so most 16-year-olds are just getting their driver's licenses and getting ready for their junior year of high school, but not julia dragoni, just 16 years old she's known as little messi and wore number 16. he's the youngest to represent italy. they had a header from the oldest player, 33-year-old who was a player on field yesterday who was in for argentina that debuted for her nation before this player was even born. >> that is crazy, and by the way, to make the italian national team at 16, it is a pretty easy impressive thing to do. better than me at soccer. "the lead" with jake tapper starts right now.

the special counsel is asking about yet another oval office meeting involving donald trump. "the lead" starts right now. a new cnn exclusive, what did donald trump say behind closed doors. the oval office meeting about election security that has the attention of the special counsel. the new reporting you'll see only on cnn. plus see you in court, mr. president. the strong response from the government an texas as the border heats up. and protests go into the night as the overhaul aft supreme court court powers. welcome to "the lead," i'm bianna golodryga. in for jake tapper. we start with a cnn exclusive. we learned jack smith is scrutinizing another oval office meeting in regard to the efforts to over turn the 2020 election.

prosecutors have asked about a february 2020 meeting in which former president trump praised the work done to secure the upcoming presidential election. and the expansion of the use of paper ballots and security around vote tallies. that is a stark contrast to the voter conspiracy theories that trump promoted weeks later and in the run-up to the november election. >> i don't want to see a crooked election. this will be the most rigged election in history. they know it is going to be fraudulent. it is going to be fraud all over the place. i've been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster. >> the revelation of this meeting comes as the investigation appears to be in its final stages. with the d.c. grand jury scheduled to meet this week. so let's bring in the team with the exclusive reporting. cnn's sean lingas and evan perez. what happened at this february 2020 meeting?

>> there was a lot that happened. it was an election security briefing. u.s. officials walked through the ways in which the election system was secure and telling trump about mail-in ballots, security audits for voting, and a range of ways in which the election would be protected. and trump according to our sources even suggested that he was so impressed by the work done to secure the election, that he even suggested doing a press conference where he could take credit for that work. so, this is, as you say, a contrast to what he was saying just weeks later where he ramped up conspiracy theories and was full boor in the fact that the election would not turn into his favor. >> that is fascinating. he wanted to hold a press conference to tout this. but sean, i do want to play a bit of what trump was saying in public just a few weeks after that meeting in april of 2020. take a listen.

>> the mail ballot, they cheat. it is very dangerous for this country because their cheaters. they collect them and they're fraudulent in my cases. >> that is just a sample of what he said. there was a lot more of this rhetoric. >> right, the rhetoric escalated ex -- exponentially. and you have factual information from his briefers and that is why we're told special counsel made examining this meeting because of trump's mindset and how he absorbed factual information that was reity earitied to him and remained on the same election day and these productions are why the u.s. officials declared the most secure in u.s. history. >> what does this mean for jack smith's investigations into trump's actions? >> well a couple of things we

could draw from this. one of the things is the sheer breadth of this investigation. it is reaching way back into february of 2020. and we know that the special counsel has been really focused on trying to understand what the trump-what the former president seemed to believe, what he was being told by his experts, and then what he was being told by his nonexperts. these are people who are telling him that -- the election was stolen by venezuela and by italian satellites and chinese hacking. so that is what, if you're the prosecutor, that is what you want to focus on. to try to determine whether he really believed this stuff, or whether this was all part of the -- the act that the former president was engaged in. as a way to overturn the election. >> and this is coming as we're waiting to hear from the grand jury. evan, i do want you to weigh in on new exclusive reporting from the cnn on new thousands of documents related to rudy

giuliani. explain the significance there. >> well this is reporting from our paula reid. and this is only on sunday that the special counsel was able to get their hands on the thousands of pages of documents that were in the possession of bernie carrick. he was working alongside rudy giuliani in this whole period where they were trying to find alleged fraud. and this is been withheld, this special counsel -- the january 6 investigation on capitol hill had sought this. but he had never turned these over claiming that they were privileged. well now, as a result of some litigation from a couple of election workers in georgia, these documents are now in the hands of the investigators and again they only got it on sunday. it tells us that there is so much more work that they're doing behind the scenes, even, bianna, if he expect that the grand jury is going to be sitting tomorrow, perhaps here in washington. they tend to sit on tuesday and thursdays.

