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PA Triple Shooting Suspect Barricaded Inside NJ Home; Trump Stumps In Ohio After Pence Refuses To Endorse Him; Setbacks For Prosecutors Trying Trump; Barricaded PA Triple Shooting Suspect Now In Custody In NJ; Russian Media: 29 Russian Polling Stations See Acts Of Civil Disobedience; Gallop Poll: 70% Think Marijuana Use Should Be Legal; Kate Middleton Searched On Google More Than Trump, Biden. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired March 16, 2024 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:00:58]

PAULA REID, CNN HOST: You are CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paula Reid in Washington.

Our breaking news this hour. The suspect behind a triple shooting in Pennsylvania barricaded inside a home in Trenton, New Jersey. Authorities have identified him as 26-six-year-old Andre Gordon. Police alleged that Gordon and killed two people in one home in Falls Township, Pennsylvania before he drove to another home shooting and killing the mother of his two children, who you see here pictured with the suspect.

Now, Gordon is also alleged to have bludgeoned her mother with the butt of his assault rifle before carjacking a vehicle and then fleeing to Trenton, New Jersey.

CNN's Polo Sandoval is just yards from where the suspect is barricaded this hour. Polo. What's the latest you're seeing on the ground?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That house (INAUDIBLE) just over my right shoulder off in the distance. I'll give you the lay of the land in just a few moments, Paula.

But first, remember its now been about four-and-a-half hours now since police here in Trenton, New Jersey were notified, the man believed in that -- in those killings that you just told us about was barricaded inside a home.

At the time, there were multiple residents inside of that home. Since then, they were able to escape from that home.

And now this really gives law enforcement here on the scene that advantage -- the advantage of time. It is on their side as they can potentially wait out the suspect who they believed was involved.

That home that I mentioned is just beyond the yellow tape here. There are multiple law enforcement personnel between us and the home. So we're in a relatively save space.

But that house in the distance, that red brick-faced multi-story structure is where investigators believe 26-year-old Andre Gordon came after being involved in the killing of three of his relatives in neighboring Pennsylvania just after 09:00 this morning.

Police earlier today telling reporters that they believed that after he commits -- allegedly committed those murders, he carjacks another individual who didn't -- he did not hurt and then drove an SUV here to this particular neighborhood before making his way inside that house.

For the last several hours we've heard police negotiators outside using a bullhorn PA system asking Gordon to basically help bring this to a peaceful end. Asking that he surrender himself, either pick up the phone, call 911, or step out of the house with his hands up and no shirt on to make sure that he doesn't have any sort of weapons on.

And investigator said earlier that he was believed to have used an AR- style rifle, possibly other weapons in the commission of those murders. And so now they're not sure if he's potentially armed inside.

We also do not know if police outside of this house have seen or heard any sort of response from the suspect inside.

So it's not until they are able to actually gain entrance, which we don't know when that will be, that they will be able to positively say that the suspect is inside.

But for the last hour or so, we haven't seen or heard anything except for just a few bangs that we heard coming from an area near the home about an hour ago in addition to a few small billows of smoke.

But for now, police outside of the house watching, waiting keeping neighbors away and any of the folks that actually make their way towards -- or near the home. Police are actually providing them with an escort if they happen to live near that home.

But otherwise, any folks who may be coming to this particular neighborhood, they're being asked to steer clear as they wait to see what will happen next, Paula.

REID: Polo, standby.

I want to bring in CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller, and former Boston police commissioner, Ed Davis.

[17:04:46]

REID: John, first to you. So they believe that the suspect is now alone. So how does that change the calculus for the authorities?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, it removes the potential collateral problem of hostages, which is now you've got the suspect on one end of this, the police on the other end, and innocent people caught in the middle. Once they were able to get all of those people out of the house, Paula, it means you can engage the suspect. The suspect has much less leverage than someone who might be holding hostages, which is one of the reasons it was important to get all those people out obviously for their safety, but also so that this could be a kind of a more direct communication.

