i believe in the american people, and i believe in the fact that jurors will listen fairly and impartially. and for people who say they won't, dana, those are people who believe only in themselves, like donald trump and not the american people. >> former vice president mike pence says he has no plans to testify in a federal trial of trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, but he says he will comply with the law if called to be a witness. >> the day before january 6th, if memory serves, they came back, his lawyers did, and said we want you to reject votes outright. they were asking me to overturn the election. i had no right to overturn the election. >> you can say right here that you will rule out voting for donald trump again for president? >> dana, i will tell you, i don't think we'll have to make that decision. >> what if you do? >> i'm confident i'll be able to support the republican nominee, especially if it's me. >> let's get some reaction now from one of the contenders vying for the republican nomination. joining us live from iowa, republican presidential candidate, former governor of arkansas asa hutchinson. governor, thanks so much for being with us. we appreciate it. let's just get right to it if we can. this past week, as you heard, trump, the leader of the republican party, the current front-runner for the gop nomination, was indicted on charges of attempting to overthrow the 2020 election. he traveled to washington for his arraignment. since then, he's been issuing these threats on social media, saying, if you go after me, i'm coming after you. he described the special counsel, jack smith, as deranged. he's now attacking the judge handling the case, saying there's no way he can get a fair trial from her. how do you think the judge should handle this situation? does he need to be issued a warning, do you think? >> well, i think she will, and of course there's a whole trough of evidence that's going to be turned over to the defense which they'll show and share with donald trump. and what he does with that information is a legitimate question. obviously if he sees something to his political advantage, he's going to put it out on social media, and that's a concern if it's used to intimidate witnesses. you know, the last statement, i'm not sure who that was focused on, and they're going to have to explain that. it could be his political competitors in this race or a member of congress, that if you criticize me, i'm going to go after you. so it's both a political threat but also who knows where else he intended that to go? >> yeah. but he said that on social media about a day after he was arraigned in federal court in washington. i mean it doesn't take too much of an imagination to infer he was directing that at people involved in the case. >> well, certainly, and that's why i know the judge will be concerned about it. again, if you look at it from an evidentiary standpoint, discovery is not intended to be put out into the media. now, there's two defense strategies. one, they want to keep the public relations, which is that they believe donald trump has been victimized. he's been picked on. i'm here in iowa. there's a sense among republicans that that's exactly the case. so there's sympathy for him. and then secondly, a part of their defense is that it's free speech, that he had a political rally there that he's entitled to. so this is not easy for the prosecution. it's a heavy burden of proof as it should be. and so that's the defense strategy, and of course the prosecution's going to really have to show this goes beyond political speech if they're going to make their case. >> let me ask you about what trump said at this rally last night in south carolina. he was railing against the indictment. let's listen to this. >> virtually every poll where kicking biden's ass, and that's the problem. if i wasn't, we wouldn't be under investigation by deranged jack smith. he's a deranged human being. you take a look at that face, you say that guy is a sick man. there's something wrong with him. >> governor hutchinson, you worked at both the federal and the state level. i mean, i just wonder what your thoughts are on the current republican front-runner, the former president, railing against the special counsel in that fashion, a justice department employee. and based on this behavior, i'm curious how you could contemplate supporting him as the nominee of the republican party based on how he's acting right now. >> well, he's acted like he has before, and it's always an affront to him. he's always the victim. and here you have the importance of our justice system at stake, and he attacks it left and right. and the bottom line is that this case is going to be resolved based upon the facts and the law that's presented in the courtroom. then the public relations goes out the window. then all of his bluster goes out the window and it's determined based upon the case that is presented. i don't think it's a good defense strategy to be attacking either the judge or the jury pool in washington, d.c. or the prosecutor. it doesn't make sense, but he's playing to his crowd because he's intertwined both his campaign with his legal defense strategy. so the voters are going to have to sort this through. it's not easy for them, and he's making it complicated for them. and so we're counting on the voters to make sure they put their mind both to the evidence in the trial but also looking at how we can better support and reform our criminal justice system to make it work better. >> yeah, and let me ask you about the race. why do you think your other republican opponents aren't seizing on these indictments, hitting trump harder? it sounds like a lot of these other gop rivals in the field, they're sort of tiptoeing around really going after the former president. you're one of the exceptions. former new jersey governor chris christie is