congratulations to veronica, her husband and big sister sophia as they become a family of four. tune in this sunday morning. "state of the union" dana bash talking to adam kinzinger. i'm pamela brown. have a great fourth of july weekend. the coverage continues now with wolf blitzer in "the situation room." happening now, new developments in the january 6 investigation. the select committee now believe that is an intermediary for mark meadows tried to pressure cassidy hutchinson. a spokesman for meadows denies the accusation. also a holiday travel night mash. sky high gas prices. flight delays and stormy weather bringing misery to millions of americans.

we'll have a foerk on to what to expect. also this hour a cnn exclusive. bri brittney griner's wife. we want to welcome the viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." alleged pressure on a former white house aird that gave bombshell testimony to the house january 6 select committee. congressional correspondent ryan nobles is working the story. tell us what you're picking up. >> reporter: we are learning about the committee's concern that witnesses to the investigation could be intimidated by former members of the trump administration, pips the president himself. one witness they're concerned

about is cassidy hutchinson. witness intimidation is a serious focus. cnn learned that the examples of possible witness intimidation on tuesday directed at the witness cassidy hutchinson. >> you will do the right thing when you go in for your deposition. i think most americans know that atfrlting to influence witnesses to testify untruthfully presents serious searches. >> reporter: sources belief the pressure was applied at the behest after mark meadows. no one from the meadows' camp sought to intimidate or shape the conversations with the committee. he said in a statement to cnn. the accusations come when "the new york times" reports that organizations close to donald

trump helping to pay for the legal fees. it's a practice not uncommon or illegal but according to the former senior investigator it raises potential problems. >> it does run the risk to be less cooperative than they would be if they had attorneys advising them paid by the client. in other words, the witness themselves. >> reporter: also still working with secret service to schedule another round of depositions for two agents at the crept every of a dispute over the conduct inside the presidential suv. >> tony said he was irate. the president said something to the effect of i'm the f'g president. take me to the capitol now. the president reached to grab at the steering wheel. he grabbed his arm. said, sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel.

we are not going to the capitol. mr. trump then used the free change to lunge and when he recounted the story to me he motioned toward the clavicles. >> reporter: angry trump demanding to go to the capitol starting to sir late among the agents after january 6. the agent tony who was also trump's deputy chief of staff met with the committee on two previous occasions. >> he did not have as clear of memories from this period of time as i would say ms. hutchinson did. >> the only time that the j-6 situation comes up when people talk about how unfair this

entire committee is. >> reporter: opponent promoting conspiracy theories about the election results and cheney said she is doing trump's bidding. >> she knows it wasn't stolen. she is beholden to donald trump. he will not support her. >> reporter: back to witness intimidation, the committee members say it is a focus of theirs and concerned about it. congressman raskin where the committee has the headquarters saying it is very serious stuff and the committee is not ignoring it and still pushing forward on the subpoena they issued this week for the former white house counsel pat cipollone. cnn learned he would be willing to sit for a transcribed interview but thalt like to see him in a public setting. the negotiationing are ongoing. >> they are.

thank you. joining us now cnn's chief political ablist gloria allred and shan woo and cnn senior commentator john kasich of ohio. thank you. gloria, how damaging is this allegation that someone sought to influence the hutchinson testimony on behalf of mark meadows? >> i think it's damning and potentially illegal. we know from the reporting that mark meadows in many ways was the donald trump enabler in all of this. we know that he was warned of violence before january 6. we know a multiple times we know that before january 6 he met with rudy giuliani and after that meeting hutchinson went in to speak with meadows and said things might get real, real bad. she said that he asked for a

pardon but he disputes that. i would say that she said this under oath. and so, we know that he also let the president speak with some conspiracy theorists and that when trump told him to call michael flynn and roger stone he did. he wlistened to the president from. in terms of this we would have to say that he was the man closest to the president on this and did nothing to kind of stop what the president sbintended t do which is go to the capitol. >> good point. hutchinson was told and quoting from liz cheney do the right thing going in for the deposition. what red flags potentially does that raise? >> the statute requires an attempt to influence. this is a very easy case to

prosecute. we follow the text messages and astounding to put this in a text message. mark meadows will wish he followed the adage of do something yourself and not in a text message. >> the committee has thousands of text messages and documents. governor, you have seen trump's grip. does the pressure stop witnesses potentially from being truth w6 the select committee? >> you know, wolf, think about this for a second. this is a 26-year-old woman with access to the top levels of our government. think about the pressure she was under going into that hearing room. the lights, the people, the cameras. sitting down there in the chair with the committee up at the top and she never flinched. she was a big trumper.

