Transcripts For CNNW The 20240704

Really that allows us to nail down who this individual coconspirator number 3 was. An attorney for one of the coconspirators also apparently confirmed their identity to cnn . Thats right, jake. Former nypd commissioner bernie kerik, his attorney confirming to us that he is coconspirator number 5 in this indictment. And there are similarly details that also help us identify kerik as the individual listed as number 5. We know that bernie kerik was deeply involved with Rudy Giulianis legal team trying to help find evidence of widespread voter fraud. And we know that bernie kerik was specifically at a white house meeting in November 2020 where trump was president and they were talking to a bunch of State Legislators from pennsylvania trying to pressure them to hold a special session in their bid to overturn the election. His presence at that meeting in addition to the confirmation from his lawyer made clear. We also know that another individual, coconspirator number 6, is also at that meeting in November 2020. Phil waldron, an election denier, a member of giulianis team. We were able to find out through context, clues and his attendance at that meeting that he too is one of the unnamed individuals. Also cnn was able to piece together the identity of two other unnamed individuals using Surveillance Video from the Coffee County Election Center . Reporter jake, as you know, the Coffee County Voting System breach was really a key part of the indictment from Fulton County d. A. Fani willis. We had previously obtained hours and hours of Surveillance Video showing various operatives coming in and out of the elections office. But theres only two individuals who were let into that Election Office on january 18, 2021, and those are doug logan, the cyber ninjas ceo. We know him from the arizona audit. And this man named jeffrey lindbergh. And both of them do appear to be the unnamed individuals in this Charging Document. And we see both of them in the Surveillance Video i just mentioned. That helped us narrow down the specific dates and times that these people entered the office and makes clear it could only be those two individuals. Im also told that based on reporting cnn thinks that individuals 2, individual 9, individuals 12 through 19, all of them are fake electors from georgia . Reporter yeah, jake, obviously three of the fake electors from georgia are facing criminal charges now. But the rest of them were listed as unindicted coconspirators. You remember the District Attorney fani willis told all the fake electors at the outset of her investigation that they were considered targets in the probe. Were now learning shes only charging three but the rest of them do appear to be unindicted, unnamed coconspirators in the indictment. They do make an appearance in the Charging Document itself, just not facing criminal charges. All right. Some good sleuthing there. Zach cohen, thank you so much. I want to bring in Cnns Kaitlan Collins now. Kaitlan, lets talk about this. Is the trump team prepared for the possibility that some of these coconspirators, unnamed, could enter into a Plea Agreement with the prosecutor and become witnesses against them in the case . I think thats even the concern with those who are named, the codefendants that are listed here. Certainly theres a lot to choose from. And when i was talking to people in trumps orbit after this indictment came out the other night when we were on air, that was one of the first things they pointed to, the fact there are these 18 other codefendants that were listed in the actual charges but also these 30 unindicted coconspirators that zach was just referencing there. I mean, some of them still work for him including Boris Epshteyn. Some of them are still highranking officials in the state of georgia including the lieutenant governor, burt jones. Hes an unindicted coconspirator number 8, cnn believes. So just to look at the magnitude of that, people who are not just people who are close to trump like a Boris Epshteyn but also a lot of these officials who were in Coffee County who arent in trumps inner circle at all. I think theres a lot of room for some potential plea deals here. Of course we dont actually know if thats something that some of them are going to pursue. But its certainly an open and fair question in trump world. And they themselves were trying to figure out who these names were that zach was just going through here, trying to identify each of them. You know, not even just in this case. In other cases, jake, theyve also been trying to figure out who the unindicted coconspirators were and if theyre people who are still actively in trumps orbit. Donald trump has said he wanted to hold a Press Conference next week where he would release the proof of the voter fraud in georgia. The conservative republican Governor Brian Kemp pushed back on that. There was no fraud that would have changed the outcome of the election, he said. Whats the status of that Press Conference . I think this is something that everyone was understandably skeptical of the moment that trump said he was going to be having anything described as a major news conference. And