Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. It is thursday, July 15th and we begin with the explosive revelations about how Close American Democracy came to the edge. Jawd jawdropping excerpts about the aftermath of the 2020 election. These are from the upcoming book i alone can fix it by two Pulitzer Prize winning reporters. They feared then President Trump would attempt a coup after the election and planned ways to stop him from doing it. This is the first time in mod earn u. S. History where there was a potential Showdown Dpen between the Commander In Chief and his military. General Mark Milley and the other joint chiefs plotted mass resignations, One By one, rather than carry out orders from trump that they considered to be illegal, something of a reverse Saturday Night massacre. According to the book, general M Milley also viewed trump as an authoritarian leader. And as for the Big Lie on the election, milley told his aides, quote, the gospel of the furor. And in another scene in this book, General Milley publicly confronts the white House Chief of staff during the Armynavy Football Game and grills Mark Meadows Whether Trump would fire the fbi and the cia directors. The book also claims milley and former secretary of state Mike Pompeo privately met, pompeo Telling Milley that the, quote, crazies are taking over, which is an account that pompeo denies. The book also describes tense moments that played out during the 6th'>January 6th Capitol Attack and in the aftermath, including Liz Cheney telling Jim Jordan during the riot, quote, you fing did this, and House Speaker Nancy pelosi, her fear is that trump would use nuclear weapons during his final days in office. The book describes a private conversation she had with General Milley and He Reassured Pelosi the military would not carry out an order that they believed was illegal. And then finally, the book talks about trumps disdain for german chancellor angela ammerk. Trump refers to the german chancellor as that bench merkel. Cnn Dana Bash and Carl Bernstein. Dana, the joint chiefs are nervous about a coup theyre plotting about how to take evasive action. Put this in a big picture for us. How significant . Really, i Cant Think of anything much more significant than what you just described and what this book describes. Particularly when you kind of go back in time to the beginning of america, one of the i think i heard you use the Term Bedrock in the last hour, john. It is true, one of the Bedrock Principles Of American Democracy is the separation of the military and civilian leadership and, more importantly, for the civilian leadership to be on top. Thats why the president of the United States is the Commander In Chief. And in this case its kind of a brain twist, if you go back in time again to what the founders thought, it is not that the Military Leadership was trying to overtake the civilian leadership. In this case, the top Military Leader was trying to stay, apparently according to this book, stay in his lane with his uniform on, but still try to protect the democracy from the man elected to the top spot. You know, we know that General Milley has some Reputation Fixing to do after what happened during the protests in June Of 2020 when he was in uniform outside at that photo op. But still, i think an important thing to say is that he is one of few people in and around the president who doesnt have, you know, political aspirations, either currently or in the future, which is probably why we are hearing what appears to be the unvarnished truth as opposed to those who are more worried about their own political viability and are keeping quiet. One excerpt from this book, Milley On preventing an attempted coup, he says, they may try, but theyre not going to fing succeed, he told them. You cant do this without the military, you cant do this without the cia and the fbi. We are the guys with the guns. He was trying to assure many people around him who had concerns. Absolutely. What this extraordinary reporting reveals is something actually builds on what we already knew, that we had a crazy delusional authoritarian dangerous criminal president of the United States. And we knew it through all four years of his presidency. And whats happening in this book and a couple of others, and probably more to come, is we are now seeing that picture filled out and our worst fears fulfilled through actual specific acts and words of the Horror And Terror that this deranged president of the United States visited upon our country, the constitution, and our system of governance. But whats so important here is that there is nothing in these revelations, as awful and terrible as they are, that Mitch Mcconnell and other republican leaders did not know about Donald Trump, his character, his authoritarianism, his recklessness, his homicidal negligence through the pandemic. All of this was known to our leaders, and the party of trump and the party of mcconnell and what we saw in the insurrection, these are all things that were embraced up until the last minute by mcconnell and republican leadership, and they continue to be embraced, trumpism, in all its derangement, terror and horror. Just one more quote so people know exactly what Carl And Dana are talking about here. General Milley On the Big Lie and what trump was saying about the election a lie, he said this is a rash tag moment, milley told aides. Referring to