ban should he be re-elected. florida's governor telling iowa radio listeners, quote, i think all pro-lifers should know he's preparing to sell you out. joining me now van jones and

alyssa farah griffin. alyssa, a typical republican candidate refusing -- you know, bashing a strict abortion law like ron desantis signed, would lose support among evangelicals, conservatives. do you think this impacts him there at all? >> it probably fundamentally does not, and it further underscores how donald trump has just upended all of the rules of republican politics. at the end of the day, even him coming out saying something closer to 15 weeks and criticizing governor desantis, at the end of the day, governors are going to remember he put three conservative justices on the supreme court that led to the overturn of roe. i think donald trump is being expedient and knowing running on a six-week ban would be political suicide for republicans. he got some criticism, susan b. anthony came out against him and other groups. at the end of the day, he's 40 points ahead in iowa. >> do you think a six week ban

would be political suicide? >> in a general election, i think it would. trump lies about the lies that he lies about. it's nuts. he literally is the reason we don't have roe v. wade. he was bragging about it. but now he's looking down the road and he's seeing republicans lost their shot at taking the house because of this. you're seeing red states, purple states everywhere. this is a banana peel. the republicans caught this car and the car is running over them. so, trump, to your point, is trying to get out of the way. but i think democrats are doing a pretty good job of holding his feet to the fire. all of this abortion extremism, he is the author of, the champion, the legal enabler of, and he can't get away from it. >> in the nbc interview, when he was pressed about a federal ban, he said, it could be state, could be federal, i don't frankly care. do you think he's being honest that he doesn't care. >> i would go further. i'm not sure he has any personal conviction around the issue of abortion. i would guess he's personally pro choice but he's known since he ran in 2016 that he had to do

what was politically expedient. there was a famous interview he did that said women who get abortions should be punished. and pro life groups said, that's not what we believe. he's learning what republican orthodoxy is on this issue, but he can read the tea leaves to know that 15 weeks is a safe place to be in a general election. this shows how different the world is in the post-roe era. i come from the world of republican politics where someone like a mike pence or even a donald trump saying 15 weeks is reasonable for abortion access. that would have gotten you thrown out four years ago. >> in 2022, this was a big issue that brought people to the polls. do you think it's going to be in 2024? >> absolutely. >> there were a lot of democrats in 2022 who didn't think about this -- i talked to nancy pelosi about this the other day, congresswoman pelosi, the other day. she was saying this is the issue to run on. >> when you have something you take for granted, when someone takes it from you, you take it

personally. for 50 years, whatever it was, it was a no brainer, of course, women would have the right to control their own bodies. then when it cot taken away, people got very, very concerned. and also these stories about what's happening to real people, women who have ectopic pregnancies and have to go two states away, horrible stuff happening. this is not going away. it's getting worse and worse on the ground with real people. it's going to be a motivator. >> you agree with this? >> i would just mention i think republicans were behind the ball in the messaging of this as well. if you're going to say you're pro life, you need to be the most pro women party. you need to have -- that's something we're, kind of, coming up from behind trying to catch up on. >> just briefly, you know, he answers like he's going to, sort of, the war in ukraine in 24 hours. he's going to solve the abortion issue. they're to ludicrous. i understand it was so ludicrous people thought it was charming and ignored it and maybe some

people believed it. obamacare, he was going to create a whole new thing within the first 24 hours. does anyone believe that? >> listen, i think he caters to voters without a college education. i think he meets them sounds not like a politician and they see that as authentic and it resonates. some of these statements are so lieu ludicrous, they're untrue. he didn't build the wall, he didn't abolish obamacare. >> thanks so much. coming up next, what went into securing the freedom of five americans after years of captivity in iran and what iran gets out of the deal and the controversy over that. and later clarissa ward's reporting on the wagner group. (ella) fashion moves fast.

