more reporting. i know you've been working your sources. what have you learned? >> reporter: this announcement is coming quite early. there are still five months left in the supreme court's term. most justices that have announced their retirement in the past haven't done so until at least march. the 83-year-old justice has said in the past he would consider two things when deciding to leave, his health and the court w. no known health issue it is clear the court is his main reason for leaving after almost three decades on the court. he has spoken extensively over the past year and has even written a book. he expressed concern that the public views the court as political and talks about how that perception could erode faith in the court. justice breyer does come from a political background himself. he was the chief counsel in the 1970s and understands this relentless, over the past year, progressive pressure on him to step down. in fact, the progressive group demand justice promoted a mobile billboard with the words breyer retire trying to get their message out there. there has been persistent pressure to leave well before the midterms when at this point democrats would be in firm control of this nomination and hearing process for the next justice. justice breyer still has a lot of work left to do in it terms. there are huge issues outstanding including the fate of abortion rights, gun rights, those cases have been heard. and justice breyer will be part of those decisions since we have learned that he won't retire until at least the end of the term and when his successor is confirmed. he leaves a court that is drastically different even than it was a few years ago. it is now solidly 6-3 in favor of conservatives. we've seen justice breyer in recent weeks join fiery dissents with his two other similarly minded justices. sonia sotomayor and elena kagan, in the vaccine mandate case that came from the biden administration and dissents in the decisions allowing the texas abortion ban to stay in place. so justice breyer has been outspoken but there is still a lot more work to do in this term and now there's work to do for the white house, determining who will be the next nominee. we understand that there are probably two names leading contenders. president biden pledged to put in place a black woman. we've learned through sources that ketanji brown jackson is on the circuit court of appeals is a leading contender along with leondra kruger. a lot to come in this term before justice breyer steps down, ana. the real work begins for the white house and democrats here. >> jessica schneider, thank you for your reporting. we'll come back to you as you gather more details. chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin, gloria borger, we just heard jessica lay out what's happening at the supreme court, some of the reasons perhaps behind this decision, but this is big news for the biden administration and for democrats. what do you see as the impact? >> i also see it as big news for the country. it is a history making moment when you step back and say that joe biden as a candidate pledged to appoint the first black woman justice, and he intends to do that. and it is something that the country has never seen before. we all know as we've been talking about this morning that it will not change the ideological balance of the court you just pointed out but it will change the way the court looks. and i think we cannot understate that. and politically you asked for the democrats, of course this is an opportunity, it is an opportunity for the president who has disappointed lots of members of his base about what happened with voting rights, and he can now say i am going to fight the good fight, and i am going to get this nominee through and on the bench. >> so, jeffrey, gloria points out this will still be a 6-3 court. breyer is a liberal justice. how are you looking at this? >> well, there's only been 120 people on the skourupreme court the history of the united states. whenever there's turnover it makes a big difference. byron white who served on the court for many years liked to say when you change one justice, you don't just change one justice, you change the whole court. and i think we are looking at a situation where there will likely be four women on the supreme court for the first time in history. it wasn't all that long ago that there were no women on the supreme court. you're looking like the only liberals will be women, sonia sotomayor and elena kagan and president biden's nominee. the voting will not be all that different at least in the short term. but this is a very big deal. this will be a considerable reinforcement for justices sotomayor and kagan who would be the last two liberals, if breyer stayed on, to be replaced by a conservative. it doesn't change the overall balance of the court, but it will be a big event in american history because every supreme court appointment is a big event in american history. >> you know the inner workings and dynamic probably better than a lot of us, most of us, in fact. i'm curious how you see this shaking things up. was breyer extremely influential on the current court or, you know, will it be more easy to replace him in terms of fitting in with the crew? >> well, you are exactly right. once one justice leaves, the whole dynamic of the