ng help our paralyzed heroes need now. specialized medical care, fight for the benefits they've earned, and the accessible vehicles and homes they need. call or go online right now and receive this pva team t-shirt to show that you are fighting for our paralyzed veterans. our veterans fought for us. let's fight for them. call or donate online at pvahero.org today. our veterans need you. drone warfare. precise and deadly. cnn with exclusive access to the weapons changing the landscape of russia's war in ukraine. "the lead" starts right now.

vladimir putin showing an increasing reliance on drones that russia is said to be getting from iran. or clarissa ward the only reporter seeing what ukraine has shot out of the sky. plus, roe v economy? president biden's midterm pledge today, if democrats can keep control of congress. he will get an abortion rights law on the books. but the reality check on that may rely on what is on the minds of most voters. and hunting the injured. protesters shot and breaten in iran. fear of going to the hospital, where police could be waiting to capture them. the desperate mrlengths some demonstrators are going to to get treatment. welcome to "the lead," i'm john berman, in for jake tapper. and we start with our world lead. today, a top ukrainian intelligence official predicted an end to putin's war. quote, russia's loss is

inev inevitable. by the summer, everything should be over. that despite putin's attacks on ukraine's power plants. nearly a third have been destroyed. some of the attacks assumed to be made be iranian-made drones, which we have not seen up close until now. cnn with exclusive access, and in a moment, we'll show you the drones iran denies supplying to russia. today, president zelenskyy toured the wreckage of a russian strike on an apartment building and tweeted this video describing attacks on a flower market and public park, asking, quote, what i wonder what the russians were fighting against at these peaceful facilities, as putin tries to destroy as many of ukraine's resources as possible before winter. now, iran's government is emphatically denying it supplied the drones, the same that have been wreaking havoc on kyiv. let's go there now, to cnn's chief international correspondent clarissa ward.

and collar rlarisclarissa, you' potentially iranian-made drones. >> reporter: that's right, john. iran has been saying they are not supplying russia with drones. russia is saying they are only using russian weapons on the battlefield, but we know that ukraine has been getting slammed, particularly by those sm sma smaller drones. but today, we saw a different kind of drone, also iranian-made, a larger drone, and this definitely seems to punch a hole right through russia's claim that it is only using russian weaponry. take a look. at an undisclosed location, ukrainian military intelligence officer alexei takes us to see an iranian-made drone. it's big. used by the russians for recon

chance and bombing. yeah, it was shot, i can see, this is the hole from where you shot it down. >> yes, yes, this is a hole from the rocket of ukrainian forces. you can see 02/2022. this is the date when it was made? >> we think that this plane was made in this year, when the russian begin to fly this drones. we have new problems on the battlefield. >> reporter: in just the last eight days, more than 100 drones have been fired at ukraine. mostly kamikaze drones. smashing civilian infrastructure and terrorizing ordinary people. the kremlin today said only russian equipment with russian numbers is used in its so-called special operation. but alexei says there is no doubt where this drone comes

from. now, i don't see any writing in f farsi, in iranian language. how do you know? >> we know that this iranian plane by two main things. the first thing, we watched the exhibitions of the planes in other countries and some years ago, iranian companies showed this. >> reporter: this model? >> yes, this plane. and the second thing, because why it is iranian plane, yes, we have only one writing by their hand. >> reporter: can you show me? >> yes. >> reporter: so, that's farsi? >> i think, yes. you are right. >> reporter: uh-huh. so, if i understand you're

saying that they tried to hide the fact that this was made in iran. >> absolutely, yes. >> reporter: ukraine has called for more sanctions against iran for supplying the drones, but so far, sanctions have had little effect. the components are commercially available in a number of different countries, from japanese batteries to an austrian engine and american processors. now we're seeing the kamikaze drones, and you say there's a new generation of drone coming, too? >> yes. worry very much from this. >> reporter: so, alexei told us, john, that this new drone, iranians are preparing to supply the russians with this drone in the coming months, and it would have a massive impact, because the smaller kamikaze drones that