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criticism, including from former vice president mike pence saying if he's elected, we will never ever pay ransom to terrorists or terrorist states. becky, explain what you saw today. >> reporter: you're right, anderson. the tarmac just behind me there, that's doha international airport. that flight from tehran qatar airways flight arrived there at around late afternoon qatar time, around 10:30 a.m. eastern time. the doors opened and out came those five u.s. detainees, plus two family members. and if i said that this was emotional, i would be really understated what happened. there were smiles, there were hugs, there were tears, as the u.s. ambassador to qatar met those individuals. let me show you what evolved.

>> smiles, hugs, and tears, as five americans detained inside iran for years are finally freed and on their way home. among them, siamak namazi. he was arrested in 2015 while on a business trip in iran and charged with having relations with a hostile state. after nearly eight years in prison, namazi was iran's longest held american prisoner. feeling abandoned by the u.s. earlier this year, he appealed directly to president biden in an unpress departmented interview with cnn from inside the notorious evan prison. >> honestly, the other hostages and i desperately need president biden to finally hear us out, to finally hear our cry for help and bring us home. >> reporter: also freed, dual

iranian american citizens -- arrested while on a trip to iran in 2018. shargi, a businessman who moved with his wife to iran in 2017 was also detained in 2018 on similar charges to that of namazi. for years, their fate tied to tension between the two countries. but with the help of a common friend in qatar, break through diplomacy brought us to this very moment. iran freed the dual citizens in a bid to release five iranians held in u.s. prisons and to unblock $6 billion in frozen iranian funds from south korea. that cash moving from seoul to switzerland before being transferred to doha after the biden administration last week issued a sanctions waiver clearing the way for the money

to move. the role of qatar now changing from mediator to guarantor, ensuring washington's demands that irans billions are strictly controlled and spent only on humanitarian goods, like food and medicine. but critics worry even with doha's oversight the money could be spent however tehran decides. there's also concern this latest deal enables what many critics have dubbed tehran's hostage diplomacy. but for the freed americans, today at least, politics will likely be a secondary concern, as they finally get to go home after years of mental and physical anguish. >> what more do we know about how the deal came about? >> reporter: and that's fascinating, absolutely fascinating. it's been in the works over a couple of years now, indirect,

on and off talks between the u.s. and iran. but these are indirect, of course, brokered by qatar, the state of qatar, where i am now. and it was only in the last seven months that this deal materialized and only in august that this deal was actually signed off on. and i'm told that the negotiations around the release were relatively straightforward. it was the negotiations around the release of the money, the $6 billion from the south korean account into the swiss account, then ultimately here today to bank accounts in doha. that was the really difficult part, that according to a regional source that i spoke to here today, anderson. >> becky anderson, thank you so much. coming up, the oldest u.s. president, the possible republican opponent only three

years younger. how voters assess age after the former president made some gaffes of his own. an exclusive look at how new york monitors security threats when world leaders gather for the u.n. general assembly.y. ♪ ♪

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biden's age has been one of the main attack lines of republicans in recent months. the former president, who is just three years younger than biden, when he repeated biden wasn't old, it was an issue of confidence. then the former president appeared to confuse biden with former president obama and stumbled over how many world wars there have been. >> the country was very divided

and we did with obama, we won an election that nobody said could be won. we have a man who is totally corrupt and the worst president in the history of our country, who is cognitively impaired, in no condition to lead, and is now in charge of dealing with russia and possible nuclear war. just think of it. we would be in world war ii very quickly if we're going to be relying on this man. >> as we said, there's been a lot of reporting over concerns about president biden's age. what about the former president? for that, we turn to our senior data report e, harry enten. biden is 80. former president trump is 77. what do americans think about the age factor for the former president? >> the one thing i should say is whenever i talk to people who are outside the news industry about the race, the one thing they say is, these guys are old. these guys are old. and fox news asked this question, is trump mentally sound enough to basically serve

as president of united states. the majority of voters said, no. said no. 52% said no. just 46% said yes. and that number has been pretty stable over the past few months. we talk about biden all the time. but the fact is, trump -- if he was the guy and a younger democratic nominee, i think we would be talking about trump's age at this point. >> there's new polling on how many voters think biden and trump would complete a second term. >> this polling is not pretty for president biden n. fact less than a majority, in the 30s, think that biden would complete a second term. at least trump is over 50% on this metric. of course i was interesting comparing it with a president from years past who a lot of people thought was old, remember ronald reagan when he was running for a second term, and i will not make age an issue of this campaign. i will not exploit my opponent's youth and inexperience, and

