forecast models are putting florida in the bull eye s for a hurricane in days. this is what we re watching at this hour. thanks so much for being here. i m kate bolduan. putin s war on ukraine is where we do need to start at this hour. russia is staging referendums in four occupied areas of eastern ukraine beginning today. residents being forced to vote on whether the regions should become part of russia. the referendums are widely considered a complete sham of course but this is drawing global condemnation. ukraine s president zelenskyy is calling on russians now to revolt as putin is facing a growing decent from his people over his orders to mobilize 300,000 more soldiers. hundreds have been rounded up in anti war protests as we ve seen and more and more russians are trying to escape the draft and leave the country. cnn ben wedeman starts us off live from kharkiv on this referendum votes. what are you learning about how this will go? reporter: well, it s going, i think, a
a kremlin crackdown. sham referendums trying to silence sentiment at home. translator: i ve got two kids at conscription age says this protester. i brought them up alone. i don t want to lose them, she cried. reporter: and for what asks her friend? just so they can kill the sons of other mothers, she answers. reporter: we begin with brand new cnn reporting on the justice department s january 6th investigation. sources telling cnn donald trump s attorneys are waging a secret court fight to stop a grand jury from gathering information from mr. trump s inner circle. the fight broke into public view yesterday and cnn teams three lawyers for the former president at the federal courthouse here in washington. the back-and-forth battle follows a deluge of new subpoenas from federal prosecutors demanding evidence from a slew of former trump aides and associates. let s bring in cnn s senior justice correspondent evan perez and cnn s crime and justice reporter. i want to start w