hitler, the burning of parlor to seize all suspend civil rights, a coup of sorts. Dana, Carl Hits On something i think is super important, too. This isnt now just a history. Exactly. Its a book about someone who is the current Front Runner for the republican nomination who has the full support, as far as i can tell, from the republican establishment now in power. Thats the leadership certainly in the House Of Representatives and republicans around the country. That is such a critical point, john, because we are just starting to see the first, second, third drafts of history. We are talking about current events, and we are talking about current events, not just when it comes to a potential run for president again by Donald Trump, but also about whats going on in the congress right now, about the fact that you have the republican leadership knowing clearly knowing what is in this book and probably a whole lot more about what happened leading Up To6'>January 6 and also post election. But they are still completely embracing or in a folsom way denying the Conspiracy Theories being propagated by the former president and Conservative Media who prop him up. They are embracing it. I mean, thats just the bottom line. By not saying publicly, even at the behest of one of the officers who was very seriously injured, to please stop the conspiracies, they are continuing to propagate those conspiracies. And that is what is so dangerous, and they are doing it because they think that that is what is going to get them back into the majority in 2022, both in the house and in the senate. And so it is very, very much a current political crisis because were not talking about two ideologies being fought out about taxes or about budgets or social issues. Were talking about truth and lies, full stop. I want to ask dana something, and then, carl, have you weigh in on this. I wonder, dana, you speak on the trump allies. And i wonder if they and trump supporters will look at this and say, oh, its an example of the Deep State, and it went all the way Up To the president s top military adviser, or as is Milley Inoculated from that . Hes not inoculated from that. You know how we know that . He testified pretty recently on capitol hill, and he went at it with republicans about the Idea E of critical race theory. Not this topic, but just generally speaking about something that has become very politicized, and he was attacked. They really went after him for trying to explain, as we know now through this book and also through that testimony through clearly, a clearly educated, well read historical perspective of why he thought it was important to not just dismiss the idea of learning more than even if you dont support something, you need to learn. Talking about reading karl marx, not because hes a marxist, but hes a leader and its important to know history. Thats a long way of saying, youre exactly right, that this will be we can write this statement that is going to come im surprised it hasnt already from the former president trashing milley, and it will be shared on Social Media and in Conservative Media by his minions. We know, barbara starr reporting, General Milley is not going to comment on this. Its not surprising, carl. Your thoughts . Hes not going to comment, but also i want to say something, what dana was just saying, this idea of the delusional Deep State that is part of the Trumpist Agenda needs to be dismissed immediately. And we need to go back to the specifics and the expansion of the reporting on the authoritarian dangerous, and as milley himself has now raised the question of kneofascism, trump as neo fascism. He raised the question of brown shirts. We didnt do it on the air. The general, the joint chiefs, head of the joint chiefs has done this. We need to take this moment and say, how did we get to a place where the leader of the american military compared the president of the United States to hitlerrian fascism . We didnt say it. He did. This is a moment. Tha thats the importance of this book and perhaps the importance of some of the other books. We are finally getting behind the scenes as to what our leaders were saying and knew about trump, but the other thing is on our air, cable news, this network, msnbc, trumps derangement was reported, repertoirially nailed down. A good number of people myself included, but i dont want to take the credit for this. A number of people early on said, this is a deranged dangerous authoritarian president of the United States, starting in 2017. And yet his party the people around him in the White House they did not go public, including some of the people who are quoted in these books. Why did they sit still instead of warning the american people out loud, instead of just talking to us . We have a lot of questions to answer as we know in an expanded way finally what has occurred in this terrible, terrible, awful period of our history. Carl bernstein, Dana Bash, thank you so much, both of you, for being with us this morning. We also learned in this book how Nancy Pelosi feared Donald Trump would use nuclear weapons in his final days in office, and George Conway will join us next. Also ahead, is supreme Court Justice Steven breyer ready to retire and perhaps make way for another liberal justice . What hes saying in a cnn exclusive, and a legal win for Britney Spears. The judge takes her side after a key request in court. [relaxed summer themed music playing] summer is a state of mind, you can visit anytime. Savor your summer with lincoln. Your cloud. It isnt just a cloud. Its everything flowing through it. And its more distributed than ever. One company takes you inside. Giving you visibility and insight. To take action. One company. Securely connects it all. 