everybody cheered some of, the fact that biden is in the 30s on this metric is something that is truly unusual, truly different. >> how have voters' attitudes regarding the current president's age changed over time? >> when we compare it now versus where we were back in 2020, what we see is that we have seen clear movement in terms of the percentage of americans, percentage of voter who is say that biden does not have the mental soundness to serve as president of the united states. that number has gone up by about 20 points since 2020. so, this is something where voter versus been looking at joe biden, looking at him being president and they're not liking what they're seeing. i think that's one of the reasons joe biden and donald trump are basically even in the polls, despite the fact that former president trump has been indicted four times. age is a big issue at this point. president biden addresses the u.n. general assembly in new york. thursday he meets with the ukrainian president back in

washington. president zelenskyy arrived in new york today, visiting wounded ukrainian soldiers recuperating at a hospital in staten island. tonight in a "360" exclusive, john miller was given rare behind the scenes access to see how new york law enforcement prepares. >> this is national special security event. we have 170 or so protectees, foreign heads of state and their spouses that we're responsible for protecting. and i think it's the largest we've hosted. >> crim berly cheatal is the director of the u.s. secret service, the agency that protects the president of the united states, but is also responsible for protecting every world leader attending the united nations general assembly. the nypd is a key partner, with resources on the ground, in the sky, and on the water to protect what is annually the largest gathering of world leaders anywhere on the planet.

151 heads of state, 41 foreign ministers, that's nearly 200 security details. >> their job to discuss the future of our world and our job is to make sure they can do it without disruption. >> reporter: at a pier in brooklyn, 315 police cars are gathered to be deployed in the motorcades that will run through the city day and night. that means traffic closures, frozen zones, and detours in a city that's already snarled with traffic on a good day. >> that's a lot of choreography. >> we dance well. we have our federal partners, our intelligence bureau constantly monitoring threats. and it's new york city. we're always at a threat level one way or the other, and we're always prepared to move and to protect the city. >> reporter: at the nypd's command center, police access feeds from thousands of cameras, hundreds of license plate

readers, even a map that tracks flight patterns , an early warning system in case a plane goes off course. and if there's an incident or attack -- >> immediately, this room, as you can see through its ability with technology, would immediately be pumping information out to our incident commanders in the field as well as keeping the top level executives in the nypd informed. >> reporter: at the secret service, a protective intelligence cell scans all active threats, not just to the president of the united states but against any of the world leaders under their protection in new york. >> so, we're looking at the technological aspect of it. we're looking at the cyber aspect of it. and we're looking at the human threat itself. >> reporter: they have planned and practiced for every scenario, chemical weapons, biological attacks, even a nuclear device coming into the harbor on a ship. this nypd counterterrorism launch is equipped with advanced

radiation detection technology. >> this vessel is part of our fleet with our maritime unit. we have three vessels. this vessel has radiation detection equipment in the bow of the vessel that will be able to detect any radiation emanating off any objects. the strategy is to be able to detect any anomalies and to be able to address that and to check it out and see what it is and make sure everyone in the area is safe. we want to do that as far out as possible so we can get a jump on everything and be able to clear the area, shut down the waterways, anything that we may have to do to neutralize the threat. >> joined now by our chief law enforcement intelligence analyst, john miller. he's deputy -- in charge of new york city police department as role in securing the u.n. general assembly. i'm glad to hear they have a plan for a nuclear device on a boat.