we've been talking a lot about over the last week, they can hold roughly 40 kilograms or 88 pounds of explosives, but these new drones can hold 200explosiv five times the amount of fire power, the amount of explosives that they can deliver. so, it's a deadly payload and that is just one reason that the ukrainians are really immrplori the international community to get onboard and help them put a stop to this. >> ominous. clarissa ward in kyiv, thank you very much. we me now, phil mudd and susan glasser. phil, despite iran's denials, ukraine insists these are iranian drones. clarissa sarr the farsi there. what does iran get out of supplying drones that are killing ukrainian civilians? >> well, i think there's a couple things. there's a picture in terms of

their relationship with russia, that relationship goes back years. if you're looking at the countries around the world that have consistently and you're looking at the iran, starting with the revolution in 1979, that have consistently said, we want to oppose american intervention overseas, it's russia, it's iran, it's syria, other countries like north career ya, so, to me, there's a strategic relationship here that goes well beyond unicrane. there's a smaller piece, john, and if you look at what iran has done to america in the middle east, helping groups in iraq during the american intervention in iraq, obviously helping bashar al assad in syria. if -- we don't want the americans here, and we will support those who are fighting the americans. pretty basic, i think, john. >> and in the face of this, susan, ukraine says it wants more weapons, more money. kevin mccarthy told punch bowl news today that democrats have

been mishandling ukraine aid, and if they lose the majority in the house, quote, i think people are going to be sitting in a recession and they're not going to write a blank check to ukraine. so, what implications could this have on the battlefield, if republicans regain control of the house and slash military aid? >> yeah, i think it is very significant comment by the house minority leader kevin mccarthy, indicating, you know, what we can sort of see, which there is a flank of the republican party, the sort of pro-putin, pro-trump flank of the republican party, the house freedom caucus, which would essentially be owning kevin mccarthy, were he to become the speaker, he would be dependent on mayintaining their good will in order to keep his position in power. they basically pushed out the two previous speakers in some ways, and i think he'll be very vulnerable to this. i think you can look for the biden administration to try to

put through more ukraine to aid in a lame duck session if it comes to that after the election, if republicans do, indeed, win the house, but i think it could, you know, really underscore putin's strategy of buying for time, hoping that the coalition, the political coalition to oppose him in the west frays at the edges. >> so, phil, ukraine's defense intelligence agency says that russian missile supplies have, quote, fallen below the critical level. the u.s. can't confirm the exact number of weapons, but acknowledges that putin is running low on precision-guided missiles. how can ukraine best use this information to its advantage? >> boy, there's a lot of ways you can gather this intelligence. you look at a strategic level, do we have information coming out of moscow about resupply? are we getting access to reports from prisoners, from russian batteries in ukraine about resupply? you're looking at this from imagery from stuff like the u.s. government version of google

earth, what is the resupply rate going into ukraine. what are tactical batteries from the russians saying about resupply? but in terms of helping the ukrainians, not only is there a military piece there, do we see stuff going in there that we can help counter, there is a really big ticket question here that this helps answer -- that is going into 2023, than question about, for example, republican willingness to find the ukraine war, does this indicate anything about the russian capability and will to continue the war? will is the hardest thing to assess in intelligence. this might be a tiny piece to understand, can they keep resupplying, john, and does that say something about their will to continue? >> and susan, very quickly, in a first, ukrainian and russian human rights officials met monday in a prisoner swap. a top zelenskyy aid says it was the first all female prisoner swap. how much of a step in a direction toward possible

negotiations or discussions is it between the two countries? >> well, never say never, john, but i think right now the focus is on what's happening on the battlefield, because, you know, ukraine is seeking before the winter sets in to press the momentum that it has and the advantage that it has. it has very little incentive, you know, to negotiate when it's still gaining territory back that the russians took initially on the battlefield. for russia, i think, right now is not advantageous, because it would be humiliating defeat and the terms they recently signaled would be acceptable are clearly unacceptable to ukraine. i wouldn't try to overread anything into this particular moment. >> susan, phil, great to see you both, thank you. next, president biden pushes abortion rights as the issue to motivate people to vote for democrats in the midterms. is there any way he can actually deliver? and the frightening new

