. hello, everyone. i'm kate bolduan. we're watching a new nato member and the growing alliance. and sitthe supreme court sittin down for the first time since that explosive leak. and what happens now? and a huge scientific breakthrough. a first look at the massive black hole at the center of our galaxy. the answers it may hold.

thank you so much for joining us. we begin with major development in the war in ukraine and a major shift. finland's leaders announcing that they now support applying for nato membership without delay after decades of stated neutrality. nato secretary-general is praising finland's announcement saying the membership process will, quote unquote, smooth and swift. this will be significant. russia shares an 800-mile border with finland and sweden could very soon follow finland's lead here. already the kremlin said that finland joining nato would be a threat and would be forced to take retaliatory steps. nick, this is a big day. >> reporter: momentous day. it's not the final decision by finland to ask to join nato, but it is tantamount to that. the president, the prime minister in a joint statement very simple, understated if you

will, two-paragraph joint statement saying that the country needed time to consider the issue, that it needed time to consider it with politicians, with the public and also to speak with their international partners, nato itself and nato members. they've done that. and the conclusion is quite simple, that finland needs to join nato for security, that finland will bring additional security itself to nato, and that they need to do this without delay. those threats that are coming from the kremlin, this is nothing new for finland and indeed this is why they've been pushed into making this decision. the president last night speaking about this said he blames putin's actions precisely for precipitating finland's decisions here. this is how he framed it. >> well, if that would be the case that we join, what my response would be that you

caused this. look at the mirror. >> so what the kremlin is specifically saying, they're saying that they will watch finland's actions. if finland increases its military presence along the border, then they will reciprocate. that has been the concern here in finland, that they make this process of making the decision and getting to the nato protective umbrella, that it all happens quickly. that's why the leaders are saying move without delay. >> let's go from there to ukraine. cnn obtained new video from kyiv that is being investigated as a war crime. unarmed ukrainians shot in broad daylight, just as there are also reports that russian forces are intensifying attacks with targets in the east with ukrainian officials acknowledging that putin's troops have made advances.

sara, russia also continues to launch air strikes on mariupol as well. what are you learning? >> reporter: look, there's only a very small area of mariupol that has not been taken over by the russians, and there is a very fierce fight happening. we're hearing from local government there that basically all the apartment buildings, for example, have been destroyed. but you have this group of soldiers and a few civilians who have been in and around the steel plant, who have been fighting with all of their might to stop russia from completely taking over a strong bit of ukrainian stronghold. now there is a desperate attempt to try to save those few people still left there. the injuries, some of the soldiers say it is awful, people with missing limbs, they're in dank, dark conditions that are unsanitary and as they have had

fierce bombardments over the past few days. the ukrainian officials are now saying, look, they're trying to negotiate some way to get their soldiers out without being killed by making potentially a soldier swap with russia, but the situation there is dire. a very small pocket of fighting still happening, but they are being overwhelmed by russian forces. kate. >> absolutely. just excruciating to watch that, as we watch it day by day by day. it's good to see you, sara, thank you so much. joining me cedric layton and kimberly dozier. colonel, let's start with what nic robertson is talking about. he described it as a momentous day, not the end of the road when it comes to finland's process but a momentous day. what does finland bring to the nato alliance? >> well, kate, it brings a major

a anchor in the northern part of the border between the russian world and russia, 830 miles of border that's pretty extensive. there's a long history of finland and russia going after each other in the last hundred years, actually 200 years, and there is a real possibility that finland can serve not only as a great -- [ no audio ] -- but also a great observation area for the nato alliance so that they can observe troop movements even more keenly than they've been able to in the past. so it brings a lot to the table. the fins are a great fighting force, extensive military background and heritage within their military and certainly a willingness to defend and fight to defend their country and territory. so it brings a lot and they'll probably bring sweden with them into the alliance. >> i want to drill down on a