court does change. and as wolf has reported he said he was going to step down upon the confirmation of his successor, so we'll see those hearings. he's obviously going to stay on for the rest of this term. which is a blockbuster term. it will be huge for president biden and one of the key potential replacements is a judge named ketanji brown jackson. she was one of president biden's first choices for the most powerful federal appeals court in the country. she had already been serving as a district -- on the district court. and what we know about next term is that one of the biggest cases they're going to hear is an affirmative action case. so it's true that here we'll see a liberal replacing a liberal, but the new nominee is likely to be much younger. maybe more liberal than breyer. and will change the inner dynamics of the court. breyer will remain for the rest of this term which is right now considering some of the biggest issues of the day considering roe v. wade. he'll be there when that's decided some time in july. >> obviously there are still some six months left in the term as jessica pointed out. and so this is an early announcement. why do you think he made this announcement so early, ariane? >> it's interesting because a lot of progressives had been pressuring him last term to step down, and they were mad that he didn't. there may have been some calculation. he might have thought, look, i've been on this corporaurt th longest, i have relationships, i can play a role this term in these cases, the second amendment case, the abortion case, but so far it doesn't seem like he did a lot in persuading his colleagues in the one case they allowed the text law that bars abortion before most women even know they're pregnant to go into effect. breyer was in dissent and the conservatives are really pushing forward quickly here turning this court to the right. maybe he thought i'll stay another term, maybe i can help here. but now he's decided to make it clear he's stepping down and has made that decision so early. >> gloria, the supreme court has been a big motivator for republican voters for decades. i remember talking to voters out in the field before the 2016 election and i would hear from people say ing i don't really like president trump or then candidate trump but i will vote for him because he will have a supreme court nominee and that's important to me. do you think that could be important for democrats? >> sure. absolutely. you look at what's occurred with voting rights, for example. i think that would motivate the democratic base, affirmative action up on the docket in the next term. i think this is an opportunity for democrats, particularly the president, to talk about these issues and to talk about the importance of the supreme court. and i was just talking to somebody who has been involved in confirmations previously and he said to me, look, if i were running this right now, i would want these hearings tomorrow. i would want these hearings very soon. they all know waiting until later in the year could be a disaster politically. mitch mcconnell has already said nothing happens as you get into the presidential election. so this is the moment, honestly, to change the subject and this is the moment for the democrats to say this is what we stand for even if biden was unsuccessful in getting what he wanted, for example, on voting rights. >> jeffrey, it's not going to be a lot of time before the midterms when justice breyer retires for president and the senate to move through the nominating process. >> there's plenty of time for them to be confirmed. by the standards of the supreme court hearings, nominations, vacancies, all the time that it takes to do this process, a retirement in january is plenty of time to seat someone by the end of the summer. >> but he's not retiring until the end of the term, right? >> well, but the process will move quickly. one of the questions of senator durbin will he hold hearings on a nominee before there's an official vacancy. that's been done in the past. all that have will have to be worked out. the time is not a problem for the democrats and it's worth keeping in mind that the president of the united states is someone who knows a lot about supreme court confirmations. he was chairman of the judiciary committee, he was ranking member of the judiciary committee. he sat through, i think, at least a dozen supreme court nominations. his white house chief of staff, ron klain, is someone when he worked in the clinton white house, worked on judicial nominations, he worked with biden on judicial nominations this is right in their wheelhouse. they are going to be delighted that they can change the subject, at least for a little while from covid and inflation. >> biden was the chairman of the judiciary committee and was in that role as a senator for six different justice confirmation hearings. and dating back to 1987. please stand by. we have reaction pouring in from capitol hill including from senate majority leader chuck schumer and cnn chief congressional correspondent manu raju joins us from the capitol. what is the majority leader saying? >> reporter: he's confident a nominee will get confirmed and democrats largely are as well. republicans recognize the chances of defeating a nominee here will be very slim given obviously the democrats control