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Russia Accuses Wagner Chief Of Urging "Armed Rebellion"; U.S., Canada Launch Investigations Into Sub Implosion; Special Counsel Trades Immunity For Fake Elector Testimony As Jan; Russia Accuses Wagner Chief of Urging "Armed Rebellion"; U.S. Marks One Year Since Roe v. Wade was Struck Down. 6 Probe Heats Up. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired June 24, 2023 - 06:00   ET

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

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[06:00:33]

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to CNN this morning. It is Saturday, June 24th. I'm Amara Walker.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Thank you for spending part of your Saturday morning with us. We're beginning with breaking news. The crisis in Russia, President Vladimir Putin is accusing the Wagner and mercenary group of an armed rebellion and he warns that those involved will be punished.

WALKER: The head of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin says his forces have taken control of, excuse me, Russian military facilities in the region of Rostov-on-Don. He threatens to move on to Moscow if Russia's top general and Defense Minister don't meet him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YEVGENY PRIGOZHIN, HEAD OF THE WAGNER GROUP (through translator): Again, we came here. We want to receive the Chief of General Staff and Shoigu until they aren't here. And so they aren't here. We will be located here, blockading the city of Rostov, and we'll go to Moscow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: President Putin calls the actions by Prigozhin, a betrayal and a stab in the back to the Russian people and he says those who follow Him will pay the price.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIA: All those who deliberately chose the path of treachery, who prepared an armed mutiny, who chose the path of blackmail and terrorists' methods will face inevitable punishment and will answer both to the law and to our people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: We're following all of the developments on what's happening in Russia with our reporters and analysts around the world this morning. So let's start there with the latest on what's happening in Russia right now.

WALKER: Our CNN chief international security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is tracking the developments for us. What is happening right now?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: We've never seen anything like this in Putin's Russia before quite unprecedented territory, a direct threat to his grip on power for 23 years. Now at this stage, we are checking to see if the Wagner forces you heard about that are in Rostov seen on the streets there, casually relaxed around key buildings. Remember, this is a military hub for the Russian war in Ukraine and forces across that southern region to see if these forces are indeed trying to move as they say they are in the direction of Moscow.

There are suggestions from some of their supporters that they may have got into the city of Voronezh kind of halfway on the highway up towards Moscow that is not confirmed, and indeed denied by Kremlin backed officials in that area. But at the same time too, the governor of Voronezh has said that combat measures by the Russian military have indeed begun that will be a suggestion that the Russian military are indeed taking on Wagner.

Now, it's unclear the size of the Wagner force that has moved. But this all began on Friday with an extraordinary series of statements by their leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, essentially taking issue with the entire cause of Russia's war in Ukraine, saying that essentially Russians had been deceived and there wasn't a threat from NATO Russians were not being persecuted. That was suddenly it seemed responded to by a claim of an airstrike against the Wagner camp, probably inside of Ukraine. That's been denied by the Russian Ministry of Defense, but it's put into pace this extraordinary series of events of Wagner forces, it seems being taken from Ukraine and marching on a Russian military hub, Rostov-on-Don.

And now it seems heading further. And the important thing to note here is while perhaps Yevgeny Prigozhin may have begun all of this as a bid to take on the top brass of Russia's military, the defense minister Sergei Shoigu and Gerasimov, the Chief of Staff now running that operation, it's now clearly him against Vladimir Putin. He's been utterly clear in his most recent statement, that he thinks the President is mistaken to suggest this as a betrayal. And Putin was very clear that those who are now behind this insurrection have chosen the path of blackmail and terrorist methods and will face inevitable punishment.

A suggestion in that speech from Putin if you want to lay your arms down, there might be some soccer, but frankly, straight up here, he was saying we're going to put this down. The question is, can he and how long does this go on for every hour, essentially calls into question, Putin has control of Russia and more importantly, possibly too, for the world quite how the war in Ukraine will play out in the hours ahead. BLACKWELL: And Nick authoritarianism or if this has now progressed to totality narrative -- totalitarianism does not allow for this type of confrontation, either rhetorically or militarily. So what potentially is next? Are we talking Potential civil war? You say this is now Prigozhin v. Putin. Is this a coup attempt? How would you frame this like this?