and an indictment could come any day. it appears certainly a lot of work still left to be done by this investigate team. >> and more information by the day. great reporting. thank you. like to bring in my panel. alyssa farrah griffin and tom dupree and bakari sellers. so i'm curious to get your response to the new reporting because you worked in the white house around this time. did you notice a shift in the former president's attitude from praising election security to all of a sudden doubting it just a few weeks later? >> this was remarkable to hear because i'm familiar with that meeting and i know there were others where former chris krebs have briefed how secure american elections were an the many steps taken to put us in a place where we could trust the institution of elections. but it was about i would say about april or may of 2020, the height of covid and also the former president's poll numbers began to plummet, that he started raising doubts about

mail-in voting. and i actually remember being in an oval office meeting about that time where the campaign called the president and i was sitting there and he -- they basically said stop casting doubt on mail-in voting. you're going to -- so i don't try to get into the mind of donald trump but i think a motivating actor in this election myth big lie was the fact for the first time he realized he might lose and he wanted to start paving the way for saying how he didn't truly lose. >> and this speaks to the issue of intent. if he was briefed on these details, seemed to be proud of them and wanted to hold a press conference, what happened in those next few weeks that changed his mind? and about timing, tom, what do you make of the timing in the difference between the nine months here before the election, and the change in the president's tone and view on election integrity? >> right. well, the fact that nine months lapsed is not hugely significant to the jury.

if jack smith could persuade that he thought our elections were secure at the beginning of 2020, it is unlikely his opinion would change by the end of 2020. although we may not want to get into the mind of donald trump, there are some jurors in washington, d.c., if he is indicted who will be asked to get into the mind to figure out whether or not he genuinely believed this election was tainted by fraud or not. and so i think this evidence that this cybersecurity meeting will go a long way and show that president trump should have known that this was not taken by fraud, at least to the extent that it could have resulted in a different outcome. >> an backari, to that point, homeland security released this statement saying the november 3rd election was most secure in american history. we know subsequently that chris krebs had been fired after that. but the statement was we know based on the exact systems that trump had praised during this 2020 election. so what do you make of that? >> look, i think that the actual

firing and the retaliation is something that jack smith and the grand jury will take note of. this meeting, though, i'm not so certain that it is going to go a long way in convincing someone that a crime was committed. i understand the fact that you have to prove intent or mens rea, but i don't think you get there by proving that donald trump is not smart or not a smart man. if that is a case, you could indict half of the united states senate. so i don't think that is going to go far. but i do believe the treasure trove of documents from rudy giuliani, when you tart turning over notes and text messages, et cetera, that is going further than donald trump doesn't believe in facts. that for me didn't hold a great deal of weight. firing someone for telling the truth, that retaliation, maybe. that sounds more like a civil employment case than anything else. but the treasure trove of documents have to get donald trump nervous because what you notice on indictments, people

start snitching up. they always snitch up on the top target. and that is what we're seeing here today. whether or not meadows speaks or giuliani speaks, all of the individuals snitching up is going to a detrimental effect on donald trump. >> do you agree? these documents came by way of carrick, who was advising the administration and his team. what do you make of that news? >> there are many folks deeply loyal to donald trump but if their risking incriminating themselves, i think they're going to end aup cooperating. i think it is an open question where mark meadows is in this investigation. and the fact that at this point in time we don't know if anyone else has received a target letter. i think that that indicates that there are people cooperating with the grand jury and trying to help the special counsel and that specials -- that spells a lot of trouble for donald trump. >> i want you to weigh in on this exchange the former

president had with sean hannity. i know you don't want to go down the rabbit hole of trying to get into his head. here is what he said at a town hall last week. >> will you encourage your voters based on system we have to go along with the system of early voting and voting by mail, because i think if you don't, it is a big mistake. >> no, i will. but those ballots get lost also, sean. a lot of bad things happen to those ball thots, and we have v corrupt elections. >> so trump is encouraging mail-in ballots yet continuing to sow doubt. ho you are other republican candidates responding to that. >> i don't know that other republican candidates are weighing in but everyone around donald trump has been trying to get him to stop attacking mail-in voting because it again depressing his own turnout. donald trump does well with senior citizens who are voting block that largely votes by mail-in voting. iine felt like sean hannity was trying to key the softball up

for him. it raises two questions. i'm not entirely convinced that donald trump is running because of some grand vision for the future of the country. i think he's running to avoid indictment and potential jail time. he's just hoping to get enough volun votes. an if he loses again, what is his excuse going to be for why he didn't and it is the january 6 story all over again. he can't lose. the problem is with the system despite the fact that we know we have extremely secure elections. >> and, tom, we heard from alyssa bringing up mark meadows asking where is he in all of this. we learn that federal prosecutors are interested in a specific text exchange where he appare joked about trump's election claims. "the washitopost" is reporting this. that meadows wrote to a white house lawyer that his son, atlanta area attorney blake meadows had been probing possible fraud and found a handful of votes casin dead voters napes, far short of what trump was alleging.