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midterm elections, president biden is putting abortion access front and center in the democrats' push to maintain control of congress. promising today to codify abortion rights into law if the party maintains control of congress next year. but the president isn't saying how he would overcome a senate filibuster. democrats have been reluctant to change senate rules even in the wake of the supreme court's decision on roe. as cnn's phil mattingly reports, biden's remarks come after concern that democrats' outrage over the initial ruling has waned. >> reporter: just three weeks until election day, a clear message from president biden. >> the first bill that will i send to the congress will be to codify roe v. wade. and when congress passes it, i'll sign it in january, 50 years after roe was first decided the law of the land. >> reporter: democrats battling four decade high inflation and economic head winds, it's all in on abortion rights. >> if you do your part and vote,

democratic leaders of congress, i promise you, we'll do our part. i'll do my part. >> reporter: a calculated gamble to rally democrats, and women independents in particular to the polls. at the same moment a recent cnn/ssrs poll found 90% of voters say the economy was extremely or very important to their vote. another poll showing 26% of likely voters see the economy as the most important problem facing the country and another 18% pointing to inflation. as for abortion, just 5% register the issue as their most important problem. the biden push an effort to tap into clear voter energy in the wake of the supreme court decision to strike down roe versus wade. energy white house officials viewed at kris call to strong special election performances in new york, minnesota, and nebraska, and the rejection of an abortion ballot measure in ruby red kansas. but biden making public growing democratic concerns that

enthusiasm has waned. >> i'm asking the american people to remember how you felt, how you felt that day the extreme dobbs decision came down. >> reporter: still, the remarks an acknowledgement of the party's vulnerability on the economy. >> this race ain't about me. it's about what raphael warnock and joe biden have done to you and your family. >> reporter: where republicans have hammered biden's party for months of sweeping price incr increases. as white house officials continue to work intensively to confront their biggest political weakness. >> the price of gas is still too high and we need to keep working to bring it down. we need to make more progress bringing down the prices across the board. >> reporter: and john, president biden will move to take some concrete action on gas prices tomorrow. the president slated to give remarks on gas prices and sources tell me he will announce a new release from the strategic pretroll yum reserve. 14 million barrels. that's part of that 180 million barrel over six months he announced in the spring.

clearly a recognition that, yes, abortion can rally their base, but the economy is the issue people are most concerned about still. john? >> phil mattingly at the white house for us this afternoon, thank you, phil. i want to bring in cnn's matt eagan for more on this. gas prices have dipped a little over the past week, but they're still high after rising in recent weeks. so, what kind of an impact will the release from the strategic petroleum reserve have on this? >> well, john, we're already seeing an impact. oil prices falling sharply today on this news phil is talking about. and that should help put down pressure on gasoline prices. gallon of regular gas now sells for $3.87 nationally, that is, of course, not cheap, but it is well below that record high of over $5 in june. and veteran oil analysts tell me they think gas prices could trend lower by the end of the year, perhaps going down by another 20 cents. not necessarily because of what president biden is doing, because of market forces, but that would be good news. two important caveats here, one,

the fact that the president is going to do this emergency sale, remember, that is part of the 180 million barrel-release that was already announced, the other thing is, as you can see on your screen, the strategic petroleum reserve is shrinking rapidly. this is not a bottomless pit. every time you do a release, it leaves less oil for the next crisis. >> matt, thank you very much. there is new information today about what was happening behind the scenes on january 6th when senior members of congress evacuated the capitol. what we're learning about an unexpected partisan divide, next. ♪ engy is everywhere... even in a little seedling.