really a lot of that had to do with, jake, we were talking to people immediately about it and a lot of people did not know that he was going to post that. People who were advisers to him. They were surprised, they saw for the first time when we saw it, when he posted it. And i have been making some calls on this, jake, and im now told it is unlikely that is to go forward in any real capacity. If anything happens on Monday At Bedminster at all, when he teased that its going to happen there at his golf course, in part that is because we were told that his advisers have warned him and cautioned him against having a Press Conference on baseless claims that hes been making for three years now that dont have anything to back them up but also while he is facing several trials precisely for that. So well see what happens on monday but right now, jake, i am told it is unlikely and there should be real doubt on the idea of any Press Conference happening at all. Of course there was already doubt on whether or not there would be actual evidence three years after the election. Governor kemp said nobody in three years has come forward under oath with any evidence at all. When it comes to one of the coconspirators charged alongside donald trump in georgia, cnn has reported Rudy Giuliani is struggling under mounting legal bills. And you have some reporting about a trip that giuliani made to try to get some Financial Assistance from trump. Tell us about that. Trump has never wanted to pay giulianis legal fees when he was actually representing him or his legal bills now. And what i was told is that a few months ago giuliani and his attorney, bob costello, went down to maralago in late april, met with trump and they were basically making this pitch, jake, that it is in trumps best interests to be paying Rudy Giulianis legal bills. What we have seen come forward in recent days from other attorneys in court is he is cashstrapped, hes basically broke, that they say he cannot afford the legal bills he has right now from that smartmatic lawsuit. Basically, they went to trump trying to get limb to cover all of giulianis Legal Expenses given he was doing stuff at trumps behest. Trump only agreed to pay 340,000 to this data vendor. That might seem like a lot of money. It is a lot of money. But when you look at what giuliani is up against, he has sevenfigure legal fees, jake, right now and he is really struggling. So it speaks to, one, something not surprising, trump does not want to go into his own money to pay for someone elses legal fees. Certainly hes paying a lot of peoples already. And two, it just speaks to the immense Financial Stress that Rudy Giuliani finds himself under and its not even close to being over because hes facing disbarment proceedings. Hes got lawsuits. And now of course hes been indicted in the state of georgia. All right. Kaitlan collins, thank you so much. On that subject, Rudy Giuliani, a cnn original series, is looking into Rudy Giulianis troubles. Its called giuliani what happened to americas mayor . Thats airing this Saturday Night at 8 00 eastern only here on cnn. Cnns Alayna Treene joins us now. Lets first talk about the Republican Debate next week. If trump does not debate, it would seem very trumpy to make plans to draw attention away from the debate that he has said theres no sense in him going to to him. Does he have plans . He does. Or at least hes been Throwing Ideas out there. My reporting from my conversations with Donald Trumps team is that trump himself has been throwing out ideas like doing an interview with Tucker Carlson and calling in to different cable news shows during the debate as part of some sort of counterprogramming strategy. They also say hes very much not likely to attend that debate, of course. But they have the caveat that its donald trump, ive covered him for years, you never know what hes going to do. He could decide in the 11th hour. Of course there are logistical questions about whether thats even possible. But hes not expected to be on the debate stage. He has also been reaching out to his surrogates, people like Byron Donalds and matt gaetz, both congressmen of florida, and kari lake to represent him in the spin room. And im told some of Donald Trumps advisers will also be there that night. Clearly even if hes not there he wants to have some sort of representation. But the other thing im hearing, jake, is that donald trump this week even has been telling people in conversations that he thinks fox news is worried about ratings. He had a dinner last month with fox news executives, president jay wallace and chief executive suzanne scott, and they really encouraged him thoroughly to join the debate. Hes been telling people i talked to someone on monday who just spoke with him about this. Saying that he thinks this means that theyre very worried that theyre going to do poorly without him there. So hes feeling very strongly that he doesnt have to show up. Alayna treene, thanks so much. Appreciate it. A week after the fires on maui more than 1,000 people remain unaccounted for. Now some residents are returning for the first time to see what is left of their homes. And another investigation that could affect the 2024 campaign. Hunter bidens. Does President Biden have a blind spot when it comes to his son . Thats next. Vicks vapostick provides soothing, nonmedicated vicks vapors. [exhales] easy to apply for the whole family. Vicks vapostick and Try Vaposhower for steamy vicks vapors. Jardiance its a little pill with a big story to tell. I take oncedaily jardiance, at each days staaart. As time went on it was easy to seee. Im lowering my a1c. Jardiance works 24 7 in your body to flush out some sugar and for adults with Type 2 Diabetes and known heart disease, jardiance can lower the risk of cardiovascular death, too. 