[06:05:09]

WALSH: Look, this has become Prigozhin versus Putin. There's no doubt about it after speech we heard from Putin on the response from Prigozhin. I think it would have been naive, frankly propagation to think you could do something like this and will essentially occur the wrath of the Kremlin head and have that taken out instead on the top brass of Russia's military. Where do we go from now? Well, it comes down to really how much of Russia's beleaguered military, their Special Forces decimated after this ghastly war in Ukraine, where they're frankly, mismanagement has been in evidence from the very first days.

It was supposed to take three days. Now here we are 16 months in, and they're still laboring to try and hold parts of territory. It depends what's left of the Russian military to defend Putin do the special forces of the FSB, Russia's security services feel they want to turn their guns on Prigozhin and the men around him, Wagner fighters who've lost thousands of colleagues in the fight for Bakhmut who've put themselves up as the storied heroes, they're brutal fighters make no mistake about it, but the storied heroes of Russia's frontline activity.

Are the Russian military willing to turn their guns upon them? Or are we going to see Wagner as it moves, amassing more strength from Russia's military as it heads towards Moscow? I can't believe frankly. I'm even saying this unprecedented territory. And I think it goes to show when you get behind the curtain of exactly what's happening in Putin's Russia about which we know so little. Finally, when sunlight shines upon it, it is an utterly startling picture portrayal we're seeing here and utter chaos and a man at the top who's clearly not in control.

WALKER: Yes, an extraordinary turn of events and a big question as to what this means for Putin and the future of Russia. Nick Paton Walsh, thank you very much. Let's go now to CNN senior international correspondent, Frederik Pleitgen. Fred, tell us more about Yevgeny Prigozhin, who rose to prominence as a close ally of Vladimir Putin for many, many years. He was one of his wealthy oligarchs, and then turned into this very effective leader of a private military group. And now he's challenging Putin's grip on power.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL: Yes, the leader of a whole empire, if you will, Amara. It really is a rise that is also unprecedented inside Russia, but certainly one that also speaks to how Vladimir Putin controls the country. We have to keep in mind that Yevgeny Prigozhin is still known to many people as being Putin caterer or Putin chef because he ran a catering service that apparently also catered to Vladimir Putin as well and then became closer and closer to the Russian president, and started building this big empire which of course, also includes propaganda institutions, the internet research agency, of course, which is known for having meddle the USS in the 2016 election.

Yevgeny Prigozhin is one of the individuals who was sanctioned by the U.S. for meddling in the 2016 election. But he then built that empire, including the Wagner private military company. He is, of course, the head of the Wagner private military company, and is one of those things where we've seen that company rise meteorically really over the past couple of years. I was in in Syria, in I think, 2014 or 2015. When we serve first saw Wagner appear on the scene there. They were essentially doing base protection, some of the things that private military companies do.

But then continuously got involved in the fight as well. He then branched out into the oil business for the oil fields that the Assad regime had taken back, essentially taking control of those getting a cut of that as well. And then moved operations also into Africa. And built an empire there training African forces, for instance, with his private military company, but then also, of course, getting into the golden diamond trade as well, running mines and the likes.

So he certainly became a force globally and someone whose global reach continued. And then if we look at Ukraine, that is where I would say this turn from being a private military company that does security and maybe some training into what we see now which is a full-fledged army. In fact, Yevgeny Prigozhin himself calls Wagner the most powerful army in Russia. He calls it one of the most powerful armies in the world, quite frankly.

And a lot of what Nick was talking about before, certainly was a catalyst for that, which is the battle of Bakhmut, which was obviously extremely brutal, where he started using these tactics of taking prisoners from Russian prisons and then bringing them to the front lines to charge Russian positions. I was in Bakhmut for when some of that was going on. We had Ukrainians who were telling us that there were just dozens and dozens of Wagner mercenaries who kept charging their positions all the time, and it was very difficult for them to hold the line.