one of the exceptions. but many of the others stop short of going after the former president on these indictments. it's kind of astounding to somebody you're speaking with right now who has covered a lot of presidential campaigns. typically, you know, if a candidate gets indicted, the other candidates in the race pound him. why isn't that happening? >> well, it's, again, because of the victimization that donald trump has portrayed himself as being the result of the criminal justice system that is tainted against him. >> why do people fall for that if you don't mind me interrupting? why are people falling for that? what is he the victim of? he's not the victim of anything. >> well, i agree. he brought this on himself. but you're asking me about the voters and why it's difficult. it starts with alvin bragg that brought a questionable case. that looked like political influence in the case and politically motivated. so that starts tainting the prosecutions. so it's not justified. you know, the former president has brought this on himself. he's going to be held accountable in a court of law on it. but it's a challenge with the republican voters because they see a justice system that needs changing, and that's why i support the criminal justice system, but i also want to see it reformed. that's why i sent a whole package of reform measures that focuses their jurisdiction more, brings in more accountability and transparency. that's the right way to approach it. there are challenges, but it should be separated from the case that donald trump faces. he's going to have to answer in a court of law, and i just simply make that case to the voters as i talk to them. and i think these things will change as we go further into the campaign season. >> and in an interview with npr this past week, you said you were optimistic that trump's grip on the gop could loosen. let's show that poll, though, that shows how things are going in iowa. a new poll of iowa republicans who say they're voting for trump shows that more than half of them are only considering him. he's also leading his next closest rival, ron desantis, by double digits in that state. you're out there in iowa. you're talking to people out there. when you talk to them, does the name trump come up? are they talking about other things? what makes you think you can change the dynamic there in iowa? >> i talked to hundreds of iowa voters tonight, incredible event. and i asked them, one, do you want donald trump on the debate stage? most of them say yes because they want to see them all together and how they respond to each other. and they take -- they know they'll be asked questions about the case itself. they want to know how he responds to that. and then secondly, there's a lot of trump support, absolutely, and there's a sense whether they're for trump or somebody else, that the system has not treated him fairly. but they also recognize they need to move away. that's a very gradual process. so this is going to be, you know, a pot coming to a boil over time, and it's going to take the debate. it's going to take a lot of examination by iowa voters really to sort through who they're going to support. what was encouraging to me tonight is the number of iowans that had stickers on "i'm an undecided iowa voter." there's a whole bunch of those stickers that are out there. >> let's turn to the first debate happening later this month. you said you're close to halfway to reaching the required donor threshold. are we going to see you on that debate stage? are you going to be able to make it? >> i am thanks to the support of people all across the country. it's asa2024.com. a dollar helps us get on the debate stage. but we're making progress every day. we've got a lot of things planned in the coming weeks to make sure that we get there. people expect me on the debate stage. i want to be able to speak to the issues that we've talked about today. it's important for them to hear that. >> is there something wrong with the debate qualification process in your party if donald trump, who has three indictments hanging over his head, can make the debate stage and somebody like yourself, who's been the governor of the state of arkansas, can't get on the debate stage? that doesn't sound right. >> well, i've made it clear i -- it doesn't sound right. i don't like the requirements in place, but we have to abide by them. we've got to get to 40,000. i've already complied with the requirement in polling numbers. so we've made the national polling requirements. we've just got to get the number of donors to qualify. then you've got to sign a pledge as well. so a lot of restrictions to get on that debate, but it's important to be there. iowans and new hampshire folks are looking at that debate to start separating the candidates. so everything is wide open until that time. >> you know, governor, i wonder if you've had conversations with members of your party, leaders in your party, and had any kind of discussion about what happens if trump is convicted and sentenced to prison around the time of next year's republican convention. has anybody thought this through inside the party? what would be the party do at this point if all of a sudden your nominee is hauled off to jail? >> well, i've thought it through, and that's why i asked for an exception. i don't want to sign a pledge that says i'm going to support somebody who's been convicted of serious crimes. but, you know, they're not trying to get in the middle of that. of course there's a constitutional limitation on doesn't disqualify him. i believe he is morally disqualified, and he ought to withdraw. but the rnc does not share that view, and so we could be in a real predicament. that's why donald trump wants to postpone all these trials until after the election. and it's going to be up to the judge to say not just the defendant has the right to a speedy trial, but the