You know, one of the things you brought up earlier in the show is, what do you say to somebody who is, you know, suspected in three murders and other assaults to give them that reason to come out when they're going to be saying, look, you know, my life is over, I'm going to jail.

But that's where trained negotiators are going to engage them and say Andre, look, you know, this was about seeing your children and this is, you know, those children are ok. And they're still going to need a father.

And you know, this is this is not the time to plan out the whole rest of your life because we don't know how that's going to go.

So why don't you, you know, make that step to the door? We don't want to hurt you. We don't want any of our people to get hurt. We want you to be able to, you know, go to court, get a lawyer engaged with your kids and others.

And, you know, you try and turn that conversation around. A, to have a direct conversation; B, to give them all the reasons to go forward and not to do something rash, right then.

But as you've seen and as Polo has reported to us, this has been a lot of people on megaphones and PA systems yelling into the house. We haven't heard about anything coming back.

So at this point, they really have to determine is he still inside? Is he alive?

And why does that matter? I mean, we keep saying and it's true, time is on their side especially if safety's involved, but if he's not in that house, if somehow he slipped the perimeter and they say they have no reason to believe he did, it's really important to know that he may be armed and still out there.

So at some point, they are going to have to go through the motions of getting in there. As Polo told us, there were some banging noises and some smoke. It's possible they could have used a tear gas agent or something like that to see if they could get him to come out or create some movement in there.

At some point, they may decide to go in with a robot or send a team in. But at this point, as polo said they're just using the time to get as much intel as possible and figure out the next move.

REID: Ed, as you heard John just talking about how complicated the situation is. This is someone who allegedly has already killed three people. He's believed to be heavily armed and could be emotionally disturbed. How dangerous is this for law enforcement?

ED DAVIS, FORMER BOSTON POLICE COMMISSIONER: Well, John has been spot on as usual. But to answer your question, I think when you're dealing with someone who has murdered three people, who is heavily-armed and in a stressed state of mind like this suspect is, it doesn't get more dangerous than that.

Police have to act as if he's a lethal threat. And they will do everything they can to try to save his life. They will talk logic, as John explained. They will attempt to get him to sort of calm down from the sort of pinnacle of stress and outrage that he was experiencing before this happened to a point where he can start to think logically about what his options are.

And they'll try to lay out options for them. Even though the average person would think this guy's life is over, that's not necessarily the case.

So they want to try to get them out safely. But they're going to protect their personnel. They're going to protect the people in the neighborhood and everything that they do is about very slowly making sure that every step that they take is the best possible option for the safety of everyone involved.

REID: John and Ed, thank you.

We'll continue to monitor this developing situation.

But right now former president, Donald Trump is speaking at a rally in Ohio. It's his latest attempt to push the candidate he's endorsing in a three-way senate primary race in what will likely be a key test of his clout in the Buckeye State.

Now the rally comes just one day after his former vice president refused to endorse him, saying he cannot in good conscience, support Trumps candidacy and accused him of pursuing an agenda that is at odds with the conservative agenda.

[17:09:52]

REID: CNN's Alayna Treene is live in Ohio.

Alayna, what are you hearing from the former president?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well Paula, this is a really interesting speech because it's his first formal event since he officially secured enough delegates earlier in the week to effectively become the Republican nominee.

But he is not an Ohio today for his own campaign. Ohio's a state that he won in pretty large numbers in 2020. He actually had the most votes in Ohio in the state's history as a candidate.

And so he's really here, not for himself, but to boost his endorsed candidate in the senate Republican primary, which is on Tuesday. And that is Bernie Moreno, a businessman who is really locked in a contested, messy primary fight with two other candidates that include State Senator Matt Dolan and Ohio secretary of state Frank LaRose.

