fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds, and making false statements, just some of the charges against congressman george santos. after spending the day in federal custody, he just pleaded not guilty to 13 counts. so what will speaker mckcarthy do? a major test at the southern border. patrols encountered more than 10,000 migrants on tuesday alone as pandemic restrictions come to an end, our reporters are speaking live with those families desperate to get cross. plus president biden hitting the road to sell his debt ceiling message saying america is not a dead beat nation. new details on ongoing negotiations with republicans as we close in on a crucial default deadline. we re following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to cnn news central. new york republican congressman george santos has pleaded not guilty to the 13 federal charges hes faces in court. prosecutors say his bond is set at $500,000, though his travel will be limite
washington. glad to have you. here right now in south carolina, there are major developments in alex murdaugh s double murder trial. the prosecution now respond ing after the defense presented its closing arguments yesterday. defense attorney jim griffin made an emotional plea when wrapping up his presentation. there are two words that justice demands this thises case and those two words are not guilty. the oath you have taken in this case it requires a verdict not dwlt. on behalf of alex, of buster, on behalf of maggie and on behalf of my friend paul, i respectfully request that you do not compound a family tragedy with another thank you. just before closing arguments began, the judge remove d a jurr for discussing the case outside of the trial. diane gallagher is outside of the court in south carolina. diane, what more did the defense say today as they were presenting to the jury in these final hours of this trial? reporter: jim griffin spoke for about 2 hours and 15
from washington. we ve had some indications, some pretty clear indications, for some time, that the district attorney in manhattan, in new york, was thinking about, or possibly thinking about, charging donald trump. he gave him the opportunity to appear before the grand jury, that is a precursor to an indictment coming down against someone. there has been a number of key hints in the last couple of weeks. this is coming to a head because we understand that the grand jury, which investigates these things, is perhaps seeing its last witness on monday and so there is some calculation going on here. donald trump believes that this is going to happen at some point next week. a lot of people think that may be true. the new york police department is preparing in case there is some sort of circus, some sort of spectacle, around that courthouse. there are some indications that this could be on the books but, you are right, there is nothing official from the district attorney that this
of its outgoing leader has resigned after the party reveled a sharp drop in its membership. hello and welcome to the programme. the former us president, donald trump, says he expects to be arrested on tuesday. in a post on his own social media platform, he claimed to have seen leaks from the manhattan district attorney s office, which is yet to comment. mr trump is accused of paying hush money to an alleged mistress, and called on his supporters to protest if he is detained. we can speak now to deana bass williams, former republican strategist. she joins us from new york. thank you forjoining us here. i wonderfirst of all, thank you forjoining us here. i wonder first of all, what do you make of this story? it is curious and it does make of this story? it is curious and it does come make of this story? it is curious and it does come from - make of this story? it is curious and it does come from a - make of this story? it is curious and it does come from a former president
sunday. i m fredicka whitfield. an updated classified intel report saying the u.s. department of energy has assess thad the source of the covid-19 pandemic likely came from a china lab leak, but there is one major caveat. sources at the department of energy tell cnn that the report has, quote, low confidence. cnn s natasha bertrand has been reporting on all of this and joins us on the phone. various intel agencies have been split on this issue for years now. this is from the department of energy, low confidence. what does all this mean? reporter: this is essentially another data point. the intel community has been examining this really closely for the last two years, ever since president biden tasked them with investigating the origins of the covid-19 pandemic shortly after he first got into of office. back in 2021 the intel agencies, roughly 58 of them, couldn t come to a decision about where it came from. what we re seeing is the department of energy has collected some ne