as a huge surprise given the well-established history inside trump world of pressuring potential witnesses in key investigations. washington post lays it out like this, quote. evidence across multiple state, federal and congressional investigations points to a similar pattern. trump and his close allies privately shower potential witnesses with flattery and attention extending vague assurances that staying loyal to trump would be better than crossing him. meanwhile, trump publicly blasts those who offer testimony against him in bluntly personal terms offering a clear example to others of the consequences of stepping out of line. the new york times offers another view of this type of carrot and stick witness pressure campaign reporting this, quote, former president trump s political organization and his allies have paid for or promised to finance the legal fees of more than a dozen witnesses called in the congressional investigation into the january 6th attack, raising legal
immediate peril if you think that it may put americans who are out traveling around the world right now at risk of being arrested or abducted by russia or iran or any other country that says, hey, we can get people out of jail, or we can get some assets unfrozen. and this is what the white house is wrestling with right now, and it s excruciating. michael crowley, ann simmons, tom firestone, it s an excruciating human experience. i appreciate all your reporting and expertise on the topic. thank you so much for starting us off this hour. when we come back, another brutal attack by russia on civilians in ukraine. this time, it is an apartment building near odesa as the ukrainian government urges the world not to look away. our good friend, igor nobikov, will be our guest after the break. and later for us, here at home, we re entering the fourth of july weekend with fewer freedoms than we had one year ago. most notably, the chaos women