top of the hour here in the cnn newsroom. thanks for joining us. i m erica hill. i m jim sciutto. happening now, attorney general merrick garland on capitol hill to testify before the jen at judiciary committee for the first time here. you see senators cruz and holly. he is expected to be hit with a wide range of questions including allegations from republicans as they said that the justice department is being weaponized against conservatives as well as updates into investigations into trump and biden and we ll take you there live as it happens. the annual cpac conference happens today as we get new cnn reporting about what trump s allies are doing to get house republicans in his corner. for 2024, not all of them are there. sdwloo also ahead, closing arguments are expected to begin today in the double murder trial of disgraced former lawyer alex murdaugh. jurors in that case at the crime scene at this hour. we will take you live to south carolina. let s begin this hour with
little to anything against churches and pro life centers. they will get in a lot. senator ted cruz asking garland during his last appearance before the committee about promise he made to keep politics out of the d.o.j. it went like this. i asked you quote, will you commit to this committee that under your leadership the department of justice will not target the political opponents of this administration? your answer, quote, absolutely. it is totally inappropriate for the department to target any individual because of their politics or their position in a campaign. that was your promise just a few months ago. i m sorry to say you have broken that promise. dana: that was more than a year ago. the committee will have plenty of ground to cover today. jason chaffetz ahead with reaction. david spunt starting us off on capitol hill. attorney general taking a seat behind me ready to answer those questions. he said multiple times he wants to keep politics out of the d.o.j. he wi
of mar-a-lago for classified documents. but also since he launched not one, but two special counsel investigations into both former president trump and president biden. we just saw garland walk into the hearing room moments ago. he didn t answer any questions on the way in. we are live on the hill. also, congress intensifies its scrutiny of china. one lawmakers even warning of a, quote existential struggle with the nation during the very first meeting of a house select committee dedicated to china. what we learned. plus, the warning from the head of the fbi about china s efforts to hinder investigations into the origin of covid. we are also following breaking news in greece, a devastating head-on collision between a freight train and a passenger train carrying 350 passengers. officials saying dozens were killed with reports of people being thrown out of windows from the impact. the desperate search this morning for survivors in the wreckage. and an extraordinary moment
persuasion war with china. both parties push for a nationwide ban on the app, which the fbi has said threatens our national security. we know it threatens the well-being and the lives of our kids. yesterday we spoke with a mom whose son died doing the tik tok choke challenge. tik tok profits from keeping children addicted. they don t care about the privacy, safety and health of our kids. they re the modern day tobacco and cigarette companies. why are you allowing tik tok to have censorship. tik tok said you weren t tracking the geo location of american citizens. you were. you said you weren t spying on journalists, you were. you damn well know you cannot
platforms. section 230 ab solves them from civil liability when they broadcast things which harm children, whether it s bullying or harassment or something as basic as this choke challenge which unfortunately claims the lives of children as well. i think there was a general consensus on this committee, which is saying something, that we need to do something about social media platforms and coincidentally had a meeting just a day or two later with ann wig ham from the drug enforcement agency and described the sale on the internet and social media platforms of phony drugs. senator graham made the reference to a person who thought they were buying percocet and bought fentanyl and died. i asked how common it was. she said very common. the sellers have valet services where they deliver boxes of