the lawyer responded that perhaps meadows son could locate the thousands of votes trump would need to win the election. what do you make other than white house chief of staff joking about election fraud? >> well, first thing i would make of it is if mark meadows has flipped, i would be concerned if i was trump team. and he's been silent and i think there is a good chance that he may face potential exposure that he he is cooperating. as far as the text exchange, it is remarkable to see how many of the behind closed door exchanges may turn out to have significant implications. here the obvious implications is that the chief of staff knew full well that they didn't have remotely sufficient evidence to change the outcome in any state, let alone the multiple states he needed to stay in office. so from the special counsel perspective, it is a gift from god in that he could go before the jury and say look these guys are saying one thing publicly,

but behind closed doors, here is what they believe. >> what do you think about that. >> i'm like, thanks dad, for including me in this federal investigation. i think we're making a good point. if you tie in this text message to an overt act, if mark meadows knew that there wasn't an voted to overturn and no fraud perpetrated in some grand scheme but then went out and helped donald trump orchestrate fake electors into finding now votes, et cetera, then you have a criminal case against mark meadows and criminal exposure. that's how they tie in together. it is not just the intent, but the overt act that is made and we'll see if they have both of them. >> all right, panel. we'll have to leave it there. thank you for your time. i appreciate it. well, we are monitoring what is becoming an active night in israel. after 11:00 p.m. there and protests, well, they're still

going strong. cnn is live in the middle of it all. plus the texas governor defying a federal request and keeping a water barrier designed to deter migrants. but sts working. ab nd what is next for ukraine, now that t it admitted its counter offensive is behind schedule.

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see you in court, mr. president. that is the response from texas governor greg abbott today. as he officially defied a justice department request to remove floating barriers on the southern border. priscilla alvarez is at the white house with more on president biden's response but we start in eagle pass, texas, where rosa flores is live for us. how is he justifying this decision? >> reporter: well, governor abbott is saying that he has sovereign authority by the state of texas under the u.s. and texas constitutions. now here is what his defiance looked like on the rio grande. take a look. these are the buoys that are in question. they are four feet in diameter, and they are at the center of this controversy. and they're at the center of

this rio grande river. the international boundary between the u.s. and mexico. there are multiple treaties that governor this waterway. and mexico has been concerned about these buoys because they're wondering if it is in their territory. now according to the u.s. state department, the state of texas did not consult with the federal government before deploying the buoys and they did not obtain permits that raises a lot of questions about what texas was doing and texas not following the law. there are laws and regulations that govern this waterway and texas just went ahead and did that. now the latest regarding the u.s. doj is that we've learned that the u.s. doj has filed suit against the state of texas. we also just learned from the texas attorney general's office that they are doubling down, they say that they are ready to defend texas's right to have these border buoys. so, bianna, we'll have to see what happens. it is a texas size showdown

between the doj and texas. >> it is not the first lawsuit that texas has filed against the government. but as promised, as we just heard from rosa, the justice department has filed its lawsuit. so where do things go from here? >> well they're going to see each other in court over the issue along the texas-mexico border. but the big picture is that this is a delicate political issue for the white house. president biden has come under criticism for his border policies from the left and the right. and there has been this ongoing feud especially with texas governor abbott over the handling of the texas-mexico border. now just to give you some context here, this is was an operation that texas governor launched in 2021. and over the course of the last two years, there have been internal discussions within the administration as they watched what he was doing along the border when it came to the migrants and sending them to democratic led cities. but it wasn't until last week that we saw the justice department threaten this legal action against abbott escalating

this feud and now creating a showdown between abbott and biden. now the white house is calling the actions by abbott both dangerous and unlawful. take a listen to what the white house press secretary said moments ago. >> what you see the governor doing is danger and unlawful and hurting the process. it is hurting the process of what we're trying to do. and instead of coming to the table and trying to figure out a way to work together, he continues to do this really cruel, unjust and inhumane ways of moving forward with a system that has been broken for decades. >> reporter: now when i talked to officials about this, this is not only what they see as mistreatment of migrants because of actions of texas governor, but how it interferes with federal government operations and those on the ground facing difficulties with troopers who have worked well with. so all of this coming to a head.