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this is cnn breaking news. and we do have breaking news. a federal jury has just reached a verdict in the case brought by special counsel john durham tasked by former attorney general bill barr with investigating alleged misconduct in the fbi's trump russia probe. durham has charged trump russia dossive dos dossiver source. evan, what did the jury decide? >> reporter: on all four counts, the jury came back with not guilty verdicts against the russia analyst who was one of the primary sources for christopher steele's dossier of allegations against donald trump back in 2016. this is the second time now that john durham, the special counsel, appointed under then attorney general bill barr, has

taken a case to trial and in both cases, juries have come back with not guilty verdicts. the previous case was against a former clinton campaign lawyer here in washington. that was back a few months ago. in this case, danchenko was on trial inial sand dree ya, virginia, and it's the sail result. now, the last few days, you've seen some struggles by john durham in this case. the judge threw out one of the counts, saying, simply put, that the fbi -- that he didn't lie, this is the accusation. he was charged with lying to the fbi and the judge simply said, he dismissed it, simply because he said the evidence showed that he did not lie. what we've seen, though, in recent days from john durham is, he started attacking some of his own witnesses. fbi agents who were part of this investigation. he came out and said that,

essentially, they mishandled the original investigation of those allegations against the former president donald trump, then a candidate in 2016. so, now, we wait, john, for john durham to present his final report. we expect that that's going to come in the next couple of months, after the midterm elections. john? >> so far, little to show for the durham probe, seems to be the major thrust of the story. evan perez, thank you so much. in our politics lead, election day is just three weeks from today. in florida, val demings and marco rubio will face off after three very heated debates. how personal and combative the races have become. >> reporter: as the midterm election heads into its final weeks, voters are already flocking to the polls in large numbers. in georgia, the state set a midterm turnout record for early

voting, with more than 130,000 voters casting bat lots monday. on the trail today, republican senate nominee herschel walker defending his transparency when it comes to reports he allegedly paid for an ex-girlfriend's abortion in 2009 and encouraged her to have another two years later, even as he now acknowledges the authenticity of a $700 check he sent to the woman. >> i've answered that question time and time again. and my campaign now has been about going forward, because i've been honest. >> reporter: as the campaign enters the closing stretch, candidates meeting for debates. in the georgia governor's race, brian kemp and stacey abrams going back and forth on voting rights. >> we need a governor who believes -- and not in voter suppression, which is the hallmark of brian kemp's leadership. >> for someone to say we have been suppressive in our state when we've seen turnout increase over the years, including with minorities, is simply not true. >> reporter: in the ohio senate race, democratic congressman tim ryan and republican j.d. vance

seeking to tie each other to national figures. >> i really wish tim ryan had stood up to his party on this vote, because it might have made the inflation crisis we've been seeing over the last few months a lot better if he hadn't done what he always does, which is vote with nancy pelosi and joe biden 100% of the time. >> j.d., you keep talking about nancy pelosi -- if you want to run against nancy pelosi, move back to san francisco and run against nancy pelosi. >> reporter: the 2020 election took center stage in utah, where mike lee is facing a fierce challenge from independent evan mcmullen. >> to keep a president who had been voted out of office, according to the will of the people in power despite the will of the people, senator lee, it is a betrayal of the american republic. >> i think i disagree with everything my opponent just said, including but, and, and this. information free, truth free

statement that is something of a record. >> reporter: candidates also starting to showcase their closing messages, with pennsylvania republican senate nominee mehmet oz unveiling a new tv ad decrying political extremism as he targets moderate voters in his tight race against democrat john fetterman. >> extremism on both sides makes things worse. we need balance, less extremism in washington. >> reporter: and things are really heating up here in georgia. herschel walker just wrapped up a campaign rally here in atlanta, joined on the campaign trail today by south carolina senator lindsey graham. john? >> all right, eva, thank you very much. and as january 67th remains a campaign issue, we're learning new details about that day. why republican and democratic congressional leaders were kept apart. and who said no to calls for an immediate impeachment of donald trump. that's next. plus, why do so many women still feel pressure to straighten their hair?