clearly no one is going to say what the plan is. as a citizen of new york, i'm relieved to hear that. what is different now than when you were doing it? >> one of the things that's different today is two of the countries that are visiting new york are at war. one of them this time is not us. any time there's anything going on in the world, the ripple reaches new york. and we learn that again and again. during -- actually it was yesterday was the anniversary. but during the 2016 general assembly, we had bombs go off on the west side of manhattan during the u.n. conference. that was inspire bid i.s.i.s. and al quaeda and those were the ripples of a different war coming to new york. you can lock down a box around the skpun those hotels where the world leaders are staying, but you can't lock down a city. you remember that ended in a running gun battle in new jersey, where the bomber was captured. so, all of this prep, the partnership between the secret service, the nypd, the fbi, the coast guard, the other agencies,

it's all for good reason. >> john miller, really fascinating. thank you. coming up, another "360" exclusive, russia has moved to consolidate the operations of the wagner group in africa after the death of yevgeny prigozhin. clarissa ward returns years after first reporting on wawagner's actions there. she joins us next. and great savings. (crowd cheers) herere, take mine. (farmers mnemonic) if we want a more viable future for our kids, we need to find more sustainable ways of doing things. america's plastic makers are investing billions of dollars in new technologies and creating plastic products that are more recyclable.

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a report you'll only see on cnn from clarissa ward now. the russian paramilitary wagner group is left leaderless after yevgeny prigozhin died in that mysterious plane crash last month. that left significant questions not only about its military future in and around ukraine but also its secretive and lucrative actions throughout africa. clarissa ward actually reported on their activity there is four years ago. she's now gone back to see what prigozhin has done to the mission in c.a.r. >> in the central african republic, the message from wagner is clear, it's business as usual. less than one month after their boss yevgeny prigozhin was killed in a plane crash, mass mercenaries still guard the president and cut an intimidating figure in the streets of the capitol. faces covered as wagner protocol dictates they are unapproachable

and untouchable. these are the first images of wagner fighters in the country since prigozhin's death. >> they are very much a presence here. that presence runs deep. the markets are full of cheap beer made by a wagner-owned company. the locals seem to like it. >> they say they don't drink this beer, only russian beer. >> reporter: we've come back to the center of prigozhin's empire in africa, right as his death raises questions for the regimes he protected and the mercenaries whose loyalty he inspired. our last visit was in wagner's early days here. run like the mafia, providing guns and fighters and propaganda in return for gold, diamonds, and timber, using intimidation and brutality along the way.

that car full of russians has been following us for quite some time. we don't know why. we don't know what they want. >> reporter: but in this lawless war-scarred country, one of the poorest in the world, that ruthlessness and the security it brought is celebrated by many. >> welcome to -- >> wow, that is quite the t-shirt. >> yes. beautiful t-shirt. >> presidential adviser fidel gann gee ka says the nation is in mourning for wagner's dead leader. >> he was my friend. he was my friend, best friend, friend of all central african people. >> why exactly was mr. prigozhin so popular here in your mind? >> because our country was in war, so mr. putin give us mr. prigozhin. >> aren't you nervous now that

he's dead things might change? >> mr. putin called our president. he told him that everything will be like yesterday. nothing will be changed. nothing. >> reporter: but according to a diplomatic source here, hundreds of wagner fighters left the central african republic in july after prigozhin's failed mutiny. those who remain, including his top lieutenants, have agreed to work for the russian ministry of defense. fighters have already been pulled back from frontline outposts to population centers in an effort to cut costs, the source says. what's less clear is what becomes of wagner's civilian presence here. this is one of the last places that prigozhin was seen alive during his final tour across africa. it's called the russian cultural center, only it has no connection to russia's official cultural agency and was run until recently by prigozhin's

closest associate here. photographs taken on that visit show a new face, a woman. after day of asking for permission to visit, we decide to film covertly. >> you were here then when yevgeny prigozhin when he was here in the photographs. there's the photographs of you with prigozhin together. >> can you show me that? >> yeah. i think it was just over in that corner. >> yeah. >> there you are. >> okay. that's good. how was he? >> do you think he knew they were going to kill him? >> my guess -- >> what does it mean for your work here? does it change anything?