the senate, 50/50 senate. back in 2017 republicans changed filibuster rules to allow a simple majority to actually advance and lead to a confirmation of a nomination. so if the democrats stick together they can confirm a nominee and pick off some nominees. chuck schumer saying stephen breyer has serve this had country with the highest possible distinct. he is and always has been a model jurist. the question will be if he can keep all 50 senate democrats on the same page, joe manchin a frequent swing vote. he has deferred to presidential picks on nominations. voting for two of three of donald trump's supreme court nominees. kyrsten sinema has also voted for biden's nominees in the past. lindsey graham voted for two of barack obama's supreme court nominees in 2010. he put out a statement about news of breyer's retirement. if all democrats hang together which i expect they will they have the power to replace justice breyer in 2022 without one republican vote in support. elections have consequences and that is most evident when it comes to filling vacancies on the supreme court. still a lot has to happen. they have to name the pick, have a confirmation process and potential roadblocks could emerge. at the moment democrats are very confident that whoever biden picks will get confirmed with the support of their caucus and potentially some republicans in the process. >> manu, did the majority leader see this coming? was he prepared for this reaction? >> reporter: they were undouptedly prepared for this. it's unclear if he got a heads-up before this was happening. they've been expecting this to occur. dick durbin, the number two, is ex ready to move. expect them to try to get their caucus in line. we have other breaking news on the u.s. response to russia on ukraine. stay with us. like we would treat our own moms, with care and respect. to us, the little things are the big things. which is why we do everything in our power to make buying a car an unforgettable experience. happy birthday. thank you. we treat every customer like we would treat our own moms. because that's what they deserve. ♪ ♪ ♪ aloha! isn't this a cozy little room? sorry your vacation request took so long to get approved, so you missed out on the suite special. but lucky for you, they had this. when employees are forced to wait for vacation request approvals,it can really cramp their style. i'm gonna leave you to it. um, just— with paycom, employees enter and manage their own hr data in a single, easy-to-use software. visit paycom.com and schedule a demo today. ♪[music]♪ at aetna® we're shifting medicare coverage into high gear with benefits you may be eligible for when you turn 65. benefits that may include a $0 monthly plan premium. telehealth emergency coverage while you travel an over-the-counter allowance plus dental, vision, and hearing because the right medicare plan should help you feel...yeah, like that. aetna medicare advantage plans call today to learn more. thank you so much. >> mr. president? sir? >> i will be happy to talk about this later. i will get into this issue, okay. >> we're going to start by asking tom to offer your thoughts, please, sir. >> thank you. mr. president, it's an honor -- >> the supreme court, tom? >> it's really an hohn nor to b here. >> come on, guys -- >> this is a live event, the president holding a meeting with ceos and top business leaders talking about the economy and his stalled build back better act. and he wants to try to get pieces of that through in smaller chunks of legislation in this upcoming year and months. he was, though, be asked many questions off the top about this breaking news. liberal supreme court justice stephen breyer is going to retire. his retirement announcement coming after more than 27 years on america's highest bench. here is cnn's jessica schneider with more on his reasoning behind this decision. >> reporter: justice stephen breyer announcing to retire from the supreme court after initially resisting a persistent drumbeat of calls to step down telling cnn last summer he relished being the senior most justice of the liberal wing and would only consider two things, his health and the court. and he's been quite vocal in speeches over the past year about the danger of politics permeating the high court. >> confidence in the courts and in the rule of law itself can only diminish. >> reporter: justice breyer is stepping down at age 83 after a forceful push from democratic activist who is point out they have a short window and a slim majority in congress to push through a replacement. the group demand justice parade this had billboard urging breyer to retire in early april. he played a leading roll and left the affordable care act in place and wrote the bolstering student speech rights and giving google a victory in a copyright infringement case. breyer is leaving the court after publishing a book based around a speech he gave at harvard last spring about the practice of referring to justices by the president who appointed them. >> i fear these are more than straws in the wind. they reinforce the thought the president already in your minds the supreme court justices are primarily political officials or let's call them junior league politicians. >> reporter: and he warned against democratic proposals to add more justices to the supreme court. >> i'm