fantastic reporting from ryan nobles.for us, we'll talk more about this exclusive reporting, including more of these text messages with our great reporters. >>> plus, brand-new details on the former trump aid steven miller's eight-hour meet with the january 6th committee. with relapsing forms of ms... there's a lot to deal with. not just unpredictable relapses. all these other things too. it can all add up. kesimpta is a once-monthly at-home injection... that may help you put these rms challenges in their place. kesimpta was proven superior at reducing the rate of relapses, active lesions, and slowing disability progression vs aubagio. don't take kesimpta if you have hepatitis b, and tell your doctor if you have had it, as it could come back. kesimpta can cause serious side effects, including infections. while no cases of pml were reported in rms clinical trials, it could happen. tell your doctor if you had or plan to have vaccines, or if you are or plan to become pregnant. kesimpta may cause a decrease in some types of a

but ryan nobles looks back at orrin hatch's life and

. >> ryan nobles is cnn's congressional correspondent. at this point being very tight lipped about her testimony before their committee and that's not too big of a surprise. in general, when they have witnessed that come before them who are cooperative as it appears ivanka trump was, they tend to try and keep that information as close to the vest as possible as it relates to their investigation so they leave open the opportunity of perhaps going back to her and asking other questions down the road. but there's no doubt they're very interested in what she knows. in addition to being so close to the former president as his daughter and someone that served as a senior adviser in the white house, she also had close proximity to the president on january 6th. she was at the rally. she was in and out of the oval office on that day and she reportedly was in the oval office when president trump had that phone call with mike pence in the morning before all the activity on january 6th where he allegedly gave that last pressure campaign push on pence

cnn's ryan nobles reports they're not the first members of trump's team to face charges. >> reporter: of the trump administration for criminal contempt to the department of justice because they defied subpoenas that were handed out by the january 6th select committee. peter navorro, former white house trade adviser, dan ska veino claim they did not need to cooperate with the committee because they were protected by executive privilege, a privilege they say was extended by the former president donald trump but the committee argues the former president doesn't have that ability. that it is up to the current occupant to offer up executive privilege protections and joe biden has declined to do so in this case. this was a vote that went largely along partisan lines. 220/203. liz cheney and adam kinzinger are members of the january 6th select committee. what does the department of justice do with these new referrals? this will be the third and fourth referrals that they've been forced to deal with. up until this point they've only acted on one. that was the criminal contempt referral of ste

>> ryan nobles, thank you so much. >>> the academy handing down their punishment to will smith afters rock on the stage at the oscars. i'm going to tell you what they said next. erything was all goodt then things hit a slight snag. ok so they were trying to verify my employment status while i was at work, in a giant hole, in a mine. but then something amazing happened. hello? carvana worked with my shift manager and got everything sorted out so i didn't miss out on the car. super helpful. i was over the moon, even though i was underground. we'll drive you happy at carvana. when you really commit to a garden and nurture it, your energy goes into the fruits and the vegetables that you're growing. find more ways to grow at miracle-gro.com >>> the board of governors for the motion picture academy convening today to decide on a punishment for will smith after the actor slapped comedian chris rock live on stage at the oscars cursing rock out and telling him to keep his wife's name out of his mouth. i hate watching that video. >> i know. hey, it's forever going to overshadow this moment, th

ryan nobles as this cnn exclusive story. ryan: >> no doubt about that, john. good morning from capitol hill. what our exclusive report reveals for the first time are close to 100 text messages between two republican lawmakers and the white house chief of staff mark meadows. these text messages reveal a willingness to be open to the idea that there was enough evidence of fraud and league precedent. as time ticked close to january 6th, both agreed the trump plan was not going to work and they were encouraging meadows to convince trump to stand down. senator mike lee of utah and congressman chip roy of texas, two of former donald trump's most loyal defenders in congress. dozens of private texts to chief of staff mark meadows, a picture shows how it went from aiding the efforts of the election results to ultimately warning against it. the texts obtained by cnn show how they were trying to help initially but, by the end, raised concerns to the top deputy about standing in the way of 2020 election. we're driving a stake in the hea