point you were making. you broke up for just a second, colonel, that russia currently shares about 755 miles of land border with five nato members. finland shares an 800-mile border with russia. so russia's borders were nato countries would essentially basically double with finland joining the nato alliance. that physical proximity, that physical border, what does that mean then going forward? >> it means two things. first of all, kate, it increases russia's vulnerability potentially to nato incursions on their territory should nato ever decide to do that. but nato is a defensive alliance. it also means nato has to defend an even larger area, double the size basically, like you mentioned, that could potentially be the site of a russian incursion into nato territory. so it obligates nato to an article 5-type provision which means if finland were to be

attacked by russia, then all the nato nations would have to join in to protect finland and that would be a key provision of that. so it increases nato's requirements to defend more territory but it also provides russia with a warning that the nato alliance is expanding, exactly the opposite of what putin wanted. >> absolutely. and, kim, jump in on that. because russia's response to finland on this, this move, is that they definitely see it as a threat to russia. nic robertson played the sound. i want to read it again, the finnish president when asked if he thinks this move would provoke russia. his response was if that would be the case, my response would be that you, putin, you caused this. look in the mirror. what do you think of that? >> that's exactly what they're saying here. i'm in estonia, a baltic nation that is a two-hour ferry ride across the baltic sea from fin

lawn and bordering russia. and estonia and nato officials say that having finland in the alliance and sweden means they will be able to share much more sensitive intel with both of those countries, which will increase both the air security and the sea security. the estonians say they've been watching the russian use of long-range missile. they want nato to start regularly practicing or creating an air bubble over this whole region to include finland and sweden and of course norway, that is already a nato member. they say right now we're doing peacetime practice. we watched waphat happened in ukraine. we have to be able to run jets overhead and anti-missiles on the ground, not just in the nato

runs that we do but all the time. when we were looking at iraq and af afghanistan, russia is still the adversary, we still have to plan for them and they're saying see, we told you so. >> i think their perspective to these smaller nato nations, if you will, i think their perspective on what finland and eventually what you would assume sweden also joining, what it means for them. >> well, this is a former soviet nation that good freedom in the lifetimes of many of the people in this country who are my age and they have national conscription where all the men have to do at least a year's military service and then they go back for refresher training every year because russia's right on the border and they are just very aware of the threat.

as for nato expanding to include finland and sweden, i wanted to add that one official told me the planning for that is so advanced that at nato headquarters, they've already cleared out office space to welcome the two nations in. >> that's fascinating. that's a really interesting point. it's good to see you. thank you so much. and colonel, thank you as always. coming up for us, the supreme court will hold its first meeting today since the leak of a draft opinion that smashed, as we know, nationwide protests over abobortion rights. details in a live report next. the 36360 smart bed senses yor movement and automatically adjusts to help keep you both c comfortable all night. and can help you get almost 30 0 minutes more restful sleep per night. sleep number takes care of the science. all you have to do is sleep. during our memorial day sale, save $1,000 on the sleep number 360 special edition smart bed, queen now only $1,999. only for a limited time. to learn more, go to sleepnumber.com. dove knows we damage our hair a lot my hair i curl it.

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unprecedented leak of the court's secreted opinion process, the leaked draft opinion shows that the court is poised to overturn essentially roe v. wade. with more on this, jessica, it's a regular meeting but this time under extraordinary circumstances. >> reporter: extraordinary for sure, kate. and the tensions are high. it has been ten days since that unprecedented leak and the drama has really only intensified. we've seen near ongoing protests outside the court here and protests outside the justices' homes of justice samuel alito. the conference will be completely closed. only the nine justices are allowed to attend but it's happening amidst a transformed court. we have a nine-foot unscaleable fence, which is unprecedented and inside the launch of the

internal investigation directed by the chief justice. if the court follows its usual calendar, we have just about seven weeks remaining in the term for nearly 40 issues here. we're talking about important cases, not just abortion, the mississippi abortion law banning abortion at 15 weeks, and the gun law that conservatives could remake the scope of the second amendment. it the first gun case the supreme court will decide in more than a decade. we have two very big religious liberty cases, a case involving campaign finance brought by senator cruz and a case involving the scope of the epa and how they can regulate climate change. it's not just the leak that's monumental, it's also the cases that are upcoming that we are still awaiting decisions on. a little swirling both inside and outside the sporupreme cours