government does as well, and the public does. that speedy trial requirement is for the public at large that we have speedy access to our justice system. and so it's up to the judges. i hope it's resolved before the election is over with. >> all right. i guess we'll have to see if that happens. good luck tonight at the event there in cedar rapids. former governor asa hutchinson, thanks so much for your time. we appreciate it. >> thank you, jim. good to be with you. in the meantime, it's a real possibility. what happens if former president trump returns to the white house and then gets convicted? that's another possibility, i suppose. we'll ask a legal expert about that, if trump could actually serve his term. plus, a father of two identified as one of three americans killed recently while fighting in ukraine. what we're learning about him next. you're live in the "cnn newsroom." or the tacacos at the taco shack. nah, i'm working on m my six pack. wewell, good luck with that. earn big with chase e freedom unlimited with no annual fee. how do you casashback? with 30 grams of protein. those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks! uuuhhhh... here, i'll take that! woohoo! ensure max protein, 30 grams of protein, 1 gram of sugar. enter the $10,000 powered by protein max challenge. ♪ ♪ >> woman: why did we choose safelite? >> vo: for us, driving around is the only way we can get our baby to sleep, so when our windshield cracked, we needed it fixed right. we went to safelite.com. there's no one else we'd trust. their experts replaced our windshield, and recalibrated our car's advanced safety system. they focus on our safety... so we can focus on this little guy. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ using the finest materials, like indulgent memory foam, and ultra-conforming innersprings, for a beautiful mattress, and indescribable comfort. for a limited time, save $400 on select stearns & foster mattresses. subway refreshed everything and now they're slicing their deli meats fresh. that's why this qb profers the new five meat beast. and this qb profers it. and if we profer it. we know you'll profer it too. are you trying to outspokesperson me? 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i was talking to former governor asa hutchinson about this in a similar fashion a few moments ago. what happens if trump is convicted and sentenced to jail and this happens right around the republican nomination, but i suppose it could happen before inauguration, and we ask that question too. what if? can he go into the oval office? >> well, the first thing to say is that the constitution has very few requirements to be president. you have to be 35, natural born citizen. you have to be a resident of the united states for a certain period of time. that's it. so, you know, trump lives in florida. if he were a convicted felon, he wouldn't be able to vote for himself but nothing in the constitution says he can't serve. >> rick, the other question that has come up, and, you know, i've talked to a former trump adviser about this, who has said all they want to do is push these cases past the election because in that case, he could conceivably pardon himself or perhaps move people out of the justice department, appoint a new attorney general, get rid of the special counsel and so on. could he do those sorts of things? >> well, there's one thing in between that, which is that some people have already taken the position that trump's not eligible to serve as president because there's a pardon in-- pt of the constitution that says people who have participated in an insurrection aren't eligible to serve. there's all kinds of questions about whether this applies to trump. but there are lawsuits throughout the country trying to keep trump off the ballot. there's this other hurdle not getting attention now, but i think we're going to hear a lot about it over the next year. if he does make it into office, if he is qualified to serve, it's an uncertain question as to whether or not he could pardon himself. he certainly has a lot of power over the justice department, and we've been reading stories about how there are plans to try to, you know, politicize the justice department so that it would be more political and so that it could potentially even go after trump's enemies, not only provide a basis for him to end any ongoing prosecutions that might still be going after he might assume office. >> and, rick, let's talk about some of these big headlines from the latest trump indictment on these election subversion charges. what do you make of this argument from the trump legal team that he was just exercising his right to free speech in contesting the election results? >> yeah. i mean, i think the free speech argument is a canard. if he would have said to mike pence, vote for -- you know, throw out the votes from michigan, or i'm going to break both of your legs, he'd be using speech to do that, but everyone would see that as a potential crime. it doesn't matter that he's using words. it doesn't matter what he believes. so it's the same kind of thing with the claims that are going on here. he's not being prosecuted for his beliefs. he's not being prosecuted for exercising the right to free speech, but lots of crimes are committed using words. bribery, extortion, fraud. so just the fact he's using words does not give him a get out of jail free card under the first amendment. >> that was one of the arguments that the trump attorney, john lauro, was making on the sunday talk shows earlier today, that when trump was going to the georgia secretary of state and asking to find the votes to win the state of georgia, that he was just speaking in an aspirational sense. he was just asking. do you buy that? >> well, it's like a bank robber with a gun who is just asking for money while holding a gun, you know, to a bank teller. i don't think, again, that