we ll go over what exactly happened and what it could mean for putin s leadership as well as the war in ukraine. plus, republicans continue to veer toward an electoral cliff, backing former president trump despite his mounting legal challenges, even as many voters are deeply disturbed by his multiple indictments. perhaps that s why president biden is leading trump in a 2024 matchup. and a year after the supreme court stripped away abortion rights, the high court s approval rating is in the basement at just 31%. we re breaking down the new poll numbers just ahead. good morning and welcome to morning joe. it is monday, june 26th. joe is off this morning. we begin with this weekend s developing news out of russia, where the head of the mercenary group, wagner, launched the most direct challenge to vladimir putin s grip on power in his 19 years as president. it started on friday when yevgeny prigozhin, the leader of a private army, posted a video to social media. in it, h
and had called off the rebellion because he did not want to shed russian blood. mr prigozhin went on to say that his actions had revealed serious security issues across russia. and he said wagner commanders had refused to accept russian government requests to sign contracts with the ministry of defence. he gave no indication of where he currently is, nor about his future plans. lets hear some of that audio message first of all. translation: , ., translation: after ust one day, we onl had translation: after ust one day, we only had zoo translation: afterjust one day, we only had 200 kilometres translation: afterjust one day, we only had 200 kilometres left - translation: afterjust one day, we only had 200 kilometres left to - only had 200 kilometres left to moscow. we entered the city of rostov, and we took it fully under our control. it was peaceful, and the civilians were happy to see us. we showed a demonstration, a masterclass for the 24th of february of 2022 s
for a long time. he uses maybe one part of his leadership. he was up one day then the other day, pushback on somebody else. kind of the classic divide and rule. i think prigozhin was a handy tool for him to put pressure on shrug you, maybe you blame shrug you or others for what was happening. but it is obviously gunning out of control. he thought he could control, now he can t. how does this and do you think? like i said, i think in the short term he will be able to squash this. but in the long term, dictators, it s when that shrink in the armor shows that things start to change. he has control moscow through fear for 20 years, just like in eastern me in other places. once they start to change, people become not afraid anymore. or they see the possibility of change, then things may spiral out of control for dictator. this is a really dangerous time for people. all right, thank you so much for your expertise. we appreciate the time. it is the most dramatic threat so fa
to moscow as well. there s increased security in moscow with what s being called anti terror measures. the m4 motorway which links the russian capital with cities in south such as rostov is closed because of a military convey that is moving along it. the kremlin has called for prigozhin s arrest with top russian generals telling wagner forces to stand down. and the russian president vladimir putin has given a tv address and said russia is facing a betrayal. here s mr putin s television address to the russian nation. translation: russia is engaged in a fight for its future. the entire military information might have the worst has been sent against us. we are fighting for our independence. we are fighting for our right to remain russia. a country with 1000 years of history. today, the fate of our people is being decided. we need the consolidation of all forces. everything has to be discarded that weakens us. anything that can be used and is being used to subvert us
there s increased security in moscow with what s being called anti terror measures the m4 motorway which links the russian capital with cities in south, such as rostov ,is closed because of a military convey that is moving along it. the kremlin has called for prigozhin s arrest with top russian generals telling wagner forces to stand down and the russian president vladimir putin has given a tv address and said russia is facing a betrayal. here s mr putin s television address to the russian nation. translation: any actions that split us is a betrayal of your people, - a betrayal of the comrades that are fighting on the front line, a knife in the back of our people. this struck russia in 1917, when russia was waging the first world war, victory was stolen from us. politicking behind the back of the army and the people turned into huge upheaval, the destruction of the army and the state. the loss of huge territories. as a result, it was tragedy, russian killing russians, c