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Fujifilm value from innovation only 6 of us Retail Businesses have a black owner. That needs to change. So, i did something. I created a black Business Accelerator at amazon. And now we have a program thats dedicated to making tomorrow a better day for black businesses. I am tiffany. And this is just the beginning. Weve been discussing how top military officials feared that then President Trump would attempt a coup after the 2020 election. Joining us now with his take on the Bombshell Revelations from the Washington Post Report is Carol Lennie and philip ruckers new book about former President Trumps final year in office, attorney, contributing columnist to the Washington PostGeorge Conway. George, Last Night when the story broke, it was on ac 360 reporting on whats in the book. I think you were watching along with the rest of us who were watching. Your reaction was, wow, here we go. It was shocking, but on another level it wasnt surprising because trump telegraphed what he was going to do for months before january of 2021. During the campaign he said that he could only lose if the election were rigged. He said that this would be the most corrupt election in history because of mailin voting. He did all he attacked the election immediately after he realized votes werent coming in. He had people in the Oval Office during after the election talking about the possibility of declaring Martial Law and rerunning having the Military Rerun the election. This was all of a piece for his personality and for who he was and what he had been doing for four years, but particularly in 2020 and 2021. Whats interesting, one aspect thats interesting to me about milleys observations about this potentially being a fire moment, and comparing this to other situations in history was the two groups that really were most alarmed, i think, in 2015 and 2016 and i wish i had followed it more then about trumps possible election and later his election were the psychologists and the psychiatrists who viewed trump as a classic Malignant Narcissist in the way that the Psychologist Erik Fromm described, tried to describe the great tyrants of history. Theyre looking at it from the inside out. The other Group Consists of the Foreign Policy and national security types, including many republicans who Saw Trump as dangerously unfit for office. And they were looking at it from the outside in, from the historical examples of demagogues who had these very same characteristics, lack of remorse, lack of empathy, pathologically lying, completely devoid of morals, completely devoid of any conscience. And they saw its one of the reasons why so many republican Foreign Policy types saw were so terrified of trump is because they were students of history. And milley, like all these generals as was discussed in the last segment, hes a Student Of history. These modern Flag Officers are students of history, and thats why he immediately, you know, hes latching onto what hes seeing. Hes seen historical parallels to the fire which was an event, nobody knows who caused it, the historians debate, but hitler used that to, you know, to, first of all, pass a law to deprive citizens of their civil liberties and later enabling act, the socalled enabling act, which basically they gave all of its authority to the chancellor, who became the furor. The danger here was that trump would try to use the disorder that he was fomenting as an excuse to do something extra legal, invoke the insurrection act, but possibly which they apparently drafted an order earlier on, but to use it to keep himself in office. In fact, to talk about things that he was telegraphing in 2020, he talked about delaying the election. There is no legal possibility of delaying election. If this is how the man thought and thats why it was so terrifying for people who are really cognizant of history and legality, and its interesting. You know, in order to make this succeed, he needed the people with the guns, as milley pointed out. He didnt have them. They were willing to resign seriatum One By one to make sure the republic stayed alive. Then i was here with you last week. We talked about the lawyers willing to resign en masse before they were going to support any of this. It was just a remarkable, remarkable story that you have to wonder, as Carl Bernstein just said, how did all this come to pass . Its something we really need to come to grips with as a republic. Its something that i hope the 6th'>January 6th committee, the select committee reviews. And i think one aspect that we need to strongly consider as something that Speaker Pelosi raised last year, which was the 25th Amendment. I mean, here is a man who for four Years Everybody in washington knew, republicans, democrats he was mentally unstable. He was deranged. He was unfit for office. And he was really unable to carry out his duties of office to any serious degree. And was, you know and so the reason why the 25th Amendment was never invoked was because it takes the cabinet to do that and the cabinet all owes their jobs