However, he's claims that he had success in Bakhmut and he rubbed that in the face of the Defense Ministry, obviously claim that he was better than the defense minister. And now we see that full on feud out in the open.

BLACKWELL: Frederik Pleitgen with some important context. Fred, thank you. Let's go now to the White House, CNN White House reporter Jasmine Wright. The White House says the President has been briefed and is monitoring the developments in Russia. Tell us more.

[06:10:09]

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, Victor, look, as we heard from Nick and Fred there, this is a fast moving situation that has immense of geopolitical implications. And so the White House says that they are monitoring this very closely taking this very seriously. Now, I have to say Victor that as of last night, the White House and National Security Council have been very particular in what type of information, what type of statements that they're putting out, knowing just how fast moving this situation is just how things can change in an instant. So they've been careful in this situation.

But last night, we know that President Biden was briefed on the situation unfolding and Russia, of course, we asked this morning, whether or not President Biden will be briefed again on what happened overnight here in the U.S., as well as we know that the National Security Council, they put out a statement yesterday, I want to read it for you, they said that we are monitoring the situation. And we'll be consulting with allies and partners on these developments.

You can see there on the screen there. Obviously, this holds a lot of implications for President Biden, but also for the unity that he has worked very hard over the last few months and years to hold, to really hold Russia's feet to the fire in support of Ukraine. As early as January, though, we know that they were talking about this from the podium that U.S. officials had identified some type of internal struggle happening between the Wagner group and Russia and therefore they were monitoring any intelligence from that point, at least a very closely, just a real window into the fact that they are taking this issue very, very seriously.

Now, the question becomes what happens today? We know that President Duda of Poland tweeted a few hours ago that he would be talking to his allies that would include per chance, President Biden. So we've asked, of course, what President Biden's efforts of this are going to be today. Will he talk to allies? And how will he really stay tuned on this very quickly developing situation? Victor, Amara?

WALKER: All right, Jasmine Wright, thank you very much. Let's talk more about this with CNN military analyst retired Air Force, Colonel Cedric Leighton. Colonel, thank you so much for joining us this morning. I mean, it really is stunning and extraordinary to see this leader of the Wagner group, which was instrumental in the war in Ukraine, challenging Putin's military leadership, vocally calling it out saying things like that it's incompetent. And now, Yevgeny Prigozhin is refusing to surrender. How would you describe what's happening there on the ground in Russia?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, it's a confused mess, Amara. And I think one of the key things to think about here is that, you know, the historical precedent is Nick mentioned earlier, is really not there in modern Russia, you have to go back several centuries before you see something like this. It's kind of like Napoleon coming back from Elba and moving up and retaking control of France, except the one big difference, of course, with that analogy, is that Prigozhin has never held power, absolute power in Russia.

He's never been the president or the head of state of the country. So it's clearly a power play, at the very least what Prigozhin wants to do is a give his force, the Wagner group, a major piece of recognition that he feels they're not having. But I think he's gone beyond that. He's kind of crossed that bridge of no return. He's made it very clear that what he really wants is absolute power over Russia. And in fact, it seems as if although he's not saying it, it seems as if he really wants to control the entire country, in other words, depose Putin.

WALKER: So you would describe this as an attempt, a coup attempt by Prigozhin?

LEIGHTON: I think so. I think at this point, you have to say it is a coup attempt. The Russians themselves, Amara, are describing this as a coup attempt. It's a, you know, where you look at the language of all these people and how they're describing this. It seems that the Russian state, in other words, Putin side, they are really concerned about this. They are concerned that Prigozhin is going to take in, attract a large number of recruits to his side, whether or not that successful, of course, remains to be seen. But I think the danger is there in the Russian side, in other words, Putin side, really feel the pressure to make sure that that doesn't happen.

WALKER: OK. Then strategically, what needs to happen next from Putin's perspective, especially when you see the optics of Prigozhin, saying and declaring that his 25,000 troops, as he says, are crossing over from Ukraine into Russia demanding to meet with the military leadership, although he does deny that this is an attempt to carry out a military coup, but what do you see happening next?