she was one person in the inner circle that decided that the truth mattered more than anything else in her life. am i surprised that they would have tried to move her away from what she thought? no. i think the attorney said something important. witness tampering if it happened is a very serious issue but kudos to that woman that she was able to do that. she had great poise and influence and it's affected the country. >> certainly has. give her the credit for the the courage of what she did. the accounts of two secret service sources they clearly align with what cassidy hutchinson saying under oath before the committee. >> we know that it was an angry confrontation with an angry president.

there's differences in the details. forget about it. it's a sideshow. the important thing to understand is that the president of the united states was warned that this was an armed crowd. and he still wanted to go to the capitol to lead the armed crowd to disrupt congressional proceedings. that's what we need to focus on. that he was intent on doing that. >> congress was doing what the constitution wanted. >> certifying an election. >> how does this reflect from the legal perspective on cassidy hutchinson's credibility? about what the president was doing in that limo? >> strongly supports the

credibility. now corroboration. to the point here, whatever's the secret service spin and they have reasons not to want to sound like they're ratting out the person they protect but was it a lunge? the important thing is the president of the united states wanted to lead an armed mob to overturn the election. that's the critical point. >> by the way she said she was told this story. she didn't -- she wasn't a witness to it and let everyone know this is what she was told. >> an eyewitness account that told her this. does this feel from your perspective like a potential turning point for some republicans? >> oh yeah. he's taking on water. i said he remind me of the wicked witch of the west. with the water she started to

melt. he is losing influence and people beginning to say you know what? whether i believe the details or not this is not our guy. other thing i think needs to be made clear is in rard to this woman's testimony if people are going to take shots at her they should do it under oath. if they don't agree with her story and able to recount fine. testify under oath. the other thing is, gloria, can you believe this guy trying to go to the capitol to overturn the election? it is beyond reprehencible. it's hard for me to believe in our country to have somebody doing this but this guy has done so much. i never felt he was fit for the office. >> what's more remarkable, that

you don't have republicans who are inside that building under attack saying, this is terrible behavior. this is unacceptable. >> amazing. >> unconstitutional. the former colleagues are not sawing it. >> yeah. >> liz cheney is saying it. adam kinzinger is saying. thank you very much. just ahead, more on the late breaking developments in the january 6 investigation. a former republican congressman and an adviser joining us live right after this. (other money manager) but you still sesell investmens that generate high commissions for you, right? (fisher investments) no, we don't sell commission products. we're a fiduciary, obligated to act in our client's best interest. (other money manager) so when do you make more money,

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more now on top story. the january 6 select committee now believes hutchinson faced pressure from an intermediary for former trump chief of staff mark meadows. joining us now a former republican congressman denver wriggleman. thank you for joining us. how disturbed are you to hear that someone actually attempted toen fluns hutchinson's

testimony on behalf of mark meadows? >> it is disturbing but not surprising. happy independence day weekend. but it is surprising -- it is disturbing but very easy to find out who might be doing that. i think -- i don't know if the american public remembers this but the thing is that the committee has resources and data to find out who might have called cassidy. she can do that to find individuals trying to hide. my guess is she has told the committee and being very, very wise in what she is saying. she did it under oath. very impressive individual. seeing the attacks hitting her right now and the fact of text messages or phone calls to do the right thing with the republicans that were in office in 2020 underneath donald trump shows you what that ecosystem

looks like and the pressure to put to you saying that i said it before. it is the godfather type of negotiation. we'll giver you a deal you can't refuse but if you don't they'll come after you u the committee made it clear this is a fraction of the potential witness tampering that they're dealing with. do you fear it undermined the ability to get to the truth? >> even if it undermined it a certain percentage the first six hearings have been a cluster bomb against individuals who thought it was a peaceful tourist excursion into the capitol. even if there's been a blocking maneuver going on with individuals trying to stop cassidy or other witnesses to tell the truth, i think that when you see the next few

