the new evidence that suggests that she was not honest under oath. then, neighbors in danger, fears are building that russia's war in ukraine could spill into bordering countries. we will tell you where and what to expect. let's get started. tonight is the night. after a two-year hiatus, the white house correspondents dinner is back. we have all the news on d.c.'s big event. in the next hour, we will bring you the coverage of the roast and president biden speech live. first, we start tonight with some new developments from the january six committee. after nine months and more than 800 depositions and interviews, we have a date for when the public will finally get their first glimpse at the evidence. the committee is set to hold its first public hearing on june 9th. chairman bennie thompson also announced that the committee will send requests for testimony this week to several republican lawmakers. earlier, cnn obtained thousands of text messages from former trump chief staff, mark meadows, including exchanges with more than 40 current republican members of congress. one of those members were scott perry of pennsylvania. according to new testimony from a meadows aide, he backed the idea of encouraging people to march to the capital on a planning call ahead of the insurrection. the aide told the general six committee, quote, i do not think there is a participant on the call that had necessarily discouraged the idea. stunning new audio from house republican leader kevin mccarthy showed how much he feared certain republicans would continue to incite violence in the days after the insurrection. >> tension is too high. the country is too crazy. i do not want to look back and think we caused something or we missed something and someone got hurt. i don't want to play politics with the. i >> it was not just trump. this new evidence shows that republicans who are still in congress might have helped in planning january six and in dividing the country in the days and weeks after. let's bring in democratic congressman ted woo from california. he served as the manager of trump's second impeachment trial. congressman, it has been clear for over a year now that ultraconservative members of congress were deeply involved in attempts to keep donald trump in power. a court filing and in text messages obtained by cnn, new pieces of evidence have emerged that flesh out the degree of their involvement with the trump white house in strategy sessions. help us understand how you see these revelations and how they fit into the story. we already know about the attempt to keep trump in office. >> thank you, selina for your question. as a former prosecutor, it is very clear to me that the insurrection is illegal. the cabinet capital is a violation of federal laws. if you help plan the insurrection, if you help participate in the conspiracy, then you should also be criminally liable. nobody should be above the law in the united states of america. that includes members of congress. i hope the department of justice will look at actions of members of congress that they plus in the days leading up to january six. >> do you think that the january six committee should subpoena the members of congress that appear in the text messages? in addition, should they be a part of the doj investigation that you just mentioned? >> my understanding is that the january six committee is going to ask these members of congress to provide information voluntarily. if the general six committee believes that this information is important, and the members of congress are not willing to provide that information, then yes, i believe they should be subpoenaed. >> do you see evidence of a conspiracy in this text messages. lay out the case as you see it. >> let me first say, what really struck me where the multiple text messages from republican members of congress and trump's inner circle desperately texting mark meadows, saying police have the president stop this. have him tell the people to go home. please stop this. two things struck me. one thing is the president did not stop anything for hours and hours. we may find out why. second, why were these people text mark meadows and asked the president to stop this. it is because they knew that the president stop -- started the insurrection. that is why they asked them to stop it, because they knew it was their fault. my hope is that our justice looks at everyone that was responsible, not just the people that attacked the capitol but the people that did the inciting. including not only the former president but members of congress. >> i want to play a bit of more sound from kevin mccarthy in the days after the instruction. that is what struck me. there were so many texts that occurred after the violence took place. here he is with congressman steve police, discussing another congressman, matt gates, on a gop leadership call. >> this is serious ship, to cut this out. >> yeah, that's, i mean it's potentially illegal what he's doing. >> well, he's putting people in jeopardy. he doesn't need to be doing this. we saw people did in the capital. you know, at least people came prepared with everything else. >> congressman, mccarthy assumed that balance was a possibility. how does that represent a consciousness of guilt, in your view? is that implicate him at all in the larger conspiracy itself? >> let me first say that further violence remains a possibility. i, again, encourage republican leadership to say one simple, truthful