on board a united plane, forcing it to turn around. multiple people injured. what officials say caused it. new images from the navy s recovery of the chinese spy balloon off the south carolina coast. the fbi examining the wreckage. what we re learning. the intensive assault on the ukrainian eastern city of bakhmut as russia prepares gnaw offensive. our richard engel on the ground. new evidence in the alex murdaugh trial. what his former law partner told the jury about murdaugh s alleged financial crimes. and the team of teachers that s inspiring america. announcer: this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. good evening, and thank you for being with us. sadly, the number killed in that catastrophic earthquake hitting turkey and syria has more than doubled since we were with you last night. now topping a staggering 7,500 people. these are desperate hours where time is quickly running out for those still trapped in the rubble. silence in some cases the most effect
charges he faces. the new storm threat taking aim at california with an untold number of residents still trapped by record snow. we re tracking it. the crash that killed a norfolk southern conductor, the company s third accident in ohio in just over a month after those two derailments. and the special investigation, the ntsb announced today into the company. my report tonight on how a letter from a prisoner led to a 20-year-plus search for the truth is now the subject of a hit nbc news podcast. and the bluegrass star and the obstacles he overcame to become one of the best fiddlers in the world. announcer: this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. good evening, and thank you for joining us. a violent kidnap drama that targeted a traveling group of four americans in matamoros, mexico, is over, sadly with word two of them were killed. the others recovered alive in what may have been a case of mistaken identity in an increasingly lawless area near the texas bord
several of them are calling out fox news for down-playing the violence of that dark day. we ll have those comments in just a moment. plus, the latest on the kidnapping in mexico that ended with two americans dead and two others in the hospital. and also we could be closer to finding out who sabotaged a russian pipeline last year. that new reporting is straight ahead. good morning and welcome to way too early on this wednesday, march 8th. i m jonathan lemire, thanks for starting your day with us. and we ll begin this morning with a growing number of republican senators blasting fox news and prime time host tucker carlson for showing select footage from the january 6th insurrection on his prime time show. that footage provided by house speaker kevin mccarthy. the fox news try today portray the deadly riot as peaceful, calling the insurrectionists sight seers and that lawmakers who suggest otherwise had lied to the american public. even alleging some capitol police officer
by catering to the hard right. conduct like theirs is just asking for another january 6th to happen. that s of course chuck schumer, but it s not just democrats who are calling out fox news for trying to down play the violence of january 6th. some republican senators did not hold back their criticism either. we ll have their comments straight ahead. speaker mccarthy making no apologies for his role in all of this. we ll tell you how he is justifying handing over thousands of hours of security video. also ahead, the latest on the kidnapping in mexico that ended with two americans dead and two others in the hospital. plus, federal investigators digging deeper into norfolk southern s safety culture following two train derailments in ohio and a deadly collision yesterday morning in cleveland. good morning, welcome to morning joe, it is wednesday, march 8th. it is international women s day, and mika is getting ready for her big event in our next hour, including a conversatio
whirlwind of action on capitol hill this wednesday morning. you could say it s a congressional hearing palooza on a slate of urgent topics from the origin of covid, the safety of air travel, the u.s. evacuation of afghanistan, and threats from around the world. that last topic is the focus of a hearing set to begin any second with the senate intelligence committee. we ll hear testimony from the nation s top intel chiefs including dni avril haines, cia director bill burns and fbi director chris wray. we can expect them to dive into a number of topics including new threats from china, questions about mishandling classified documents and concerns over domestic extremism. our team is monitoring this closely. meanwhile, in a different senate hearing, acting administrator of the faa is just moments away from testifying after weeks of disturbing headlines from the not so friendly skies, including a united passenger recently caught on camera attacking a flight attendant and threate