hearings a b the report with the blocking maneuvers i think the committee did an incredible job to present the evidence and i do think that very good things are coming down talking about what the committee's about to show, especially with operational planning. >> we are also reporting accounts of january 6 from two secret service sources. these sources align with hutchinson's testimony the other day that the former president was irate and demanding to go to the u.s. capitol but the secret service detail said it's dangerous. what do you take away from the new reporting? >> wolf, i have been doing counter terrorism a long time. when you put together data and interviews that can be a sledge hammer. if individuals refute sworn

testimony what happens is the committee doesn't like to come out with data or facts unless they have something in the back pocket. seeing the screaming on social media they need to remember that ones and zeros are irrefutable. if they come after the committee or people with facts and truth on the side it could come out and really get you on the backside. i don't like to call people morons. but i think they have to be careful if they don't have data and facts on their side. >> denver, thank you. thank you for the important work over these years. kay chaos at tairports. stand by.

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only from us... xfinity. turning now to the travel nightmare millions of americans are enduring this holiday weekend. cnn aviation correspondent pete money teen is stanning by for us at reagan airport. there could be a summer of travel headaches. give us the latest. >> reporter: that's right. the faa lifted the ground stops on the east coast but doesn't mean today is without the problems. latest check, more than 500 flight cancelations nationwide today. more than 5100 delays and only

just the start. millions of passengers are descending on airports with summer storms putting short staffed airlines to the biggest test in years. tsa screened 2.44 million passengers at airports on thursday. >> it feels like 2019. >> reporter: though with more problems for passengers, 3.5% of all flights this year have been canceled. a 42% increase over 2019. >> go the earliest time as ever. >> reporter: airlines say it's a range of challenges. just this week airlines pointed to air traffic control delays caused by staffing shortages in florida. who is to blame with the cancelations? >> bottom line is the airlines selling the tickets need to have the crews and staff to back up

the sales. >> reporter: in an e maim to customers delta ceo is apologizing says the environment is unlike anything we have ever faced. off duty pilots said they are overworked. >> flying overtime to get the passengers to the destinations. >> reporter: in virginia the faa says it is monitoring the weather delays from forecasts, wind and low clouds. >> no one likes to be delayed but sometimes that happens and working together to make sure that we mitigate that as much as possible. >> reporter: almost no airline is safe from the cancelations. delta is incentivizing passengers putting in place a travel waiver in braceleting

passengers rebook completely free. it will be a busy weekend, wolf. the question is wlomhether or n it will be a smooth one. >> thank you. let's get an updated travel forecast from the meteorologist jennifer gray joining us from the cnn weather center. could the weather situation make travel even worse? >> i think lit. especially today and tomorrow. we have scattered storms in the southeast. severe storms in the ohio valley extending into the next tomorrow making travel very difficult. we have seen ground stops in d.c. today and new york, philadelphia. we have two-hour delays in new york city right now. an hour delays in orlando and

those showers in the southeast continue and then the strong storms pushing through the northeast by tomorrow and going to impact the busiest airports. new york city, d.c. philadelphia, boston. we could see minor to moderate delays in many of the cities and we could see moderate to major delays across the northeast and then in the southeast due to the pop-up showers and thunderstorms that we have seen every afternoon. delays in atlanta today, as well. by independence day things should start to clear out in the northeast. seeing trouble in the southeast where you have the lingering showers and storms and then the gulf coast stormy and then to the north better.

>> we will be in touch with you. let's get more right now. cnn's laila santiago is joining us. what should they expect on the road? >> reporter: they should expect the busiest time of the weekend. right now. as folks are getting out of work on friday expected to be the busiest on the road. break down the numbers. they are saying that they expect 42 million people to hit the road. about 3.5 million people on the flights in the airports and 2.5 million to find other means to travel. 42 million. that is 88% of all the travelers saying to avoid the airport and going to go by car. that is as we are seeing gas

prices soar. right now you pay on average $1.72 more than this day last year so despite those high gas prices a lot of travellers will have a getaway but might not go as far as they would have because of the gas prices. >> thank you very much. griner's trial is finally under way in russia. we have an exclusive interview with her wife with a plea for the biden administration. when moderate to severe ulcerative colitis persists... put it in check with rinvoq, a once-dai pill. wh uc got unpredictable,... check. when uc held me back... i got lasting, steroid-free remission with rinvoq.