ryan nobles, cnn on capitol hill. >>> funeral services will begin in a few hours for former u.s.retary of state madeleine albright. she died last month at 84. president biden will deliver a eulogy at the service with more than 1400 people expected to attend. former president bill clinton and his wife hillary, who was also secretary of state, will speak as well. albright was a central figure in the clinton administration and he remembered her as, quote, a passionate force for freedom, democracy and human rights. >>> there are major wildfires causing widespread destruction across the u.s. southwest. new mexico is amongst the hardest hit states. and pedram javaheri explains what is fueling the flames and challenging efforts to put them out. >> good morning, max. the southwestern united states really in desperate need of some rainfall. you see the situation here, it has been very rough. 11 active fires across the western u.s. spanning some six states and parts of new mexico and arizona seeing some of the larger fires. we've tauk talked about the tunnel fire, that is only 30% containm

as ryan nobles reports, the texting began before the vote was fully counted. >> reporter: november 5thtill being counted. the final outcome, still in doubt. but president trump's son, don jr., was already passing on ideas for overturning the election if necessary to ensure a second term for his father. it is very simple, trump jr. texted before outlining several options. we have operational control. total leverage. trump jr. was texting white house chief of staff mark meadows. this text reviewed by cnn hasn't been revealed publicly before. it is in the possession of the january 6th select committee. in a statement to cnn, trump jr.'s lawyer says, quote, after the election, don received numerous messages from supporters and others. given the date, this message likely originated from someone else and was forwarded. meadows' attorney declined to comment. on election night, president trump was already laying the groundwork to claim the election was stolen. >> to me, this is a very sad moment. and we will win this, and we -- as far as i'm concerned, we already have won. >> reporter: behind

cnn congressional correspondent ryan nobles has details. >> november 5th, 2020.were still being counted. the final outcome still in doubt. but president trump's son, don jr., was already passing on ideas for overturning the election if necessary to insure a second term for his father. it's very simple, trump jr. texted before outlining several options. we have operational control. total leverage. trump jr. was texting mark meadows. this text reviewed by cnn hasn't been revealed publicly before. it's in possession of the january 6th select committee. in a statement to cnn, trump jr.'s lawyer said after the election, don received numerous messages from supporters and others. given the date, this message likely originated from someone else and was forwarded. meadows' attorney declined to comment. on election night, president trump was already laying the groundwork to claim the election was stolen. >> to me, this is a sad moment and we will win this. as far as i am concerned, we already have won. >> behind the scenes, his son and adviser don jr. was sharing ideas wit

ryan nobles, cnn on capitol hill. >> extraordinary revelations.ts of ukrainians in their darkest hours. meet the ukrainian bruce springsteen next. they're both investsted... in green energy. and also each other. digital totools so impressive, you just can't stop. whatat would you like the power to do? i brought in ensure max protein, with thirty grams of protein. those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks! (sighs wearily) here i'll take that! (excited yell) woo-hoo! ensure max protein. with thirty grams of protein, one gram of sugar, and nutrients to support immune health. do your eyes bother you? my eyes feel like a combo of stressed, dry and sandpaper. strypaper? luckily, there's biotrue hydration boost eye drops. biotrue uses naturally inspired ingredients. and no preservatives. try biotrue! >>> just as prayer can lift people, so can song. which is why a ukrainian rock star is using his voice and influence to lift civilian spirits in this time of war. cnn's rafael romo has the story. ♪ >> reporter: there was the orchestra that perfor

cnn congressional correspondent ryan nobles joining us live from capitol hill. t they reveal about the evolution for these two lawmakers when it came to overturning the election. >> it's an unbelievable amount of information that we learned about these conversations between these members of congress and mark meadows during that period of time after the election and before january 6th. and their arc is similar but there are subtle differences. let's first talk about chip roy. he's a fire-brand congressman from texas. a loyal supporter of donald trump's. and the texts show in the beginning he, too, believed there was something wrong with the election but wanted hard evidence. he texted on november 7th, we need ammo, fraud examples, we need it this weekend. he then said, we need substance where people are going to break. that was on the 19th. he is starting to be concerned that the evidence just isn't there. then on november 22nd, he says, frigin' rudy needs to hush. concerned about rudy giuliani's efforts to spearhead the trump legal challenges. by december 31st he