a free speech defense is going to work. i think if there are charges in georgia -- and i should say if there are state charges, trump would not be able to pardon himself from state charges. but if there is a trial in georgia, it's likely going to turn on what trump meant when he asked raffensperger to find 11,780 votes, whether that was kind of a code for engaging in subversion of the election or it was just him honestly looking for a way for the ballots to be recounted or something like that. that could be a fact question that a jury would have to decide. >> just a quick final. i know you work for the safeguarding democracy project there at ucla. what becomes of american democracy if trump becomes the nominee, if he somehow becomes president of the united states? is that something you worry about? >> well, what i'm worried about is that people tried in 2020 to subvert our elections, and if there is no accountability, people are going to try it again in a future election. so the question is if there's something that can be done to better safeguard our american democracy. >> all right. rick hasen, thank you very much for your time. we appreciate it. >> thank you. all right. coming up, ukraine strikes two important bridges that are critical to russia, and a kremlin-backed official says advanced missiles supplied by the uk were used in the attack. cnn is in ukraine next. you're live in the "cnn newsroom." their team of independent tax attorneys will work with yourr cpa to determine if your companyny is eligible. 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it's earning 3% at drugstores with chase freedom unlimited. so i can save on something special for a first date? wait! that's all for a first date? whoa. alright, c'mon. earn big with chase freedom unlimited with no annual fee. how do you cashback? a massive fire is burning at this recycling center in albuquerque, new mexico. you can see the thick, black smoke billowing into the sky. emergency crews are on the scene. but fire officials say the building and the vehicles are still burning. you can see that video right there. it is just raging. you can see some fire trucks on the scene. t we'll bring you more information as it comes in. we'll keep an eye on that. in the meantime, we are learning more tonight about one of the three americans killed recently while fighting in ukraine. the family of andrew weber confirming to cnn that the father of two died last saturday as a volunteer who went to ukraine to fight the russians. andrew was a graduate of west point military academy and northwestern law school. he is survived by his wife and his daughters in seattle. the two other two fallen americans have not been identified but the state department says it is in touch with their families. we're following multiple expl at a critical bridge linking crimea to russian-occupied ukraine. russia says the explosions were caused by ukrainian missiles supplied by the uk. ukraine acknowledged the strikes but didn't say whether the missiles were british-supplied. russia says it intercepted 9 of the 12 missiles fired, and cnn's chief international security correspondent nick paton walsh is in ukraine in more. >> reporter: these two bridges hit that run from crimea, the peninsula roccupied by russia. they're vital parts of both the civilian and military structure. russian officials trying to brush the damage off, saying they'll be functional again by the end of the day and they have another one anyway running to the west of those. this is pinpoint strikes. the r the pinpoint nature of these strikes against russian infrastructure is key because it's about disrupting supply routes, particularly from the military stronghold of crimea up towards zaporizhzhia's western area near where i'm standing. it is essentially the focus of this latest thrust of ukraine's counteroffensive. they want to move down to cut crimea off from the rest of russian-occupied territory. it's very slow going but the bid is these resupply routes can be cut by these pinpoint strikes. sometimes these attacks presage an uptick in ukrainian activity. unclear at this point. but it caps an awful 72 hours of tit for tat strikes going back and forth between ukraine admitting that some military targets were, indeed, hit in the last 24 hours. some perhaps by hypersonic missiles launched by russia and two significant drone attacks by ukraine on the water against a russian oil cargo ship, a russian amphibious assault ship. remarkable targeting by kyiv using technology that's pretty new. but still the focus really now on the counteroffensive and whether or not these pinpoint strikes against russian infrastructure can try and give ukraine an edge in that, jim. >> all right. nick paton walsh, thanks very much. joining us now is retired general mark hertling. what's the significance of ukraine going after these bridges near crimea? i mean, we've heard time and again that ukraine would love to get crimea back. is that what this is about? >> partly, jim. nick just mentioned the targeting. you know, many people don't understand that in the military, there is such a thing as a targeting process. what kind of targets are you going after? how will it affect the battlefield? what kind of things do you need to do to literally restrain your enemy from doing the kinds of things he wants to do? that's what's occurring here. when you're talking about the offensive operations of ukrainian forces in the southeast, they are attempting to liberate the two provinces of kherson and zaporizhzhia. as you look at the map that you have posted on the screen right now, a lot of the supplies are coming into those two provinces where the red area is from crimea. others are coming from a small town across the border in russia along a major supply route, or what the military would call a line of communication. when you interrupt that passage of supplies, whether it