LEIGHTON: So I think what you will see if Putin can maintain control of his forces, I -- you will see some kind of battles between the Wagner group and the Russian military. Now what's interesting is when you look at what's happened on social media, and you see, you know, some of the unconfirmed reports from the area, it appears as if, at least around the Rostov region in this, you know, southeast basically of Ukraine that there has been no real resistance to the Wagner group. They have not stopped the personnel carriers. They have not stopped the movement of Wagner group of mercenaries.

[06:15:32]

And those mercenaries have apparently taken control of at least one of the major buildings that the Ministry of Defense occupies in Rostov. So they're going to have to dislodge them from that. The Putin side is going to have to dislodge the Wagner group from that, from that building, and possibly other buildings. And if the same is happening in Voronezh, which is a lot closer to Moscow, then you're going to see a big efforts to try to control this.

So that, you know, I think what we can see is some pitched battles between the two sides, potentially or the other side of this is that they, you know, they will kind of fraternize with each other commingle the forces, and something will be worked out in the back room, and Putin will remain in control or he will lose control. Those are basically the two branches that could happen here. And that's, I think, what we're looking at the moment.

WALKER: Wow. So how quickly do you see this descending into, you know, some kind of urban warfare and also a full-fledged Civil War, especially when Prigozhin has says that he has taken control of, you know, the post in southern Russia, which is, you know, many, it was at a 10, 15 hour drive from Moscow, Rostov-on-Don, and also which military has the advantage? Especially when we talk about numbers, we know that Putin has a much larger military than this private military group, Wagner. But we know, you know, that the Wagner group has been much more effective in its war against Ukraine.

LEIGHTON: Yes. I think this is really a battle of effectiveness in this case, right? So what you're looking at is, you know, which force can bring the most power to bear the most quickly. I do think it is possible that we will see a, you know, some kind of conflict, some kind of open warfare, at least in a localized sense. If Prigozhin is stopped, then you won't see a full-fledged Civil War. However, if this continues to metastasize from Putin's point of view, then it's going to be much more dangerous for Putin. And that's going to be I think, the critical juncture that we're going to be at here pretty soon.

WALKER: That is Putin's immediate objective right now is to capture Prigozhin and kill him.

LEIGHTON: I think the very least capture the way he spoke though it indicate that he sees this as treason. And of course, the punishment in Russia for treason is ultimately potentially death.

WALKER: Colonel Cedric Leighton, appreciate it. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: And of course, we will follow all that's happening in Russia with all the angles, bring you all the analysis throughout the morning. But there is other news that we're following for you, including the multiple investigations into what caused the OceanGate submersible to implode underwater, all five onboard were killed. Where the effort to find the -- and recover the debris stands this morning?

[06:18:28]

Plus, we're following new developments in the special counsel investigation into former President Trump's handling of classified documents. The dozens of people Trump is now barred from talking to him about the case and when we might see him back in court.

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WALKER: This morning, we are following developing news out of Russia where in a televised address earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to punish anyone involved in treason or armed rebellion.

BLACKWELL: Now the leader of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, longtime ally of the Kremlin claimed his troops had taken control of the military facilities in the Russian cities Voronezh and Rostov-on-Don. Now Putin has called this an insurrection.

WALKER: And security has ramped up in Moscow with military trucks spotted on the streets and anti-terrorism measures being carried out in the city. The Wagner chief has threatened to move on to the Russian capital if top military leaders do not come to meet with him.

The U.S. Coast Guard will lead an investigation into exactly what went wrong causing that Titanic bound submersible to implode and kill all five people on board. Today investigators will continue scouring the ocean floor for answers.

BLACKWELL: They're mapping out the debris field is located about 1,600 feet from the Titanic wreckage that should help piece together a timeline of the incident. CNN's Jason Carroll explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are some of the first images of the remotely operated vehicles, which found portions of the Titan's hull and continued on a new mission to search and map the debris site. The ROVs will continue searching for more evidence of the accident. That submersible lost contact with the ship on the surface one hour and 45 minutes into its descent on Sunday.