trying to make those whose initial instincts to think long and hard before they embody those changes in law. >> reporter: justice stephen breyer came to the court in 1994. >> so help me god. >> congratulations. >> reporter: he was nominated by president bill clinton after years in the legal realm as an academic and lawyer. he served as chief counsel in the late 1970s where ted kennedy was a mentor. he helped investigate watergate in 1973. he was nominated to the first circuit court of appeals by jimmy carter and spoke about his first years as a supreme court associate justice. >> i was frightened to death much of the time. >> of? >> how do i know can i do it? >> reporter: breyer was a consistent liberal voice supporting abortion rights and affirmative action. he became a first critic of capital punishment and he questioned the constitutionty of the death penalty and pointed to the years death row inmates spent in solitaire confinement. >> this is not what people expected when they wrote the cases upholding the death penalty more than 40 years ago and i think it's time to revisit the issue. >> reporter: his departure under a democratic president and congress will likely mean the court will remain divided 6-3 in favor of conservatives. but it does give president biden the chance to make an historic choice. biden pledged to fill any vacancy on the court with an african american woman, a first. potential candidates include 51-year-old judge ketanji brown jackson, recently confirmed to serve on the d.c. circuit court of appeals and 45-year-old associate justice leondra kruger of the california supreme court, plus 55-year-old michelle childs, a federal judge in south carolina. more than anything justice breyer believed in civility, gaining a reputation as a thoughtful listener and reaching for compromise whenever possible. he was good friends with his ideological opposite, the late justice antonin scalia, and believed it was possible to disagree agreeably. >> there's no reason we can't be friends. there is no reason that human beings cannot differ civilly on matters of great importance. >> reporter: jessica schneider, cnn, washington. >> let's continue this discussion. i want to bring back jeffrey toobin and paula reid and abby phillip. paul, i understand you have more on the short list who are some of the women president biden could be reviewing as potential replacements? >> this is as big as it gets. this is president biden's first chance to nominate a justice on a campaign trail. he vowed to nominate a black woman and we have known justice breyer has been pressured to step down. at the top of the list is judge ketanji brown jackson. she is seen as the front-runner, a former supreme court clerk for breyer and recently vetted by the biden white house and confirmed to the d.c. court of appeals to fill the seat left vacant by attorney general merrick garland. that court is often seen as a feeder for the supreme court. now a close second is leondra cuei kruger. she's argued dozens of cases before the court but has not been as thoroughly vetted. we know with the midterms looming time is of the essence here. there's a longer list including mimi wright, second circuit court of appeals judge lee and interestingly michelle childs, a south carolina judge pushed by house majority chip james clyburn. in the 2020 campaign clyburn gave biden what was at the time a much-needed endorsement after he vowed to nominate a black woman. here the pred has a lot of options. time is of the essence soap the fact that judge brown jackson has been vetted, that very much weighs in her favor. they can't afford any delays as at least five gop lawmakers have said they plan to block any nominee from the biden white house if they retake the majority in november. >> jeffrey, of those names, who do you think would be the most likely person to be confirmed? >> ketanji jackson. no question. she fits all the requirements starting with the most important which is that she's highly qualified. she has been a judge on the district court in washington was recently confirmed. it's the exact same senate that will consider her nomination to the d.c. circuit that will be considering her nomination to the supreme court. nothing has happened in the hand full of months that would disqualify her, so she would be on a glide path to confirmation. she is a former breyer clerk, which has a certain poetry to it just as brett kavanaugh was a former anthony kennedy clerk, whom he replaced. i just think the political and legal logic for ketanji jackson is strong. leo th dra kruger is a possibility. if the president were to get a second nomination i would be very -- i think she would be a very likely choice. when you look at the political, at the academic, when you look at issues, ketanji jackson seems like a very solid pick to be confirmed and serve a long and significant tenure. >> abby, you could look at this a couple of ways politically for president biden. today he's holding this meeting, is immediately just facing a barrage of questions about the supreme court when he wanted to focus on the economy today. did this just become a top priority? >> absolutely. sure president biden wanted to talk about build back better today. that's fine. for this particular president with a need to give something that is of great importance to his