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Im very happy with them. We provide you with a free lifetime of aftercare. Meaning free checkups, cleanings, and adjustments. I see someone new. Someone happy. Its really made a difference. Call miracle ear at 1800miracle and schedule your free, no obligation hearing evaluation today. Back with our national lead, nine days after those horrific maui wildfires, 111 individuals have been confirmed dead so far and more than 1,000 are unaccounted for. Thats according to the governor of hawaii. The Burn Zone Search is not even half over. And now people who have called lahaina home for decades are Trekking Back to see what is left. Take a listen. Its hard to take in. You know, just seeing how this devastation i dont know what to think. We grew up here. This is home to a lot of us. Cnns bill weir is on the island of maui. Bill, youve been talking to first responders. Walk us through the process of searching through that massive burn zone in the town of lahaina. Reporter well, jake, yeah. I literally just spoke to an Urban Search And Rescue official whos a veteran of 15 years. Hes out of the houston area. Hes been on over 90 disasters. And he says hes never seen anything like this because youve got almost 3 1 2 square miles here where they are searching at the granular level. This is not a few houses on the street have slumped over. This is entire city blocks burned to ash. And we met with one of the doghandling teams from the l. A. County fire department. A dog named prentiss, a black labrador. A lot of the 40 dogs here are labs. Prentiss had a burned foot from yesterday. As they have to worry about the heat both from the sun and the actual ground surfaces as well for these dogs. So its sort of a painstaking process. They go in with two dogs. If one hits something or needs a break, the other one will come either to confirm it or relieve them as they cool off. And so its just a method iical thing but they also tell me theyre inspired, these people who have come from over 15 states around the country. L. A. Fire is here. New york. Nypd is here as well. And theyre working alongside Maui Firefighters and cops who have lost everything and are still out here every day doing this meticulous search work. And really we keep coming back to that missing persons number, jake. In previous disasters you normally hear that. Theres so much confusion. But now a lot of the cell towers are back up. A lot of the power has been restored. You can see the Hawaiian Electric crews down here. Theres still a couple thousand homes. You would think by now eightplus days after if someone was lost in the confusion they would have made contact with someone. So we have to come to grips with the idea that this could take a very long time and there could be hundreds of people who are never identified. Yeah. Its staggering. I too was waiting for that number to go down as Communication Efforts improved. And its very upsetting that it has not. Youve also been tracking active fires on other parts of the island of maui. How are local officials ensuring that those fires dont become a second disaster . Well, they got some muchneeded backup. Theres a couple of Chinook Helicopters provided by the Pacific Command here in addition to mauis choppers, and theyre just sort of dropping buckets of water, sea water, pulling water from pools up near the kula fire. They say about 80 contained. How they define that around here is if a fire is still burning but they know they have it contained, thats 100 contained. When they say its extinguished, its out, you can not worry about it anymore. So there are still these little hot spots up in the canyons. Right now the winds are cooperating. The trade winds are a little bit gusty but nothing like the firestorm we saw before. They could really use some rain. And thats the thing you dont realize when you think about the tropical islands in the pacific, theyre so green and lush, on a warmer planet as the clouds hit the mountains they suck all the moisture out of that and then the leeward side, on the other side of the island is just bone desert dry and thats where all this fuel is coming up. So keeping one eye on that and of course so much attention here looking for souls. Cnns bill weir on maui doing incredible reporting. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. And you can help the victims of these horrific wildfires in hawaii. You can head to cnn. Com impact, thats cnn. Com impact for options to donate, vetted options. You can also text the word hawaii to this number. 