cnn's ryan nobles joins us now. astman is trying to block? >> well, these are communications that he had with members of the trump campaign team through his email address that he used at the university he worked at at the time, chapman university, and there's a lot in here. 32,000 -- i'm sorry, 36,000 pages of documents, 32,000 documents in all, and eastman believes they should be kept protected because of attorney-client privilege. this has been a complicated process because essentially the judge has to review each one of these documents on a case-by-case basis to determine whether or not the committee should have access to them, and up until this point, the judge has really leaned in favor of the committee's being able to access this information. and they've already allowed the release of more than 100 pages of documents, including an email that included a draft memo that eastman helped to craft in association with rudy giuliani that was related to vice president mike pence standing in the way of the certification

here is cnn's ryan nobles. >> reporter: senator mike lee of utah and congressman chip roy of texas.ers in congress. but putting dozens of private texts, a picture emerges of how both went from aiding the effort to challenge the election results, to ultimately warning against it. the texts obtained by cnn show how they were trying to help initially, but by the end, raised concerns to trump's top deputy about his campaign's effort to stand in the way of the certification of the 2020 election. we're driving a stake in the heart of the federal republic, roy warned meadows in a text message on january 1st that is in possession of the january 6 select committee. after weeks of begging meadows for hard evidence of election fraud and concerned that the lack of evidence was a real problem for the trump legal team. we must urge the president to tone down the rhetoric, he wrote to meadows on november 9th. roy did believe there were problems with the election. in early december he went to the house floor imploring his colleagues to look into the thin examples of fraud. >> the american people ar

for more, let's go to ryan nobles on capitol hill.n into the attempt to overturn the election, there are signs it is widening. >> reporter: that's right. up until this point, the department of justice had been pretty focused only on the actual people that stormed the capitol on january 6th, those responsible for the violence we saw on that day. now we're getting signs that the probe is starting to widen beyond just those individuals and into the folks that were responsible for planning and funding the rallies that took place here on january 6th. we have determined that there have been a number of individuals that have been subpoenaed that were connected to those rallies, that were part of the fundraising apparatus. at this point, it doesn't appear these individuals may be targets. this may be more of a fact-finding mission, as merrick garland and the justice department widens the probe. they've only focused on the low level offenders that were here committing the violence and not the ones fomenting misinformation around the election.

cnn's ryan nobles joins us now with this reporting. s ivanka trump, who met with the committee, and now don trump junior. what are you learning? >> yeah and don't forget about jared kushner, the former president's son-in-law as well, so this is a number of those members of the trump family who are also very close to the former president who have agreed to come and speak to the committee and doing so all on a voluntary basis. we're told that donald trump jr. has agreed to come and speak before the committee without a subpoena, and of course, victor, this comes after the revelation of that text message that cnn exclusively reported that detailed on november 5th, just two days after the election, donald trump jr. sending to mark meadows, the then white house chief of staff, a lengthy list of different ideas to try and challenge the election results. it's pretty clear the committee's interested to learn more about what donald trump was getting these ideas from. his attorney telling us at the time that he believed that donald trump jr. was j

ryan nobles on capitol hill. let's get some more on all of this. do these new tapes jeopardize mccarthy's quest to become the house speaker, assuming the republicans wing the majority in the midterm elections in november? >> it's a big problem. this was a bad week for kevin mccarthy. it is likely to get worse. his dream job is to be speaker. and you don't make friends with these recordings. this is a question of math. if the republicans take the house, he will need every vote. we just heard from a couple members who don't look like they are going to vote for him. >> the former president trump, he said, he didn't like the call, but then he took it as a big compliment that mccarthy reversed course and supported him. can mccarthy take the trump words to the bank? >> in a word, no. you and i know their relationship has been rocky for a long time. donald trump also has a long memory. he remembers kevin mccarthy, the angry call that they had on january 6th. kevin mccarthy standing up and holding him responsible on january 13th. i would remember these wor

cnn's ryan nobles joins us now from capitol hill with more. ah, that's right, john. we had expected that judge amy totenberg would make her decision in this case known by today. on friday when this case was heard, she said she would rule on monday. the court just updated its docket and said the ruling would not come tonight. but those attempting to block the attempt, were encouraged by what the judge said during their friday court hearing. she expressed some concerns about a similar case in north carolina, where a federal judge blocked an attempt by voters to keep madison cawthorn, another republican, off the ballot because of using the 14th amendment, which said you cannot run for office if you aided an insurrection. so, no decision yet, john. but we should point out when this decision does come, it's just the beginning of a pretty lengthy process. >> just to be clear, if this judge does rule against greene, it would really just be the beginning. what would come next? >> yeah, the way we have to look at this is this is a challenge to the secre