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new chapter tonight in the ordeal of wnba star brittney griner detained in russia since february. brian todd is joining us with the latest information. the trial on drug charges is under way. >> it is. we will continue next week. many look ahead to what will happen in the eventuality that she is convicted. wearing a white t-shirt led in to court with handcuffs. the basketball star was read the charges, said she understood the charges and otherwise declined to speak. a top u.s. diplomat updated reporters. >> she is doing as well as can be expected. and she asked me to convey that she is in good spirits and keeping up the faith.

>> reporter: the prosecution said she had the intent to import cannabis oil. in court today prosecutors gave more specifics saying there's two cartridges. >> it wouldn't be prosecuted in the united states. >> in russia it is a penalty up to ten years in prison. >> we know 99% of criminal trials in russia end up in convictions and almost certainly will be convicted. what sentence will she get? that will be a real indicator of the political motives. >> reporter: an indication that officials expect her to be treated as a pawn by vladimir putin's regime came in may when she was classified as being wrongfully detained. there's been talk of a possible trade. >> there's been speculation in the russian media they might

want his name is victor boot. >> reporter: nicknamed the merchant of death. boot is serving in illinois. >> unfortunately the way to bring americans home is by making some sort of negotiated swap so the russians have been asking for the return for a long time. >> reporter: while rumors of a deal circulate the conditions of the detex? >> as a 6'9" black lgbtq american are really difficult conditions to imagine she is treated fairly. >> the kremlin hold the cards in this case and typically projecting a disinterested stance. telling reporter that is the case is not politically motivated a statement that many

here in washington find laughable. >> it is. thank you very much. her wife spoke exclusively to cnn's correspondent abby phillip and urging officials to step up efforts to bring the star home. >> i don't think the maximum amount of effort is being done because the rhetoric and the actions don't match. when you have a situation where bg can call the government, the embassy 11 times. and that phone call don't get answered you don't have interest until i see actions that are in bg's best interest. best interest for the phone call to have been answered and for her to be back on u.s. soil. until i see that, no. the most beneficiary thing is

that you meet with president biden. he has that power. he is the perhap that ultimately will make that decision for bg to come home. while everybody says they care i would love for him to say he cares. five hours court in a tiny cage with the feet up to the ground so she is experiencing a lot the days before walking into court. >> abby phillip is joining us live now. how is she coping with this incredibly difficult situation? >> it is a very difficult time for her. what helped is the ability to talk to each other via the letters on a fairly regular basis. this week sound like multiple back and forths by letter

speaking candidly. doesn't have to hold anything back and not concerned that the russian government is trying to intercept the communications and are honest with each other with the support of other families going through the scenario that brought her into the fold and said that's a help to her. >> tell us about the support she is getting from the other families. >> there are so many families of other americans classified as wrongfully detained. brought home from russia trevor reed. they really keep a tight knit network because the effort to bring americans home is complex and difficult situation and dealing with russia it adds layers of complexity.

how do you plead in the courtroom and affect the sentence you get? what exchange might they demand and how might griner be used. the families are talking to each other ant how to work with the golt. she told me that they all said the same thing to her. you can't stay quiet and keep it to yourself. you have to keep your -- her wife in this case on the agenda. one thing emphasized to her is insisting on the meeting with president biden is a critical part of the process. she is clear eyed believing this is within president biden's power do do and should do whatever it takes including a potential prisoner swap to bring her home. >> may be the only way. let's hope that happens. excellent work.

thank you very much. we'll have more of the exclusive interview at 8:00 p.m. eastern. i'm filling in for anderson. abby will be back for her program sunday 8:00 a.m. eastern. she will have yet more of the interview. coming up, president biden vows the fight over abortion rights is not over despite the supreme court decision overturning roe v wade. we have details of what he and some democratic governors are planning. we'll get to that when we come back. that was right under theieir nose. or... his s nose.

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president biden huddling with the group of democrat you can governors to plot next moves to ensure access to abortion for millions of women whose federal right to term nate their pregnancies thrown out by the u.s. supreme court. let's bring in white house correspondent mj lee. the president met with nine democratic governors today and vowed that the fight over roe is not over. tell us what he said. >> reporter: we heard president biden once again condemning the supreme court's ruling with strong language saying that the decision is terrible and extreme. you're right. meeting with the democratic governors he tried to have a discussion about the ways that the federal government can try to help the individual states protect abortion rights and heard the president call on congress to codify roe v wade and acknowledged that in the senate there are not the votes