707070. Hundreds of wildfires are also burning in canada. About 20,000 people are being forced to evacuate from yellowknife. Thats the capital of canadas northwest territories. They need to go by tomorrow afternoon. Cnns chad myers is in the cnn Weather Center for us. And chad, the blaze in canada, its expected to reach the city Of Yellowknife by this weekend if theres no rain . Thats right. The wind is now pushing the fire from the west to the east right into the town Of Yellowknife. Now, the problem is a lot like lahaina, to the east Of Yellowknife is a large lake. Theres no way to go out there. You have to go north or south or northeast or southwest to get away from this fire line. So they are really prestaging people here because they know even though we may be days away some gusts could take some sparks, move them along and All Of A Sudden you dont have days anymore. But look at canada in general right now for this fire season. 33. 8 million acres have already burned. That is ten times the size of connecticut. In a normal year 5. 6 should have burned year to date. So we are way ahead of where we could be or should be this time of year. And that is going to continue because these fires are completely out of control. The fire lines are so large now you cant really get your head around, your Fire Equipment around one of these fires because the fire lines go for miles and miles and miles. So 33. 8. Last year at this time only 3. 6 million acres had burned. Fires are in the treetops, fires are on the ground. There is yellowknife. Theres the lake im talking about. And the hot spots there on the map, that is blowing into yellowknife proper. Now, there may be some rain, but really what im worried more about are these winds, probably somewhere between 25 and 30 miles per hour. And if that blows a spark 20 or 35 miles per hour, All Of A Sudden you have these fire lines jumping rapidly. And chad, youre also tracking hurricane hilary, which is forming off of Mexicos Pacific coast and is expected to bring heavy rain to the southwestern united states. Thats unusual. Very. Very unusual for a storm to be a category 4 and trying to run over Baja California into Southern California and possibly even toward arizona. Theres the storm right now, 110 miles per hour. Heres mexico. Theres puerto vallarta. Theres Cabo San Lucas up there. This storm travels to the north in very warm water, at least for a while, as a category 4 hurricane. Then it gets into much cooler water and begins to die off. It also is going to suck in this dry air from the mexican desert and also the dry air along Baja California. But by the time it gets to Southern California the forecast still calls for 60mileperhour winds and an awful lot of rain. The rain may be more of an issue than 60mileperhour winds because ive watched models today go six to ten inches of rainfall in places that dont get six or ten inches of rainfall in the desert for an entire year. So yes, that is certainly possible. Right through san diego, especially east of the city, and then all the way to vegas and for that matter l. A. Of course. Santa barbara county. All these areas could pick up very significant flooding rainfalls sunday into monday. Chad myers, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Coming up, the first republican president ial debate is less than a week away. So who does Governor Ron Desantis plan to attack in Donald Trumps absence . The leaked Debate Strategy. Thats next. Our low mileage is paying off. You think we should. Hold. Hoooold hooold now im m on it. Im, on it. Already sold to carvana. Go to carvana and d track your cars value today. Im sholeh, and i lost 75 pounds with golo. I went from a size 20 to a size 6. Before golo, nothing seemed to work. I was exercising for over an hour every day. It was really discouraging. But golos so easy, the weight just falls off. New projects means new project managers. You need to hire. I need indeed. Indeed you do. 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Contra Costa College helped me blaze the trail. Now im a comet, and theres no stopping me. Come on, this is your shot. Take it. Join the team at contra Costa College. Start today at contracosta. Edu and were back with our 2024 lead. Cue the music. Ah, yes. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Desantiss Debate Strategy, or possible Debate Strategy is being revealed in plain view. The New York Times is reporting that a trove of documents were posted online by the Main Super Pac backing the florida governor. Theyre not allowed to directly coordinate with him, remember. So in one memo a desantis ally outlines four debate mustdos for desantis. They include one, attack joe biden and the media three to five times. Two, state his positive vision two to three times. Three, hammer Vivek Ramaswamy in a response. And four, defend donald trump in absentia in response to a Chris Christie attack. My panel joins me now. Former Michigan Democratic congressman andy levin. Good to see you. Thank you for joining us. Defend donald trump in response to a Chris Christie attack and hammer Vivek Ramaswamy. Is this good advice . First of all, this is just astounding