Now Donald Trump's influence in this state is very noteworthy. He was really one of the (INAUDIBLE) reasons why Senator JD Vance was able to come out victorious in his own senate primary two years ago. And Donald Trump is trying to, you know, have that happen again this time around.

And one of the things I think is worth noting is that this is one of the only senate primaries where Donald Trump's -- one of his backed candidates, could potentially lose their primary race.

And that's something I'm told from his advisers and his allies that they very much want to avoid at all costs.

Now, as for his messaging Paula, Donald Trump has focused heavily on the border. This is something that is actually been parroted by many of the candidates in the Senate race, even though Ohio is more than one thousand miles away from the U.S.-Mexico border, it's something they really believe people here on the ground in this state care very much about.

We also heard Donald Trump repeatedly attack President Joe Biden as he's really been doing a lot of lately as he gears up for his general election messaging.

But he's been really going after him mainly on some of the charges that he is facing claiming that Biden is behind some of the charges.

Take a listen to how he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And remember this, remember this. Joe Biden is a great threat to our democracy. He's a tremendous threat to our democracy. His incompetence is the number one reason.

Also, he uses the Justice Department, the FBI, to go after his political opponent who happens to be me.

How are we doing? And he's driven my numbers through the roof. Do it one or two more times. How about a couple of more indictments, Joe, you dumb son of a --

Somebody said they're indicting this guy in to the office and office of president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, Paula, I also want to point out something that I found very interesting in his remarks, which is that he repeatedly talked about social security. There was questions that he kind of opened the door to earlier this week in an interview with CNBC about whether he was open to cutting social security.

He tried to clean up those remarks today and said he would not touch Social Security, would not touch entitlement programs. And I think that rhetoric you're going to continue to hear him try to talk about in the weeks ahead, Paula.

REID: Alayna Treene, thank you.

Joining me now as CNN senior political commentator and Republican strategist Ana Navarro. Thank you so much for being with us.

Now Trump again, called those in jail for crimes they committed on January 6 "hostages" and "great patriots". Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Can you see the spirit from the hostages? And that's what they are is hostages. They'd been treated terribly and very unfairly. And you know that and everybody knows that. and we're going to be working on that soon as the first day we get into office.

We're going to save our country. We're going to work with the people to treat those unbelievable patriots. And they were unbelievable patriots.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: So we're now in a general election. Do you think that moderate and suburban voters agree with his assessment of that situation?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think there's certainly a part of the Republican base that agrees with him on that assessment, that agrees with him that January 6 was not an insurrection.

But I think the specific voters you're asking about moderate and suburban are not part of that fringe Republican base.

But look, this is, this is part of a bigger narrative that Donald Trump is building, right. The January 6 insurrectionists, who he calls hostages, are victims of political persecution. He, Donald Trump, wants to portray himself as a victim of political prosecution and persecution.

[17:14:44]

NAVARRO: He is taking this, you know, this Christ-like habit that he has of trying to build where he is enduring this punishment for those of you who are the voters. I'm taking the heat for you. I'm being crucified for you.

And that's why we see him showing up time and time again -- when he doesn't need to -- to court hearings and all these legal proceedings because he is making these indictments -- he is making these court cases such a part of his campaign as a victim.

Turns out Donald Trump is trying to win, being the president of snowflakes. REID: Yesterday, Mike Pence announced he will not endorse Trump. He's

just the latest member of Trump's own cabinet to say that he's unfit for the presidency.

Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I cannot in good conscience endorse Donald Trump.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Do you think Trump can be trusted with the nations secrets ever again?

MARK ESPER, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: No. I mean, it's just irresponsible action that places our service members at risk, places our nation's security at risk.

BILL BARR, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: You know, he's like a nine- year-old -- defiant nine-year-old kid who's always pushing the glass toward the edge of the table, defying his parents to stop him from doing it.

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Between Biden and Trump, there was no conservative on the ballot. So I wrote in the name of a conservative and I would do the same in 2024.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: all eyes on Nikki Haley, right, to see if she endorses Trump. How do you think Mike Pence's comments may impact her ultimate decision?