it will be in court and we'll hear from both sides on how they move forward with the floating barriers. >> we'll continue to follow any developments. priscilla and rosa, thank you both. well cnn is also on the ground this hour in israel. the vote today that led to this prot protest in mass and why this scene could play out for some time to come. light to attract and trap flying insecects with no odor and no mess. they work continuously, so you don't hahave to. zevo. people-friendldly. bug-deadly. was also the first time your profits left you speechless. at the counter or on t go, save 20% withhe lowest transaction fees at the and keep more t go, of what you make. start savi today at godaddy.com >> woman: why did we choose safelite? we were loading our suv when... crack! safelite came right to us, and we could see exactly when they'd arrive with a replacement we could trust.

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netanyahu who pushed the bills argues they no longer represent the will of people but opponents point out that the supreme court is the only check on netanyahu and his government. cnn's fred pleitgen is in jerusalem for us. so, it is 11:00 p.m. there and nearly midnight and these scenes are not letting up. what are you seeing around you? >> reporter: well you're absolutely right. certainly they are not letting up. there are still a lot of protests in the street here. the cops just came out here a couple of minutes ago before we went to air and were trying to clear the street. you could see there are still protests trying to open it to traffic. but this junction which is a major one here has been held by the protesters for better part of the day. and there were some ugly scenes. about an hour and a half ago when the police charged the protesters with water cannon trucks analysting people off the streets and carrying them away. protesters vowing to return and

not to let up. as they continue to fight against this judicial overhaul bill which has happened. it is already being appealed not just by the opposition, but by other groups who want essentially the supreme court to say that that bill needs to be null and void. now if that does happen, then you do have a major constitutional crisis here in this country. which doesn't have a written constitution at all. if that happens, because, of course, the crux of the laws now under consideration, the first court has been waived today, is to curtail the powers of the supreme court and that is what these people are fighting against as you mentioned. they are saying that the supreme court really is only real check on power of the government here. >> and ironically this now goes to the supreme court. to decide here. and we don't know what is going to happen after they do. fred, just a few days ago i spoke with isaac herzog where he met with president biden and spoke before a joint session of

congress. he has acted at the mediator on the issue and i asked him about the hundreds of air force reservist who threaten not to show up for duty if this bill passed. listen to part of his response. >> i hope that the issue of not serving, not going on reserve duty, i really truly, i said it on numerous occasions, should be out of the political debate. i know i'm a bit perhaps naive at this stage but i sincerely hope it will fade away. >> an fred, it has not faded away. the number of reservists air force are threatening not to serve has only grown. how is netanyahu government responding to that some say could be a national security issue? >> yeah, they're saying that it is outrageous. and that the people do need to continue to serve the country. it was quite interesting because

it is the military leader who said these need to be separate issues an people do need to continue to serve because the unity is so key here for this urnt coo. but i do think that it is an extremely important question. certainly one that was very important among the protesters here today and we did see a lot of reservists who were at the protest, some of them wrestling with the police to try to stage a sit-in here who were wearing reservist t-shirts and they don't know whether or not they want to serve or be able to serve a country that is at deeply divided as this one is right now. it is a huge question. it is not only about reserves, it is also speaking to a family who said their daughters are about to go serve in the military. we know there is mandatory military service for men and women in this country. and they said it is a big issue for us. unity right now and certainly the strength of the idf is on everybody's mind and that also transcends the questions of the reservists as well. >> these protests not letting up, entering 29 weeks now. fred in jerusalem, thank you so

much and stay safe. well ukraine is taking credit for today's drone strike on moscow and russian annexed crimea. and they continued attacks on odesa where russian missiles damaged at least 25 historical monuments over the weekend incl including odesa's biggest cathedral. it now is structurally unsound. alex marquardt spoke with the ukraine defense minister about the escalating violence. >> reporter: as russia has pounded odesa, so too has ukraine stepped up strikes on crimea. five in the last week including a drone strike today on a russian mooammunition depot. >> we are not escalating somethingm we're fighting for our freedom. >> reporter: this weekend we sat down for a exclusive tv interview with the defense minister who admitted that while

ukraine's counter offensive is behind schedule, ukraine strikes into crimea and beyond will become the norm. >> we'll use every options to hit their depot, their arlt mems. -- >> it your goal to permanently disable the bridge? >> it is normal tacticsm to ruin logicist lines of the enemy. to stop the options to get more ammunition, to get more food, to get more food and et cetera, et cetera. that is why we will use this tactics against them. >> russia's attack in the odes you region was the closest they had struck to nato territory. drones destroying a grain hangar near the border with romania. the latest on attacks on food storage.