supporters, people who put him in office, particularly black women, this is an important moment, a moment they've been waiting for because democrats have been anxious about the seat and that promise is very, very important to the people who put biden in office and so i think you'll see the white house moving really quickly to get this done and i think jeffrey is right. a lot of people are talking about a judge ketanji brown jackson today because of all the reasons he laid out. but also because she's someone who could get through this process very quickly. if biden wants to turn back to build back better, the fastest way to do that is to get a nominee named, put through the process and confirmed as quickly as possible and if history is any guide, the senate has proven that they can do that very, very quickly, literally in a matter of weeks. i think you'll see democrats really pushing for something with a lot of speed so they can get back to the rest of business. >> do you anticipate any defections from democrats or can the president count on all 50 votes thinking of manchin and sinema and the dynamics at play recently. >> i think biden can likely count on all 50 votes. especially if it's ketanji brown jackson who was just confirmed. she was just confirmed with a bipartisan vote, so presumptively not only could you count on the democrats but you could also count on those republicans who came over because everyone knew at the time that she was likely going to be on a short list for the supreme court. and so that first vote was symbolic of a vote that would come later. and so i think you can see that there would be a lot of pressure even on republicans to explain if they voted for her months ago why would they not vote for her again if she is, in fact, biden's pick. there are a lot of other names on the list who are extremely qualified. and judge childs was someone who whip clyburn mentioned. it's not a done deal but there are a lot of people who have a lot of supporters on capitol hill and i think even republicans would find difficult to push back on on the merits, politics being something totally different and we all know what the situation in washington is on politics. >> the democrats to come to this broader picture. thank you so much, i really appreciate all of you. up next, the u.s. has just delivered a highly anticipated written response to russia. it's the latest attempt to detear an invasion. what you'll, and help you build a flexible plan for cash 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today. comcast business. powering possibilities. turning now to ukraine and russia with the situation that president biden warns could become the largest invasion since world war ii. a short time ago the u.s. delivered a written response to russia's military demands. no diplomatic breakthrough is expected and tensions may only climb higher. cnn is at the state department and nic robertson is in moscow for us. what are you learning about what's in this written response to russia? we know russia has been asking for certain commitments. >> reporter: secretary of state tony blinken laid out the united states believes what they put forth here is a serious diplomatic path forward, the opportunity for that should russia choose it. what the united states did was put pen to paper with regard to what they've already been saying. identifying the areas they think the u.s. and russia can work together on issues of security such as placement of missiles in europe, such as arms control, more risk reduction tactics, those areas were identified in this document that the u.s. ambassador in russia gave to the russian foreign mince trip today. what was also laid out clearly in the document were the core principles of the united states. of course one of those is that the u.s. supports by all measures nato's open door policy which would, of course, potentially allow for ukraine to join in the long term and just listen to what secretary blinken said about that aspect during his remarks earlier today. >> that it reiterates what we said publicly for many weeks and, in a sense, many years, that we will uphold the principle of nato's open door. nato's door is open, remains open, and that is our commitment. >> reporter: now the secretary said that president biden was intimately involved in crafting this document, making some of his own edits before, of course, it was shared with the kremlin. and there were a lot of things the state department did before sharing this document, consulting with allies, consulting with nato who also put forth a document to the russians today, and they also shared it with members of congress. secretary blinken will be briefing members of congress on this later today. the united states is not putting this document out publicly though u.s. officials tell me they are very clear eyed about the fact russia could do so. blinken said the reason the united states isn't doing it they think there is some degree of positive nature to these diplomatic discussions if they can keep them in private. we will watch and wait to see what the kremlin responds to what the united states has put on paper for them. >> and while we wait for that specific response we do know diplomats have been meeting from russia, ukraine, germany, france, in paris today. nic, what happened? >> reporter: we believe