NAVARRO: You know, we've seen two types of Republicans so far, right? The type like Mitch McConnell who would, despite the fact that there's no love lost between him and Trump, the fact that everybody knows that Mitch McConnell is not a fan of Trump, that Mitch McConnell's wife was offended by Trump, Mitch McConnell falls in line, right?

We see Chris Sununu, the governor of New Jersey -- of New Hampshire, fall in line despite all of the stuff, his feud against Trump when he was campaigning with Nikki Haley in New Hampshire.

Then we see this other type of Republicans, like Mike Pence, and like some of these former cabinet members. I have to tell you that as somebody who broke with Trump on day one, when he came down the escalator and said the things he did about Mexicans and immigrants, it makes me angry and it frustrates me that these people, while he was president, were such part of the conspiracy, were such accomplices through all the things he was doing.

This is not a new Donald Trump. January 6 was not a new Donald Trump. January 6 was a culmination of four years when he did and said whatever he wanted with impunity.

All of these people in much, much, much more than anybody -- Bill Barr, who so much whitewashed the Mueller report, stayed quiet shook their heads, nodded their heads in agreement, justified him, defended him for four years.

I think the least that Mike Pence can do is not endorse the guy who promoted an insurrection that almost got him killed literally -- not figuratively. None of us should forget the calls of "hang Mike Pence" including Mike Pence.

REID: Ana Navarro, thank you.

Still ahead, a big week for a former president Trump's legal troubles. We'll break down the developments in the Georgia election subversion case as just moments ago Trump went after the Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis.

And we'll continue to follow the breaking news. A deadly triple shooting suspect barricaded in a Jersey home surrounded by police.

Stay with us. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

[17:18:42]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REID: This was a week of setbacks in the Donald Trump trials. In the classified document case, there is still no firm trial date. In Manhattan, there are more delays after a document snafu. In Washington, special counsel Jack Smith is in a holding pattern until the Supreme Court hears argument about whether Trump has immunity.

Then in Georgia, the lead prosecutor is now no longer on the case. Nathan Wade has resigned after a scathing ruling from the judge forced his boss Fani Willis to choose between removing her entire office from the election interference trial or removing Wade after the two had a romantic relationship and defendants moved to have them disqualified.

Now joining us now, criminal defense attorney, Amy Lee Copeland. She is a former Georgia federal prosecutor. And David Oscar Markus a criminal defense attorney.

All right. To both of you let's start with the decision yesterday. Fani gets to stay on the case, but the judge questioned her honesty, her professionalism, and her judgment. Amy Lee, what is your reaction to this?

AMY LEE COPELAND, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well Paula, Fani got to stay on the case. I think it's the takeaway that we have here. The plane may be tattered, but it's still in the air.

These are certainly words no attorney would ever want a judge to say about them or to read about them, but practicing law isn't for the faint-hearted.

[17:24:48]

COPELAND: I have every anticipation that the DA will simply roll up her sleeves and return to the business of getting this case ready for trial.

REID: It may not be for the faint-hearted, but you do have to conduct yourself in a way that is beyond reproach, particularly when you're under scrutiny like this. I mean, do you agree with some of the judge's criticisms here?

COPELAND: You know, you do have to conduct yourself beyond reproach. I certainly agree with that. And the criticism seems directed not at the relationship itself, but at the accounting practices where you couldn't have a full and complete tally of all of the expenses.

And also the courtroom behavior, the angry testimony, the questionable divorce interrogatories answered by Mr. Wade, some of the conduct of the DA's office there.

And that's what led to this appearance of impropriety finding. And that's what led to Mr. Wade's resignation from the case.

I think he should have resigned a long time ago, Paula. I think he should have resigned when this motion came out but the judge has forced the hand and didn't give the DA much of a choice. And now the case can go forward without any appearance of impropriety.