be ammunition, food, resupply, personnel, equipment, arms, all of those things will hinder the defensive operations of russia. and that's what i believe the ukrainian main effort is, is not only to continue their offensive operation in a smaller way than anticipated and perhaps a little bit slower, but they're doing it by literally taking away the capability of ukraine to reinforce -- excuse me -- russia to reinforce and resupply their forces on the front lines. this is all critical. >> yeah, and russia is saying ukraine used british-supplied missiles to carry out these strikes. why is that important? >> yeah, it's important, the storm shadow missile that nick just mentioned, it's very different than some of the other missiles that ukraine has been firing. primarily it's not fired from the ground up into the air like a ballistic missile and then lands on a target somewhere down in enemy territory. it's shot from a ukrainian aircraft, and it's a cruise missile. that means it has different types of guidance systems, gps, so it's a radar that follows the map of the earth. close to 100 to 200 meters above the ground. when you have that, it's difficult to detect by the russians. it's also very difficult to shoot down. the key thing also is it has a range of about 150 miles, jim. so this can hit those major ammo dumps, those resupply lines, the railroad transport lines or the highways that most artillery can't hit. and you can hit it from behind the ukrainian lines. so the airplanes that shoot them stay safe. they're not engaged by russian air defense, and they can shoot from longer distances to hit the supply lines that are affecting the russian military operations. >> general, this caught my eye yesterday. we were talking about it a little yesterday. i'm sure this caught your eye as well. we want to look at this video obtained by cnn that shows a ukrainian sea drone attacking a russian oil tanker on saturday. what do you make of the use of this technology? it just seems more and seeing t drones. it's kind of ingenious on the part of the ukrainians because you don't really need much of a navy if you can use these sorts of navy drones under the cover of darkness, i guess. >> well, again, it's a requirement to get the right targeting to use these kind of systems, jim. but none of these sea drones or aircraft drones, unmanned systems as we call them, are new. nothing is new about them. what's interesting, though, is that ukraine forces have adapted so well to build this kind of equipment, to take literally inexpensive capabilities. that sea drone as an example maybe costs a couple of thousand dollars. and it's destroying a ship that runs in the hundreds of millions. it's the return on the investment first of all, but it's an adapting of a civilian type of capability, a remote-controlled motor boat basically, to strike a ship, and it's been fascinating to watch ukraine adapt in many of these ways. >> yeah, i was just going to say it almost looks like a jet ski or something and they've mounted a camera on it. i suppose it's being used for propaganda purposes as well to tell the russians, oh, by the way, we can just use this low-tech way of coming after your ships. >> yeah, it's definitely psychological warfare. and it's not only psychological. it's physical, jim, because russia now realizes they have to defend in places they didn't anticipate defending in. hundreds of miles away from the territory of ukraine, in the southeast sector of the black sea. that's almost 500 miles away from the coastline of ukraine. when you endanger boats in those areas, ships, main ships with something like this small motorboat, it's really significant because russia then has to calculate, gee, how do i defend that, and where do i take forces from other places in order to do that? so it's very challenging both psychologically and physically to do those things. >> just fascinating video. all right. lieutenant general mark hertling, great to see you as always. thanks so much. >> pleasure, jim. thanks. still ahead, several republican candidates are in iowa tonight for an event with voters. next, what new polling from the state tells us about the uphill climb they face to stand out against the front-runner, donald trump. you're live in the "cnn newsroom." with ancestry i dug and dug untitil i found some information. i was able to find out more than n just a name. and then you add it to the tree. i found ship manifests. birth certificate. wow. look at your dad. i love it so much to know where my father work, where he grew up. it's like you discover a new family member. discover even more at ancestry.com the first time you connected your godaddy website and your store was also the first time you realized... well, we can do anything. cheesecake cookies? e chookie! manage all your sales from one place with a partner that alws puts you first. 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is trump that far ahead? >> yeah, i've found nothing terribly surprising in that poll and what it shows is that as much as iowa republicans here are giving a look at these other candidates, as it stands right now, donald trump has his strong core of support, and that hasn't wavered, and the rest of the field has a lot of ground to make up to catch the former president. >> we should note this "new york times" poll we're referencing was conducted before trump's third indictment was made public this past week and the arraignment that we saw, and i guess all of his social media posts he put up over the weekend although i'm not sure given what we've seen so far, how that would change the dynamic too much in this field. we were talking about former governor asa hutchinson earlier this hour, and he was saying there's still some time to change some minds. is that your sense? >> well, the one thing i will say is iowa republicans, iowans are notoriously late deciders. there is still a