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matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire we are back in the politics lead. in utah, the clash between mcmullen and lee over lee's actions and behavior on and around january 6th at the center of that race. here's some of the context now. in december of 2020, lee began texting the white house chief of staff about the idea that states could submit alternate slates of pro-trump electors on january 6th, but lee did ultimately vote to certify the state's votes. my next guests have a new book out today uncovering new details about what happened on january 6th and what unfolded during both of trump's impeachment trials. it's called "unchecked: the untold story behind congress's botched impeachments of donald

trump." congratulations on the book to you both. we just saw mike lee in that debate with evan mcmullen. rachel, why do you think he's so defensive, given all your reporting, why so defensive? other republicans are, too, to the extent about what they did in an around january 6th. >> yeah, look, mike lee was trying to play both sides of the coin when it came to the president's big lie. right after trump lost his re-election, he was one of the people out there telling the president, you know, that he should challenge this, that he should fight in the courts, and that's significant, because, you know, mike lee, he has a background as a former clerk for supreme court justice, he's sort of seen as this guy that knows ins and outs of the legal system. so, that really revved trump up, one of the voices revving trump up. and then he saw there was no evidence and we've seen from reporting since then from other reporters, not necessarily

ourselves in this book, but that lee had an about-face and clearly he decided that he has to certify the election, because there was just no evidence of what trump was saying in terms of fraud. >> i want to read what was kind of the grab in some ways of the book here, the idea that both parties botched these impeachments or kept them from being fruitful. trump escaped accountability not simply because his own party wouldn't stand up to him, but the opposing party was afraid to flex their muscle to check him. republicans didn't just block and sabotage impeachments, democrats never went all-in, fumbling their best chance to turn the american public away from trump for good. so, how much did that maybe begin to lay the groundwork for some of the trouble that democrats are having now dealing with this? >> well, look, i mean, there is -- there's the narrative that we all know, right, the republicans blocked for trump and the democrats said that, you know, they couldn't do anything about that. our reporting showed that there were various opportunities where democrats could have done more

and shied away from doing more, because they were afraid that there would be political blow-back from flexing the full force of their constitutional muscle. they did not chase subpoenas down in the courts. they did not go after republican witnesses. they didn't try to seek out republican support at the outset for laying down the rules of the road for impeachment and left themselves open to all this criticism. january 6th happens, there's this galvanizing moment where everybody in congress feels like they are similarly attacked victims. there's opportunity on that very day to try to impeach the president and democrats again, the leaders, shy away from it. it ends up that we enter a situation after those two impeachments and trials where nothing got -- not going done. the impeachments failed to achieve their objective and you turn around, you have the january 6th committee which has kind of realized that was a missed opportunity. they are covering a lot of the same ground as at least the second impeachment did, they are trying to flex that muscle by chasing down the subpoenas, by

doing the evidence fact finding, but it's kind of a little bit too late for the public to be swept along and it's also too late to try to keep trump from ever being able to run for office again. >> there's this video that came out in the last january 6th committee hearing of what was going on behind the scenes, we have it up on the screen now at the capitol. you can see congressional leaders there, rachel, you've been reporting on what we're seeing on the screen now, you've got a lot more details about what was going on, beginning with the fact that at first, republicans and democrats weren't even in the same room? what more? >> yeah, i mean, there's sort of this untold story about what the hill leaders were doing on that day. they were evacuated from the capitol and we find out that they played an instrumental role in saving the capitol. they were taken to two different rooms, republicans and democrats, and they were both getting stonewalled by the pentagon. they were browbeating the pentagon, trying to get answers, find out why the national guard wasn't moving and at one point, you know, mitch mcconnell, who

was frantically trying to get in touch with defense leaders, but was being put on hold in the middle of this emergency situation, he crosses the hall and says, screw this, i've got to find -- i've got to find the democrats, we have to join forces together to move something. and so together, they browbeat the pentagon, they, why aren't you moving, and ultimately, they realize, trump is not going to do anything, right? so, they have to call the vice president, mike pence. and it's them that gets mike pence to actually send this order, clear the capitol. and so, that's sort of the origins of this and the role they play. the interesting thing about that moment, it was the only time all four leaders were united to try to bring trump to heal and how quickly that fell apart. >> the fact they had to come together when it was already going on to try to fix things. and picking up on this point, as you said, republicans at that moment were pissed, excuse me for the harsh language, but there's no other way to put it. lindsey graham grew angrier