REID: David, what impact could this whole episode have on potential jurors whenever this goes to trial?

DAVID OSCAR MARKUS, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, its March madness for Trump world, isn't it? I mean, he's fighting in every court around the country and, you know, in Georgia with the prosecutorial misconduct, it's going to be really interesting to see how jurors react because, you know, they're going to be seeing all of this happen and they're going to come in with strong views about whether the prosecutor has acted appropriately or not.

It may be better for her just to step away from this thing so that the case isn't about her and is about the defendant because right now it's all about her and that's not what prosecutors want.

REID: So moments ago Trump was mocking Fani Willis at a rally in Ohio. Let's take a listen to what he said and then I'll get reaction

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Fani. It's spelled Fani. Its spelled Fani like your ass, right, Fani.

But when she became DA, she decided to add a little French and it is fancy. Fani, Fani and, you know, Fani and Mr. and Mrs. Wade, which his wife did not appreciate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: I will note, they are no longer in a relationship.

Amy Lee, what is your reaction?

COPELAND: Well, I heard that and I thought is this man 80 or is he 8. It sounded like a playground bully.

We know from the DA's own testimony that she's been called a whole lot worse during this case. And so hope this is one more thing she's able to shake off. And I think it's really important given the judge's concerns in the order about the possibility of a gag order on the state.

That would be really unusual. Usually, the state seeks gag orders against defendants. The less she says about this case in the future, the better she'll be.

REID: And David, before we go I want to ask you really quickly about a different case down south. The classified documents case in Florida. It's been two weeks. We are still waiting for a firm trial date from Judge Aileen Cannon. What is your assessment of what's going on there?

MARKUS: A lot of folks believe that Trump has home court advantage down here in Florida before Judge Cannon. And it's unclear how it's going to play out. She heard the motions this week. She denied one of his motions to dismiss.

She's going to set it soon, but it's not -- you know, it doesn't look like it's going to happen before the election. So I'd be surprised if she sets it before then. There's a lot of complicated issues and I know people think that that must mean she's ruling for Trump because she's considering them.

But that's what judges do. They sit and they think, and they, they tried to get through these complicated issues, which is what we have down here in Florida on this -- on this classified information case.

REID: You do. And of course, if Trump is reelected, he can likely make that case and the other federal election subversion case go away.

David Oscar Markus, Amy Lee Copeland -- thank you.

And next new developments in the last few minutes after hours' long standoff involving a suspect accused of killing three women, leading to a massive manhunt. A live report is next.

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[17:33:33]

REID: Back to our breaking news coverage. CNN's Polo Sandoval is just yards from where a suspect has barricaded for hours after allegedly shooting and killing three women.

Polo, I understand there are new developments. What are you learning?

SANDOVAL: New and significant developments coming directly from officials here in Trenton, New Jersey, now confirming that that suspect that police were trying to detain, suspected in that triple shooting, is in custody right now.

The circumstances of that arrest, we're still waiting to hear more about that. But police sources telling CNN that it is possible, though this is preliminary, that he may have been detained near the home as he was potentially trying to escape.

Again, this is all preliminary information that's coming in right now, as we see eight significant drawdown on the law enforcement presence that we've witnessed here in this Trenton, New Jersey, neighborhood since about 12:30 this afternoon.

When police say they received a phone call that 26-year-old, Andre Gordon, after alleged generally committing a triple murder in neighboring Pennsylvania, drove in a stolen vehicle to this neighborhood in Trenton, Pennsylvania.

Police had been working under the assumption that he had barricaded himself in a home only about 100 yards from where I'm standing. And they spent the last several hours using a loudspeaker to attempt to communicate with who they believed was the only person inside that home.

[17:35:02]

Pleading with Gordon to actually leave the home, walk out with hands up and shirt off to ensure that he was not armed, so that they could bring this to a peaceful end.