that a campaign or that a super pac does this. Ive never seen anything like it. Its not good news for desantis that this happens. And whether its good advice or not im not sure. Ramaswamys coming up in the polls a little bit, so theyre freaking out about him. Some people say he wants to defend donald trump so he can really be Vice President because thats what his real aim is because theres no way desantis is going to win this nomination. But its really quite the spectacle to see this kind of advice out there in broad public view. Tens and tens of pages of it. Its astounding. Yeah. Republican strategist christen salton sanderson. One of the memos describes, roger ailes Cork Stra Pit Theory quoting a wellknown maxim that i acandidate who lays out a comprehensive plan on Foreign Policy will draw less coverage than the one who accidentally falls off the debate stage. And the memo lists a recommendation for a trumpstyle insult. Take a sledgehammer to Vivek Ramaswamy. Call him fake vivek or vivek the fake. And just in the last hour ramaswamy fired back and called Desantis A Super Pac puppet with prepped lines. What do you make of all this . So on the one hand voters dont tend to react well to things that are overly choreographed. Recall the demise of the Marco Rubio Campaign at the hands of Chris Christie some years ago. He had a line that sounded clearly canned. He had repeat td. Eventually got called out on it and that was curtains. On the other hand, there is . Strategy and preparation that has to go into it. So prepping a candidate to say this is your main rival, this is the person youve got to take out, thats all pretty normal. I do think, though, that for instance, the nickname, fake vivek am i mispronouncing it . Its vivek like cake. I apologize. Its fake vivek. It rhymes you see. Now it makes more sense. And i apologize for mispronouncing his name. I spent a lot of time focusing on ramaswamy. You did well. The reason i think it wont work is when you have all these other nicknames trump uses they always speak to something voters kind of already believe about something. They just amplify it. I love jeb bush by low energy jeb. Didnt come out of nowhere. But Republican Voters dont think Vivek Ramaswamy is fake. Its true hes said a lot of things about donald trump and republican policy in the not too distant past that were very different than what hes saying now. But you have to call that out and lay that groundwork before a nickname will stick. Im a little skeptical. And especially now that the cats out of the bag that that would be a smart strategy. Cnn National Affairs correspondent jeff zeleny, then there was this suggestion, urging desantis to Attack Christie with a, quote, line accusing mr. Christie of appealing mainly to democrats. And it says, trump isnt here. This is the proposed line. Trump isnt here. So lets just leave him alone. Hes too weak to defend himself here. Were all running against him. I dont think we want to join forces with someone on the stage whos auditioning for a show on msnbc. Thats the proposed desantis line attacking Chris Christie. What do you think . Look, these might be decent lines. But now that the cats out of the bag, i mean, they are going to sound rehearsed. What all this does is a couple things. One, it raises the bar for Governor Desantis to actually pull all this off. It raises the bar for him to go after Vivek Ramaswamy in this way. But it also points out perhaps one of the Biggest Challenges and flaws of his campaign. That is, he effectively has outsourced virtually everything to his super pac. Thats why this had to be published online, so he could see it, so he could see the smart advice, if you will, from jeff roe whos leading the super pac. Because his campaign cant talk to the super pac. So this is the challenge. Hes outsourced all the field work to this super pac as well. But back to the actual debate itself i think the idea of going after Chris Christie like that, whos very practiced on a debate stage, hes done this before, pretty risky to go after him. And at the end of the day the voters i talked to in iowa and new hampshire, other states, want to see some differentiation. If theyre turning the page from trump, thats what they want them to do, turn the page from trump. So defending trump by going after Chris Christie, im not sure that works. So a couple twitter reactions from journalists out there. Bengie sarlin from i think its semafor, writes a florida candidate attacking Chris Christie with a canned line. What could possibly go wrong . Thats a reference to marco rubios illfated 2016 campaign. Noah rothman from National Review says, defend donald trump in absentia in response to a Chris Christie attack, the tombstone read. So the reviews for the advice are not particularly positive. Theres also a piece of that defense of donald trump that calls donald trump weak, which i think is really interesting because again to the point of insults having to line up with something somebody kind of already believes, theres one thing that Republican Voters even though that dont really like donald trump tend not to think, and its that hes weak. The word strong is something i ov v often