this is "nightline." >> tonight, russian meddling. an amateur cyclist stumbling into the secret world of russian doping. >> i'm sitting on a nuclear bomb of information. >> the elaborate scheme to steal the gold at the sochi winter olympics. >> there never was anti-doping in russia. ever. >> and the russian scientist at the center of it all, fleeing, fearing for his life. >> i need to escape. plus -- swift justice? bad blood and a multimillion-dollar lawsuit in a courtroom today. taylor swift coming face to face with the man she says groped her. why her mother was choking back tears on the witness stand. how she says the incident left taylor shaken and humiliated.

but first, the "nightline" 5. number 1 in just 60 seconds.

good evening and thank you for joining us. i'm rebecca jarvis. tonight the story of an amateur cyclist who set out to learn about performance-enhancing drugs but instead stumbled upon

a massive and allegedly state-run russian conspiracy. for decades it seems russian olympic athletes have been secretly doping to gain a competitive edge, and now a scientist from deep within the operation is saying that the government took part in covering it up. here's "nightline" co-anchor dan harris. >> a lot of news on the russian investigation -- >> reporter: for months russia has been dominating the headlines. >> let's talk about russia. >> election night -- >> reporter: casting a persistent cloud over the trump administration. >> russia is a ruse. >> i have nothing to do with russia. >> reporter: but the meddling in our election was not the first time russia has tried to exert power through deception. sochi, 2014. a grand spectacle of russian glory at the 22nd winter olympic games. the host country taking home an impressive 13 gold medals. spiking national pride and boosting the stature of president vladimir putin. but behind the pomp and

pageantry an explosive secret. >> russia had pulled off the single biggest fraud in the history of sport. >> reporter: a stunning accusation. russia cheated, taking advantage of its home turf. >> dozens of russian athletes, including 15 of the 33 russian medal winners, were part of a state-run doping program. >> reporter: at the center, a russian scientist, dr. grigory rodchenkov. >> big boss vladimir putin saying we have to show the best result in sochi. >> two people connected with the russian doping program are already dead. >> there never was anti-doping in russia. ever. >> reporter: an explosive story now chronicled in the new netflix documentary "icarus." >> be very careful recording. >> would it be safe to say when you started this project you had no idea what you were getting into? >> 100%. no idea. >> the ability to go day after day -- >> reporter: filmmaker and amateur cyclist bryan fogle says he initially set out to understand how his hero, lance

armstrong, had managed to get clean drug tests for years despite his doping. >> if lance had been able to do this and everybody else, forget about cycling. what did this mean for every sport on planet earth? >> going to do an injection. exciting. >> reporter: so fogh'll decided to make himself the guinea pig. he'd take p.e.d.s and see if he too could pass the drug test. filming every step along the way. >> i was very interested to see if it was still possible to evade detection. for help with his project he was referred to dr. grigory rodchenkov, who at the time ran russia's anti-doping lab. >> grigory agrees to help smuggle my urine into his moscow laboratory to figure out when i would test negatively. that in and of itself was pretty mind-boggling because he should not have been doing that to begin with.

>> did you start your program? >> i did. >> this is my morning pill-popping routine. and then i prepare the testosterone. >> reporter: why did he agree to help you? >> i came at him as an athlete, and i think the allure of being part of the movie. the other part of that is he had just gotten out of the sochi olympics. >> reporter: but months after fogel started working with rodchenkov -- >> 99% of russian athletes are guilty of doping. >> reporter: explosive revelations. >> it's worse than we thought. >> reporter: at what point did you know my story is way bigger? >> putin appears on state television. and not only does he deny everything, he says that there was no state-sponsored doping in russia. and about 12 hours after that statement grigory is on a call to me and he has two fsb agents, kgb agents, living in his home

protecting him. and he tells me that they're going to kill him. >> the problem is to survive. >> listen, i -- joking -- you know, aside. i'm just like -- i'm worried about you. >> yes. yes. >> and in that moment i knew that the movie and the story that i thought that i was setting out to make was over. >> are you in any danger? >> yes. i need to escape. >> putin will kill me. >> holy [ bleep ]. >> the biggest thing at that moment is that i had this person's life in my hands. >> reporter: fogel says he immediately bought rodchenkov a flight out of moscow to the u.s. he says rodchenkov brought something with him, a hard drive filled with documents detailing russia's doping program. >> i realize that not only am i sitting on a nuclear bomb of information that changes all of sport history, he had come preparing to blow the lid off of this. >> reporter: according to

rodchenkov, during the sochi games russian intelligence agents posed as maintenance workers entering the athlete testing lab, then breaking into tamper-proof collection bottles and swapping out dirty urine of russian athletes for clean samples. >> because they controlled, you know, everything about those olympic games, that they had the lock, they had the key, they ran the bank, they operated the vault, they could essentially facilitate, you know, whatever they wanted. >> reporter: the scam, rodchenkov says, allowed russian athletes to continue doping throughout the olympic games, giving them an advantage over other countries. >> why was it so important for putin that his teams rack up a lot of gold? >> everything with the olympic games was to demonstrate that russia had risen off its knees, that it was a great power, and that it was basically a peer competitor to big countries such as the united states.