Now, here we are five hours later and police officials confirming that Gordon is now in custody. However, other sources telling CNN that it's likely that he was detained not far for that home.

Again, this information just coming in right now. We're still waiting to hear more from sources.

But I think what's important right now is for the people in this neighborhood. This is obviously good news that they know that this standoff, potential, what authorities were handling as a standoff, has now come to a peaceful end.

As we tried to learn a little bit more about the circumstances of that arrest and try to piece together now what is a triple homicide. That will be a job for investigators to do -- Paula?

REID: Polo Sandoval, standby.

John Miller is still with me.

John, what are you hearing from your sources?

MILLER: What I'm hearing is that after they did their controlled probe of the house trying to store some movement.

And then trying to work on their next move, that Andre Gordon was apparently trying to sneak out of the perimeter, out of the house, and was picked up, moving somewhere near the house, trying to basically blend in and walk away.

Now, obviously, they had 360-degree containment, but they also had to maintain cover because this was an individual with a high-powered weapon. But somebody picked up on this, grabbed him up, confirmed his identity.

And then to confirm the rest of that, they moved their armored vehicle up to the front door. A team went in to clear the house, to make sure that, A, everyone in there was OK and that there was no additional victims or hostages or someone hiding.

And, B, that there was he was no longer in there and that they can recover that weapon.

So what you saw was kind of a great exhaling at the scene. You saw people's posture change. You saw people coming out of the house. You saw the yellow tape coming down.

But what we are told as he's in custody, that he is unharmed, and that, as Polo said, now this shifts from a tactical operation, a barricade situation with an armed suspect, to backtracking through the evidence and what occurred today to build a multiple murder case against the alleged gunman, Andre Gordon.

REID: Ed Davis also still with us?

We were talking earlier about how is about 50/50 whether this individual would come out alive. He is alive. He's in custody. So now, where does the investigation go from here?

DAVIS: Well, this is really a great development. And when I saw the cruisers being drawn, I thought maybe that something like this had happened.

What the officers are charged with now is securing the scenes, going through all of the evidence to make sure that they don't miss anything. And then trying to reconstruct every minute from before the assaults and murders started to happen until just a few minutes ago when he was taken into custody.

I've got to give the Trenton police a great -- this is a great heads- up play that they made. You know, people can say, well, we had the place locked down, but I'll tell you, that is a difficult thing to accomplish in an urban area.

And the fact that they were able to spot this guy as he tried to get out of there, really, really goes to the professionalism and the courage that the offices have to stand up in the face of potential lethal threats.

REID: And, John, lastly, what is your assessment of the law enforcement response here overall. It seems like this was resolved pretty quickly. And again, he's in custody.

MILLER: Well, you judge the overall response by the ending, which is how it's supposed to work.

But I mean, as Ed pointed out, as Chuck Ramsey pointed out, before both of us, this was by the book. You know, they had the information that led them to that location. They got everyone else out safely.

And then they let it run. They let it run. They didn't increase the pressure. They didn't do the kinds of things that can force a violent outcome.

They understood we're controlling the situation. We're slowing the situation down. Time is on our side. Because we want to make sure nobody gets hurt, including the bad guy, because our job at this point it is to resolve this peacefully. And they did.

REID: Ed, do you want to weigh in on this? I mean, it's an incredibly dangerous situation for law enforcement. What is your reaction to what has transpired?

DAVIS: Well, the conclusion is really telling. We have the guy in custody. He's going to be brought to justice.

[17:40:04]

But -- but to attack women like this. I mean, there was a time when I was a kid where that was just not -- not thought of. And now it seems to be happening too frequently. And this is an extreme example of that.

So trying to figure out what's going on in this guy's head, to try to figure out how to stop this in the future is going to be a big -- a big challenge for everybody involved in this.

REID: I thank you both.