sense that woven deuce the risk of political violence. that is this, the election was not stolen. if they simply say that to their supporters, that will reduce the threats further violence. with these tapes show is that leader mccarthy, even the truth, he told the truth for a half second, and now he has backtracked. with this also shows is that there is only one reality. it is just that many republicans are not bind. >> why do you think they are lying? what do you think kevin mccarthy changed his tune in saying the opposite thing when he was standing in front of a camera and microphone to what we are hearing on these tapes and what we are seeing in the texts? >> my view is that he was putting party above country. he is trying to obtain power at all costs. he does not care if his members are engaging in dangerous, reckless behavior. he did care for a few days, as you saw the tapes. then, he did nothing. you continue to see reckless and dangerous behavior from current members of the republican party, members like madison hawthorne. again, he is doing nothing. >> back in the summer of 1973, the select committee investigating watergate broadcasted those hearings live on television and helped shift public opinion enough that nixon was forced to resign. do you believe that these hearings will be successful? what does success look like in your view? >> it is certainly possible that the january six committee hearings could sway public opinion. members of public are very busy. many people did not pay attention to politics. they have to make sure they get food on the table, and they have their busy lives to attend to. to have these televised hearings is very important to tell the truth of what happened on january six, including the events that led up to it, as well as the events afterwards. to really point out to the american people that this was a big lie. the election was not stolen. in fact, it was not particularly close. the former president got crushed in a popular vote by over 7 million votes. he lost local swing states, michigan, pennsylvania, wisconsin, georgia, nevada and arizona. for the republicans that continue to perpetuate this big lie, it led to this attack on our capital. that could never happen again. >> do you hope the committee emphasizes the ongoing threat of political violence as he put it, but also the ongoing threats to our democracy in these public hearings? is that a message you hope the public can take away? >> absolutely, i want the public to understand that the former president tried to lie, steal and she is way back into power. thank goodness, the congress could firm. the den vice president stood firm. the justice department stood firm in preventing him from doing so. there were many people who participated in that coup attempt. we need to lay out the story for american people and know they have a choice in november. they can support democracy, or they can support these crazy, heartless republicans, who continue to pressure the big lie and say that it was somehow okay in trying to not certify the election for the current president, joe biden. >> congressman ted lieu, thank you so much for being here, please stay safe. coming up, more details on the general six committees first round of public hearings. general six committeesings about life is that we keep moving forward. we discover exciting new technologies. round of public hearings basically, choose what we want our future to look like. so what's yours going to be? 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it's beyond gig-speed fast. and it can connect hundreds of devices at once. that's powerful. unbeatable internet from xfinity. made to do anything so you can do anything. you just heard the new you just evidence that the heard the new evidence january six committee has to deal that the january six committee has to deal with. they mark meadows text messages and more with. audio recordings from kevin mccarthy and more with. audio recordings giving us some idea of these weeks, that these hearings will tell americans, quote, why this investigation was so important. >> well, we will tell the story about what happened. so, it will benefit the public the benefit of what more than a year's worth of investigation has gone to the committee. >> with me now, barbara mcquade, a former u.s. attorney, a professor at the university of michigan school of law. let's start with a text. from mark meadows, and congressional republicans. should the january six committee, subpoena those members of congress for testimony? >> i think the answer, unequivocally, is yes. there is a long tradition of not subpoenaing members of congress, or other high-level officials, out of courtesy for the office. and, i also think there is a bit of a fear of what goes around, comes around. if you subpoena members of congress now, then, when the tables are turned, and republicans are back in power, the democrats may find themselves on the other side of those subpoenas. but, i think it makes this investigation so different, is this is not the routine matter that congress deals with. this was an attack on congress itself. the members of congress are both the victims, and in some cases, the witnesses. this is dispensing with the niceties, and as of the people who have written those text messages, what was going on? provide the context of that they can understand the obligation for the american people? >> in the second impeachment trial, we saw a use of exhibits, video, and