how far will u.s. and allies go to try to calm rising tensions in the region? plus, a heartbreaking find. the california family that was kidnapped, found dead. the youngest victim, only 8 months old. what detectives are saying about the person they believe is responsible. welcome to the lead. president biden taking his first steps possibly towards the decriminalization of marijuana on the federal level. he is pardoning all prior federal offenses of quote simple marijuana possession. this will clear convictions for several thousand americans. president biden is now also encouraging governors to follow his lead and pardon those convicted on similar state charges. the biden administration also says it will continue to review the federal classification of marijuana. right now, it is still a class 1 drug alongside heroin and lsd which means according to the government, cannabis has no accepted medical use at the federal level despite study after study. it is legal in 37 states
soon as december. and herschel walker now says he s not backing down despite the abortion scandal rocking his campaign. ma maggie haberman joins me this hour on donald trump s decision to back walker despite his checkered past. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. let s begin our coverage in ukraine where a furious counteroffensive is now sweeping russian troops out of territory. moscow has held for months. cnn is your national security editor. nick paton walsh is joining us live from the war zone. nick, this rapid ukrainian advance comes as vladimir putin laid claim to that troubled nuclear power plant. what s the latest on the ground tonight? ukraine s president zelenskyy clear that half a thousand square kilometers of territory in the kherson region have since the beginning of the month been liberated from russian control. that s a larger number of than officials said earlier today and it s part of the slow drip we saw ourselves just yesterday of territory r
hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the united states and all around the world, live from outside the u.k. s houses of parliament, i m christina mcfarlen. the revolving door at number 10 downing street will not swing open for boris jauohnson again. the former prime minister stands down ahead of today s critical leadership vote. and live from cnn world headquarters here in atlanta i m rosemary church. i ll have details on all our other top stories including mid-term crunch time in the united states. new polling suggesting sky high voter interest and extreme polarization with the election just 15 days away. it s 7:00 a.m. here in london where all eyes are fixed on the tory leadership race, and we could learn who s poised to become the next leader of the conservative party and the prime minister. he said on sunday he d not be entering the race though he claimed to have enough support to move forward. that leads richard sunak and kellie in the running. wheth
airstrikes at a town near the capital. it s hundreds of mile as way from the front lines, and it is an away by putin to instill fear by an army that has been failing on the battlefield. we have graphic new images from today which show the remains of what was a russian caravan near the city of lyman. car after car destroyed. the body of a russian soldier on the ground, russian belongings strewn across the road. it just bears testimony to what we are seeing. russia s retreat and ukraine s advances are both fast and furious. but today putin speaking out, saying that these regions of ukraine where we re seeing all of this are now fully part of russia. he told a conference of teachers that the vote in the sham referendums in those regions of ukraine were well, here s his words. the results of the referendums, frankly speaking, not only pleased me but also surprised me. i think the election observers know this as well. there was no desire to correct something, clean something up,
unanimous. he is the one person, they say, at the center of all that happened on january 6th. trump does say that he ll respond here in about an hour to the committee s demand that he answer their questions. the committee also unveiling never before seen video of house speaker nancy pelosi rushing to safety as the mob closed in. leading the charge as lawmakers scrambled to save the capitol. cnn obtained about an hour of additional material that was not presented by the panel. here s part of that material. the 45th president of the united states of america. we re going to walk down to the capitol. if he comes here we re going to the white house. they re marching up. you can see them marching up. our country has had enough. we will not take it anymore. and that s what this is all about. i hope he comes. i want to punch him out. i would pay to see that. waiting for this for trespassing on the capitol grounds. i m going to punch him out, i m going to go to jail,