dismantle that organization. but what becomes of the wagner that is remaining in terms of manpower and organization, does it get an orred inbsorbed into n state, taken over by another leadership? >> probably some of both. some of the functions that the russian government would like to keep, that is the ability to send troops and forces into europe, into ukraine. the ability to send forces into africa to help coup plotters, help dictators in africa. russia would like to maintain that capability and they can find another oligarch or another leader, a retired general to take over some of that and put that wagner troop to good use as far as they are concerned again. some as you say will probably disappear. there are many people in wagner, many of the wagner fighters, were loyal to prigozhin and they
you're exactly right. bill burns said the same thing, don't give up the food taster because putin has a long memory. >> yeah. what do you think happens to the wagner group after all of this? i mean, first there was the failed coup, and now prigozhin himself is presumed dead? >> presumably dead. wagner, however, still exists, and it has some functions. wagner has some role to play for the russian government in africa, for example. it props up dictators and coup plotters, and so the russians would like to kind of maintain that. and they could put somebody else in charge of wagner. if prigozhin's dead, they have other oligarchs they could put in charge. wagner also provides food, rations for the russian military. and again that's a useful function. doesn't need to have prigozhin at the top of wagner to do that.
we'll have more on what fani willis is learning and doing in the final hours of today's proceedings there. trump's top coup plotters are kecked now to the voting system breach in coffee county, georgia, something we learned about a year and a half ago. we'll bring you that latest reporting. plus, in those other cases, involving the ex-president, as andrew started to lay out for us, judge tanya chutkan has promised to keep an eye on all of his public statements and make sure he's not intimidating witnesses involved in her federal case. so in a late night public tirade for all to see, the ex-president tried to test her. we'll tell you how that went. and later in the broad broadcast, georgia has been ground zero for all of the efforts to over turn the 2020 lek resultsm why this possible indictment could really hit differently than the already thrice indicted ex president.
in his favor. we know there's at least one very conservative justice who one of trump's coup plotters thought would be particularly inclined to help out. i speak of this man, clarence thomas. justice thomas is probably the most right-wing member of the supreme court in living memory. he's fully committed to remaking the country and its jurisprudence in his conservative vision. the other thing you need to know about clarence thomas, and there's a lot about him, is that he has always wanted to be rich. it is part of what drove him from a childhood in abject poverty to an ivy league law school, as a recent pbs frontline documentary explained. >> after holy cross, clarence thomas was off to a very different world once again. yale law school. it was a chance to leave pinpoint far behind, to find his grandfather's prophesy and get positioned to make real money. >> he had thought well, you
the west african ecowas group quickly enforced harsh sanctions and closed vital trade crossings to apply pressure to the coup plotters. this has led to increased political and economic uncertainty for the country with prices for consumers and businesses skyrocketing. live now to porto and karim manuel. he's the economist intelligence unit's middle east and africa a nalyst. lovely to have you with us. economically, i want to first off, it's only, we are entering the second week, i believe, so what has the impact been on the economy? is it already feeding through? economy? is it already feeding throu~h? , . ., , through? yes, the sanctions have already _ through? yes, the sanctions have already been _ through? yes, the sanctions have already been very - have already been very impactful for this year and we are seeing increases in basic necessities across local markets —— niger. we have also seen a destruction through
remaining. he and his lawyers could try to somehow find a way to kick the case up to the supreme court, where the conservative majority would rescue him. that was one of the last desperate plans for donald trump's coup back in 2021, to get the supreme court to rule in his favor. we know there's at least one very conservative justice who one of trump's coup plotters thought would be particularly inclined to help out. i speak of this man, clarence thomas. justice thomas is probably the most right-wing member of the supreme court in living memory. he's fully committed to remaking the country and its jurisprudence in his conservative vision. the other thing you need to know about clarence thomas, and there's a lot about him, is that he has always wanted to be rich. it is part of what drove him from a childhood in abject poverty to an ivy league law school, as a recent pbs frontline documentary explained. >> after holy cross, clarence thomas was off to a very different world once again. yale law school. it was a chance to leave pinpoint far behind, to find his grandfather's prophesy and get positioned to make real
could violate any law that he thinks is unconstitutional. >> so, my constitutional expertise tells me one thing, lawrence, which is that donald trump's lawyer, john lauro, should know there's only one person who can pull off five back to tv interviews and remain coherent, and that is andrew weissmann. [laughter] certainly he's not -- with respect to his claim about trump running a pause, first of all, most coup plotters don't like to say coup, they shroud their language and other things. and trump, as you say, he used the word pause. but when john lauro uses the word of, what he means is pausing in the counting of legitimate votes that you and i and all americans cast, those that have been ratified by the secretaries of state in every one of these state, solemn state processes, and 62 different courts have signed off on it. and where congress had set a solemn date, january 6th, to count all these votes. this wasn't like a pause. this was an attempt to throw
your assessment of the comments from antony blinken and is this a fork in the road? it antony blinken and is this a fork in the road? , . . . ., the road? it is a critical “unction because diplomatic _ the road? it is a criticaljunction because diplomatic efforts - the road? it is a criticaljunction because diplomatic efforts to i because diplomatic efforts to reverse the coup have not worked. niger is one of several countries in west africa belonging to something called ecowas, the economic community of west african states, and they have got together and said enough is enough, we can't have any more, if the coup plotters were not backed down, we will intervene militarily, and the one—week deadline expired on sunday. the bark is worse than its bite of ecowas and they are clearly reluctant and they have not even got in an mmc on how to intervene militarily. —— they have not even got unanimously. it is inevitable that the wagner group will want to move in because they have so not very successfully mali