Good to be with you. Im katy tur. Mitch mcconnell is stepping down as leader of the Republican Party in the senate, a position he has held now for 17 years. What is going to change . Mcconnell has been hugely effective as leader. He single handedly blocked President Obama from filling a Supreme Court seat, refuse to go hold a vote on merrick garland. Coming up with a novel and hugely controversial policy that Supreme Court vacancies cant be filled in election years. A policy he immediately said did not apply when President Trump had the chance to fill Ruth Bader Ginsburgs seat just before november 2020. From the Supreme Court to the federal courts across this country, no Single Person has arguably had a bigger impact, confirming 228 judges in the trump years alone. Almost all young, White Conservative men who will be able to serve for the rest of their lives. In spite of that success with trump, mcconnell has also been seen as one of the last guardrails against maga. Holding firm on uk
i m ari melber. we begin with breaking news. donald trump s federal trial is back on because this court is ruling against defendant trump today. they re green lighting the trial sought by special counsel jack smith. this spruling sets a precedent for holding a former president accountable. we have special coverage we ve been working on since this broke early on the east coast today. we start with the basics. you don t need to be a lawyer or constitutional scholar to understand this. the ruling rejects donald trump s very far-fetched arguments that his job history as president should mean he could never be arrested, indicted or tried for anything related to his time in office. trump s lawyers argued he should basically retain a kind of permanent immunity from the fact he used to be president. the court is rejecting that today. we re going to begin, like i said, with the clarity of this single spare sentence. quote, for the purpose of this criminal case, former president trump
democrats controlling the senate chamber. although this hour, counteroffer for a hostage deal from the terrorist group hamas, which is calling for complete cease-fire. i m going to get the reaction from the father of nine-year- old emily hand. she spent nearly 2 months in hamas captivity. leading this hour, the major ruling earlier today for a three-judge appeals court panel agreeing that donald trump is not immune from prosecution for alleged crimes he may have committed when he was president, getting trump s team until end february 12, monday, to file emergency action with the u.s. supreme court if they want to afield. let s get straight to cnn s caitlin collins. this was more than just a denial of donald trump s legal arguments. it was the judge s unanimously rejecting and repudiating donald trump s actions around january 6. yeah, they said it could be criminal. jake, they noted all this is what laid out in the indictment from jack smith so they used the words allegation
earlier as the house ways and means committee releases stunning testimony from two agents. they say the lead prosecutor overseeing hunter biden s investigation was not actually in charge of the outcome, thanks to meddling from the justice department, despite attorney general merrick garland insisting it s not true. mr. weiss had more authority than a special counsel would have had, as complete he had and has complete authority to bring a case anywhere he wants in his discretion. we will get reaction from republican 2024 presidential candidate will hurd, he s joining us in just a moment. david spunt, you got to ask a.g. garland about all of this today. what did he say to you? aishah, about 90 minutes ago and the attorney general has remained consistent over the past two years saying that david weiss has fully been in control of the hunter biden investigation. now, there s a notion out there that david weiss was told not to bring charges against hunter biden last year, ac
new hope in the search for the missing titanic sub, banging noises detected by sonar. plus hunter biden strikes a deal on tax charges and a gun charge but a judge will ultimately get the final say. and urgent call for the u.s. to step in as violence escalates in the west bank. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i m christine romans. good wednesday morning to you. we begin with what could be a major development in the search for the submersible lost at sea. crews using so he that are have heard banging sounds at 30 minute intervals. and the u.s. coast guard also says that canadian plane detected underwater noises. resources now have been diverted to try to find the source of those noises. no luck just yet. more on the search this morning from miguel marquez. reporter: a complex search now more complicated by time, which they are running out of. we know there is about 40 hours of breathable air left. reporter: deep water submersibles a