the talks went longer than originally scheduled. there was due to be a press conference given by the russian representative that is several hours overdue now. it is not clear what conclusions could be made by that. the russians were going in with the intent of pressuring the ukrainian representative to meet with the pro-russian separatist in the east of ukraine and this is something ukrainian officials have resisted. there is an underlying believe that what russia really intends to do here is annex off that area. half a million russian passports have been given to the ukrainians living in the area and the indications are russia may use what happens in the area as a reason to get more militarily engaged directly. the separatists were on state television today appealing for the russian government to give them weapons support because they see weapons systems going to ukrainians from the united states. so they're making that a cause for themselves to call for weapons to come from russia. we don't know how the talks progressed, but this was the first time the russians and ukrainians were going to be in the same room since december of 2019 and given the current tensions it was always going to be frosty. >> nic robertson, kylie atwood, thank you. u.s. supreme court justice stephen breyer's plans to retire, back live to capitol hill and our chief congressional correspondent manu raju. you have a new time line? >> reporter: they are looking at a quick time frame to replace justice stephen breyer. i'm told from a source familiar with the thinking that schumer will try to follow the same time frame republicans employed when they pushed through the confirmation of amy coney barrett in 2020 just days before the 2020 election. democrats pushed back and opposed here and said mitch mcconnell said that precedent when he refused to move forward on president obama's nominee in 2016 of merrick garland to serve on the supreme court because it was too close to the election. shum earp now says that he is going to move quickly according to a person familiar with his thinking. amy coney barrett time frame, ruth bader ginsburg died on september 18, 2020. a week later on september 26, barrett was nominated by president donald trump and confirmed on october 26, 2020. about a month-long process they had successfully confirmed her to the position after she was nominated. it remains to be seen how quick ly they will find the replacement. biden will have to make a decision. i'm also told, ana, democrats expect to move forward even before breyer officially steps aside. breyer is expected to retire at the end of his term. democrats still believe they will have the hearings, the process before he steps aside so that new nominee, assuming she, expected to be a woman, is confirmed to that post, can take that position. expect this to happen quickly. democrats are talking of pushing this through and if they keep their party together can do just that. >> there is precedent to start the hearings even if justice breyer continues to serve prior to his official retirement. thank you very much for that update. in a rare move the doj confirms it is investigating fake electoral college certifications, falsely declaring a trump victory. certificate sources say were part of a scheme by the trump campaign to overturn the 2020 election. when you switch and bring your own device, we'll pay off your phone up to $800. you can keep your phone. and keep your number. visit your local t-mobile store today. ♪[music]♪ at aetna® we're shifting medicare coverage into high gear with benefits you may be eligible for when you turn 65. benefits that may include a $0 monthly plan premium. telehealth emergency coverage while you travel an over-the-counter allowance plus dental, vision, and hearing because the right medicare plan should help you feel...yeah, like that. aetna medicare advantage plans call today to learn more. in a cnn exclusive interview, we are learning the justice department is investigating fake electoral college certifications that falsely declared former president trump the winner of seven swing states that he lost in 2020. these phony certificates contain the signatures of trump supporters who falsely claimed to be the rightful electors in the states you see there on your screen. again, all states won by president biden. evan perez is joining us. evan, you sat down for this exclusive interview with lisa monaco. this is quite the revelation. >> it is, because the justice department has been very reluctant to even acknowledge any specific aspects of this investigation that have been ongoing and so one of the things we wanted to know was whether the justice department was responding to some of the calls from the states. state prosecutors who were making referrals to the justice department because they believe that these fake electoral certificates were essentially a violation of federal law and they wanted the justice department to take a look at them. the deputy attorney general sat down with me and we talked about this. take a listen. >> on the issue you raised in terms of fraudulent electoral certifications has been reported. we've received those referrals, our prosecutors are looking at those and i can't say anything more on ongoing investigations, but more broadly, look. the attorney general has been very, very clear. we