a ziplock baggy filled with cocaine found just steps from the west wing where guests are often ushered through the white house. now the question who dropped it, setting off sunday s hazmat evacuation. then, the phenomenon unique to the united states, gun violence in america reaching a new level of horror. 356 mass shootings so far this year. a stunning 15 of them just this past holiday weekend. coming up, why these tragic shootings always seem to spike in the summer months and what can be done about it. plus, a federal judge slapping the biden administration with new restrictions on social media saying the biden administration cannot decide what is and is not misinformation. welcome to the lead, i m jake tapper. we begin with something of a mystery in our political lead. who left a baggy of coke at the white house? there was a brief evacuation sunday night after the powdery substance was found in an area of the west wing that is accessible to some tour groups. this
around yevgeny prigozhin and his army of mercenaries who were until now believed to be exiled to belarus after the armed revolt in russia. keir simmons is in belarus. according to belarus s president, this is not the case after all. bring us up to speed here. reporter: well, that s right. there are two things happening right now. kind of twin track, if you like. one what we heard today. nbc news was one of the few international news organizations invited to the presidential palace in belarus. we have heard from the president of belarus. the other is those images that you showed of gold bars, stacks of dollars, of wigs, of fake passports, during a police raid on yevgeny prigozhin s home in st. petersburg. nbc news not able to verify those images, but they are all over russian media, suggesting an effort to discredit yevgeny prigozhin, just as here in belarus, as i mentioned, the president of belarus, aleksandr lukashenko asked about where he is, where this man, who he had do
when they put me in prison, i heard they were recruiting. serve six months and they pardon you, he tells me. so he signed up with storm z, a unit made up of convicts attached to the russian defense ministry. after only two weeks of basic training, he was shipped off to the frontlines near bakhmut. [ gunfire ] after days of intense shelling, with only rainwater and no food, he heard ukrainian troops outside his foxhole. he assumed they would execute him. i thought that was the end, he recalls. i switched my rifle to single shot mode and thought, i ll shoot myself, but i couldn t. this video, shot by soldiers of ukraine s assault brigade, shows the intense moments when he and his comrade surrendered. the ukrainian troops told them, unlike russians, we don t kill prisoners. we spoke to him and another soldier in a jail in eastern grain, concealing their faces and not using their real names. the third assault brigade granted us access to the p.o.w.s, and two of their soldie
we have updates in the other special counsel s investigation. jack smith issuing more subpoenas in the january 6th investigation. this time, focusing on arizona. so let s get to it. joining me now is nbc news investigative correspondent, tom winter and nbc news justice reporter, ryan reilly. let s start with the top. walt nauta, finally getting a lawyer. finally pleading not guilty. walk us through what happened. it was a short hearing. the big news is he did get this lawyer, and essentially one of the reasons i think it s more difficult to find someone is because, you know, donald trump hasn t been known to pay his bills. that s something you re on the hook for down the line if, you know, no matter where this goes, once you re on the case you re stuck with it no matter what, even if there s a dispute about payment or what have you. whoever signed on for that is in for the long haul. with donald trump, a significant retainer agreement, cash up front in order to take on that
stories today including developments big ones in jack smith s prosecution of donald trump and the classified documents case. trust me we ll get to them shortly. but we begin with the breaking news on a story that has captivated the world s attention all week long. late this afternoon exploration company oceangate confirmed the titan and all five of its passengers onboard have died. the vessel went missing over the weekend as it attempted to tour the wreckage of the titanic at the bottom of the ocean more than 2 miles beneath the surface of the ocean. in just the last hour the coast guard announced the end of a days long rescue effort. this morning an rov, a remote operated vehicle, from the vessel horizon arctic discovered the tail cone of the titan submersible approximately 1,600 feet from the bow of the titanic on the sea floor. the rov subsequently found additional debris. in consultation with experts from within the unified command the debris is consistent with the ca