Outcome was never in doubt. Vladimir putin is expected to win the vote that will keep his grip on power through 2030 he has already russias longestserving ruler since soviet dictator joseph stalin. Weve got full coverage for you. Cnns may chances in moscow. Fred pleitgen is in berlin and also with this cnn contributor and former Moscow Bureau chief, jill dougherty, matthew, lets begin with you. Despite the lack of opposition, there were acts of defiance, werent there today there have been quite a few actually, but louk, the preliminary results are just coming in and that theyre very high, which is expected. Were looking at something in the region of 88 votes for Vladimir Putin. Thats with about 25 of the votes counted. And a turnout of well over 70 . So these are extraordinary high results, even by the standards of an election of Vladimir Putin. But youre right, its not been a totally unified and stable election period that has been a lot of defiance, acts of defiance at Polling Statio
sandra: an oscars producer says the lapd was ready to arrest will smith after he slapped chris rock on stage on sunday. he tells good morning america the police were prepared to arrest smith for battery but rock dismissed any charges and declined to file a police report. parker thought the incident was possibly part of the act. i said did he really hit you? and he looked at me and he goes yeah, he goes, i just took a punch from mohammad ali. he was in joke mode but you could tell he was very much still in shock. sandra: take from that what you will. i think there was an initial debate a lot of people debated whether or not it really happened. bill: that was me. sandra: whether it was planned or organic and you decided that it was real. and now a lot of people are
difference at the pump? plus, former-president trump s son-in-law, jared kushner, appeared before the house select committee investigating january 6th. what we know about his six-hour interview with lawmakers just ahead. and the producer of the academy awards ceremony is now speaking out about will smith slapping chris rock. he says police were on the scene and ready to arrest smith. we will tell you why they did not. you re watching morning joe. we ll be right back. (johnny cash) i ve traveled every road in this here land! i ve been everywhere, man. i ve been everywhere, man. crossed the desert s bare, man. i ve breathed the mountain air, man. of travel i ve had my share, man. i ve been everywhere.
jeff bezos blue origin rocket company successfully completed its fourth space tourism mission. the new shepherd capsule took off from the company s west texas launch facility yesterday for the 10-minute trip. the fully autonomous capsule deployed parachutes. there were six people on board. the crew crossed the altitude widely recognized as the start of outer space. there s new fallout from the will smith slap at the oscars. the award show s producer says los angeles police officers were prepared to arrest smith right then and there but comedian chris rock was adamant he didn t want to press charges. listen to the abc interview.
morning america, he thought so too. i thought it was a bit like everybody else, once i saw will yelling at the stage with such vitreol my heart was robbed, said did he really hit you? he said yeah, i just took a punch from mohammad ali as only chris can. he was in joke mode, but could tell he was very much still in shock. reporter: smith played the ba boxer in the 2001 film, ali. cnn obtained new video from a seat filler inside the oscars, showing a new video of the incident, filmed this time from behind smith s wife jada pinkett smith, lapd police were ready to arrest smith that night. said this is battery, we can press charges, you can arrest