hear in focus groups when im talking to republican primary voters about trump. Now, as an objective matter you may disagree vehemently with that characterization but youre talking to Republican Voters. But desantis is going to tell Republican Voters trump is too weak to defend himself by not being here. Thats a bold strategy. So jake, heres the thing from a democratic point of view. Its like wow, the idea of going after christie because hes occupying the lane that hes decided to occupy doesnt make a lot of sense. The rest of these people are all just trying to outmaga each other and trump is, despite being indicted for the fourth time on so many charges, completely leading the pack far and away. You know, far and away. And it seems like i as a democrat, i really want to have another American Political Party that stays within the realm of democracy and that we can really debate issues with. And none of this debate seems i dont think this debate is going to produce anything like that at all. Lets turn to the Biden Administration because jeff, you have some new reporting that President Biden might have a blind spot according to the people around him when it comes to his son Hunter Bidens legal troubles and concerns about how this might impact his desire to be reelected. What have you got . What are you hearing . Look, this is something that the president was hoping to put behind him. They were hoping that the Plea Agreement would go through, et cetera. Now there is very likely to be a trial unfolding at the same time as the president ial campaign. Even worse, a Second Special counsels investigation on top of the one thats already investigating the president for classified documents. So the point talking to a bunch of advisers is this is something that is not discussed around the president in his orbit because they do not think voters care about it. They think voters care about the economy, other matters. Theyre probably right about that. However, we know that this is going to be a central piece of the Republican Debate and republican Talking Points next week and beyond, the hunter biden situation. So what do swing voters think of Hunter Bideen . As of now theyve never drawn a correlation or blamed the president for his sons conduct. They feel sympathy for him et cetera. But is there a blind spot directly around him and the campaign by not talking about this . Its verb oeten. You cant talk about hunter biden. Well see. This is definitely going to be a topic on the debate stage next week. And kristen, Glenn Kessler from the Washington Post had a fact check about joe biden from earlier this month noting that hunter biden admitted in court in july that he was in fact paid substantial sums from chinese companies. Kessler wrote, hunter biden reported nearly 2. 4 million in income in 2017 and 2. 2 in income in 2018, most of which came from chinese or ukrainian interests. This directly goes aagainst what joe biden said in the debates in 2020 with donald trump. Take a listen. My son has not made money in terms of this thing about what are you talking about . China. None of that is true. He made a fortune in ukraine, in china, in moscow and various other places. That is simply not true. Thats from two different debates. Trump was right. He did make a fortune from china and joe biden was wrong. I dont know that he was lying about it. He might not have been told by hunter, but this blind sbot is a problem. Its a problem, one, because republicans arent going to let it go. Thats for sure. But also these problems are continuing through the legal system. Its not as though this is something thats been settled in other jurisdictions and republicans are just harping on it. It is an ongoing thing in our courts. Its not going anywhere. This is a blind spot. Does it concern you as a democrat . Well, i think dads have sometimes and parents sometimes have blind spots about their kids for sure, and the president may be no exception. But nothing has tied the president to any of Hunter Bidens dealings. Theres no whiff of him being involved or him being implicated in it. And its you know, i think its not something the voters care a lot about. My thanks to the panel. Thanks once again. Coming up, she was once idahos Teacher Of The Year but now shes leaving the profession and leaving the state of idaho. Im going to ask her why, next. The biggest ideas ininspire new ones. 30 years ago, state street created an etf that inspired the world to invest differently. It still does. What can you do with spy . Dupixent helps you du more with less asthma. And can help you breathe better in as little as 2 weeks. Dupixent is an addon treatment for specific types of moderatetosevere asthma thats not or sudden breathing problems. Dupixent can cause allergic reactions that can be severe. Get help right away if you have rash, chest pain, worsening shortness of breath, tingling or numbness in your limbs. Tell your doctor about new or worsening joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. Dont change or stop asthma medicines, including steroids, without talking to your doctor. Ask your specialist about dupixent. She was voted idahos Teacher Of The Year, but a few