a lot of audio from the insurrection. so, how should the committee use these text messages, when they're presenting their findings to the american people? will you do full screen blowup texts? if you are presenting this case, what would you do? >> i would. we don't know the whole story at, as congressman thompson there said, the purpose of the hearings will be to show us that story. but, i think, visual aids are always helpful. one thing that could also be helpful, is to show what was going on, in realtime. as these text are being exchanged, video of what was happening at the capitol, at that moment. that the attack was occurring, while these things were going back and forth. i think that could be incredibly compelling, to show, while congress was under siege, we had these requests going, and some calm responses, focusing on donald trump's power, as opposed to the safety of people within the capital. >> is that significant? but they were not focusing on the safety of the people in the capital, in terms of evidence of a conspiracy? does it show consciousness of guilt, and an awareness that donald trump is a person in control in the world? >> it is so much of the committee, and is the justice department, trying to prove a crime, is just to show what happened. here are the facts. it is a prohibitive value of knowledge, at the time that this went on. i think to the extent that donald trump, either, was working in concert with some of these insurrectionists, with progress being made in guilty pleas by oath keepers, and proud boys, who are now cooperating, and who have links to roger stone. was there a tie there? could be. or, was the, simply, an opportunity that donald trump saw as a way to disrupt the proceedings, that could possibly get him what he wanted in another way. i think the indifference to the attack, either shows this was part of the plan the whole time, or, this sure is a convenient opportunity to take advantage of the situation. >> what are the things that really struck me, in these text messages, are the dates. so, you have sitting members of congress, actively engaging in conversations with the chief of staff, mark meadows, about ways to keep donald trump in power, after american voters decided, they didn't want that. and, also, after violence has taken place, on january 6th. marjorie taylor greene, her text was on january 17th. how should we process this, given the fact that it is so unprecedented? >> that is so interesting. if you look at the indictments filed by the justice department, against this plot, they see it didn't end on january six, is just one episode. the plot is going down on january 20th. it was relentless. they didn't give up on january 6th, just because they were unsuccessful in obstructing the vote certification, until, joe biden seems to take this oath of office. this is going to thwart that election, and that is part of the story. it is the singular focus, on the january 6th attack. i think, in some ways, it is distraction, it is a sideshow, for this much larger conspiracy to overthrow the election. it began before the election, in the proceeding, if i looms, the only way i lose is because it will be rigged, and vote by mail is fraudulent. all things he did, leading up to january 6th will be arguing that the election had been stolen. then, all of the things that he said, even after january six, all of it, i think, is evidence of a conspiracy. i think that should be the way that the plot is framed. not as an attack on the capitol on january 6th, but a conspiracy to defraud the united states perimeter fearing with the peaceful transfer of power. >> when the committee presents its finding, they will be at least eight hearings. we do not know what those hearings will look, like just yet. what do you need to do to make that conspiracy case, as they laid it out? breaking through to the american public? >> one thing that is interesting, and i don't know this to make the case, is that this committee has been rather guarded, and not letting out all of the information it has. so, i think we watched the mueller investigation, and in some of these impeachment investigations. the evidence dropped out, a little bit, by a little bit. so, by the time we heard the whole story, it was a little anticlimactic. i wonder, if the committee isn't keeping back some of this evidence. i know representative, jamie raskin, said that when the american public here is the story, it will blow the roof off the capitol. words to that effect. and some of those details are being held back, but when they tell the story, it will be compelling. those who've only paid casual attention will watch the whole story. and, will be horrified by what they hear. it is a tight, succinct presentation, and the fact that they have amassed, and it will be very important. so, i think for americans of good faith, regardless of their political allegiance, when they see that our democratic institutions are under attack, i think, it could be compelling evidence. >> the committee is pushing for revisions to the insurrection act. talk about the importance of that piece of this. they have the task of changing the insurrection act if necessary. >> yes. i do think that is the part that the committee is focused. we talk about how the doj's focus will be about bringing criminal charges. but, the congressional focus, is figuring out whether there are gaps in the law. preventing this from happening again. the model, for this, i think, is the 