>> reporter: in the film a stunning conversation about the alleged scope of russian doping. >> does russia have a systematic statewide doping system in place to cheat the olympics? >> yes. >> were you the mastermind of a statewide system that cheated the olympics? >> of course. yes. >> russia won a total of 73 medals in the 2008 beijing olympics. how many of those athletes were dirty? >> 30. >> russia won 81 total medals in london. how many of those were total? >> or even more. 50% for sure. let it be 50%. they were earned using special program. state-sponsored, of course. >> was putin aware of the existence of the russian doping system? >> yes. aware of my name. >> he was doping and anti-doping. he was the venom and the anti-venom. >> reporter: once safely in the u.s., rodchenkov decided to go

sxub f public and now fogel was now deeply intertwined. >> "new york times" is breaking tomorrow. >> tomorrow? >> he says rodchenkov was tired of hiding after the sochi games. >> instead of using the science, the science you developed to get around the system, you abandoned the science. >> yes. the most important, yes. forget about this. >> this was no longer science to him. this was just outright fraud. and he realized that this system was not going to last. >> so you think he saw you as a way to expose what he wanted to expose? >> i believe that that's what happened over time. yes. >> reporter: international outrage ensued. russia's participation in the 2016 summer games put into jeopardy. the president of the international olympic committee, or ioc, called the alleged scheme an unimaginable level of criminality. the world anti-doping association, or wada, would back up rodchenkov's claims about the

sochi doping plan in a july 2016 report. ultimately, though, only the russian track and field team would be blocked from competing in rio. putin has continued to deny the allegations. >> i doubt that he ordered the actual doping to happen but that he made clear that he wanted the athletes to win at any cost. >> reporter: u.s. intelligence agencies say the exposure of the doping scandal was one of russia's motivations for interfering in the 2016 presidential election. >> given your perspective on russia now, having been through what you've been through, what would you say to those who doubt all of this? >> watch this film. and then tell me or tell the world that you doubt what russia is capable of. it's that clear and simple. >> reporter: for "nightline" i'm dan harris in new york.

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>> reporter: taylor swift is used to performing for thousands of screaming fans, as she did on her "red" tour. ♪ ever, ever but this time the only audience that matters is an eight-person jury. now the legal bad blood between the pop star and former country radio dj david mueller is heating up. david swift was back in a denver courtroom for a third day, as seen in this sketch, facing the man she says groped her rear end at her concert four years ago. it's a legal he said/she said. he's suing her, believing she's responsible for getting him fired. she's countersuing, alleging assault and battery. >> i don't think this case is going to be made or broken based on the fact she's taylor swift. some people like to punish celebrities. some people are jealous of celebrities. it doesn't always help to be a celebrity in a high-profile case. >> start at the front of the line. i don't know if i have enough for everybody. >> reporter: the scene outside this colorado federal courthouse felt like one of her concerts. >> i'm taylor swift's biggest

fan. >> reporter: swifties lining up as early as 4:00 a.m. >> we're here from utah, we drove through the night and then called off sick from work and then we're going to drive back right after the trial and be back at work tomorrow. >> let me know if you want both or just the morning. >> reporter: some waiting five hours for a chance to grab one of only 32 seats in the courtroom in the orbit of one of the planet's biggest stars. >> taylor has one of the most loyal fan bases in the entire world. her fans came out in droves to support her. across from the courtroom there is this adorable group of fans who have been making post-it notes supporting her saying "haters gonna hate." ♪ i'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake it off ♪ >> reporter: the epic legal showdown for the "shake it off" singer all began june 2nd, 2013. that's when mueller then the morning host at denver country radio station kygo took his girlfriend to a swift constant sxrt a brief meet and greet before the show, posing for this photo. later leaked to tmz. now key evidence. >> this photograph is a really unusual piece of evidence.

usually, sides are fighting about which evidence they want the jury to look at. here both sides say it's a good picture. of course he says it shows that i'm not lifting her skirt, for example. but she says why would your hand be anywhere near my bottom. >> reporter: swift claims mueller intentionally reached under her skirt and groped with his hand an intimate part of her body in an inappropriate manner. mueller admits he touched swift's ribcage and arm, leaning in for that photo, but denied grabbing her back side. in her deposition swift says it was not an accident. it was completely intentional "and i've never been so sure of anything in my life." and neither is taylor's mother andrea who testified when she saw that photo "i knew something horribly wrong was going on," dramatically singling out mueller today in the courtroom. "he sexually assaulted her. that guy." >> seeing her mom on the stand, it really makes you realize that taylor is just like any other girl. she has a mom who loves her and wants to protect her and only wants the best for her.