DAVID GALLO, SENIOR ADVISER FOR STRATEGIC INITIATIVES, RMS TITANIC INC.: The other thing that I heard was that PH had contacted the surfer ship. And so there was a problem we're dropping weight and surfacing immediately. Now, I can't verify that but that to me meant something really happened very quickly.

CARROLL (voice-over): OceanGate did not comment when asked about what Gallo had heard. Deep sea experts questioned the lack of testing of the vessel and the integrity of materials used to make the hull. A CNN review shows that while OceanGate publicly touted a commitment to safety measures, it rejected industry standard that would have imposed greater scrutiny on its operations and vessels.

[06:25:04]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Specially trained crew members safely diving to the Titanic wreckage site.

CARROLL (voice-over): And this promotional video published last year, the company touted and unforgettable but safe voyage. That video also features Paul-Henri Nargeolet, one of the passengers on board Titan.

PAUL-HENRI NARGEOLET, FRENCH DIVER WHO WAS ON THE TITAN: For me, it's very well done because it's simple. Generally, there a lot of equipment and a lot of switch, and on this one you don't have because you work with a screen then with a keyboard and it's very easy to do that.

CARROLL (voice-over): CNN also learned two former OceanGate employees separately voice safety concerns about the design of the Titan, OceanGate has not responded to CNN about those claims. And in 2019 Lloyd's Register, a marine certification company declined to request from OceanGate to certify the Titan. That company has not said why. OceanGate's co-founder who left the company in 2013 cautioned against rushing to judgment.

GUILLERMO SOHNLEIN, OCEANGATE CO-FOUNDER: There are teams on site that are still going to be collecting data for the next few days, weeks, maybe months. And it's going to be a long time before we know exactly what happened down there.

CARROLL (on camera): Both the NTSB and the Canadian transportation safety board say they have launched investigations into what happened. Also, the U.S. Coast Guard has declared the loss of the Titan to be a major marine casualty.

Jason Carroll, CNN, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Jason, thank you and you can catch a special hour on the underwater tragedy, the recovery effort, the dangers of deep sea exploration. The whole story with Anderson Cooper, that's where it is, tomorrow night at 8:00 on CNN. Well, now to a CNN exclusive as we're learning new details out of Special Counsel Jack Smith probe into Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The former president has long been accused of planning to install fake electors in a number of swing states.

WALKER: And what's emerging now is at least two of those fake electors have testified in recent weeks in return for limited immunity from federal prosecutors. Katelyn Polantz has the latest now on the investigation and more from Washington.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR REPORTER, CRIME AND JUSTICE: The Special Counsel's Office investigating Donald Trump has been busy this past week in both of their investigations, so the Mar-a-Lago case where Donald Trump is charged with 37 counts. That is a case where the Justice Department came into court on Friday night and filed a couple different things. First, they asked to move the trial date or set the trial date for December for Donald Trump and his co-defendant, Walt Nauta. Right now, Donald Trump has said he is not guilty. So he's planning to go to trial. Walt Nauta is expected to show up in court on Tuesday of the next week, and also enter a pleading of not guilty at this time and get headed to trial.

There was a date on the calendar that was much sooner than December. But the Justice Department is saying in the court filing on Friday night, that there's actually a lot of business that has to be taken care of in this case for both sides to prepare, especially around the use of classified documents how that is going to function in the trial. And so they're asking for a December court date. The Donald Trump legal team does indicate that they might be opposing that but we're going to have to see exactly what happens in the coming days with that and what the judge ultimately says about a trial date.

In addition to that Trump's team and Walt Nauta's team do have a list of people, witnesses in this case that both of those defendants are not allowed to be speaking with about the facts of the Mar-a-Lago documents case. And Donald Trump's team, according to one of the court filings from the Justice Department on Friday night, that list is 84 people long, so 84 people Donald Trump would not be able to talk about Mar-a-Lago and classified documents with as he awaits trial, because he could be punished, put in jail even or held in contempt if he doesn't follow the court's orders there.