to trump. There is a provision in the amendment which allows congress to create a new body, maybe independent experts, whoever, who could make an assessment under the 25th Amendment. Thats something that needs to be seriously done because we cant have this happen again. Its just terrifying. You mentioned milley was a Student Of history, george. Specifically he was a Student Of is a student still of World War ii history. I mean, theres one The New York Times anecdote where it says, dont get him going about a certain battle in North Africa that involved the nazis. Hes really into the minutiae of it. He described these antigovernment extremists who are fans of trump as the brown shirts, the militia that aided the nazis, right. And i wonder because looking to the past, how it looked to the future. We are very much in the middle of this as republicans are whitewashing this, what happened with the insurrection. Do you think this is going to be at all a Wake Up Call . It should be, but weve had a number of Wake Up Calls and the republicans keep pressing the snooze button. And they have just 6'>January 6 should have been the ultimate Wake Up Call, and yet were still we are where we are. Hes still the Front Runner for the 2024 republican nomination. Thats just a terrifying thing. You know, there is all this talk about the Deep State. Well, the Deep State, you know, thats what were going to hear. Were going to hear something about the deep State And Milley as people are talking about earlier. The Deep State consists of people who are dedicated professionals, dedicated Patriotic Americans who view their duties to the country and to the constitution more seriously than republican lawmakers have. George conway, we appreciate you coming in, joining us today. Really, thanks for the discussion. Up next, Justice Steven Breyer setting the record straight. What he says about the question of his possible retirement. A cnn exclusive. Plus dramatic moments in the free britney case. What a judge will now let her do after another tearful plea in court. Im so glad youre ok, sgt. Houston. This is sam with usaa. Do you see the Tow Truck . Yes, thank you, that was fast. Sgt. Houston never expected this to happen. Or that her Grandpas Dog tags would be left behind. But that one call got her a tow and rental. Paid her claim. And we even pulled a few strings. Making it easy to make things right thats what were made for. Usaa. What youre made of, were made for. Get a quote today. For people who could use a lift new neutrogena® rapid firming. A Triplelift Serum with pure collagen. 92 saw visibly firmer skin in just 4 weeks. Neutrogena® for people with skin. From Prom Dresses to workouts and new adventures you hope the more you give the less theyll miss. But even if your teen was vaccinated against meningitis in the past they may be missing vaccination for Meningitis B. Although uncommon, Up To 1 in 5 survivors of meningitis will have long term consequences. Now as youre thinking about all the vaccines your teen might need make sure you ask your doctor if your teen is missing Meningitis B vaccination. Show me the olympics. Buglers dream begins playing we have a cnn exclusive. Justice Steven Breyer is finally addressing his retirement prospects. He is facing mounting pressure from the left to retire so the democrats, while theyre still in the majority, can replace his seat with a younger member and preserve the balance on the court. Cnns Supreme Court analyst is here with the exclusive interview she did, and also with us is cnns chief analyst jeffrey toobin. All right, joan, this is a fascinating interview. I will say sounds like he likes his job. And even as he thinks health is the main factor for whether hell retire, hes very healthy. Hes healthy, hes happy, and hes not going anywhere soon. When i talked to him yesterday, you know, were up in new hampshire. Hes very relaxed. Hes wearing shorts and sandals, feeling none of the pressures of being in Washington And Hearing from all his liberals back here saying, go, go, so that President Biden gets his first appointment to the high court. But he said he hasnt made his decision, and he told me his two overriding priorities are to think about his health. Hes going to be 83 next month, but hes a vigorous 82, nearly 83 person. He jogs, med titates a lot. A lot of the healthy things we should be doing. Hes also thinking about the court. Thats his second concern, about the institutional values of the court. He doesnt want to give in to politics, and he wants to think about what would be best for the court and his own personal health. In that order. No, the order is health first. He said health, of course, is his priority, is he feeling healthy. The answer to that is yes, he is feeling healthy. Yes. He talks about the court as an historical constitution. The way he sees it or wishes it would be away from politics, the way it is, jeffrey, may be vastly different. I think this news from joan might upset a lot of liberals who were hoping for something different. As usual, Steven Breyer is playing checkers and Mitch Mcconnell is playing chess. The idea he is somehow preserving the court by pretending that politics has nothing to do with the Supreme Court is just illusional. But but hes in charge of whether Steven Breyer retires, and he is in good health. He does have all his marbles. He does want to be, as joan writes in this Story Joan always gets