9/11 commission. there is a series of hearings figuring out what happened in, and then acting a number of lost, designed to help prevent it from happening again. so, like the act, it is for the president to call up of military. you going to aid himself, and is going to be things like the electoral count act, that can be looked at. it is having to be accepted as donald trump's request to decertify the election that day. so, that needs to be shoring up. i think one of the task, before congress, is that after they've collected this information, and they make recommendations to change as we need in the law, to ensure this never happens again. >> roberta mcquade, stick around, i want to ask you about marjorie taylor greene, and whether she may have lied under oath, last week, at a hearing to disqualify her from seeking reelection. reelections-relief body wash... with a plant-based adaptogen, helps alleviate stress on skin. so you can get back in sync. new dove men. hi! need new glasses? 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>> quite possibly. perjury could actually be pretty tough to prove, especially when someone says, i don't recall. what you have to prove is at the moment, they are lying when they don't recall. it is hard to believe that someone could discuss martial law with the president of united states, and just forget about it. a jury could find that they do not believe her when she says that. but i think it could be tough to prove, because sometimes it is difficult to disprove what was in someone's mind. a better use of that statement is that she is now locked into a story. one of the reasons that people are asked to testify even when it is unlikely they'll take something useful is so that they are locked into a version of the story. for example, and be difficult for her to later say, when i said marshall law, whatever the met was the discount retailer, marshals. you said, last time, he did not remember it. italy slots are in. i do not know is enough to prosecute her for perjury. it does prevent her from tying the ventilator. >> that actually is a joke, barbara, because she spelled it the way that you spelled the joke, marshals. -- >> that was a joke, right, that was a joke. we are talking about martial law, and a rti al, and she spelled it marshal like this or you can make this up. >> it is quite unbelievable, but it is real life, we are living through it. if not relevant specifically to a perjury case, could this text message come up in another case? we were talking earlier about the conspiracy case by the doj. how else could this text messages be relevant? >> i do think it could be as part of this larger plot of conspiracy to defraud the united states. agreeing with others to try to prevent a legitimate function of government is a crime. to the extent that marjorie taylor greene and mark meadows and donald trump and others were working on a plan to try to prevent that from happening, then this text messages could be part of that plan. they discuss the marshall law as one way of disrupting that vote count. i think it could be bible later. it is certainly something they want to look at. it is why i think this committee is so determined to get their hands on marks meadows text messages. he was clearly texting many people that they. i think that is the secret to unraveling the plot. >> lawyers for the voters are trying to block marjorie taylor greene for running for reelection. they want this text message submitted as evidence in the case for which he was testifying in. if it is accepted, do you think it will hurt her case, this current case, to seek reelection? >> well, there is a few pieces of evidence in that attack there. number one, her voters, her constituents, it may be that these are people that elected her to office in the first place. perhaps, they did not find it as objectionable as perhaps that you and i do. this idea of keeping her off the ball is really interesting. it has never been tested before in court. the 14th amendment has this provision that someone who engages in insurrection may not run for congress. it was an active after the civil war to keep people who defected for the united states, by fighting for the confederacy, from infiltrating congress. there is no mechanism written in into how you prove it and by what standard. this is an effort by plaintiffs in georgia to get the secretary of state disqualified from the ballot. i think even if she is disqualified there, she's likely to file a lawsuit. i doubt it will be resolved in time for this year's election. i do not know if it will be successful getting her off the ballot. i do think it forces her to take a position on what she said and what she knows. i think the bigger risk here for her is the evidence theory value it may have for her in her conspiracy to defraud united states. >> barb mcquade, thank you so much for being here and helping us understand all this. please stay safe. coming up, russia is struggling to make gains in its combat operations in the east of ukraine. plus, the return of the white house correspondents dinner. we will bring you trevor noah's roast and president biden's speech live. noah' noah' roast y don't. they only cover select cities with 5g. and with coverage of over 96% of interstate highway miles, speech live. they've got us covered. we hit the bike trails every weekend shinges doesn't care. i grow all my own vegetables shingles doesn't care. we've still got the best moves you've ever seen good for you, but shingles doesn't care. because 1 in 3 people will get shingles, you need protection. but, no matter how healthy you feel, your immune system declines as you age increasing your risk for getting shingles. so, what can protect you? 