months later she left behind her Fourth Grade Classroom at Treaty Rock Elementary School in post falls. Thats near the border with Washington State in western idaho. And she left the state of idaho for good after 12 years. Karen lauritsen says after she was named Teacher Of The Year local rightwing Media Outlets attacked her, going through her social media accounts, calling her a, quote, leftwing activist and accusing her of promoting gay pride and black lives matter and transgenderism in her classroom. Im joined by idahos 2023 Teacher Of The Year karen lauritzen. Karen, first of all, tell us what happened after you were named Teacher Of The Year, which my understanding is the governor ultimately decides after a thorough process and the governors a republican. Well, its actually the state superintendent. Okay. Who makes the ultimate decision. But she was a republican as well. But right after i was named i was super excited. I was very thrilled to share it with my students and my community. Right after i was named, however, like you said, conservative news outlets in idaho started putting out all of this horrible press saying that i was influencing the students in my classroom in negative ways and that i was, you know, not a person who represented idaho and the type of idaho that they wanted and that i was pushing things in my classroom, like you said, such as transgenderism and lgbtq issues, of which i never spoke of in my classroom at all. And there were some things they said i did do in my classroom like social Emotional Learning which is true because i think that thats best practice. But a lot of what they said was absolutely false. And you know, put a lot of parents i think off what i did in my classroom. And ultimately i think sowed a lot of distrust for me in my community. So the Idaho Tribune and action idaho said they went through your social media pages, they found posts where you were attending Lgbtq Community pride events. They looked through who you followed on social media which i guess included some drag queens, posts where you say Critical Race Theory is not taught in idaho schools. I mean, youre allowed to have a personal life. I dont understand exactly what the argument is being made, that you are not allowed to have views like this . You didnt teach anything having to do with lgbtq or black lives matter or anything in the Fourth Grade Classroom. Right . Is that what youre saying . Yeah. Exactly. And i was, you know, a proponent of, you know, all students making their own choices, but i never spoke of any of those things in my classroom. In fact, i did say that crt was not taught in idaho schools. But all of these news outlets said that i was teaching it in my classroom. And i actually had parents asking me if i was teaching these things in my classroom, which you know, hurt because of course i would not speak of these things in a Fourth Grade Classroom. Thats completely inappropriate. Right. Fourthgraders are about 10 years old, right . Yeah. Youve been a teacher for more than 20 years. Is it tougher to be a teacher today because of all this misinformation and this sentiment that teachers are bad guys and theyre jamming, you know, far leftwing agendas down into the brains of little kids . Is that making it tougher to be a teacher these days . I think it can be. And i think a lot depends on the community in which you teach. You know, for me its you know, i have devoted my entire life to kids and i want all of my students to be the best people they can be and i want to bring out the best in them. I dont want them to be versions of me. I want them to be themselves. And thats what ive always tried to do as an educator. But i feel that, you know, especially in the past few years theres been a lot thats happened where as educators our professional expertise is not trusted. And especially as an educator whos taught for 20 years and, you know, was named as One Of The Best educators in idaho, i would hope that my professional expertise would be trusted and respected. And it really hurt when it wasnt. Well, i hope you dont give up teaching because im sure those fourthgraders got a lot out of your lessons. Thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate it. And we should note cnn reached out to the school and the school district. We have not heard back. Karen lauritzen, thank you so much for your time. Thank you. One mans desperate attempt to get the attention of the Biden Administration. Were back in a moment. The first time you made a sale online with godaddy was also the first time you heard of a town named dinosaur, colorado. We just got an order from dinosaur, colorado. Start an easy to build, powerful website for free with a partner that always puts you first. Start for free at godaddy. Com businesses need 5g solutions today. Thats why they choose tmobile for business. Mlb partners with tmobile to not only enhance the fan experience, but to advance how the game is played. Aaa relies on tmobiles network to stay connected nationwide, so they can help get their members back on the road. And were helping pano ai innovate, to stop the spread of wildfires. Nows the time to see what americas largest 5g