space center where an all-european mission to the international space station will be taking off later on this hour featuring an italian astronaut on board. a lot of you are saying you re only saying this because there s an italian astronaut on board. that italian co pilot would be the tenth italian in space. a lot of you have been saying, you re only saying that because he would be the tenth italian in space. you re actually correct. but it is a beautiful day for a space launch on this spacex mission, which would be the third commercial crew flight. there s a way that the italians look at this by talking about a beautiful day for a space launch. [speaking italian]. that means it s a beautiful day for a space launch. we ll take you there in 49 minutes when this gets going. meantime, another big story right now, and it is getting bigger by the second, the border and what to do about. is a deal close? some republicans say for any deal to happen, there better be big improvements
hour. we ll get her reaction to what is happening on capitol hill and more. and bombshell new claims that the biden administration obstructed the years long investigation into hunter biden related to tax fraud and gun ownership case. i m harris faulkner. an i.r.s. supervisor is making those claims now asking congress for whistleblower protection. that person calls the hunter biden investigation infected by politics. the attorney for that i.r.s. agent says the protected disclosures would include details which contradict sworn testimony, a clear conflict of interest, and an abundance of preferential treatment adding fuel to the house republicans fight to hold the biden family accountable. james comer says the administration may have been working overtime to try to protect hunter biden and adding this about the president. i don t see how joe biden could not be compromised. these family members aren t energy experts. they weren t on boards. at least with burisma hunter actuall
this job, trump s legal team is now ordered to prove his claims alleging the doj planted evidence in those many classified documents seized from mar-a-lago last month. also, we spoke with the ceo of one of the largest companies in the world, salesforce. you ll want to stick around for this one. there are surprises in store. let s begin, though, with the sham votes unfolding as we speak in eastern ukraine. cnn senior international correspo correspondent ben wedeman is north of the regions in kharkiv. this is straight out of the russian playbook. they ve done it before. they don t even hold free elections in their country. see how. the vote got off this morning. 50% of the population has fled. there are two armed men going door to door to collect votes. they called upon the residents of occupied territories. they say if strangers show up at your door, don t open them. we understand the polling is partially online, partially this door by door and partially in person at the vot
forecast models are putting florida in the bull eye s for a hurricane in days. this is what we re watching at this hour. thanks so much for being here. i m kate bolduan. putin s war on ukraine is where we do need to start at this hour. russia is staging referendums in four occupied areas of eastern ukraine beginning today. residents being forced to vote on whether the regions should become part of russia. the referendums are widely considered a complete sham of course but this is drawing global condemnation. ukraine s president zelenskyy is calling on russians now to revolt as putin is facing a growing decent from his people over his orders to mobilize 300,000 more soldiers. hundreds have been rounded up in anti war protests as we ve seen and more and more russians are trying to escape the draft and leave the country. cnn ben wedeman starts us off live from kharkiv on this referendum votes. what are you learning about how this will go? reporter: well, it s going, i think, a
the rocket even made it off the launch pad. it was a major success. [cheering] harris: they seem so happy. engineers say they will have a trove of data from the elon musk-owned rocket. it spent four minutes in flight. there you go. love space. a high credit score may now hurt you more than it helps. home buyers are learning hard facts that come with the biden administration being if control. a new biden rule will actually hike your mortgage rates if you borrow with a credit score above 680. you are doing all the right things and fantastic and they slam you with a penalty. somebody has to pay for all the people who can t make it. it moves to subsidize loans for