we move forward in the coming days. joining us is our cnn legal analyst jeffrey toobin. can you take us behind the scenes of how different today's meeting of the justices could be? what are they actually doing? what is the first time them getting after this leak, what does it mean? >> well, you know, this is so unprecedented in the court's history. there has never been a leak of an opinion like this or the subsequent politico report of how the deliberations in the case are going. politico is essentially reporting on these internal deliberations in realtime. and what the court as an institution really has to decide is how much of an investigation they really want. because in part they really want to know who did this. you know, this is at least a firing offense, if not a criminal offense to leak in this

way, but the broader issue is how is the court going to change as an institution. it has operated very much on a basis of trust. there are four law clerks apiece, 36 law clerks, nine justices, 35 people. it really not a very big institution. it's just a handful of support staff. and the question is does the court want a real investigation where they're going to start to put people under oath, they're going to subpoena people, look at cell phone records or are they going to write this off as a one-time aberration? that's a tough question for the court and i don't know which way they're going to go. >> it's a great point. there was reporting on this internal investigation. she put it as sources familiar with how the court operates says the inquiry could lead to further privacy issues as the justices work furiously to

resolve the cases. >> one of the things that struck me is when the chief justice announced his investigation, he didn't say i'm turning it over to the fbi. he said i am going to give it to the marshal, which is sort of the internal -- the internal police force at the court. and that's a very different operation. up u you know, they don't do criminal investigations. they don't do search warrants, wire tapping. if you really care about this leak and wanted to get to the bottom of it, you would ask the fbi to get involved. but the chief justice has to be concerned about the issues of how the justices get along with each other and do they want outsiders going through drafts of supreme court opinions. do they want the scrutiny that

the fbi could apply. and the chief at least as far as the initial announcement said, no, we're going to do this within our own home but that also, i think, reduces the chance that they will actually find out who did this. >> interesting. so president biden, he talked about the pending supreme court decision again last night when he was at a fund-raiser. he said this -- it's not just the brutality of taking away a woman's right to her body. if that holds, they are going to go after the saupreme court decision on same-sex marriage. he has done this kind of out of the gate since this draft leaked out. what do you think it means? >> well, you know, i think it is a plausible interpretation of the draft opinion. remember, one of the key

passages in justice alito's opinion says the constitution says nothing about abortion. that's true. the constitution is what's known as an unenumerated right in the court's language. that means it's not spelled out in the constitution. but neither is the right to marriage spelled out in the constitution. neither is the right to travel. neither is the right to privacy. if the standard the court is adopting that it has to be spelled out in the constitution in order for the court to protect it, this does threaten the right to privacy, this does threaten the right to marriage. just alito in the draft opinion says -- there's a paragraph that says this opinion only applies to abortion, but, you know, once opinions are out there, they can be interpreted as subsequent courts dictate. the way president biden talked about this opinion is certainly a plausible view of where the

court might be going. >> interesting. it good to see you, jeffrey. thank you. coming up for us, president biden also marking a very sad milestone. one million americans dead from coronavirus. the president's message to the nation and to congress. that's next. (brad) congratulations! you're having an out-of-apartment experience- 'cause these cramped confines aren'n't going to fit your rapidly expanding family. but with more rerental listings than a anybody else, apartments-dot-com can help you trade this love nest for... (woman) ...an actual nest. (brad) baby names! for a boy, brad. for a girl, brad. apartments-dot-com. the place to find a place. if you have this... and you get this...

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i fought for freedom abroad. i'm not going to allow anyone to take away women's rights here at home.

abortion is effectively banned in texas, and at least seven other states only have a single abortion provider. we need leaders in congress who will stand up to extremist politicians, and protect our right to choose everywhere. and i will fight for pay equity, too. i'm emily beach, and i approve this message because nothing is more important than standing up for- - [all] our rights. right now.

president biden today marking a sad milestone. one million americans dead from covid. the president ordering federal flags to fly at half staff and also pleading with the american public to remain vigilant, in his words, against the pandemic. the president is speaking today at this global summit. what else did he say? >> reporter: he described it as a tragic milestone as a million americans have lost their lives to covid-19. the president is kicking off a global summit where they're convening lawmakers to prepare for future health crisis. the president specifically talked about those losses and the collective grief that's been

shared. >> this pandemic isn't over. today we mark a tragic milestone here in the united states. 1 million covid deaths, 1 million empty chairs around the family dinner table, each irreplaceable losses. >> reporter: to mark the moment, president biden ordered that flags here at the white house and other government buildings be flown at half staff until monday. the president urged -- used this summit to urge funding of the bill, that americans cannot become numb to the losses and must remain vigilant.