ryan nobles on capitol hill, thank you.kevin mccarthy right after the insurrection. they also have a new book coming out on may 3rd that has made quite a lot of noise, titled, this will not pass, trump, biden, and the battle for america's future. thanks for sharing first on "the lead." let's start by playing the audio. >> the other thing i want to bring up, and i'm making some phone calls to some members. i just got something sent now about news from matt gaetz where he's calling people's names out, saying anti-trump and this type of atmosphere. and some of the other places. this is serious stuff people are doing that has to stop. >> mo and louis's comments, a lot of members have said some real concerning things. >> did they say something today, too? >> mo was at the rally. the kicking ass and taking names thing at the trump rally. >> this is more. >> what did gaetz say? >> gaetz said, gaetz on that list specifically, i saw that on twitter. >> someone just sent it. gonzalez just sent it to me so i'm calling gaetz, explainin

cnn's ryan nobles has a look back at his long career in politics. >> did you solemnly swear -- >> reporterdes crafting a legacy of unwavering conservative ideals. the grandson of mormon settlers, hatch grew up in a poor mill town outside of pittsburgh. tragedy struck his life early when his older brother died in world war ii. >> i got a white streak in my hair right here because it just affected me so drastically. >> reporter: in the late '60s, hatch moved to utah where he practiced law and raised a family. in 1976, he won a seat to the u.s. senate, arguing the incumbent three-term senator had served too long. but that first term turned into a life-long career. and the senate, he said, into something of a family. >> we may fight each other very hard, we may get irritated with each other. we may scream and shout. but we look toward the person, we look toward somebody who is a member of the family. >> reporter: hatch favored corporate tax cuts, limited government, deregulation and military spending. he consistently voted against gay rights, abortion, and stricter gun laws. but despite his ar

here's cnn's congressional correspondent ryan nobles. >> reporter: november 5th, 2020, two days afterthe final outcome still in doubt. but president trump's son, don jr., was already passing on ideas for overturning the election if necessary to ensure a second term for his father. it's very simple, trust jr. texted before outlining several options, we have operational control, total leverage. trump jr. was texting white house chief of staff mark meadows. this text reviewed by cnn hasn't been revealed publicly before. it is in the possession of the january 6 select committee. in a statement to cnn, trump jr.'s lawyer says, quote, after the election, don received numerous messages from supporters and others. given the date, this message likely originated from someone else and was forwarded. med oats' attorney declined to comment. on election night, president trump was already laying the groundwork to claim the election was stolen. >> to me this is a very sad moment. and we will win this, and -- as far as i'm concerned, we already have won. >> reporter: behind the scenes, his son and adv

cnn's ryan nobles is on capitol hill. let's start with the texts on january 6th.ell, alison, it's pretty alarming when you read these messages, from members of congress inside this building on january 6th, that were pleading with the then chief of staff to try and get the former president to do something to help quell the violence. like, for instance, his own son was among those trying to reach out to mark meadows. donald trump jr. saying that he's got to condemn this asap. the capitol police tweet is not enough. meadows responding, i am pushing it hard, i agree. trump jr. then going on to say, this is one you have to go to the mattresses on. they will try to eff his entire legacy if it gets worse. then there's members of congress themselves that were on the front lines of all of this happening. some of the former president's most ardent supporters and pushers of the big lie. for instance, marjorie taylor greene said to meadows, mark, i was just told there is an active shooter on the first floor of the capitol. please tell the president to calm people. this isn't

cnn ryan nobles, how did mccarthy explain his previous comments to his caucus members today?ny ways he's just doubling down. he's suggesting that they were just ideas, that he wasn't attempting to undermine the former president or the other members of the republican conference that he was critical of and that these were just conversations. and again, he basically blamed the media for taking him out of context and said that the republican party needed to stay united ahead of the republican -- or i should say ahead of the midterm elections in the fall, and to a certain extent, most of the conference appears to be buying that line. we're told that he received a standing ovation in this closed door meeting of republican members, but it is still worth pointing out that there are still factions in the republican party that are unhappy with the way mccarthy conducted himself during this period of time. florida congressman matt gaetz was among those that he was very critical of in these leaked audiotapes, being very critical of kevin mccarthy and suggesting that he is not a real lead