network can do for your business. Wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. Its to die for. And its all right here. Streaming was never this easy, you know. This is the way. You really went all out didnt you . Um, its called commitment. Could you turn down the volume . Here, you can try. Get way more into what your into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. Russia state media says that a russian born u. S. Citizen has been charged with espionage. Jean specter was already serving a sentence in Russia On Bribery charges. Matthew chance is live for us in moscow and matthew, last hour, White House National security Spokesman John Kirby said he had no further information. What are russian outlets reporting . Well, theyre not reporting a lot because there isnt much information out there. We know from Russian Court documents and media the courthouse in the center of mo moscow have charged jean specter, the u. S. Citizen, originally born and raised in russia then becoming a russian citizen later, under section 206 of the russian criminal code, which is espionage, but no further details because of the security situation. No further details were made public. Its been a lot of detail given in Russian Press though about the fact that hes in prison at the moment. Serving a sentence in russia for bribery. Back in 2021, he was found guilty of bribing an assistant to a deputy Prime Minister here in russia. Its not clear whether the Espionage Charges are connected with that or not. The u. S. Embassy says it doesnt have any information either but clearly, as is all this talk of more Prisoner Swaps and things like that, this is another potentially card in russias hands. Matthew chance in moscow, thanks so much. Also in the world lead today, a passionate plea outside the white house from an Iranian American man. For seven years now, hes been begging the u. S. Government to help his father who has been detained in iran. This week, he staged a Hunger Strike and protested outside the white house and State Department where kylie atwood learned more about his fathers story. He planned to come back to the u. S. In 2016 after visiting iran for his fathers funeral. But on the way to the airport, he was detained. When news reports broke last week about a brewing deal between the u. S. And iran to secure the release of five american detainees, two of whom are still unknown to the public, his son, darian, thought his father might be headed home. We were getting somewhat hopeful and to have that all basically get crushed last week thursday, that was heartbreaking. He was charged with aiding and abetting a hostile nation. The same charge namazi faces. One of the five americans who u. S. Officials are hoping will be home by next month but when top u. S. Officials said the group of detainees they were working to release were deemed wrongfully detained, it was deemed he feels not in the mix. Shahab has not been labeled as such. Darian quickly emailed the State Department in protest. I included this at the bottom, you are leaving my father there to die. He got a call from a state Department Official but still, no answers as to specific efforts underway to secure his fathers release. We assess the circumstances of detentions and look for indicators of wrongful detention and when appropriate, we will make a determination. Shahab is an iranian citizen and a legal, permanent resident of the u. S. He was a Trading Ship Captain in iran before he retired in the u. S. With his wife and two children. My emotion is just exhaustion. I have been in contact with so many people over the past seven years trying to tell my fathers story. This week, he is protesting outside the state Department Even though hes clear eyed about the near term possibility of his fathers release. The prospect of getting him on that same plane as everyone else, thats unlikely. Thats getting lower every day. Its not zero. Never say its zero until that plane lifts off. He was initially put into solitary confinement. Hes no longer in solitary confinement, but this week, he and his son both went on a multiday Hunger Strike as they try and attract more attention to this case. Thank you so much. Up next, who could have the highest Grossing Tour ever . At tea time everybody agrees im not just accomplished. I am accomplishing. So im doing all i can to help lower my risk of breaking a bone. For postmenopausal women with osteoporosis at high risk for fracture taking calcium and vitamin d may not be enough. Adding prolia® is proven to help strengthen bones and reduce Spine Fracture Risk by 68 with 1 shot every 6 months. Do not take prolia® if you have low blood calcium, are pregnant, are allergic to it, or take xgeva®. Serious allergic reactions like low blood pressure, trouble breathing, throat tightness, face, lip or tongue swelling, rash, itching or hives have happened. 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Touring, taylors version. Our coverage now continues with wolf blitzer in the situation room. Happening now. Authorities in georgia are investigating threats against the grand jurors who indicted donald trump. Were Tracking Security Concerns tied to trumps lega