>> also coming up, naomi judd revealing how her mother died. judd sat down with diane sawyer saying that her mom died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. she said the family is speaking out about this to try and to shine a light on mental illness. listen to this. >> it lies, it's savage and, you know, my mother, our mother, couldn't hang on until she was inducted in the hall of fame by her peers. i mean, that is the level of catastrophe of what was going on inside of her. >> lisa, what else did ashley judd say? it was a very emotional interview. >> she explained the family deputized her to go public with

the information because they feared it would go out into the public arena another way and they wanted to be able to control the information about how their mother died. in addition to grieving, she's also dealing with the trauma of having discovered her mother. >> absolutely. that's even remarkable to see her be able to speak out about it as she did today and even right afterward as her mother was being inducted into the hall of fame. thank you for bringing us that. if you are struggling with thoughts of suicide or or worried about a loved one. the national suicide prevention lifeline is available to you on the clock. the number is there on the screen. stale ahead for us, gas prices have hit a new record high and why the president is now warning democrats that inflation is going to, quote, scare the living hell out of everybody. that's next.t. oh... hey bonnie, i didn't see you there. ♪ ringcentral ♪

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pushing back against criticism of how he's handling this and he's targeting republicans. >> right now the majority of our republican friends just see things differently. they don't want to solve inflation by lowering the cost. they want to solve it by raising taxes and lowering your income. do you think i'm making this up, if i didn't see the actual document, i'd think i was making it up. i think it's a good thing when american families have more money in their pockets. >> joining me for more is democratic congressman mike quigley. thank you for coming in. let's talk about this inflation crisis. biden also speaking about inflation at the chicago fund-raiser last night said the following: "we can't let this happen, guys, it's going to be hard, it's going to be hard because inflation is going to scare the living hell out of everybody." beyond the actual negative impact of inflation, congressman, the fact that he is saying that it is going to scare people so much, he's

acknowledging that it is a political problem. is he right? >> absolutely. look, it's a real life problem. my constituents are suffering along with everyone else and we need to act immediately. i think the president is right. i think there are things we can do right now to help the american people. >> you think you can actually change -- president biden has put forth a plan but you think there's actual change the democrats can do to show results, to bring down inflation in time for the mid terms? >> one of the primary drivers of inflation is energy costs. right now we're seeing record profits by oil companies and most of them are not increasing production at a time when it's so critical to addressing the inflation issue, but also the war issue in ukraine. we're trying to help wasn't the -- wean the eu off of the $800 million they're sending to putin's war machine. that only happens when we send

additional oil adding to the inflationary pressure. they have to step up as well. >> does it send a mass pessage the interior department cancell cancelled those oil and gas contracts facing big criticism from oil and gas lobbyist. >> there are 900 leases that they currently have access to that they're not using. they can up production now on the wells they have. they simply aren't going to because their first priority is to their shareholders, not the american people and not to the war interests of pushing back against putin. >> let's also talk about the war in ukraine. this is part of this inflation discussion. the director of national intelligence, she now says she believes putin's calculation there involves the u.s. economy here. let me play what she said. >> putin most likely also judges that russia has a greater ability and willingness to

endure challenges than his adversaries and he is probably counting on u.s. and eu resolve to waken as food shortages, inflation and energy crises get worse. >> what do you have make of that? >> well, it's a worldwide effort. what he is raising is a very real concern if the resolve weakens. so, as i said, right now the eu is seeing $800 million a day to putin, he's using that against us. it's part of that resolve on energy dependence. at the same time the ports are closed and wheat is not going to get out of there creating another worldwide shortage that affects everyone and adds to inflationary pressures. all the more reason for us to be as united as ever working with the eu and nato, expanding nato at this time, letting putin know that resolve isn't weakening. if that vote this week on which