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>> those are big numbers. remember, we are not the only government in the world giving military assistance to ukraine. the summit they had, that ramstein air force face, there are a lot of countries pledging military assistance, as well. this is weeks, and weeks, and they need this big weaponry. that the long-range artillery, in particular, have a chance to push back on russia's offense, in donbas. and now, they're gonna get it. it's not there, yet. it will take some time, but once we are there, i think, we will see, tragically, a giant conventional military fight between ukraine, and russia. this time around, i think that reddit has a ukraine has a real good chance. >> is the biden ministration shifting its messaging a little? the administration used to talk about these aid packages assisting ukraine's defense, when president biden announced this package the taupe spoke about weakening russia's military moving forward. how do you see it? >> i do see a change, and a shift. i see a change in policy. it is to help ukraine defeat putin's invading army. it is to be more cautious. so remember, you and i talked. so, we better not get that weapon, we better not get this weapon, and that putin might not escalate. i don't hear that out in the voice of administration officials. my personal view, is not the goal of the united states to weaken putin's army. the goal of the united states should be to help ukraine liberate their country. and that needs to be the focus of attention. it is a new aid package, and it with anything to go before. so, i know they autocracy new ukrainian officials this week, they are delighted with this change in policy. >> it's the latest on the ground news. and it is on the donbas region, and what do you attribute this to? >> it was early to judge what will happen on the battle of the donbas, and it is the ukrainians that won the war. it is talk about what will, hopefully, be the last battle. massive forces, on both sides, appears to be the kinds of troubles they had, for the battle of kyiv. and the battle of kyiv, they lost in the disastrous contest against the ukrainians. and, they still need to remember, that the will to fight on the ukrainian side, much greater, then the will to fight on the russian side. i don't want to get ahead, because i think we have a long ways to go, and it is definitive a victor here. it was making a promise to do so, and it is back in the beginning of this war. so the beginning of this war, it is taking three or four days before they conquer kyiv. now, we know, this is not true. so, maybe this idea that conquering donbas will be easy, also, may not be true. >> do you fear, the war could spread into ukraine's borders? >> i worry about, it yes. for one simple reason. russia is having a very hard fine -- time fighting the ukrainian army, by themselves. so, at a moment, when you are barely taking -- tragically, they couldn't see cities like mariupol, so they just had to bomb mariupol into oblivion. so, they haven't caption many major cities in ukraine at this point. so bad moment, when you are barely keeping in the fight with ukraine, you want to research and, attack, the largest alliance in the world? nato? anchored by the most powerful military in the world, the united states of the world? i think that is highly unlikely. >> a neighboring country, appearing most at risk, is moldova. which, like ukraine, has a pro russian breakaway region. it is those in europe, and are more ukrainian refugees, per capita, than any other country. if there were to spill over into moldova, how would that change the situation? >> you're right, moldova's poor, and with very limited military capabilities. they already have the stretch, that you should see there it. is already walk you pipe by russians. so, there is one general trump it, in that we will call all the way to transnistria, take odessa, and connect everything. remember, there are new military objective, right, now is to connect crimea to donbas. but some have said, they should go all the way to transnistria. i should say, i'm skeptical with the capacity to do that. if they are already struggling in donbas, to go on to take odessa and, then all the way to transnistria, i don't think that they have the military capability to do that. but, moldova is not in nato, in moldova would be very hard pressed to fight the russians, should they choose to do, expanding into transnistria, and beyond. >> as you mentioned, moldova is not a member of nato. so, what would happen if the war were to spillover, into a nato country? >> i think, that would be a very low probability event. so, russia is threatening that, putin is threatening that. using nuclear weapons, to. so, i think it's pretty interesting. we have this big debate about whether nato was a good thing to do, or a bad thing to do, before this war. but, the fact that putin has not attacked one nato country, i think, shows the virtue of nato expansion. i think it is highly unlikely if they did that. because, if they did, as president biden said, not one inch of nato could be attacked. that would elicit and response from the entire nato alliance, including the united states of america. so, the fight that, allegedly, between russia, nato, and ukraine, as the way the russians described it, metaphorically, would become that kind of fight, and i think it would be a massive, and quick on this destruction, for the russian military inside ukraine. >> ambassador michael mcfaul, thank you so much, thank you so much for being there, please stay safe. still ahead, the man behind the gop culture war. how conservative activists is using fear, and ignorance, to spend his bigoted political views. views. that's certified head turns. and it's all backed by our unlimited mileage warranty. mercedes-benz certified pre-owned. translation: the mercedes of your dreams is closer than you think. do your eyes bother you? 