Still ahead, Russian President Vladimir Putin all but certain to win reelection as voting continues this weekend. What comes next as the death of opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, looms over this election.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:45:27]

REID: We're only hours away from the start of voting on day three of Russia's presidential election. But there are no genuine opposition candidates on the ballot, leaving President Vladimir Putin set to secure a fifth term, a victory that could keep him in power through 2030.

So far, there have been some acts of defiance over the vote, including fires at polling stations and people spoiling valid boxes with dye.

CNN's national security analyst and former deputy director of National Intelligence, Beth Sanner, joins us now.

Beth, Russian election authorities say individuals detained for damaging ballots will be checked for Ukrainian connections. What do you make of that? BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Wow, you know, Putin has

tried to label pretty much anyone who opposes him, who opposes the war, who opposes the idea that there is democracy in Russia with this kind of foreign label, right? Because real Russians would never oppose any of these things.

And so, of course, you must be a foreigner. You must be influenced by foreigners.

And you know, kind of interestingly, this is the same take that China's President Xi has taken about foreign influence and why they fear these kind of color revolutions. They're of the same mind on this.

REID: That's a polling that's showing strong internal support for Putin. A lot of people are voting. The Central Election Commission of Russia says 52 percent of Russians have voted. Do you buy that?

SANNER: You know, this is -- there are so many memes and jokes we can make about how shocked we are about the outcome here.

In the past, Putin really didn't want that much cheating, right? Using the levers of the state, bussing people in, doing all kinds of coercion and things like that.

And, but this is the most opaque election in Russia's modern history. And the way that they're doing it, like this is the first time that they've had computer voting, online voting, which I find a little bit ironic in the U.S. political contexts.

But you know, so today they showed Putin sitting at his home computer and voting online.

So when you have that kind of thing and then you have four districts in Ukraine that are occupied by Russia, where they're literally going door to door forcing people at gunpoint to vote.

So you know, of course, none of these things are true. We are -- we already know that the voter rolls in those four districts are elevated by at least a million people.

So, yes. Not taking it too seriously, but Putin is, because legitimacy is key here.

REID: So Putin's political opponents, as we know, they either seem to disappear or end up dead. Do you think that is something that his supporters think about when they make their decision to back him?

SANNER: Absolutely. I think that it is really hard for us to stand in the shoes of people who live in authoritarian nations. I don't think that we can really understand the fear and the choices that people have to make.

And the bravery it takes to stand up against this just juggernaut that is the state.

And so every little act of defiance, like putting a bouquet of flowers on Navalny's grave, and knowing that can land you in jail.

So we're going to see tomorrow, Sunday, whether Navalny's supporters are people who just want to stand up against Russia, show up for this noon against Putin, and just stand in line.

There's already been a threat made by some Russian officials that showing up in this kind of flashmob to stand in line is illegal and people will be arrested.

REID: Beth Sanner, thank you.

And here in the United States, legalizing marijuana is twice as popular as it was 10 years ago.

CNN's senior data reporter, Harry Enten, joins us now to run the numbers.

All right, Harry, how surprising is it that this has changed so quickly?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: I don't know how surprising it is. All I know is I was walking to work through Hell's Kitchen, New York. I can definitely tell you that a lot of folks want it to be legal because those streets certainly smelled like a lot of marijuana was on them.

[17:50:10]

And if you look at the numbers, you really just see this dramatic climb in the percentage of Americans who believe that marijuana should be legal.

You know, you mentioned it, more than doubled from where we were a decade ago.

But think about how low we were back in 1969, the time of Woodstock. My mother grew up right near Woodstock. Just 12 percent of Americans believed that marijuana should be legal.

And it's not just Democrats. It's Independence as well. And even near a majority of Republicans. So this has become a bipartisan issue.

And a little bit more than a decade ago, marijuana wasn't legal in any state in the union. And now it's legal in about half of them. So voters aren't just saying this in the polls. They're going to the ballot box and voting that way as well.

REID: Why? Is it that more people are trying it and liking it?

