top of the hour this thursday. i m jim sciutto. i m erica hill. we begin this hour with the new reporting of the chinese surveillance balloon, and the state department is confirming that this device was capable of monitoring u.s. communications. that is likely one of the new details that lawmakers are learning this morning. the biden administration is giving classified briefings on the issue on capitol hill a short time ago, and we will give you more of what we are learning in a moment, and with reclosely following what is happening in europe. the ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy is calling on the european allies to step up the assistance and talking about specifically what they could do in his mind game-changers. fresh off of the sales pitch in wisconsin, president biden is headed to florida to expect to drive home his pledge in particular to protect social security and medicare, and we will have more on that message from the white house ahead. first of all to nat
including a child. at least for the others have been injured, tonight, with more to come. this attack has prompted accusations that putin was deliberately targeting civilian areas once again, and stepping up his attacks after facing mutiny at home. the man who led that revolt, wagner chief yevgeny prigozhin, we do now is in minsk, the capital of belarus, that s according to the country s president, who claims he convinced putin not to kill him as that rebellion was happening over the weekend. joining me now is john huntsman, former ambassador to russia under trump, and who china under president obama. he also ran for president in 2012 as a republican, and served as the governor of utah. so, thank you ambassador for joining me tonight. you were the u.s. ambassador to russia for two years, during what you said what is a historically difficult period. what went through your mind as you watch that rebellion at happen over the past few days. well, thank you caitlin for having me on. and
joining me now is john huntsman, the former ambassador to russia under trump, and to china under president obama. he also ran for president in 2012 as a republican and served as the governor of utah. so thank you, ambassador, for joining me tonight. you were the u.s. ambassador to russia for two years during what you said was a historically difficult period. what went through your mind as you watched the rebellion that happened over the last few days? well, thank you, kaitlan, for having me on. and i think what s important to understand for the viewers is the nature of vladimir putin. so there s a lot that we don t know about yevgeny prigozhin. and you used exactly the right word. it s a mutiny. so there s a lot we don t know about it. but there is enough that we do know about what is going on. putin s uncontested leadership is over. so i don t say that hyperbolically. i say that for 23 years putin has been uncontested in terms of his ability to call the shots as
are preparing for some type of offensive, and that is the reason really for the timing of zelenskyy pushing right now for whatever he can get, because they do feel an offensive is com coming. you have interviewed a couple of times the former ambassador of russia john sullivan, and russia s posture before the invasion, and even the messages that he brought and how they were received. and so, some of that was not entirely shocking to me, but when we are looking at the messaging of what it was prior to the invasion, and what does that tell us about what it is to come? well, it is interesting conversation, and i have had a couple of conversations with sullivan who was the ambassador to russia under trump and biden and now back in september, we have a new ambassador lynn tracy in place, but what he was talking about in the very beginning before the invasion in
sanctions, friends with russia, why can t we get along. he still casts doubt on the fact that russia meddled in the election. thinking to the 300 pound man hacking on his bed or recently russia s influence at all, saying he believes putin. big question is why. does the kremlin have compromising material on the president so he feels obligated to do this? does he just like putin and kremlin and feels like backing him up? kind of things set off major alarm bells. also he s attacking free press. investigation is huge part of this. ambassador to russia under trump, jon huntsman was asked about this. and said the putin plan was bad and bad for the press. take a listen. well, it s a big concern. and it isn t reciprocal at all. we think the principles of free media in any free society and democracy are absolutely critical to our strength.