prigozhin mercenary forces have pretty much taken over that every strategic town of rostov-on-don. i that s a very strategic part of this war. the russian mercenary groups have been launching offensive strikes in ukraine from there, so they ve been key to this battle. prigozhin says they have now taken that town completely. they are now firing eight shots, and what we re hearing now is that he s mercenary forces are moving north. possibly towards moscow, which is an incredibly significant development in what s happening in the last 24 hours, and the most curious challenge to the russian state in recent memory, now, prigozhin was saying that this wasn t a crew he was trying to get rid of the defense minister, shoigu, and the head of the armed forces, but this is a direct challenge to putin s authority when you re trying to remove his top military brass during a conflict with ukraine. what key right now, jonathan, is what happens over the coming hours. the loyalty of the rus
the whatsapp messages date back to 2017. what they show is hunter biden writing to a chinese energy official saying i can make $5 million in salary from any law firm in america. if you think it s about money, it s not. the bidens are the best at doing exactly what the chairman wants from this partnership. dana: republicans say the chairman is a chinese oil tycoon and that guy has since gone missing. meanwhile the i.r.s. agent who blew the whistle on the hunter biden tax investigation is talking. he said investigators gave hunter special treatment. bill: the agent is trying to expose corruption. because every taxpayer deserves to be treated fairly and it was my oath of office to make sure that happens. bill: new york post reporter john levine is here but first david spunt at the justice department. good morning. good morning to you both. several key points in this new interview between bret baier and gary shapley, the i.r.s. supervisor special agent who is the whis
russian president vladimir putin trying to project an image of strength as he faces the biggest threat ever to his authority. is putin still in danger of losing power? his former prime minister says yes, and he will be outfront next. plus, where is yevgeny prigozhin? no confirmation that the wagner chief ever made it outside russia. as the fsb keeps its criminal investigation on prigozhin wide open. two moscow reporters who have covered him extensively with be reporting this hour. i m going to talk to the mayor of kyiv who warns ukraine is not prepared if putin attacks the biggest nuclear plant in all of europe. let s go outfront. and good evening, and welcome to a special edition of outfront. i am erin burnett live from ukraine tonight. tonight, putin on defense. the russian president speaking out three days after the armed rebellion led by his former ally yevgeny prigozhin. and make no mistake, a threat to putin s authority tonight is very well. putin right now
within, it s more questions he has to find answers for. confusion and uncertainty in russia this morning after a failed revolt by the head of the wagner mercenary group. this was the most significant challenge to vladimir putin s authority in decades. we ll go over what exactly happened and what it could mean for putin s leadership as well as the ongoing war in ukraine. plus, despite mounting legal challenges, new polling shows donald trump expanding his lead in the 2024 republican primary. we re breaking down the new numbers straight ahead. and special counsel jack smith asks a federal judge to delay trump s upcoming classified documents trial. what we re learning about the possible new timing for that. good morning and welcome to way too early on this monday, june 26th. i m jonathan lemire. thanks for starting your day with us. we ll begin this morning with this weekend s developing news out of russia where the head of the mercenary wagner group launched the most
and the consequences for the rest of the world. kremlin spokesperson says, the leader of the wagner mercenary group, yevgeny prigozhin, will not face charges for actions russian president vladimir putin described as treason just hours ago. spokesperson also saying, prigozhin will head to neighboring belarus, with wagner soldiers would not be prosecuted. this comes after prigozhin ordered his forces to turn back, return to their bases, abandoning an armed rebellion that had them heading toward moscow. we are looking at new video into us taken from the city of rostov near the ukrainian border. as all these new developments come in and we get these new images, the question remains, how do we get here this fast? the wagner group was what russia calls a, quote, private military company. over the u.s. calls the group a proxy force that had been fighting on russia s behalf in ukraine. on friday, prigozhin accused russia s defense minister, ordering a rocket strike on wagner s camps