>> reporter: andrea says team swift didn't report the incident to police because she didn't want it to define her daughter's life. >> you can understand why she might not want the publicity associated with making an allegation against a small-time radio disc jockey grabbing her on a photo line-up. >> reporter: yesterday on the stand mueller took a grilling from swift's attorney about a secret recording he made with his bosses the day before he was fired. most of that two-hour file vanished, mueller claimed when he says his cell phone was accidentally destroyed and his lap fop rtop ruined by spilled . "i wish we had the full recording," mueller said. swift's attorney countering "it will have shown whether you changed your story. jury will never know." >> this case comes down to four basic questions. her credibility, that picture, his credibility, and why did he destroy one of the critical pieces of evidence in this case. >> reporter: mueller is suing

for damages that could total $3 million. but for swift it's not about money. she countersued for just $1. anything more the jury awards her she says will go to charity. >> taylor is showing women everywhere that whether you're rich or famous or just an everyday girl you can fight this and stand up for yourself. >> reporter: the trial is expected to last nine days, where swift will take the stand with her own style. ♪ we never go out of style she says using her own struggle to help others. for "nightline" i'm clayton sandell in denver. next, they're quack and better than ever. we're with the cast and creators of the new "duck tales." why this reboot will make you go whoo. on mi came across this housentry with water dripping from the ceiling. you never know when something like this will happen.

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watt. ♪ duck tales ♪ whoo ooh >> reporter: duc tales then. >> tell me you're bringing back the theme tune. >> oh, yeah. ♪ duck tales whoo ooh >> reporter: duck tales now. and this is how they make it. >> who plays who? >> how dare you? >> they're dewey and huey. >> unlikely. >> reporter: dr. who dave tenant plays scrooge. >> it's a time machine! >> the first time that scrooge mcduck has ever been played by an actual scotsman. >> reporter: lin-manuel miranda is gizmo duck. there is plenty shouting in the writers room. >> the future louie could be very bitter toward scrooge. just because he didn't -- this scrooge is still alive. >> reporter: is it always like this or you're just overexcited because strangers are here? >> no. >> reporter: it's always like this? >> calm precision from the art director. >> here's how he looks to the audience. here's how he looks to us. he has to look consistent through the whole show and there are tons of people who work on it. >> this is a model sheet of donald. >> reporter: and time-consuming

tweaking in animation and editing. >> the characters look like that and then we change it so they can be a little more on model. >> the way they drew his mouth is incorrect. they drew a mouth in front of his beak. >> reporter: these oversized children are executive producer and head writer. buck stops with them. >> our main goal is to give kids today the feeling that we had. >> it really is created with a lot of love. >> reporter: they gave me some groans and a line. egyptian episode. episode 109. >> right. but if we attack tothra and he tells us to surrender we should do that, right? >> that was perfect. >> what? >> that was amazing. >> oh, my goodness. >> your contempt for my country really comes off. >> reporter: do not judge "duck tales" reboot on my american accent. it's better than that. keeping the spirit but mildly updated. i'm nick watt for "nightline," burbank, california. >> nice work, nick. "duck tales" is produced by our parent company, disney. thanks for watching abc news. and as always, we're online at

abcnews.com and our "nightline" facebook page. good night, america. >> here at "millionaire," there are no second chances. if you get a question wrong, you're done. except for this week, because every day, we're bringing back some players whose first time here didn't go so well, and we're giving them another try at the million dollars. it's second chance week on "who wants to be a millionaire." [dramatic music] ♪ hey, everybody, welcome to second chance week here on

"who wants to be a millionaire." [cheers and applause] today's second chance contestant is the ultimate "millionaire" fan who's been dreaming of a second chance for the last year. from louisville, kentucky, please welcome back my man jerry ellis. how are you, buddy? >> hello, chris. >> good to see you. >> good to see you too. thank you. >> now, jerry's been trying to get back here for second chance week for a while. how bad did you want to be back here? what were you pulling? >> bad enough that, uh, i left home, drove to another city, and auditioned again. >> which you--which you can't do because you were already on the show, but you went and auditioned-- >> i auditioned. i passed the test. i had the interview. the, uh--yeah, the interview. and, uh-- >> then our people said, "wait a minute. jerry." >> then i was discovered, yeah. yeah. >> what are you doing? >> "you, uh-- don't we remember you? yeah, we remember you." and, uh... >> and you told 'em, "hey, i