So that's what's happening in Mar-a-Lago investigation in the special counsel's investigation around the 2020 election. There has been a lot of grand jury activity that leads several of our sources to believe that this case is nearing a final stage and a charging decision could be near. That includes two electors, so fake electors for Donald Trump from the state of Nevada in 2020. They had gotten to the grand jury several days ago. And when they went to the grand jury, they previously had been unwilling to share with investigators what they knew, wanted to assert the Fifth Amendment right against self- incrimination.

And prosecutors said no, they needed their testimony and they needed it now and they received some level of immunity so that they would have to testify in the grand jury and they spoke about how at least a lawyer from the Trump campaign and others were coordinating the efforts of the fake electors. There are other grand jury witnesses going in in recent days as well and some more expected in the coming days and so the Special Counsel's Office has both of these things, the Mar-a-Lago case moving towards trial at quite a quick clip, and the special counsel investigation around January 6th, Donald Trump, and the 2020 election that has really heated up as well.

[06:30:22]

Katelyn Polantz, CNN, Washington.

WALKER: All right still ahead, an internal conflict in Russia amid the war in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and the leader of the Wagner mercenary group go head to head. We're going to discuss the diplomatic dynamics at play, next.

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BLACKWELL: Top stories for you now. Russian President Vladimir Putin is accusing the leader of the Wagner Mercenary Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin of urging an armed rebellion.

[06:35:00]

Now, Prigozhin claims his troops took control of military facilities in two Russian cities.

WALKER: But Prigozhin denies his acts are a coup attempt, saying instead, the takeovers are a march of justice that will not interfere with Russia's armed forces in any way. CNN international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson is in London, he's been following these developments very closely. Good morning to you, Nic. So how does this impact the way Russians view this war?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: What's really interesting about the way that Putin has handled the situation so far, not just that has taken a long time to deal with the challenges of Prigozhin, who was such a close ally of Putin. that has led it to grow to this stage. That was essentially armed rebellion on the street.

But it's that, Putin is taking this purely as a security issue that he is using anti-terror legislation to allow the army to crack down on Prigozhin and his supporters. That's super clear. But what Putin hasn't done here at all, not one iota, is address what Prigozhin has been saying over the past month, that the war is -- in Ukraine is being fought badly, that there are unnecessary deaths, there are shortages of ammunition that the people to blame are the defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, Valery Gerasimov, his -- the army chief of staff.

So Putin is not dealing with that core question, and that's a question that is actually quite writ large in Russian society. People do ask that, particularly the families of lost loved ones in the fight. That number could be from a 100,000 perhaps to 200,000. So Putin, even after he deals with this security situation is going to have to deal with that question, and his delays in dealing with it so far, make him look weak.

How he frames the war going forward after all this criticism, can he really completely ignore it? This is going to be a question that will affect how much longer he can stay in power. He has to stay in the war in Ukraine, to keep a narrative that victory can be had, that success can be had, and that is key, absolutely key to him, Putin, remaining in power. So, this is a core issue, this issue of -- is a worthwhile war, and he's not answering it.

BLACKWELL: And now to the Ukrainian half of this, what do you think the western allies of Ukraine, what they're seeing, how they approach this?

ROBERTSON: They're looking at it very closely. You know, we've heard from a number of different countries today, the Germans, the French, the Czechs, Poles, the British, NATO collectively, all saying that they're watching closely, the British are saying they're talking to the European allies or their G7 partners.

There's a lot of scrutiny because what happens next on the ground in Russia is vitally important. How much longer can Putin hold on to power? Is he about to lose power? I think that's a really big and open question at this point in the day, 24 hours time, we should have a better answer on that. But if not Putin, then who? And if -- you know, if it's somebody who is -- is it going to be the military commanders?

Is it going to be perhaps Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen leader? How will they prosecute the fight in Ukraine, or will they change tack on it? And this is what, of course, is going to have allies concerned. If not Putin, then how is the fight in Ukraine going to go? Is it going to escalate or will it -- will it -- will it be called to a halt?