hearing that the president was refusing to send in troops. when the president didn't answer his calls, he phoned ivanka. he couldn't see any other reason it was taking so long for reinforcements to arrive. so, lindsey graham was mad. a moment possibly, there were discussions, and i learned this from the book, to try to impeach trump right then and there, but who stopped it? >> the democratic leaders. they were afraid of pushing that full force. basically. look, we have this moment where even the people who have shown themselves to be trump'is bigget defenders, they were not thinking of the politics. they were feeling the rage in that moment. that night, a group of rank and file democrats in the house wrote impeachment articles and when the house and senate came back to actually finish certifying the results of the electoral college, they presented them, first going to steny hoyer, saying, let's do this tonight, while everybody's angry, while the moment is

right, while the iron is hot. and were basically told no, that hoyer, pelosi decided, we're not going to do this and it took days later, they were still trying to hold back the tide. and in that -- those days, people like graham started to feel the pressure from trump supporters, calling him a traitor for having made the speeches he did on the floor that night, people started to rethink their position and you ended up with only 10 republicans in the house being willing to actually put their, you know, reputations on the line and do what they thought was right, because you lost that time. >> yeah, there's a real irony here, because we talk often about republican hypocrisy and there's tons of examples of it in our book, but you know, there was a sort of undercurrent with democrats after january 6th and that they didn't want to interrupt the incoming president's agenda. they wanted to get moving to joe biden, confirming his cabinet and they didn't want to take the time. and because of that, not only did they shut down impeachment on the night of january 6th, but they put pressure on people like jamie raskin, who were trying to

convince enough republicans to convict trump in the senate, not to call witnesses. and you have to wonder what would have happened if raskin had the support and the means necessary to do what the january 6th committee is doing right now, which has been incredible testimony and showing that they can fight for that stuff and they can win and yet they lost the moment when trump was most vulnerable. >> and where would we be on impeachment? right now, impeachment is no longer the constitutional safeguard and fail safe to hold back a president. it's kind of a tool to express political an mouse. and we've got the gop that's poised to take control in the house and if they do, they've already said they want to impeach president biden and members of his cabinet. they now have these recent examples to point to and say, well, why is it so bad that we're doing this? it kind of happened before. we don't have to play nice with the km democrats. and that's potentially a race to the bottom. >> the book is "unchecked: the untold story behind congress's

botched impeachments of donald trump." so many implications for today. congratulations to both of you. >> thank you. from russia today, a message from brittney griner on this, her 32nd birthday. what she's saying from prison and new information on efforts by the united states to get her free. juicy rotisserie-style chicken. you should've been #1. this i isn't about the sandwic, is it chuck? it's not. the nenew subway series. what's your pipick? ♪ energy is everywhere... even in a little seedlin which, when turned into fuel, can help power plane. we're looking to turn plantased oil into renewable gasoline, jet and diesel fuels. our planet offers countless sources of energy. but it's only human to find the ones that could power a better future.

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today is wnba star brittney griner's 3 nd 2nd birthday. u.s. and russian representatives have been in touch in the past few days, but russia has yet to make a serious counteroffer. we have also learned that u.s.

officials spoke today by phone to griner and paul whelan. next week, griner will appeal her nine-year prison sentence for bringing less than a gram of cannabis oil into russia in february. griner's lawyers say she is, quote, very stressed about the appeal, but included a message from griner herself, saying, quote, thank you, everyone, for fighting so hard to get me home. all the support and love are definitely helping me. turning to our health lead now. certain hair straightening products like chemical relaxers have been connected to a more than two-fold increased risk of uterine cancer in new research, with black women potentially being more affected due to higher use. the study finding 4% of women who frequently used the products developed uterine so these findings are renewing the debate why so many minority women still feel pressure not to wear their natural hear and instead, turn often to these