ENTEN: Certainly trying it. I don't know if liking it necessarily. I'll leave it to those folks to say. The polls only ask whether or not you've tried and whether or not you're currently smoking it.

And we've certainly seen this dramatic increase. You know, I mentioned Woodstock earlier, right? I think we sort of have this image of our minds of people going out on the fields, listening to some funky music and maybe light up a joint.

But only 4 percent of Americans had ever tried it in 1969. Now we're up to 50 percent. That's a 12-point jump from where we were a decade ago.

And look at 2013, only 7 percent of Americans said they currently smoked it. Now it's more than doubled, up to 17 precent.

So it's not just folks who are trying it once and then putting it down. They're sticking with it. They're deciding to light up as many of the folks were on my way of walking to work today.

REID: Harry, you are the only reporter I think who can pivot from weed to the Princess of Wales.

As we know, the most famous woman in the world has not been clearly seen in public for months. I know. I'm fascinated by the story.

But what are the numbers telling you in terms of how, what percent of the public is interested in this?

ENTEN: Yet you're not the only one who's interested in it, Paula. I can tell you, anytime that someone knows I'm going to do I hit on this particular topic, my phone lights up. There are so many texts that come into my phone.

And it turns out, if you look to Google, what do we see in terms of folks searching for Kate Middleton since March 11, when that photo came out, that photo.

More people have searched for her than have searched for Donald Trump or Joe Biden. And more folks have searched for her in this country than have searched for Americas pastime baseball.

My goodness, gracious. This is something that has brought all of us together. So many conspiracy, wacky conspiracy theories out there. I know I have a few.

But I'll leave those for after we are done with the segment. Maybe I'll email them a few. I'm not going to say them out loud. They're too outlandish.

REID: I mean, I'm open to anything. It's definitely a topic of conversation and it does not surprise me that people find it more interesting than baseball.

But just because Americans are interested in the royals, does it mean we want our own royal family?

ENTEN: No, no, we don't want our own royal family. We just like to gossip about the one across the pond.

The percentage of Americans who want a U.S. monarchy or believe a U.S. monarchy is a good idea, is just 10 percent.

That's equal -- I call this the Mendoza line of bizarro beliefs. The earth is flat, 10 percent. The U.S. space landing on the moon at 12 percent. So about the same percentage of Americans believe that the us monarchy is a good idea.

And I'm an agreement here with the vast majority of Americans. It is not a good idea. Let's just gossip about those folks across the pond. No need for our own monarchy. We're having enough problems as it is.

REID: Yes, we did fight a war over this. We have plenty of her own problems. And the Kate Middleton saga is, of course, a distraction from those.

ENTEN: You've got it.

REID: Harry Enten, thank you

ENTEN: Thank you.

REID: And be sure to check out Harry's podcast, "MARGINS OF ERROR." You can find it on your favorite podcast app, or at CNN.com/audio.

And tomorrow, CNN will explore the legendary evolution of Las Vegas, from desert town to entertainment Mecca.

Here's a preview of our new original series "VEGAS, THE STORY OF SIN CITY.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the '70s, you then have economic changes. There's stagflation, the oil crisis. These have an impact on Las Vegas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It really does represent the shifting face of capitalism in the United States. Now, it's not just about keeping your customers happy. It's about driving shareholder value.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At that time, you start to see the early part of what we recognize today is a very corporate Las Vegas. The Feds were coming down on organized crime.

So the '70s in Las Vegas represents a period where, on the one hand, it's starting to become OK to actually do business there. And on the other hand, outside of Elvis, Las Vegas isn't so cool anymore.

(SINGING)

[17:54:59:]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Las Vegas didn't recognize that it should be looking for ways to appeal to the youth culture.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: You can watch an all-new episode of "VEGAS" tomorrow at 10:00 P.M. Eastern and Pacific only on CNN.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:00:02]

REID: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paula Reid in Washington.