BLACKWELL: Nic Robertson, thank you. Still to come, today marks one year since one of the biggest rulings in Supreme Court history, overturning of Roe versus Wade. Well, now, some politicians are looking to take the fight against abortion further.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:00]

BLACKWELL: Today marks one year since the historic Supreme Court decision to overturn the federal right to abortion under Roe v. Wade. Since then, lawmakers in 20 states have abortion bans in some form or on the books, with 14 states banning abortion altogether. Others states have moved to expand access to abortion. And just this week, governors in New York and Arizona signed bills to protect doctors who provide abortion care to people coming in from out of state.

Now, abortion rights are already a hot button issue for candidates on the campaign trail. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The court got Roe right 50 years ago, and I believe Congress should restore the protections of Roe v. Wade once and for all.

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Every Republican candidate for president should support a ban on abortion before 15 weeks as a minimum nationwide standard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: CNN political commentator and "Spectrum News" political anchor Errol Louis joins us now. Errol, good morning to you. And I want to start right there where the former vice president ended, calling for this commitment to a 15-week ban. At the top of the list as it relates to the polls, Donald Trump doesn't think it's a good idea to talk about abortion.

We saw how hedgy he was during the town hall on CNN. Is he right here, that, this really isn't a winning issue, although he claims kind of cleanly, I ended Roe?

[06:45:00]

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Victor. Look, Mike Pence is trying to win a Republican nomination, and so, he is talking directly to the anti-abortion, very conservative base of the party, that he thinks is going to carry him to victory. That may or may not happen. Donald Trump, although, we know, he's not really one for basing his actions on polling data, actually, he's tracking with the polling data. He knows that it is a loser for him.

In fact, he lost an election, so he knows what it feels like when the country is going in a different direction. All of the polling, Victor, suggests that in the last year, a lot of Americans, including Republicans, have decided that these extreme bans where doctors are criminalized, where mothers are put into really difficult positions where they have to decide whether or not to continue with the pregnancy or continue with, say, cancer treatment, people were not ready for that.

People don't want that. The polls show that it motivates Democrats. It pulls over independents, and it pulls over some Republicans. It is a very difficult position that people like Mike Pence are going to talk their party into.

BLACKWELL: Yes, does it hurt the former president when he continuously says I ended Roe, I'm the one who ended Roe, of course, it was a decision by the Supreme Court, and he put three justices on the court. But do you think that hurts him moving forward?

LOUIS: Well, you know, it's interesting. You know, we'll have to see obviously. But when he says that, he's talking again to the Republican base. And there are a lot of other issues that come with the Supreme Court. So it may alienate some people. It will energize the Democratic base, but he wasn't going to get those people anyway.

What it does do, though, is establish that he's going to play court politics, and in a lot of other realms, whether it's school prayer or housing or other issues, he may get some of those folks back. So when Donald Trump says, I ended Roe, he's also saying I will play court politics, and that actually may work out for him in a way that some of the other ways that people like Mike Pence talk about it don't necessarily work out so well.

BLACKWELL: Let's stay at this event where we saw former Vice President Pence, this is the faith and freedom coalition event. The former New Jersey governor and candidate for the nomination, Chris Christie was booed at this event. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CHRISTIE, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE FOR 2024: I'm running because he's let us down. He's let us down because he's unwilling. He's unwilling to take responsibility for any of the mistakes that were made, any of the faults that he has, and any of the things that he's done. And that is not leadership, everybody.

That is a failure of leadership, and I --

(BOOING)

You can boo all you want.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Vintage Christie. I mean, covering the region as you do, you know, he's done that for quite a while. Listen, this is a pro- Trump event. He probably expected some boos or some pushback. But does this in some way help him? If he is trying to run in the anti-Trump lane, those folks who are now in poll say they'll never vote for him. Look at him and see, he is someone who will take it to Donald Trump, to his people in a way that DeSantis and Haley and Scott and the others will not.

LOUIS: Well, that certainly is what he's doing. I don't know if I would call it a path to victory. I would call it sort of a minority position within the Republican Party that Chris Christie for reasons best known to himself feels like he has to enunciate.