products. i want to discuss with congresswoman barbara lee who worked on issues surrounding this including co-sponsoring the crown act that bans discrimination on the basis of hair. thank you for being with us. what's your reaction to the finding the products could be associated with cancer risks given the pressure black women and others feel about their hair? >> listen, my reaction is really i'm sad and i'm angry and i hope people understand that we have got to make sure that first of all, the health care is there for women who have developed out r uterine cancer. 6 0% are black women and in fact, the pressure of, you know, wearing straight hair and of course, people should be able to wear their hair however they

want to wear it, not pressured to wear it one way or the other to get a job or stay young kids in school. and so what it tells me is that now there are physical implications and uterine cancer is a disease and a terrible thing to have. the mental stress and physical stress have to be dealt with and we need to make sure first of all, women aren't discriminated against. black people, brown people are discriminated against and that's what the crown act is about because of their hair but also, make sure that the health care is there and the women that the nih and we put forth the information in a public education campaign about the possible outcome of the st straightener and the hair straightening products because chemicals or whatever the nih determine in there must be very dangerous to use and i think we need to know that and black people, brown people, people who

want to wear their hair in different styles should be allowed and discriminated against. this is a wakeup call. >> so in the past this issue is you've experienced lawmakers that wear your natural hair doesn't make you look like a member of congress. really? how did you react to that? >> i was angry but of course, i have a personality in which i don't show my anger all the time but i was very angry so i internalized it quite a bit. in fact, i kept wearing my hair the way i wanted to wear it and what i learned during that process and people still kind of wonder every now and then and i said look, we should be able to wear our hair the way we want to wear our hair. everyone should have that right. but in certain professions, such

as some elected officials don't believe that members of congress and elected officials should not wear their hair in a natural state, that their hair should be straight and we know where that comes from. so yes, i had a lot of personal experiences as many of my colleges and many people in our country, especially black women who have had to deal with this all of our lives and when you look at black kids, some young black girls and boys also have been expelled from school because of the way they wear their hair. it wrong and the mental stress and trama that occurs with that is outrageous and wrong and pure unamerican. now we have the physical impacts of what takes place or could take place as it relates to uterine cancer. so we got to get this right and we got to make sure that the crown act passes in the senate and we passed it a couple times

in the house and black and brown people are not discriminated against, that our young people are not discriminated against but we also have to get the medical information out and health information out about what could be the health impacts of this. >> barbara lee, people should take a look at this study. appreciate the work you've done on this issue. thank you for being with us. >> thank you. some of america's most famous waterways are drying up. the dramatic images showing the drought's impact and emergency work underway as a result.

talk to anyone in san francisco and they'll tell you now is not the time to make our city even more expensive by raising taxes. san francisco has one of the largest city budgets in america. yet when it comes to homelessness and public safety, we're not getting results. what we really need are better policies, more accountability, and safer neighborhoods. vote no on propositions m and o. the last thing we need are higher taxes, especially right now. now is not the time to raise taxes in san francisco. we can't wait any longer. climate change is here. already threatening san francisco's wastewater treatment plant at ocean beach. risking overflow sewage to dump right into the ocean. there's a solid climate plan in place, but changes to the great highway required by prop i would cost san francisco taxpayers

$80 million to draft a new climate plan and put the entire west side and ocean beach at risk of contamination. protect our beach, ocean and essential infrastructure. reject prop i before it's too late. in our earth matters series,

pictures that tell a troubling story. you're looking down at a bridge over the plat river in nebraska. as you can see, there is hardly any water, any at all in the river. 98% of nebraska is in a drought. near the mouth of mississippi, the falling level is allowing salty sea water to push up river that threatens drinking water supplies. the army corps of engineers is working on an under water levee to try to stop that. so be sure to join jake tapper on cnn tonight. jake is talking on the changing political landscape when it comes to latino candidates and voters and much more tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern time. if you ever miss an episode of "the lead" listen on the podcast or follow me @john berman. our coverage continues now with wolf blitzer "the situation room." happening now, new comkc come -- dron