are going to follow the facts in the law wherever they lead to address conduct of any kind and at any level that is part of an assault on our democracy. >> and the importance of those words at any level is obviously pointing to the fact that there are close associates of the former president, rudy giuliani, and others who were orchestrating this effort across those states. as you know, there were some of these people who were involved who were smart enough to change the language to try to at least cover themselves legally. others did not. and so we'll see where this investigation goes. >> we know hundreds of people have faced charges in the january 6th doj investigation, but not necessarily at the higher up level. more on the ground floor level. those at the capitol. like you said, this could be significant. thank you. let's break it down with cnn's senior legal analyst, elie honig. we didn't hear a lot from her in that q&a, but it was significant because it is so unusual, right, for the justice department to confirm even just confirm an investigation. >> i want people to understand how extraordinarily rare it is for her to tell evan. when you're trained as a prosecutor, anytime you're asked about an ongoing investigation, it's cannot confirm or deny, cannot comment on a pending matter. we've heard that from doj countless times. normal doj policy is to not confirm or deny anything except in extraordinary circumstances. this was a conscious decision and i think what's going on here is they understand. they operate in the real world and every once in a while, the justice department has to reassure the american people we're aware of this. we're on it. we're taking a look at it. >> we don't know when they started their investigation. still, here we are. a year later. bottom line, do these fake certificates constitute a federal crime? >> i can see ways they could. i'm going to do what prosecutors do now, which is typically you look for the straightest line to a charge. what charge is the most easie applicable? it is a crime to submit a false document to a federal agency. if you or i were to submit a false document to social security, medicare, medicare, the irs, and did it intentionally, that would be a federal crime. same here. these documents went to the national archives. if they were sent in order to trick or deceive the national archives or congress, that would be a federal crime. the defense is going to be in case. just in case the courts threw out the biden electorals. so that will be a argument we hear both ways and the issue prosecutors have to wrestle with. >> as we look at that map with the seven different states involved then the actual fake documents put together, we've learned rudy giuliani led this effort with bogus electors. he has been subpoenaed by the january 6th committee, but what kind of legal trouble could he face? >> wow. you need a note pad to keep track of all this stuff with rudy. his law license has been suspended in new york and d.c. he has been named for millions of dollars in civil suits brought by voting technology companies and in relation to january 6th. he has received a subpoena from the january 6th committee, which as far as we know, he's not yet complied with. most concerning i think is he's under criminal investigation for potential lobbying violations unrelated to january 6th by his forme former office, my former office, the southern district of new york. and now this investigation seems likely to center around him as well. so he's got all sorts of legal problems mounting up. >> let's pivot to another lawyer involved in trump's big lie. john eastman. remember, he wrote that step by step coup instruction memo trying to get vice president pence to block the official electoral count in congress. he tried to sue to block a subpoena. a judge just ruled overnight that he must comply. how significant is this? >> yeah, so john eastman was really at the heart of the coup plotting. this judge had very little patience for eastman's argument and most importantly, during this argument, eastman acknowledged he was acting and serving as donald trump's lawyer when he wrote this bogus blueprint. that's a really important concession because it takes away any argument that he was free lancing or acting on his own. >> and now he has to turn over some 19,000 e-mails that were potentially sent from his university, chapman university account. is attorney client privilege going to be a problem? >> so, this is what the court and the parties have to review for now. i don't believe attorney client privilege necessary applies. they're saying congress does not even have to respect attorney client privilege. they're separate from the courts. also, it doesn't apply to any communications that were in furtherance of a crime. >> always appreciate you. thank you. that does it for us today. we're back same time, same place tomorrow and you can always join me on twitter. the news continues right now. hello, everyone. welcome to newsroom. >> it's good to be with you. we are beginning with the breaking news that will have legal and political ramifications in this country for decades. a source tells cnn that supreme court justice briar plans to retire and that means president biden will have a chance to make his first nomination to the bench. >> he reportedly plans to announce