we had a record $40 billion of additional aid going to ukraine isn't enough, we need to do more. >> you have been very outspoken about this war, arguing from early on, i looked back at our last conversation, that the u.s. needs to do much more. you told me the last time the u.s. needs to stop quibbling is one thing you said. and in a speech just this week, i was struck by something you said. you said when are we going to stop worrying so much about putin's red lines and start creating our own? what did you mean by that? >> i was paraphrasing two former nato supreme commanders who were saying what we do ought to depend on who we are as a country, remembering those that gave their last full measure of devotion in the second world war to beat this kind of attack back again against autocrats and fascists. i think we need to remind ourselves of that. i will say when we talked last,

we were funding ukraine for an insurgency, right? we were sending them stingers and javelins, protecting them if this was a two or three-year war of insurgency. now we see they have a chance to win and we're finally sending over that which they need, the heavy armor, the anti-drones, the drones, the ammunition that we need. i think we're catching up there. it took us a while. now it's our job to make sure they continue to get these resources and the supplies get where they need to get as soon as possible. >> let's see if that rare area of bipartisanship on capitol hill, which is ukraine funding, if that continues and how long. it's good to see you, congressman. thank you for coming in. coming up for us, homes going up in flames as a fast-moving wildfire sweeps through southern california. we'll have a live report. the pictures are just horrifying. there's also this -- scientists unveiling the first picture of

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the choice for attorney general is clear. democrat rob bonta has a passion for justice and standing up for our rights. bonta is laser focused on protecting the right to vote and defending obamacare. but what's republican eric early's passion? early wants to bring trump-style investigations on election fraud to california, and early says he'll end obamacare and guard against the growing socialist communist threat. eric early. too extreme, too conservative for california. being connected. it's vital for every student. so for superintendent of public instruction, tony thurmond, it's a top priority. closing the digital divide, expanding internet access for low-income students and in rural areas. it's why thurmond helped deliver more than a million devices and connected 900,000 students

to broadband over the last two years - to enable online learning. more than 45,000 laptops went to low-income students. re-elect tony thurmond. he's making our public schools at this hour, a wildfire is tearing through a los angeles suburb forcing more and more evacuations. just look at these pictures. winds, as usual, fanning the flames, quickly engulfing homes in its path. natasha, what have you been seeing? >> well, kate, it is very heartbreaking to look at. these are multi-million dollar homes in this neighborhood of laguna, completely burned. what we heard yesterday from

fire crews is how the embers jumped quickly from palm try to p palm trees to attics. i want to point out this property looks to be a flagpole and a burned flag, just an example of some of the pieces of people's lives that we're seeing here. now, they are in the middle of a press conference at a different location right now and currently we're hearing the fire is burning at 200 acres. they do not have a containment number yet. one firefighter was injured hand 900 homes are currently under evacuation. here's more from the orange county fire authorities about their efforts right now. >> the fire is currently being under investigation right now. we have fire investigators out working at this time. we want to thank the citizens of the community with their rapid evacuations. we made the evk situation order and they immediately responded to that order and got out of

harm's way, which allowed us to get our resources in there and start engaging in the firefight. >> i talked to one person who lives on this street. his home is okay but he told me they had just 15 minutes yesterday to gather their belongings and get out. he said he'd never seen flames come this close to their neighborhood before and of course the fire chief yesterday attributes this quick spread to climate change, saying that five, ten years ago they would have been able to stamp out that early small fire much more quickly, kate. >> 15 minutes to get out of their homes. that is no time at all when you think about it. it's good to see you, natasha. thank you for that. in texas authorities are looking for a gunman who they say shot three korean women at a dallas hair salon. police are releasing this image of the attacker as he fled the scene. ed lavandera has more on this from dallas. what more are you learning? >> reporter: hi, kate.