>> this is so real and that is why it is -- new evidence that there are a country or real terrorists. they're a terrorist state. >> have you been surprised at how ferocious these attacks have been? >> honestly, not. because offer the february of last year, it is very difficult to surprise me. >> reporter: after almost two months, ukraine's highly anticipated counter offensive have produced few gains. russian troops are on the offensive in the east and ukraine progress is modest in the south. >> i think that is a misperception that every counter offensive should be quick. we had a time to prepare our armed forces with our partners. but they also had a time to make seek zone with the -- with the mines. >> you knew you were going to face tough russian defenses, so is this a question of needing more equipment or is it a question of ukrainian forces not

necessarily fighting in the way they should be? >> it is a question of the ammunition, and the artillery shells and the question that we have a very long battlefield life also. and we have against us big quantity of enemies. >> do you acknowledge that the plan is behind schedule? >> yes. >> reporter: this week he said that the ukraine owes a pentagon a report on how the cluster munitions that were sent to ukraine have been used against russian troops. >> are you able to say where the cluster munitions have been most effective? >> they will be most effective against they're artillery systems and also they will be fish against the armed personal carriers or infantry fighting because they will be good against their infantry in the fields. >> and bianna, he told me that he believes toz cluster

munitions are four times more effective or lethal than the standard artillery round. i wills asked the deeft minister if there is any progress in getting the long range missile they've been asking for nor so long. it has a range of about 200 miles, it is called attack ems, but there is no movement on that front. they are waiting to see how ukraine ruses recently acquired british and french cruise many isles but hoping they will be coming soon. he said there are plenty of russian targ targets in ukraine. >> interesting interview. sobering to say how little surprises him at this stage in the war as well. alex marquardt, thank you. well next, the move by republicans in alabama. that defied a supreme court court. i'll speak with one of the state democrats calling them out. quality eye exam starting at just $79.95. i can see fromom your expressin that you find that shocking.

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in our politics lead, alabama state republicans are defying supreme court orders. refusing to redraw a congressional map that adds a second majority black district or something quite close to it that better correlated with the state's 27% black population. new map includes one district with a 50% black voting age population and a second district with roughly 40%. let's bring in alabama state representative chris england. you worked on the redistricting committee and were opposed to this new map. i asked you during the break if this decision vsurprised you an you said no. explain why. >> um, alabama is very familiar and comfortable with the federal court telling us to what do. and and i figured we could take, naively i was optimistic at the beginning of the week that we would take the ultimate imapath considering that we have had an

alternative plan that we offered. the congressional plan that fit the bra, matched the court order and followed state judicial redistricting principles. and we could all come together and pass that map and satisfy the court and then move on to having an election in fall. but again, alabama does what alabama does. and this process itself appeared to be scripted. it wasn't transparent at all to point that the maps that did pass did not with stand any public input and we passed a map that many people didn't see until friday mni, maybe an hour or so before theyoted on it. so, here we are today. a map that openly defied the supreme court's order and will likely end up back in court. >> well this is being appealed to a federal court. and we know that a hearing was scheduled for mid-august. what are you hoping that court does here? you've said that you believe

this map was drawn directly to get the issue back before the supreme court? >> yeah. i hope that the court does what it does for alabama. it saves us from ourselves. and if you look at the map itself, it is almost like they went to the court order, and they created a checklist of what we could do ong and did it. and it rehashes when they passed the bill, the bill itself actually rehashes arguments that were rejekcted by the supreme court and if you look, everyone keeps repeating, it was a majority minority district or something close to it. well 39%, 39.9% is not close to it. so it is clear this is not creating the opportunity and also does not comply with the court order. >> and state is backing its decision here thus far. your colleague republican state senator steve livingston said that he heard from house speaker kevin mccarthy about this new map and he said mccarthy told livingston he wanted to keep his

majority. what is your response to that? >> yeah, the alabama citizens would prefer that we follow the supreme court order. and it is interesting that a party that talks about law and order only matters when it is convenient. and for months now people have been telling us it is abide by court's order for example in the dob's case, abide by the court's order. but when the court issues an order that is inconvenient and use it as collateral damage to maintain a majority in -- in a process that is supposed to be controlled by people who aren't even here. so, again, it is frustrated as a black legislator who represents a district that was created by a court order many years ago for the same reason, to have alabama now basically defy a court order

