future of the program remains in jeopardy for hundreds of thousands of people that call america home. we ll talk to one of those dreamers later this hour. we begin with the efforts to bring down the skyrocketing prices we re paying for gas, groceries, and many other items. in a few hours from now the federal reserve is expected to announce its third interest rate hike this year. raising a key interest rate by three quarters of a percent. that s the largest increase since 1994. this comes as president biden looks at other steps to try to reduce the highest priced spikes in more than 40 years. the president sent letters to seven energy companies asking them to explain their record profits, as well as a drop in refining capacity helping to drive up gas prices. he also says he s prepared to use emergency authority to increase refinery capacity and output in the near term. the new york times reporting the president is also considering rolling back some of the tariffs preside
Former Tabloid Publisher david well be back with wolf blitzer in situation breaking news tonight, The Trump Trial Testimony Begins and the official transcript was just released for the next hour. Well take you inside the courtroom from gavel to gavel. As this historic hush money criminal case unfolds the prosecutions first key witness takes the stand after both sides start to lay out their cases in Opening Statements are reporters and experts are standing by to break down all of todays most important developments and look ahead to whats next. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and arnd the world. Im wolf blitzer with a Special Report in this Room Trump Trial today lets get right to the breaking news on the Opening Statements and testimony in the first criminal trial of a former president of the United States, donald trump. At the Defense Table as prosecutors and his lawyers began cutting to the heart of the hushmoney case against him cnns Kara Scannell is joining us live
for example, the plaque that s outside of his office, again, the committee trying to show here the overlap between being on that tour, some of the photos that were taken and then, of course, the fact that at least one member of that tour was at the capitol, at the insurrection. this is, again, something that they re asking for loudermilk s cooperation on. he has denied that tour was anything wrong. but this is certainly one of the key things that people talked about in the aftermath of january 6th, the idea that potentially people could have gotten an inside look at the capitol complex before coming here for the insurrection on the 6th. yeah. ali, the fact that a member of congress tours people, i guess, is not that unusual, but it was january 5th and, as you say, there was one person there on that tour who later returned on the 6th. jackie, committee chair bennie thompson backtracked on what he had said about no criminal referrals out of the hearings. does that hint that referrals a
pull back of weapons from countries in nato that joined the alliance after the fall of the soviet union. you know, western officials have made it quite clear that that is not something they re prepared to exceed to and not even prepared to discuss. but, you know, i think you have to understand there are areas in the demands that russia has made to get these talks going, there could be some cooperation on. alex mentioned the possibility of talks about deploying nuclear capable missiles on the continent of europe. that s something that russia wants an agreement on. it s something the united states is prepared to discuss as well. and things like the extent and the number of exercises that are taking place. close to the borders or on the borders. that s something that will be up for negotiations as well, as well as bilateral issues and diplomats in each other s countries. there are 120 diplomats
there s so many issues right now that relationship, the climate is harder to get cooperation on. but it s obviously a top priority for president biden and john kerry, his climate czar. what else are you looking to see out of this, particularly at a time when so many of our allies breathed a sigh of relief when joe biden was elected but knowing the tensions exist? yeah. i think look, this is a body that president biden is familiar with, comfortable with, supports. he is a supporter of the u.n. in a way that very few presidents have been i think over the years. so it s going to be interesting to see how he navigates the tensions. but it shows the american commitment to international value that otherwise has been disrespected or feels disrespected for years and has not been at the priority list of any american president obviously going back at least to president obama. peter baker, all the good to see you. thank you so much. that s going to wrap up this hour for me. thank you for wa