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
office? an historic apology: pope francis humbly begs for forgiveness in canada. why some say it s too little, too late. global health emergency: frustration growth of grows as monkeypox cases increase across the united states. when will more vaccines arrive? rent prices on the rise: more americans are being forced from their homes. we ll speak to one woman who says it s cheaper to live in a hotel. whale of a story. spectacular video of a fishing boat getting walloped. and a cancer patient takes a risk: find out how one woman s honesty and bravery changed her life and inspired another. this is the cbs evening news with norah o donnell, reporting from the nation s capital. garrett: good evening, to our viewers in the west, and thank you for joining us. tonight, record high temperatures across the country are fueling wildfires in 15 states, the largest in northern california, with smoke now visible from the international space station. the oak fire exploded over
buddies and allies to overturn the 2020 election. as we reported on this program at this hour yesterday, mark short, he s of course the former chief of staff to former vice president mike pence, testified before a d.c. grand jury last week. now according to new multiple reports, we also know that a second senior pence aide also testified. that would be greg jacob, pence s legal counsel. both men, of course, had a front row seat to the extraordinary pressure campaign on mike pence by trump and his allies, people like john eastman, to get pence to stop the certification of president joe biden s election victory on january 6th. wall street journal reports these stunning details about their testimony. quote, one area of interest to prosecutors was a january 4th, 2021, oval office meeting where conservative lawyer john eastman pushed pence in trump s presence to either reject the electoral votes outright or suspend the proceedings and asked several state legislatures to re-examine
is cnn newsroom, with kim brun brunhuber. we begin with breaking news out of moscow. russia is confirming for first time that it did strike the ukrainian port of odesa. the russian foreign ministry now says it hit military targets in the port with precision missiles, but these strikes came one day after ukraine and russia signed an agreement in istanbul, which would allow ukraine to resume grain exports through its ports. now, turkey said moscow initially denied it had anything to do with the strikes, and turkey said the attack hit port facilities, but didn t damage any infrastructure that would be used in grain exports. condemnation of the attack has been swift with britain saying russia s word can t be taken at face value. it is absolutely appalling that only a day after striking this deal, vladimir putin has launched a completely unwarranted attack on odesa. it shows that not a word he says can be trusted, and we need to urgently work with our international partners
we re tracking it all. and the pandemic tonight foifrt time, children as young as 6 months old receiving vaccinations. where to get them? depends on how old your child s and adults if, you plan on getting one booster, do you get one now or wait until closer to fall? so the war in ukraine. near the brink to falling to the russians. the one thing still in the hands of the ukrainians. james longman with a look at how ukrainian fighters, armed with american long-range howitzers, are now targeting russian forces. and what russia is saying about the two american veterans captured in ukraine. nearly one month since the deadly school shooting in uvalde, texas. families of the 19 students and 2 teachers killed demanding answers. why it took 77 minutes to come in and take over the gunman. fires moving across the new jersey state forest. and marking juneteenth, the images from the weekend all over this country and on this national holiday. good evening, great to start another we