to maintain status quo. >> quickly in this final minute with you, the alabama attorney general said that the legislature's new plan complies with the voting rights act by, quote, fairly applying traditional districting prips pells that were blessed by the supreme court. he seems to think they have legal ground here. >> um, yeah, he did as well. but every argument that was made was rejected and we've adopted a losing strategy to go back to the same supreme court that has ordered us to do the exact opposite. and it is interesting because it only appears to me that the only change in the argument is we're going to try to remind you that we're supposed to be all conservatives here, we're all republicans. and maybe you should take another look at this. it is almost like speed limit being 70, we're going to go 100 and then ask you to change the speed limit to 100. and this is what we're doing. but i don't think any court

whether it be the district court or the supreme court of the united states is going to look too kindly to a state legislature blatantly disregarding an order. >> we're about to find out. alabama state representative chris england, thank you for your time. new drone video shows authorities back at the scene in the gill go beach as they investigate the serial murders in long island new york. the crews trying to sort through an overwhelming amount of evidence. this time we traded in n a car and n next thing i know, our new car was here and our trade-in was gone. ta-da. - [narrator] buy yourr car with carvana today. like ours is spoiling their dogs. good, real food is simple. it looks like food, it smells like food, it's wt dogs are supposed to be eating. ♪ my name is brian delallo. i teach ap and honors economics in pittsburgh, pennsylvania.

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in the national lead, a turning point in the gilgo beach

murders investigations ininvolving suspected serial killer rex heuermann. police dogs and ground penetrating radar are on site looking for clues or items that could be linked to the victims. cnn's john miller is following this case for us. john, any word on what officials are looking for, either in the house or the back yard? >> in the back yard they're looking for either additional victims or perhaps property from some of his victims or souvenirs he may have buried. the ground penetrating radar is supposed to show anomalies under ground that could be human remains or could be property or things that don't show up in the rest of the ground. they've dug up some spots. they have a lot of work to do. the evidence they found in the house they have to bring to the medical examiner to swab to see if trace dna can be matched to any of the victims and possibly to show those items to family

members of the victims to say this watch, this ring, this item of clothing, do you recognize this as something unique that you would remember belonging to your sister and your daughter? >> police are looking at the suspect's south carolina property in chester county. there's a search warrant over possible trophies the accused killer splay stashed there. what more do we know about this? >> that is a piece of property he owns. he's got some land there, adjacent to his brother's place. it's where they recovered the green truck that was the very thing that connected his name to this case. and what they're wondering is are there things that he might have brought down there that are related to these crimes or are there things that may be related to other crimes that he may have -- that we may not be aware of that happened between long island and south carolina? >> just chilling. john miller, through so much.

>> you're welcome, thanks. see the dramatic heart stopping moves to save a baby locked in a car in 100-degree heat. first let's get to wolf blitzer. >> reaction from asa hutchinson to his failure, at least so far, to qualify for the first gop presidential debate in a month. is the former arkansas governor feeling pressure to quit the race as senator mitt romney is urging gop mega donors to pull funding from what he describes as non-viable white house hoeflss. that's coming up at the top of the hour here in "the situation room." profers fresh sliced turkey. anand if we profer it, we know you'll prefer it too. glad you made the cut. you mean slice? seriously?

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national lead. video making the rounds on social media "today" shows a quick-thinking response after an infant was locked inside a car in sweltering texas heat. police in harlingen, a south texas city near the border say a mother and father accidentally locked their car in a grocery store parking lot with their baby still inside last wednesday. the group, including the father, broke the front windshield before crawling inside to get the child out. the high temperature wednesday -- get this -- was 101 degrees in harlingen. fortunately first responders say the baby was just okay. just horrifying. defense attorneys for the man accused of killing four university of idaho students face a deadline today to give an alibi for their client. investigators say dna linked to

bryan kohberger was found on the sheath of a knife that is believed to be the murder weapon. he's set to go on trial this october. that is it for us this hour. you can follow me on twitter or follow me on the show. if you ever miss an episode of "the lead," you can get the show wherever you get your podcast. now to wolf blitzer in "the situation room." breaking news. new exclusive cnn reporting of an oval office meeting in which then president trump highly praised 2020 election security months before he falsely claimed the november presidential vote was rigged. it's now a focus of the special counsel as the january 6th grand jury is set to reconvene tomorrow amid growing anticipation that trump will be indicted. also tonight, mass protests in israel as parliament passes a divisive law to strip the nation's highest court o