to chang the filibuster rule and one of the many reasons that the midterm election is so critical. >> the choice is clear. we elect federal representatives to codify roe or republicans to elect will try to ban abortions nationwide, this is going to go one way or the other after november. it's not over. it's not over. >> now one idea that new york governor kathy hogel floated this evening was to use federal land to perform abortion services in states where that is banned. white house says they all opposed to this idea, that it could be dangerous for women and healthcare advisers, saying today they're still opposed to this idea so we'll have to see in the coming days and weeks what new ideas this administration will offer for so many people who are concerned, k wolf. >> certainly, mj lee, from the

white house. from washington state, the chair of the congressional caucus, also sits on the judiciary committee, congresswoman, thank you so much for joining us. president biden admits democrats right now in the senate don't have the votes to drop the filibuster and protect abortion rights for woman. >> well, it's good, i think, that the president is keeping up on this issue. i think it's good he met with the governors. the governors, obviously, are doing a lot of work in our states and i know we are trying to do everything we can to expand access here. the president and the white house have already said that they will work to ensure that medication abortion pills are available. i can i think that is very important to speed up as quickly as possible with an executive order, pushing the fda to make this happen right away.

also, things like telehealth will be very important and, of course, the president has said that the d.o.j. is going to do everything in its power to ensure that women are not criminalized for crossing state lines. i hope they continue to look at this question of federal lands. i know there are many things that tie their hands at the white house because of the height amendment and hide-like clauses that are there but i have heard new discussion amongst law professors that perhaps this would be something that's possible. so if there's any chance of that, i think that would be fantastic. separately, we are gearing up, and i'll tell you what, wolf, i have talked to so many people over this last week. people are furious. women, pregnant people, about what this means for our futures, so we are organizing and i hope very soon we'll have a very clear plan over the next several

months, but to codify roe, we will need to keep the house and expand the senate, but only by two votes. and it's very important that the president said he supports overturning the filibuster to codify roe because we will get these two seats in the senate, we will be able to do this but it will take a lot of work and energy and turnout all focused in this direction. >> a huge issue going into the midterm elections in november, representative jayapal, thank you for joining us, happy fourth of july. >> thank you, wolf. >> just ahead, russian missiles kill at least 20 people overnight in ukraine, an update from the warzone right after the break. when you have technology that's's easier to control... that can scale across all your clouds... we got that right? yeah, we got that. it's easier to be an innovator.

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>> ukraine now condemnic russia as a terrorist state after missile describes in the odesa region killed at least 20 people

including civilians and children, joining us live from kyiv right now, scott, what are you learning? >> reporter: wolf, rescue workers on the site of these missile strikes, they started looking at the blast sites for survivors but frankly they didn't expect to find any. president zelenskyy says the type of miss imused here is actually the same variety of missile used against that maul in kremachuk earlier this week, an older variety not quite as accurate as the newer models, also big enough to be used to attack a military ship. it is certainly not meant for these kind of civilian sites and a nine story apartment building or summer camp in this case that they've been used on, again with very deadly consequences including one 12-year-old boy who has been killed as well. president zelenskyy, as you mentioned, called russia a terror state in response to this. the foreign minister said that

russia was waging a war against the civilian population and we've seen this over and over again and so the ukrainians have long been calling for help with their air defense system and it appears, tonight, that they're getting some help from the united states to be able to beef up their defenses against missiles, the united states sending two surface to air missile systems to ukraine to help with that system that right, because right now, the ukrainians are vulnerable to m missile strikes really anywhere in the country. though, now that they are in control of snake island, that rocky the b are hoping at least the volume have this launch pad to access an area of odesa that frankly, they have been unable to reach by land so far, wolf. >> awful situation going after these residential apartment

buildings where civilians and kids are. terrible, terrible indeed. scott mclain in kyiv for us, thank you very much and, to our viewers, thank you very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room," i'll be back in one hour filling in for anderson cooper at 8:00 p.m. eastern tonight. until then, thank you very much for watching. erin burnett starts right now. "outfront" next, trump's january 6th outburst, two secret service staffers corroborating parts of cassidy hutchinson's damning testimony, plus, on trial, brittney griner appearing in russian courtroom as prosecutors lay out their case against her. any chance of a fair trial? and it may be one of the toughest fights of a political career, republican congresswoman liz cheney facing off against her trump-backed challenger and her role on the january 6th committee front and center. let's go