segment of the electorate here who can be persuaded and can still land on a different candidate. it's just that margin continues to be so big, and it's going to take some dramatic movement by one candidate. it's going to take a lot of that support coalescing around the same person for someone to come close to president trump. the other thing to keep in mind here is it's not always super important that someone else wins iowa. one of those other candidates doesn't necessarily have to beat former president trump. but if someone can leap out of that bottom tier and go from polling at 5%, now and land at 20%, 25% in the caucuses, that will be seen as significant movement, and that will propel that candidate coming out of iowa even if they don't necessarily win here. >> i was talking to governor hutchinson about this. what is your sense of how iowans are responding to how the former president is campaigning out on the campaign trail, portraying these indictments as they're not coming after me. they're coming after you. i'm just standing in the way. and this threatening rhetoric, inciting rhetoric where he's going after the special counsel and the judge in the case and so on. why aren't republicans in iowa fed up with this stuff, do you think? >> well, i mean, i think it's similar to what you hear from folks all over the country, which is there's a certain segment, and whatever percent that is, it's maybe around 44% in iowa of folk who's absolutely believe everything that former president trump says about all these legal issues, and so they don't waver when these kinds of things happen. they believe former president trump. they believe he is the victim of political persecution despite all the evidence to the contrary. and none of these things changes that calculus and where the people who are, you know, a little more fed up with this kind of thing, there are those folks within the republican party. i do hear from them here. they're just either not as many as there are supporting former president trump, or they're scattered to all the other candidates and not coalescing around another candidate yet. that's why the former president continues to lead. >> just a quick follow-up because i've been out in iowa a number of times following these caucuses, and i watched rick santorum surprise a lot of people back in 2012, watched ted cruz surprise a lot of people in 2016. it's almost as if donald trump is running as an incumbent in that field. is that a fair read of things? >> i think you said it exactly right, jim. it's like there is an incumbent in this race, and those numbers we see with former president trump have not moved. they've been in that upper 30s, lower 40s range, and someone else is going to have to get there if they're going to beat him here. but, again, i will reemphasize that it's not always about winning iowa. someone doesn't have to necessarily defeat former president trump here, but someone's got to make a big charge and be interesting, be relevant coming out of iowa and moving on to new hampshire and the other early voting states. >> yeah. i'm old enough to remember there used to be a saying that there are three tickets out of iowa. i guess we'll have to see if that's what happens this time around. aaron murphy, thanks so much. appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. >> we'll be right back. ev. hybridid. plug-in hybrid. to each their own...electric. find yours at the lexus golden opportunity sales s event. mom: hey! cheap flight alert! daughter: hawaii! can we go? 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>> well, first you have to remember that there was always black science fiction and fantasy. i mean, all the way back to the 1850s there were graphic novels that were being written by black authors. but the way we saw it evolve first is in the black circles with movies like "blackula" back in the '70s. but now that you are giving folks an opportunity when you actually open up everything to everybody, you actually get excellence and innovation. that's what we're seeing now. that's how things are changing. that's why it's important to see will smith, when you see him in "men in black." when you saw lando calrissian, billy dee williams in the "star wars" franchise. when you see morgan freeman as the president in "deep impact." so it's important that you see black people exist, we're important and we have a role. and in many of those roles we can be superheroes. >> if i can just be a nerd for a minute it was great to see billy dee williams, lando come back in that last "star wars" movie. that was just fantastic. it gave all of us "star wars" fans a big throwback thrill. kevin frazier, we don't have a whole lot of time this evening but please come back. thank you so much for being with us. greatly appreciate it. >> thanks so mucfor having me. always appreciate it. take care. >> thank you so much. you as well. "say it loud: the history of black television" airs tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern and pacific only on cnn. and this week's cnn hero is committed to restoring coral reefs in the florida keys. meet mike goldberg, whose non-profit has transplanted more than 15,000 corals from a nursery to an ocean. >> coral reefs, without them nothing is here. simply put. they are what it is that brings the ecosystem together. sadly, i've watched us lose that coral reef and the disappearance of that diverse marine ecosystem. >> are we ready? let's go down. >> but then i said you know what? i'm going to do something. i truly believe we're going to be successful with this restoration work. >> how fast this coral is growing. >> i see things every time i go in the water that give me hope. i love being a part of it. i wake up every day and say look what i get to do. >> and for the full story and to see his group in action go to cnnheroes.com. 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