the exclusives that everyone who covers the Supreme Court wants. He says he likes being the senior liberal on the court, which he hasnt been because Ruth Ginsburg was senior to him. But, you know, the fact is if he waits like Ruth Ginsburg waited, thinking that, oh, well, you know, a democrat will somehow replace me, then we will get another Amy Coney Barrett when Tom Cotton is president , or whoever the next republican is. This is the kind of absence of strategic thinking that has done in democrats on the Supreme Court and well see if it continues here. Because, take us, jeffrey, through the scenarios here, when the window closes for him being replaced if he decided to leave, by someone who would be appointed by a democrat. And then what the possibility, as you mentioned, that a republican might be elected in the next cycle. Archipelago it doesnt even have to be remember, we have a Midterm Election coming up. Yes. If historical trends continue, the republicans are going to retake the senate. Thats the trend. Mitch mcconnell has all but said, in the next two years not one year. In the next two years, if hes majority leader, he will not allow a vote on a democratic replacement a Joe Biden Replacement for Supreme Court justice. So the margin now is about a year and a half. But it could be even shorter than that. Now, with all respect to pat leahey, if there is a republican governor in vermont who would appoint his successor, the window for him to leave is extremely small to assure a democratic replacement. Maybe, joan, maybe hell leave next year. But who knows what the story will be next year before the midterms. You know, he is gambling with the future of the Supreme Court and Ruth Ginsburg lost that gamble. Well see what happens with Steven Breyer. Does breyer know this, joan . Will he reconsider next year . Hes watched all this. He obviously was at the side of Ruth Bader Ginsburg as she kept rejecting pleas to step down. And she almost made it. She died, obviously, in september, and her replacement came on just days before President Trump lost the election. But i think in his mind he probably thinks he has until next year because on paper, the senate should stay democratic majority until at least the midterms. So he would have that. And i know lots of liberals think thats a risk, but, heck, this is a lifetime appointment. As i mentioned earlier, he was a Junior Justice for 11 years, nearly a record. Then he spent the last ten years, number two to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. This is the experience he has being the senior liberal, having more influence in the justices private sessions. He obviously wants to seize that. Maybe hell seize it one more year which is making lots of people nervous. But i think hell at least get the next year out and then well probably go through a version of what weve gone through this spring in 2022. Well, what other job do we say that 82yearolds shouldnt retire . I mean, come on. 82 is not the new anything. 82 is old. Hes been on the court since 1994. No ones shoving him off prematurely. What is it with these justices that they cant say, you know what, ive been here for 20 years, 30 years. Its time to go. Jeffrey, when you in 30 years, when we are getting from you, will you change your tune, sir . Im just trying to hang on month to month, you know. All right, joan, jeffrey, thank you both for being with us. Appreciate it. All right, the price is on the rise at the grocery store. The gas station. Putting a strain on the family budget. Plus, the new ruling in Britney Spears fight for freedom. Could it help get her out of the conservatorship that she calls abusive . A win for the free britney movement. Britney spears now able to hire her own attorney. Might have been surprised to learn she couldnt do that before, and this is happening after a California Court granted her permission to do that. Joining the hearing via telephone, spears demanded that her father be charged with abuse. She called the 13year conservatorship that he has led fing cruelty and she expressed fears that her conservators were trying to kill her. So, lets talk about this now. Michelle turner, Cnn Contributor and host of entertainment tonight, and criminal Defense Attorney sarah azari. Sarah, to you first. Is this a sign that this conservatorship is going to end or change . Good morning, brianna. Yes, it is in some way, because number one, remember, that britney has never had anybody in the course of the conservatorship she could trust. She finally has an attorney of her own choice. It opens the door to her finally filing these petitions long overdue, number one, remove her father as the conservator, and move forward towards the termination of the conservatorship. I think it sends the message, brianna, that the court is finally recognizing that maybe she is able to make decisions for herself. She has made this request before to get her own attorney and its been denied. And so this grant is a huge win for her because she now can proceed with somebody that shes chosen, somebody she can trust to Avenue Dvocate for her, to r her father who she claims is abusive. She has the burden of proving that abuse, that cruelty in order to get him removed, because without him being removed shes not going to get this terminated. Repeatedly, michelle, she said she feels abused. Yeah, i mean, its tough to hear. She broke down in tears in Court Yesterday. It