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who is christopher rufo? how does he have so much sway would conservatives? >> chris rufo is a self described advocacy journalists. he is a senior fellow with the manhattan institute, which is a right leaning think tank in new york city. he writes for that thing thanks publication. he is a prolific user of social media. he brought this concept of critical race theory, which is pretty unknown to most americans, into the cultural wars in american politics. he has done it very effectively, you have to say, whether you are supporter of his or someone that thinks he is treating in bigotry. after the success of his activism around critical race theory, he has now turned his attention to a another cultural war issue, which is broiling up in our politics. that is around transgender rights and how some of those movements are expressed in school curriculums. >> in your piece, you're right, as you just mentioned, that rufo views lgbtq issues in schools as, quote, even more pollen as a political weapon then critical race theory. unpack that for us, why does he think that? >> rufo as a method. it is a bad faith method. the remarkable thing is that chris rufo is pretty open and describing what he wants to do. he wants to merge what's actually might be happening in schools and companies, blend that into a term and make that terminology an incredibly popular brand. this one he did with critical race theory. his goal is to have the public read something crazy in the newspaper and immediately think critical race theory. the academic origin of critical race theory has been expanded way beyond with the term means to the folks who originated it. now, rufo is turning toward attacking trans issues and discussions of sexual orientation in schools. he identifies that as gender ideology, something imposed on children. fussily, he links it in some cases and some ways to teachers praying on students. he sees it in the same way that there is anxiety in america about how race is discussed, particularly in schools. that was a put an issue, politically. there is even more anxiety around how sexual orientation and gender identity is potentially introduced into schools, particularly in the younger greats. there is potential for even more emotional anxiety around those issues. we already seeing this playing out in florida, which is the state that passed the bill that opponents call, don't say gay law. we are having discussions of gender i.d., excuse me, sexual orientation and gender identity in the younger greats, and in certain districts, the older grades, as well. >> you mentioned florida, there is a fierce resistance to many of these laws, including the don't say gay law in florida. both the resistance exists to these anti-lgbtq plus issues. that piece of the agenda really among young people. do you think republicans understand, in your conversations and reportings, did you get the sense that they understand that there is a risk of overreach? >> i think some do, yes. i think in a lot of ways, the weaponization of these issues are a throwback to a period when the republican party used same-sex marriage, for example, as an issue over a decade ago. the party seemed to have moved on from weaponizing sexual orientation and gender politically as wedge issues. they have come back to grabbing onto those. a number of states have passed laws that are aimed at lgbtq issues, particularly for young people, whether it is gender affirming medical care or trans peoples participation in sports in schools. in particular, any kind of curriculum that introduces trans issues or sexual orientation issues into the younger great schools. this does exist. one of the things that ruffle has successfully used is that there is a tissue of reality to these things that he has tried to weaponize. there are some school lessons and some places in various places about sexual or nation in transgender issues. that strikes many parents as inappropriate. saying that there has been uses of diversity trainings that have went off the rails and schools and corporations that formed the basis for a lot of backlash against what rufo was exits will be branded as critical race theory. >> we will see if there is continued pushback. as i mentioned, there has been ongoing protests by young people in the state of florida. there is a flipside to that coin. chip gabriel, thank you for your reporting and helping us understand for who this person is. please stay safe. still ahead, trump loses another core battle. plus, our live coverage of the white house correspondents dinner, where trevor noah and president biden are expected to speak. noah an by targeting all the cells in your body? 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