years amid fears that the country is heading into a recession. it s a challenge for president biden as he attends a dnc event and tries to sharpen his midterm message. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. we begin our coverage tonight in ukraine where bogus referendums are under way as moscow tries to solidify its hold on occupied territory. our senior international correspondent ben wedeman is on the ground for us. ben, is this so-called voting essentially happening at gunpoint? reporter: basically it is, wolf. we re seeing video and hearing reports of election workers going house to house, door to door, with ballot boxes, accompanied by armed men, in some cases armed men wearing balance cla vas. we re wear the election workers are going door to door. people are locking their doors and simply not answering to avoid voting. in fact, the ukrainian authorities have urged residents of the occupied t
i would think the russian government would have both. and any opinion is, based on what i know, is that it was the russian government behind this, either in cahoots with the cuban government, and until i m proven otherwise, i ll continue to believe that. i should point out, wolf, i should be clear about this, the united states has never officially blamed russia for this and the russian government has categorically denied any involvement. dmitry peskov, the spokesperson, told us this specifically, that these are purely unfound accusations, that we do not accept. we have nothing to do with this. at the same time, wolf, you just heard from the head of counterintelligence at the time. and he obviously still has some serious questions about what happened six years later, wolf. looking forward to the documentary. a special report this sunday night, we ll be watching, sanjay, thank you very much for doing this. coming up, a cnn exclusive. trying to stop grand jury testimony. the secret
36 point edge on border security, according to an nbc survey last week. it s a potent political issue at the center of gop campaign ads. this is joe biden s america, an invasion at our southern border. reporter: one that has claimed victim more than two decades of major bipartisan attempts to clinch immigration reform. i ask for a few minutes of your time to discuss a matter of national importance, the reform of america s immigration system. reporter: a multi-year push by republican president george w. bush eviscerated by his own party as talk radio drove conservative outcry. in 2013 a bipartisan breakthrough moment in the senate. the bill as amended is passed. reporter: destroyed by a single house republican primary defeat where the issue loomed large. even donald trump, who built an entire campaign on anti-immigrant positions and, of course, this build the wall, build the
100 unsecured, when i was ambassador, i was so careful with these documents, my office was a facility where i could read them, i never sat down. my practice was to stand up, because i didn t want to make a mistake of even leaving it on my desk. so it s very significant to protect our country and, of course, because this may be the most serious criminal exposure donald trump has ever faced. so many intelligence officials have said to me in recent days and weeks, these are really life and death decisions that have to be made when you reveal top secret information like that. guys, thank you very, very much. up next, president biden tries to fire up the democratic base just ahead of the midterm elections. he s vowing to codify abortion rights into federal law if voters deliver two more democratic senators this november. and find the answer that was right undeder their nose. or... his nose.
is emblematic of the situation he faces. and the lack of will to fight. and all he s going to do is generate more cannon fodder for the ukrainians. so it s not going to have any impact. but this is illustrative, when you consider where he was seven months ago, where he thought this would be a romp, and now he s having to do a partial mobilization and quickly stage these sham referenda and try to intimidate the west with the threat of nuclear weapons, i think are indicative he s in a bad place and he knows it. and he sees these demonstrations on the streets of moscow at the same time. james clapper, thank you so much for joining us. coming up, a cnn exclusive report. donald trump s secret court fight to block a grand jury from talking to his inner circle about attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. plus, the u.s. could be in line for its first major