was when she was talking about a Therapy Dog that she had come in contact with. But then she went on to say that, you know, she feels stuck. She feels like shes in a situation that she has no control over. Now, i do want to say, though, in Court Yesterday her Fathers Attorney made the point of saying that they feel like britney has gotten a lot of misinformation. One thing she said is there is no order saying Britney Cant have a baby. And i think she doesnt understand that she does have the right to make some medical decisions and that jaime is the conservator of her state and not her medical decisions. But i think there is that gray area there that nobody really knows, you know, how to proceed with. And i think thats where britney feels very stuck. So, yeah, i mean, she has made it clear she wants this to end. I think shes getting a lot of support from the free britney movement. Now the Hollywood Community is starting to support her a lot. But i think we all should remember as well there was an order, you know, that britney had issues with Mental Health, and thats what sparked all of this. So while people are kind of in this movement of saying let her just be free, there was something there that sparked a lot of this. So i think maybe the Mental Health and the medical aspect, we do still have to keep in mind here. So, what do you say about that . Because she has alleged that and have a baby. We also heard her say that she couldnt spend any money. I mean, if youre going to have a Doctors Appointment presumably that would require spending money. Thats right. Theres a lot of Finger Pointing by Jaime Spears to Jodie Montgomery who is her personal conservator, of course. But one thing is clear here that the amount of control that Jaime Spears has exercised over Britney Spears goes far beyond what is normal in sort of supervision and a conservatorship. And the other point is that he his Conflict Of Interest is beyond what is inherent in a parent child relationship. And that we know at some point he profited from her tours. So, you know, its the idea that where Theres Money and guardianship, theres greed. And this has to come to an end. I think she might need some supervision, some assistance. Maybe shes not perfectly okay mentally, but not to the extent of the conservatorship that was put in place 13 years ago when she had a break down. I think its ridiculous and its time to let her live her life. This is really just a turning point. Sarah and nichelle, thank you to both of you. Just ahead, Sticker Shock everywhere you shop. How todays higher prices makes it harder to stretch your dollar. And The New York Times best Selling AuthorWho Rewrote His New Novel after watching the capitol riots on tv. struggling Vehicle Sounds think Premium Cant be capable . Think again. energetic music introducing the first ever at4 lineup. 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Liberty. Liberty. S Consumer Inflation is the hottest its been in 13 years. These are the prices you pay. Factories raw materials prices also surging. Christine roman is here with a look at all that. These prices really hit you in very specific ways and you feel it just going to the gas station. Its Sticker Shock. Theres a lot of different reasons. Remember, last year the economy fell apart. Were comparing falling down to this big rally. Look at gas prices, for example. I wanted to take this out of percentage terms and just say last year if you had a typical car with 12 gallons of gas, you paid 26 to fill it up. This year youre paying 37. Thats 11. Thats real money oops, thats real. Thats 11. Thats real money out of your pocket. Look at other consumer prices. Say you had 100 in groceries. This year youre paying 2. 40 more. Maybe you can make changes in what youre buying. Those are real increases. Used Car Prices, this is a third, a third of it is just because of used cars. But there is a really funky reason here. Last year all the Car Rental agencies sold off their fleets. Used Car Prices cratered because of all the supply. Now whats happening . You cant get a new car easily because of the chip shortage. All of this is because of covid and the craziness that happened in the economy, used Car Prices up 26 . Weve never seen this before. Who is this hitting the hardest . This is hitting people with the least money. Families spend just on the basic, food, utilities and rent, they spend about a quarter to a third of every dollar on the basic, right. So take a look at the next level of family. 15,000 to 30,000. Theyre spending half of every dollar just on the basic. So when the basics go up in price, they have less money to work with. Look at this. Families earning less than 15,000, they spent more than they make. They spend everything on the basic plus 16 more. That means that they are taking on debtor theyre relying on Child Tax credits through the Tax Code to help them get by, which brings us to the news today. Which they will get more of as of now. 250 to 300 per child every month to the end of the year. Another Tax Break when they file their taxes in the spring. There is money going to families, and specifically that could help on the very low Income And Counter some of these higher inflation prices. Look, everyone is debating whether inflation is here to stay, whether this is temporary. Maybe its temporary, but for right now its still really, really hurts for lowincome americans. Christine