. >> ryan nobles has this cnn exclusive. >> reporter: senator mike lee of utah and congressman of texasess. a picture emerges of how both went from aiding the effort to challenge the election results to ultimately warning against it. the text obtained by cnn show how they were trying to help initially but by the end, raised concerns to trump's top deputies di about his campaign's effort to stand in the way of the certification of the 2020 election. we're driving a stake in the heart of the federal republic roy warned meadows in a text message on january 1st. his stark warning came after weeks of begging meadows for hard evidence of election fraud and drn of the lack of specific evidence was a real problem for the trump legal team. we must urge the president to tone down the rhetoric he wrote to meadows on november 9th. roy did believe there was problems with the election. he went to the house floor imbrothering his colleagues to look into the thin examples of fraud. like roy, senator mike lee started out hopeful for a path to challenge the election results. he touted the work of conserv

ryan nobles is breaking this story. what do the texts tell us? >> well, this is a lengthy text that donald trump junior sent to mark meadows on november 5th. it was two days after the election. votes were still being counted and before any of the major television networks declared joe biden the winner. in this lengthy text, donald trump junior lays out a number of operational legal strategies that the trump campaign and republican operatives across the country would then go onto employ. a lot of the legal theories would not come out until week, months later. what this text tells us is there were discussions at the highest level of the trump family within the trump orbit ant some of these legal strategies that were mainly rejected across the country by a virt of judges and within this text, donald trump junior suggests that it's the republicans that have the control. they would be able to use the questionable legal theories in order to keep donald trump in office for a second term. i'll give you an example of some of the things that donald trump j

ryan nobles, cnn on capitol hill. >>> and ron brown steen is a cnn senior political analyst and editorng us now good to have you with us. >> thanks. >> so g.o.p. house leader kevin mccarthy under fire for criticizing former president trump and matt gaetz after record s after the january 6th riots expressing rhetoric could result in more violence how bad could it get for mccarthy who aspires 20 he basket next a piers to be the aspires to be next speaker of the house. >> he's saying in public what was said in private that actions of donald trump and member of the house around the january 6th insurrection were inappropriate if not illegal. and he is being attacked on the right for acknowledging that. i think the issue is not so much whether he survives in his quest to be speaker, which i think is still more likely than not but what he will have to do in order to survive. i mean, what does he have to do in order to nullify trump and nullify the right of this party. what if any are the assurances he's giving how he will behave as speaker in particular with regard to the 2024 election. i thi

cnn's ryan nobles is live on capitol hill following these details and ryan, mccarthy's pushing back against this? >> reporter: he certainly is, kate. he's trying to put it into context, trying to explain away the hefty criticism that he was leveling against members of his own party behind closed doors and trying to deconflict that from his public statements, certainly in the days after january 6th, but in that extensive period of time after the insurrection. but it is pretty hard for him to parse his words all that much given that they were recorded, and he was very specific in his criticism at that time. take a listen to just a sample of what mccarthy said. >> well, he's put the people in jeopardy. he doesn't need to be doing this. we saw what people would do in the capitol. you know and these people came prepared with rope, with everything else. >> reporter: and so then the question now becomes, kate, how does this impact mccarthy's standing within the republican conference? it's always been a little tenuous because he has received a great deal of criticism from the far-right wing of the

. >> ryan nobles on capitol hill, thank you. >>> it is the top of the hour here on cnn "newsroom." i'm victor blackwell. >> and i'm alisyn camerota. systemic violations of human rights against russia. the objection is the first of its kind in more than a decade. it's in response to the russian military's wanton mass killing in bucha, ukraine. as the world further isolates russia vladimir putin's military continues to wage war especially in the east fighting on the ground is escalating in the battle for the donetsk and luhansk regions. america's top general, mark milley, said today ukrainians are in for a, quote, long slog ahead. adding all of ukraine remains a combat zone. the scale of russia's operation will remind people of world war ii. >> the battle for donbas will remind you of second world war with large populations, maneuvers, involvement of thousands of tanks, armored vehicles, artillery. this will not be local in regards to russia's preparation. >> new images show the devastation the russians left behind in a suburb of kyiv and like bucha bodies are scattered on the street