I mean, the reality is, there's almost no path to victory there. The polling shows he is by far -- by far, Victor, the most unpopular of the Republican candidates. What I think is interesting about it is that, there continues to be this trickle of new candidates into the race, and none of them of these new entrants seem to be overly afraid of Donald Trump.

I mean, the folks who first jumped in, the Mike Pences and so forth, the Ron DeSantis, they seem to think they can take Trump's base away from him. It's unclear whether or how that would ever happen. And they're having a very hard time getting any traction in that direction. Chris Christie goes in an entirely different direction, is very unpopular with the base, which is, after all, still committed to Donald Trump, but he feels like he has to say something.

He hasn't drawn any counterattacks really from Donald Trump, and this is, you know, sort of the evolving field, more and more people jumping in. Former mayor of Miami jumping in. Will Hurd; a former congressman jumping in, lots of people, and they don't fear Donald Trump at this point.

BLACKWELL: Yes, 12 candidates in the race now. Errol Louis, thanks so much.

WALKER: Coming up, one of baseball's biggest rivals heads across the pond as the Cubs and Cardinals are set to face off this weekend in London. We'll have a preview of the international showdown next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:00]

BLACKWELL: There is no hotter team in Major League Baseball right now, I'm told, than the Cincinnati Reds. They extended their winning streak on Friday night to 12 games, thanks to their rookie phenom --

WALKER: Yes --

BLACKWELL: Andy Scholes --

WALKER: Joining us now. So --

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes --

WALKER: What a winning streak by the Reds.

SCHOLES: Oh, man, what a time for baseball in Cincinnati, guys. This kind of came out of nowhere. You know, the Reds, they lost 100 games last year, they were six games under 500 before this streak started. But now, they're in first place, the NL Central, and the fans there, it just couldn't be more excited. And the big reason for the recent success is the play of rookie Elly De La Cruz, the 21-year-old third baseman is one of the top prospects in baseball when he got called up earlier this month, and he has just been tearing it up.

Last night in the six inning, Elly completing the cycle with this triple right here. He's the youngest player to hit for the cycle in baseball in 51 years. Now, the Reds were down 5 after the brace in this game, Joey Votto helping the comeback. He hit two homeruns in front of a sellout crowd of more than 43,000. Cincinnati winning this on a 11-10 for their 12th win in a row.

[06:55:00]

It's their longest-winning streak since 1957. All right, the Cubs and Cardinals meanwhile, they're going to renew their rivalry this weekend, not in Chicago or St. Louis, but in London. This will be the first time since 2019 that Major League Baseball has played a game in Europe. They're going to face off in a two-game series at London Stadium where the Premier League's West Ham United usually play.

The Cubs and Cardinals were supposed to make this trip back in 2020, but those games were canceled due to the pandemic. All right, Wembamania meanwhile running wild now in San Antonio. Victor Wembanyama arriving in the Lone Star state yesterday with some fans chanting Wem VP, 7 foot 4, first overall pick, he's set to be introduced by the team later today.

All right, finally, Happy Gilmore has officially committed to play college golf at Ball State University. And notice, this is not a sequel to the 1996 Adam Sandler movie. This one is a 17-year-old high schooler from Indiana named Landon Gilmore, but he goes by the nickname, "Happy", and he's a good golfer, qualifying for the U.S. Junior Amateur just yesterday.

And Sandler actually congratulated Gilmore in a Twitter post saying, "go get them, Happy, I am pulling for you."

WALKER: Highland County --

SCHOLES: And I guess if your last name is Gilmore and you play golf --

WALKER: Exactly --

SCHOLES: You've got to go ahead and nickname happy.

BLACKWELL: And if your nickname is "Happy", can you do anything else?

(LAUGHTER)

I mean, you have to just follow this up.

WALKER: That is true --

SCHOLES: Yes, it's like if your last name is Burgundy, I'd call you Ron.

(LAUGHTER)

WALKER: That's true.

BLACKWELL: On next --

WALKER: Oh, thanks Andy Scholes --

SCHOLES: All right --

WALKER: Good to see you. BLACKWELL: Next hour of CNN THIS MORNING starts after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)