romans, thank you very much. So, just ahead, the new warning from the new u. S. Surgeon general. What he said about vaccine misinformation. And next the new Spy Thriller ripped right from the headlines, Daniel Silva joins us live next. We made Usaa Insurance for members like martin. An Air Force Veteran made of doing whats right, not whats easy. So when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. Thats how you do it right. Usaa insurance is made just the way martins family needs it with hasslefree claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. Because doing right by our members, thats whats right. Usaa. What youre made of, were made for. Usaa i became a Sofi Member because i needed to consolidate my credit card debt. I needed just one simple way to pay it all off. It was an easy decision to apply with sofi loans, just based on the Interest Rate and how much i would be saving. There was only one that stood out and one that actually made sense and that was sofi personal loans. It felt so freeing. I felt like i was finally out of this neverending trap of interest and payments and debt. So, Daniel Silvas newest thriller reads like it was ripped straight from the headlines. It deals with the global pandemic, the threat from russia, even the Capitol Insurrection on 6'>January 6. In fact, silva had written most of the latest book when the capitol was breached and the democracy threatened to throw out half the book and start over. Daniel silva joins us now. His latest book, the cellist is now out. It is so much fun. When i read, though, that you basically rewrote the ending and started part of the book over, i broke out in a cold sweat. Its in the category, it seemed like a good idea at the time. First of the year, thats my Stretch Drive to finish on time to meet my deadline. So when january 1st, i locked the door and shut out the outside world and pushed hard to finish the book. I didnt have a tv in my office, i dont have internet on the computer. Jaime calls me 2 00 in the afternoon. The person who was just on the air. Breaking a little bit of news this morning. And you know her how . She is my wife. In fact, i had been living with these excerpts from this remarkable new book from Carol Lenning and Phil Rucker for several days walking around the house doing dramatic readings. I digress, but 6'>January 6 she calls me and says, you have to Go Upstairs and turn on the television. I said, i cant. I have my deadline. I dont want to turn on the tv right now. Go upstairs. I go to my kitchen, i turn on the tv, i see thousands of supporters of the president are marauding through the capitol and our democracy is under siege. It fit exactly into what i was working on. I was writing a book about russias efforts to destabilize the west, to destroy our democracy, to use their money as a weapon in their arsenal to destabilize the west. It just fit in exactly to what i was working on. So i jettisoned the ending and i wrote a brandnew ending that featured the Insurrection And Inauguration day. So much of what General Milley is talking about, it factors into what i was writing. So i finished that. The problem was the first half of the book didnt match up. So i had to rewrite all of that. So i had some very, very long days. I finished the final, final corrections on june 1st, believe it or not. The last change i made to the book was to change the dedication. I dedicated it to the Capitol Police, the metropolitan police who defended our democracy on 6'>January 6. I will tell you, our country is so divided right now im facing blowback on the internet for dedicating the book to people who Saved Our the Law Enforcement . Party of blue. President trumps supporters are so enraged about what happened that day and still so supportive of him that they do not see the Capitol Police officers as heroes. So, the protagonist here is still gabrielle it is. The main character in mostly all your books. Any specific mention of Biden Or Trump or trumpism . The story begins in london with the assassination of a dear friend of gabriel. Hes a russian oligarch, kremlin critic. He dies of nerve agent. Gabriel undertakes a search for the killers. He finds himself in a desperate race to stop an attack thats going to plunge the United States into political turmoil and leave russia unchallenged on the world stage. Sound a little familiar . And so thats what thats the story that winds him through and plops him into the middle of our inauguration. I have about ten seconds left. Who is the model for the Cover Photo . Thats cnns jamie right there. Im joking. She told me it was her. If we take a shot from her from behind later today, youll see. It bears a striking resemblance. Daniel silva, its great to have you on. Great to have both you and jaime on in the show. The new book, the cellist, you can get it today. Thank you for having me. Cnns coverage continues right now. Very good Thursday Morning to you. Im jim sciutto. Good morning. Im poppy harlow. New this morning, it is a decision that will have repercussions for the nations highest court and the laws of our country for decades to come. The question this morning is will supreme Court Justice Steven breyer retire before the midterms or stay on the bench. Cnns Supreme Court analyst Joan Busiiscupic is speaking Wi Justice breyer after the court recessed after a slew of controversial decisions. Joan joins us now. So, he told you bth