yesterday afternoon dallas police say a lone gunman walked into the hair world salon here in dallas, yelled something unintelligible, dallas plaolice are trying to figure out exactly what was said, but then started opening fire. three women inside the hair >> as we looked inside the business, you could see a pool of blood still on the ground in the waiting area of the hair salon and a shattered mirror from one of the rounds that was fired inside. dallas police say that suspect was carrying a long firearm of some kind. they described the man as a thin build, curly hair and a build and left the scene in a dark mini van. they're trying to get the public's help in identifying the suspect. a crime like this gets a great deal of attention because in the last few years we've seen a rash of violent crimes committed against asian americans across the u.s. dallas police say at this point,

they do not have evidence to suggest that this is a hate crime. but it's something they're not ruling out. this hair world salon is located in an area of dallas where there's a high concentration of small businesses owned by asian americans. all right. thank you, ed, so much. that image is out there and the police need your help. coming up still, there's this. a huge discovery. we are seeing for the first time what the black hole at the center of our galaxy looks like. the answers that it could hold. the mystery of it all. that's next. more you. so thank you. we hope you like y your work. ♪ ♪ ♪ ihoppy hr starting at $6 at 3pm only from ihop. doload the app and join the rewards program today.

a huge zrdiscovery. look at this blurry image. this is what snigss said just revealed the first image at the center of the milky way galaxy. this is 4 million times the mass of our son. joining me with more is a professor of theoretical physics at city university of new york. what's your reaction to seeing this first image? >> well, this is the monster in our own galactic backyard. it is only 26,000 light years from earth. a hop skip and a jump. if you want to see the vicinity of it, you can go out tonight. go out tonight, look in the direction of the con stalation saj tears you, you can't see much there but that's where the black hole is.

by rights, it should outshine the moon. but it's all obscured by dust clouds, so this fire ball, this galactic nuclei at the center of the milky way galaxy cannot be seen very well. that's kind of a disappointment. >> i mean, i'll take what i can get. black holes are fascinating. they're mysterious. they're somewhat scary. they're like the basis of so many scary movies that i've seen over the years. the idea that not even light can escape being eaten by this void is something that kind of blows my mind. gaining a better understanding of black holes like this, i mean, what could it mean for all of us? what answers could it hold? >> well, ultimately, it may give us the secret of creation itself. because we think that some of the equations that govern the big bang are very similar to the equations that govern a black hole. know, black holes are invisible. when you say to yourself, what am i looking at if it's invisible? well, the fire ball that you see

surrounding everything is hot gas. that's the plasma. hot gas is being ejected. at the center sf black. that's the event horizon, where light cannot escape, but the black hole itself is at the center. and we don't know what that thing looks like at dead center in that photograph. in fact, there's a nobel prize waiting for the person who can figure out what lies at the very center of this photograph. >> and as i mentioned off the top, astronomers estimate the black hole is 400 million times more massive than our sun, and it's even still not the biggest one that has been -- that has been photographed. the sheer size of it, does that mean anything? >> yes. well, three years ago the galaxy in '87, its black hole was revealed. and it is 1,000 times, 1,000 times more massive than our black hole at the center of our milky way galaxy. so we call our black hole a

gentle giant. it is a giant, but it's gentle. it's not spewing out fire balls or radiation. it's not very active. it's mild. which i think is good for us. we don't want to have a neighbor that's constantly spewing out solar flares. >> yeah. i guess that's what i can take comfort in. that will help my nightmares be less of the black hole trying to eat me. if it's a hot, skip, and a jump away, why did it take so long to discover and photograph? >> well, at the center of our galaxy, it's coupled with dust clouds. we're in the disk of the milky way galaxy. when we see other galaxies, we can see the true dimensions of their galactic arms and spirals. however, when we look at our own galaxy, we see this tremendous dust cloud which obscures everything. and as i said, the galactic nuke louse should even outshine the moon, but it's all obscured by dust clouds, because we're in the center of the disk of the milky way galaxy. sorry about that.

>> amazing. it's good to see you. thank you for jumping onto help explain this amazing discovery. it's good to see you. >> my pleasure. thank you all so much for being here at this hour. i'm kate bolduan. "inside politics" with john king starts right now . hello. welcome to "inside politics." the high court justices meet for the first time today since the leak of a draft decision that would reverse row is v wade. it happens after senate democrats -- >> plus where's the data? new reporting this hour raises questions about why the white house is slow to back up its startling ball covid forecast of as many as 100 million new