this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. good evening there is significant movement to report tonight in the effort to bring home americans brittney griner and paul whelan, both separately imprisoned in russia. late today, secretary of state antony blinken acknowledging there was a substantial proposal on the table to facilitate their release. griner, the wnba star detained since february, who has pleaded guilty to illegally possessing vape cartridges with cannabis oil whelan, a marine corps veteran, serving a 16-year sentence after being convicted of spying in 2020. both, the u.s. says, are wrongfully imprisoned blinken says the next step, a call with his russian counterpar sergey lavrov. believed to be on the table, a prisoner swap that could prove to be a bitter pill for the biden administration which has been under fire in its efforts to gain freedom for the americans. all this unfolding as griner told her story today inside a russian courtroom. andrea mitchell now
this is day two of our coverage of the criminal investigation of the 45th president of the night states, and day two has gone exactly expected exactly as expected in investigations like this. we ve learned the identity of another very important cooperating witness, with the justice department criminal investigation of donald trump, and a potential group of coconspirators that includes most prominently, trump white house chief of staff mark meadows, and attorney rudy giuliani who is no longer legally license to practice law. here is the witness, who we learned today is cooperating with the justice department criminal investigation of donald trump. did rudy giuliani ever suggest that he was interested in receiving a presidential pardon related to january 6th? he did. miss hutchinson, white house chief of staff mark meadows, did he ever indicate he was interested in receiving a presidential pardon related to january 6th? yes he did seek that pardon, ma am. she is g
another very important cooperating witness, with the justice department criminal investigation of donald trump, and a potential group of coconspirators that includes most prominently, trump white house chief of staff mark meadows, and attorney rudy giuliani who is no longer legally license to practice law. here is the witness, who we learned today is cooperating with the justice department criminal investigation of donald trump. did rudy giuliani ever suggest that he was interested in receiving a presidential pardon related to january 6th? he did. miss hutchinson, white house chief of staff mark meadows, did he ever indicate he was interested in receiving a presidential pardon related to january 6th? yes he did seek that pardon, ma am. she is going to be a very helpful witness to federal prosecutors, investigating donald trump. abc news was the first to report today, that cassidy hutchinson, a former top advisor to then president donald trump s chief of staff mark m
well, the most important news of the day, by which i mean, the most important news that was revealed today, and not last night at the hearing, is that clarence thomas now appears to be the most corrupted member of the united states supreme court in the court s history, because clarence thomas s wife definitely is. the most corrupt spouse of a supreme court justice in history. and she may also be a criminal, possibly guilty of federal and state crimes. the washington post reported today that virginia thomas used communication to urge members of the arizona state legislature to commit a crime, the crime of election fraud, in a federal election. that news exposes a supreme court justice s wife as possibly guilty of state and federal crimes. in any other era, that would be the only news of the day, that would dominate all television news coverage, and it would be giant front page headlines all over the country, tomorrow morning. but in this era of rampant republican criminality
legislation after another series of deadly mass shootings of force the issue back to the top of its agenda. on wednesday, family and survivors from the racially motivated attack at a supermarket in buffalo, new york, as well as the robb elementary shooting in uvalde, texas, will participate in a hearing held by the committee on oversight and reform. among the speakers will be maya surrey oh, a robb elementary fourth grader who was trapped in one of the adjoining classrooms of the gunman attacked. she told cnn that she covered herself in her classmates blood and play dead for an hour until law enforcement finally brought an end to the attack. now, she will tell her story to the entire country. think about this for just a second, think about the trauma that has been inflicted on school children because of our inaction. think about how much we ve been active asking of young people across this country as the united states senate has continued to stall on passing any kind of legis