that was ryan nobles reporting on the hill. look at how one school for ukrainian children and the children of ukrainian immigrants here in the u.s. is incorporating war into their crurriculums and the impat it is having o on their young students coming up. it's a bit functional.. but we'll gladly bebe functional. so you can be free. booking.com booking.yeah ♪ ♪ we believe there's an innovator in all of us. ♪ that's why we build technology that makes it possible for every business... and every person... to come to the table and do more incredible things. (fisher investments) it's easy to think that all money managers are pretty much the same, but at fisher investments we're clearly different. (other money manager) different how? you sell high commission investment products, right? (fisher investments) nope. fisher avoids them. (other money manager) well, you must earn commissions on trades. (fisher investments) never at fisher investments. (other money manager) ok, then you probably sneak in some hidden and layered fees. (fisher

more now from cnn's ryan nobles. >> reporter: november 5th, 2020, two days after the 2020 election.al outcome still in doubt. but president trump's son, don jr., was already passing on ideas for overturning the election, if necessary, to ensure a second term for his father. it's very simple, trump jr. texted, we have operational control. total leverage. trump jr. was texting white house chief of staff mark meadows. this hasn't been revealed publicly before. it is in the possession of the january 6th select committee. in a statement to cnn, trump jr.'s lawyer says, quote, after the election, don received numerous messages from supporters and others. given the date, this message likely originated from someone else and was forwarded. meadows' attorney declined to comment. on election night, president trump was already laying the groundwork to claim the election was stolen. >> to me this is a very sad moment. we will win this. as far as i'm concerned, we already have won it. >> reporter: behind the scenes, his son and adviser, don jr., was sharing ideas with meadows for how to subvert t

ryan noble is with the exclusive. >> reporter: congressman scott perry of pennsylvania has been steadfast2020 election was stolen. >> the president is going to win georgia. the president's going to win north carolina. it's all going to come down to the keystone state. >> reporter: but a new batch of text messages obtained by cnn which have not previously been reported illuminate how active he was behind the scenes as well. new messages showing he had a role in almost every turn in scheming to reverse or delay the certification of the 2020 election. on november 12th, five days after the election was called for joe biden, perry texted chief of staff mark meadows. from an intel friend, dni needs to task nsa to immediately seize and begin looking for international coms related to dominion. this text has never been revealed before and it shows perry encouraging meadows to get john ratcliffe to look into false conspiracies about dominion voting machines being hacked by the chinese. perry also claimed the, quote, brits were behind the plot and cia director gina haskell was covering for them. he

. >> ryan nobles, thank you so much. the news continues. let's hand it over to jake tapper who is in lviv, western ukraine tonight. ukraine tonight. jake. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> thanks so much. i appreciate it. i'm jake tapper live from lviv, jane, at the beginning of another ominous week. putin's army can be seen readying for a major offensive in the east of the country. the new commander, known for his cruelty with a history as targeting civilians. he's known as the butcher of syria. as brutal as russian attacks on civilians in ukraine have been already, complete with atrocities and slaughtered women and children, the fear is now that the worst could be yet to come here. also it bears noting that you don't change a commander if you're winning a war. so, there's a real fear this invasion could turn even more brutal than what we've already seen. here was the pentagon today on that eight-mile-long russian convoy believed to be headed from the donbas region. >> another convoy of vehicles that are heading south towards that

all right, cnn's ryan nobles thank you very much. >>> coming up, the big obstacles standing in the waywo are in some sort of lover's quarrel. no, no, no. they're both insted... in green energy. and also each other. digital tools so impressiv you just can't stop. what would you like the power to do? thinkorswim® by td ameritrade is more than a trading platform. it's an entire trading experience. that pushes you to be even better. and just might change how you trade—forever. because once you experience thinkorswim® by td ameritrade ♪ there's no going back. after my car accident, i wondered what my case was worth. so i called the barnes firm. when that car hit my motorcycle, insurance wasn't fair. so i called the barnes firm. it was the best call i could've made. atat t bararnefirmrm, our r inry a attneysys wk hahard i could've made. atat t bararnefirmrm, to get you the best result possible. call us now and find out what your case could be worth. you u mit bebe sprisised ♪ the barnes firm injury attorneys ♪ ♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪ >>> the horror in ukraine renewing atten

