russia right now, bracing for what they call the heaviest battles ahead in the fight for kherson. cnn is reporting from the front lines as vladimir putin is lobbing new verbal attacks at the west. also tonight, president biden touts unexpected economic growth as he he tries to rev up democratic voters in the blue state of new york. we ll break down his message and his challenges as recession fears persist 12 days before the midterm elections. and former president trump s lawyers take part in a secret court hearing related to the mar-a-lago documents investigation. why did they meet with u.s. justice department prosecutors here in washington, d.c.? welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. let s get straight to ukraine right now. the front lines of what one official warns will be, quote, the heaviest of battles against the russian invasion. cnn s senior international correspondent fred pleitgen is
a story about the power of kindness and on relenting courage in a time of war and it has been targeted for removal from school library shelves. the velshi banned book club convenes this morning with r. j. palacio author of the powerful graphic novel white bird. velshi starts now. good morning. i am ali velshi. it is saturday may 14th, day 80 of the invasion of ukraine and the war that is not going as putin planned or as anyone expected. the consequences of the war of choice on the neighbor, both intended and unintended, are now out in the open and on display for the world to see. there is a global economic toll and ramifications for the world food supply, ukraine being one of the largest producers of green in the world. we will dive into this later on in the show. other consequences are more direct and visual with ukraine being altered. entire cities, towns, villages, big and small, ruined and erased from the landscape. tens of thousands of people have been killed in th
nationwide by nbc s count, cases are up 58% over the last two weeks and it s adding urgency to a covid summit happening virtually right now. president biden s message this morning, don t grow numb to this unimaginable loss. our heart goes out to all of those who are struggling, asking themselves, how do i go on without him? how do i go on without her? today we are at a new stage in fighting this pandemic, facing an evolving set of challenges. we have to double down on our efforts to get shots in peoples arms, country by country, community by community. we are focusing on eastern europe. president zelenskyy said joining nato would have saved his country. part of putin s justification for invading was to prevent nato expansion, and now finland s leader says they want to join nato without delay, and how russia is reacting this morning. plus, the spotlight is on the supreme court. where the justices are meeting today in private for the first time since the draft opinion leak
of justice kavanaugh. on capitol hill this morning, house speaker nancy pelosi reacting to the senate vote. senate republicans lined up in lockstep behind mitch mcconnell and donald trump to vote to rip away the constitutional right to health freedom for american women across the country. this hour, i will speak with president obama s former attorney general eric holder about the supreme court, voting rights and the attempts to overturn the 2020 election. trump defense secretary mark esper joining me to talk about the astounding revelations about the former commander in chief. with covid cases rising, president biden mourning the loss of 1 million lives to the virus. 1 million covid deaths. 1 million empty chairs around the family dinner table. around the world, many more millions have died. millions of children have been orphaned. we must honor those we have lost by doing everything we can to prevent as many deaths as possible. we start with the fight for abortion ri
act which prohibits government restrictions on abortion. even the so-called pro-choice republicans susan collins and lisa murkowski, you know, the same ones that claimed this would never happen. after presiding over the vote vice president kamala harris called out republican extremism. this vote clearly suggests that the senate is not where majority of americans are on this issue. it also makes clear that a priority for all who care about this issue, a priority should be to elect pro-choice leaders at the local, the state and the federal level because what we are seeing around this country are extremist republican leaders who are seeking to criminalize and punish women for making decisions about their own body. of course, the democrats in house joe manchin also voted no. he s not the only democrat with a moral opposition to abortion. bob casey voted with the democrat saying the circumstances around the entire debate on abortion have changed now that the supreme court has