recognizing the january six investigation. renewed focus by jack smith s investigators on a 2020 oval office meeting where trump allies allegedly skimmed what the former president about seizing voting machines and overturning the election. also tonight, where s prigozhin? no word from the wagner mercenary leader supposedly ex out to belarus for leading a mutiny against the kremlin. as he returned to the motherland? and what will vladimir putin due to him there? and marjorie taylor greene, is she too much, even pretty conservative freedom caucus. a report that she may have been boarded up by her fellow republicans. we begin tonight with the breaking news, what multiple sources are telling cnn about that turbulent december 18th 2020 oval office meeting, involving the former president on the disgraced general michael flynn, lawyer sydney powell and former dot com ceo. our kaitlan collins is part of the reporting team that has the exclusive. she joins me here. what have you learn
north armed uprising last month that had been brought to an early end. it was even talk of prigozhin arriving in belarus and of the charges against him being dropped. that now appears and out. so they offer you extended two wagner and two yevgeny prigozhin has not been taken up? they are not in your country? [speaking non-english] translator: not yet. this will depend on the decision made by the russian government and wagner pmc. if the deem necessary to locate a certain number of fighters and belarus, and i will keep my promise. for but the kremlin may have other plans. russian state tv has for days been painting progression as a traitor and a criminal. casting these new images of a raid on his st. petersburg property. they are seizing weapons, cash,
believe that yevgeny prigozhin and perhaps his troops had to camps to belarus. the president of belarus, lukashenko, said he had arrived in the country but they have made no sign of him since last month. today, lukashenko told us where heathens prigozhin is and where he knows he s not. moscow has televised it right on prigozhin s properties and has shut off what they claim are items from his mansion, including gold bars and passports and wigs. cnn s matthew chance has more. a rare meeting with the belarusian leader and an extraordinary revelation. [speaking non-english] as far as i m in front eyes off this morning, the wagner fighters are now stationed in the regular camps where they go for rotation and to rest and recover from the front lines. in terms of yevgeny prigozhin, here is in st. petersburg. later this morning, he will travel to moscow or elsewhere. but he is not on the territory of belarus now. [crowd chanting] it wasn t meant to be this way. lukashenko s deal to allow
is it clear where lukashenko and prigozhin s relationship stands right now? you are right. he was really candid. it is unusual to have the sort of press conference. yeah, he played down the friendship between him and prigozhin. that s surprising because the kremlin said that friendship was the reason we took guys to the deal and the first place. lukashenko said that putin was much more friendly with prigozhin than he ever was. so, really trying to put himself at some distance between himself and the wagner leader. matthew chance, appreciate it, thank you. to try to unravel some of what is going on, we are joined now by joel doherty, a global fellow of the wilson center, from the georgetown school of foreign service. also retired generals and cnn analyst mark hertling. jill, i just found, i find an amazing. what does prigozhin tell you that prigozhin is allegedly in russia and the deal that lukashenko allegedly brokerage? lukashenko is an old soviet style publication.
hardened rebellious mercenary group into your country? are you concerned that that would have to stabilized belarus? i mean, the russians thought it was safe to have him but they were wrong. [speaking non-english] translator: this is not a situation where obvious living wagner a helping hand. this was reached in a process of negotiation. you know what was at stake. i made this decision at that time and i would stick to it. but i don t think that would rise up and turn his gun against belarusian state. reporter: but, for belarus. wagner s absence might yet be a blessing in disguise. matthew chance joins us now from belarus. matthew, kind of extraordinary to see you talk with the lukashenko and him, appearing to be quite candid on a whole range of topics. he wouldn t ordinarily expect to hear him talking about that.