cnn ryan nobles now on hatch's life and legacy. >> do you solemnly swear -- >> reporter: he was one ofs history. orrin hatch spent more than four decades crafting a legacy of unwavering conservative ideals. grandson of mormon settlers, hatch grew up in a poor mill town outside of pittsburgh. tragedy struck his life early when his older brother died in world war ii. >> i got a white streak in my hair right here because it -- it just affected me so drastically. >> reporter: in the late '60s, hatch moved to ut where he practiced law and raised a family. in 1976, he won seat to the u.s. senate arguing the incumbent three-term senator had served too long but that first term turned into a lifelong career and the senate he said into something of a family. >> we may get very partisan time to time. we may get irritated with each other. we may scream and shout. but, you know, we look towards the person. we looking for somebody who is a member of the family. >> reporter: over his seven terms in the senate, hatch favored corporate-tax cuts, limited government deregulation, and military spending. h

details now from ryan nobles on capitol hill. >> reporter: november 5, 2020, two days after the 2020 the final outcome, still in doubt. but president trump's son, don jr., was already passing out ideas for overturning the election if necessary to ensure a second term for his father. it's very simple, trump jr. texted, before outlining several options. we have operational control, total leverage. trump jr. was texting white house chief of staff mark meadows. this text, reviewed by cnn, hasn't been revealed publicly before. it is in the possession of the january 6th select committee. in a statement to cnn, trump jr.'s lawyer says, quote, after the election don received numerous messages from supporters and others. given the date, this message likely originated from someone else and was forwarded. meadows' attorney would not comment. >> to me this is a very sad moment, and we will win this. and as far as i'm concerned, we already have won it. >> reporter: behind the scenes, his son and adviser, don jr., was sharing ideas with meadows for how to subvert the electoral college process, lev

but ryan nobles looks back at orrin hatch's life and legacy. >> do you solemnly swear. >> he was one of the longest serving republican senators in the chamber's history. orrin hatch spent more than four dekds crafting a leg isi of unwavering conservative ideals. the grandson of mormon settlesers he grew up in a poor mill town. tragedy struck his life early when his brother died in world war ii. >> i had a white streak? my hair here because it affected me so drastically. >> in the late 60s hatch moved to utah where he practiced law and raised a family. in 1976 he won a seat to the u.s. senate, arguing the incumbent three-term senator had served too long. but that first term turned into a lifelong career. and the senate, he said, into something of a family. >> we may get very partisan from time to time. may fight each other very hard, may get irritated may scream and shout. but, you know, we look towards the person. we look towards somebody who is a member of the family. >> over his seven terms in the senate hatch favored corporate tax cuts, limited government, deregulation and militar

cnn's ryan nobles has the exclusive story. >> reporter: senator mike lee of utah and congressman chipdonald trump's two most loyal defenders in congress, but texts, a picture emerges of how went from aiding to challenging the election results to against it. the texts show how they were trying to help initially, but by the end, raised concerns to trump's top deputy about his campaign's effort to stand in the way of a certification of the 2020 election. we're driving a stake in the heart of the federal republic, roy warned meadows in a text message on january 1st, that is in possession of the january 6th select committee. >> all my friends here. >> reporter: his stark warning came after weeks after begging meadows for hard evidence of election fraud and concerns lack of specific evidence was a real problem for the trump legal team. we must urge the president to tone down the rhetoric, he wrote to meadows on november 9th. roy did believe that there were problems with the election. in early december, he went to the house floor, imploring his colleagues to look into the examples of fraud.