>> does it change anything. i don't know. doesn't mean that the country stops to exist. >> reporter: she shows us one of their daily russian classes. as we step back outside, we see a wagner fighter. you can just make him out retreating back to the center where according to the investigator group, wagner sells its gold and diamonds to vips and manages alcohol operations. >> who is that? >> a person. >> a person? >> can we see what's there? that's weird. >> like most of wagner's activities here, it's clear there is still so much that is hidden from view. we pushed the visit far enough.

it's time to go. no matter who takes over here, western diplomats say they don't expect much to change. at the local orthodox church, the greek lettering has been painted over. its allegiance now is to the russian patriarchy. and even in the skies above the empire prigozhin built, russia's dominance lives on. >> and our chief international correspondent clarissa ward joins us now. it's so fascinating to see you back there. now that wagner's existing leadership has agreed to work with the russian military defense in c.a.r., does russia control over activities in africa? >> they don't really acknowledge anything. what you have to do is parse through the bread crumbs and try to work out what's going on. we know, for example, that on september 1st, there was a large delegation, primarily of personnel from the russian

ministry of defense, who visited the c.a.r. they visited a number of countries in prigozhin's african empire as well, among them the deputy minister of defense. but also interestingly, a senior spy master from the g.r.u., that's military intelligence, who had been in charge of an assassination squad. so, you start to put the pieces together that, okay, this is going to be some kind of a collaboration. the m.o.d. will be responsible for parts of it, but military intelligence may also be taking a broader role. make no mistake, anderson, it's still a fluid situation. nothing has yet been set in stone. >> it is incredible to see. thank you so much. coming up next, my champions for change, sandy and lonnie phillips. see how they have turned their grief into action by helping other survivors of mass shootings. morning. ♪ ♪

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now for champions for change, all this week we're bringing you stories about everyday people who are lifting humanity up and changing the way things get done. my champions for change are sandy and lonnie phillips, who founded survivors empowered to help survivors of mass shootings.

they know the pain of loss firsthand. sandy and lonnie phillips have been on a journey for more than a decade. it started when they lost their daughter jessie in the aurora, colorado, theater shooting. >> when i picked up phone, i could hear the screaming going on in the background and the chaos. he said, there's been a shooting. i said, oh, please, god, tell me that she's not dead. and the line went silent. i let out a scream. >> and at that moment, i knew that my wife would never be the same and i would no longer have a daughter. >> sandy and lonnie asked their son, jordan, to fly to colorado to bring his sister home. i met him the day after the shooting. >> we want to bring her home and celebrate her life with family and friends and anybody she's touched. >> reporter: just five months later, another mass shooting that shocked the nation, new

town. sandy and lonnie flew in to support other grieving parents. >> we saw the parents of those children walking into the community center, and they were like zombies. and i said to my husband, we can help them. we can do what wasn't done for us. >> how are you guys doing? >> so, what they've done is create a non-profit called survivors empowered after i spoke to them about it in 2016. >> the goal to help with everything from mental health resources to preparing survivors for media attention. >> you're not trained therapists, you're not counselors, and yet you have upended your lives and reaching out in a very individual way to people. >> that's compassion. >> their efforts have taken them across the country to some of the worst mass shootings to american history. with all they've learned, they created the survivor's tool kit,

along with gabby gifford's organization. >> we're trying to give it to every mayor in america so they've got it onhand when, not if, but when this happens in their community. >> tragedy struck the community of yuvalde ten years into their journey. even for them, it was too much to bear. >> our first response was to sandy hook. and for me, emotionally, uvalde was our last. uvalde took everything out of me. i don't know that i'll ever be able to physically respond to another mass shooting because of uvalde. >> that was, like, backookends us. >> they now focus on building up the next generation of survivors. >> we were shoulder to shoulder and not one bullet touched me. i still don't understand.

>> dionne green's father was killed in a mass shooting in dayton, ohio. >> sandy gave me her heart. she gave me her ear. >> now he travels the country offering support. >> i followed her lead and took the choice to help others as well. >> we really try to make our legacy, which is really jessie's legacy, all about the future because we have found joy again. and i want other survivors to find that joy again. >> be sure to tune in saturday, 8:00 p.m. eastern for champions for change, one hour special on cnn. that's it for us. "the source" with kaitlan collins is next right after a quick break. i'll see you tomorrow.

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