. >> ryan nobles joins our conversation. you've spent a lot of time covering this committee. want to send a referral to merrick garland and say be more aggressive. others say would jared kushner have come in last week or ivanka trump if we're more public about this? >> also, how does merrick garland receive criminal contempt referral because it would be loaded with political overtones. and i think that's the discussion that's happening right now. and what you've seen the committee members do publicly is send a not-no-subtle message that, hey, this evidence already exists. it's out in the public domain. you don't have to go looking for it. we've already found it for you. even at the end of our investigation, if we don't specifically author some document which has no weight at all legally that we send over to you, you can still take all this information that we found, you can read our report, and then decide for yourself whether or not a crime was committed. obviously, there are a number of members of this committee that believe that evidence exists, and, of course, you already

cnn's congressional correspondent ryan nobles is with us now.ew comes after president trump reportedly authorized the lawyer to testify to this committee. what do lawmakers want to know from these witnesses? >> reporter: yesterday we know two members of the white house counsel's office, patrick philbin, did sit for what they describe as informal interviews with the january 6 select committee yesterday. what is significant about that they did so only after the approval of president trump. we've seen this as a pattern where a number of allies were either under subpoena or spacing legal challenges by the january 6th committee finding ways to get in front with the blessing of the former president but at the same time escaping the legal repercussions that could come if they choose to fight a subpoena request from the january 6 committee. ultimately what this means the committee is getting closer and closer to the former president himself. stephen miller, one of his closest allies, someone who was in and around the oval office and as you point out, vi

while i have you have to ask about the explosive texts reported by our colleague ryan nobles.adows and his eldest son was offering up plans to reverse the 2020 election. that was before the votes were even tallied. does he have any legal exposure here. >> well you hit on the key point there. is the timing. and what is this does, for me as an investigator, maybe as a prosecutor, it goes to the overall intent. it shows us this was the plan. they were going to try to steal this election right after the election, before they even really knew who had won or lost. and so to me it is an important piece and it is written proof that they just can't deny. >> thank you so much. good to see you. >> thank you, dana. >>> and staying with the january 6 fallout, today a judge is expected to rule on whether a constitutional challenge to congress woman marjorie taylor greene's candidacy could move forward. the lawsuit accused the georgia republican of stoking last year's insurrection and argues that the 14th amendment disqualifying her from running for re-election. and marshall cohen was tracki

we have immj lee and ryan noble with us.he beginning of the show texts from republican lawmakers and even mark meadows they needed to convince the president to do something. now another crucial period, after the election, way before january 6th. >> right. i want to point one thing out, and that is about marjorie taylor greene. we showed how on january 6th, she was alarmed by this. i want people to go to cnn.com. they will see her other texts there. including one on january 17th where she is calling for the president to invoke martial law. this is something as our colleague marsha cohen who has been covering the trial has pointed out, she doesn't remember. it's there. it's in the texts. the other thing you see, many times mark meadows doesn't reply to people, but there's someone who didn't respond to him, and that is georgia secretary of state raoethlisberger. they are -- rafens perger. this is on november 19th. they're pressuring georgia, mark meadows to raffenspergre. mr. secretary, if you could give me a brief call at your

ryan nobles out front, it is pretty amazing to listen to this, these conversations, right, which are,iously are completely different than what they now say they said so what else are we learning about what mccarthy said? >> i think that point you make is so important, erin, for the better part of period of time of january 6th up until now, leader kevin mccarthy gone out of his way to defend many of these members of the far-right wing of his party who defended the former president, who tried to make excuses for what happened on january 6th, but here in the private moments you hear him talking about how he really felt in those days after it. take a listen to a little more about what mccarthy had to say in these tapes. >> he said like we need to fight or something, right, didn't he say something a couple of days out? >> it was something like that. yes. it was incendiary. >> tweet on saturday night, of the capitol police offer who shot and killed as he was trying to get into the lobby, i understand it was a black police officer shot a white female veteran, you know that doesn't fit the na

ryan noble join us. her husband met with the committee for something like six hours last week. what do we know about ivanka's appearance today? >> reporter: there's no doubt that ivanka's ivanka's trump presents some of the most unique insights. not only is she personally and professionally with her father, she was in close proximity to him throughout january 6th. she was there for the rally on on that day. she was in and out of the oval office on january 6th. she went sbo the back room where chef holding court as the insurrection was playing out. committee members have said over and over again, they want know what she knows about what happened on january 6th. listen to what liz cheney had to say. >> we have first hand testimony that his daughter went in twice to ask him to please stop this violence. >> reporter: there's one other key aspect sha happened on january 6th. the committee is already received, they believe she was in the oval office when the former president was on the phone with vice presiden

. >> ryan nobles on capitol hill, thank you. >>> it is the top of the hour here on cnn "newsroom." blackwell.