p.m. the cnn newsroom continues the cnn newsroom continues with jim acosta right now. captions by vitac www.vitac.com you re live in the cnn newsroom. i m jim acosta in washington. new today, a member of the january 6th committee weighing in on what would happen if former president donald trump ignores their promised subpoena. here s congressman adam kens ger. do you believe that the justice department, if the president refuses, should hold him in criminal contempt? look, that s a bridge we cross if we have to get there. you know, look, we well-recognize the fact that because of the committee only being able to exist until the end of this congressional year because that was the mandate, we re in a bit of a time limit here. and as we re wrapping up the investigation, we re also pursuing new leads and facts. and we want to speak to the president. look, he s made it clear he has nothing to hide is what he says. so, he should come in on the day we ask him to come
newsroom. we begin this hour with breaking news in iran where large plumes of smoke can be seen rising from an infamous prison in tehran. officials there confirming a fire has been set by the inmates of that prison. let s go to cnn s jamana. what more are you learning? we re still trying to find out what really is happening or happened at the prison. that notorious facility in northern tehran. of course, that prison that where many political prisoners, human rights activists, journalists, foreigners are kept in tehran. now, an hour ago, we started seeing video on social media showing this large plume of smoke billowing over the prison and according to the social media videos we have received, you could hear gunfire. according to the activist group that put out this video, they say that special forces were heading to the prison. now, according to the government s account of what is going on, they say that this was a fire that was started by these rioters. thugs as they desc
criminal insurrection probe intensifying. i have a very special guest on that later in the hour. coming up i have neil cochel to start us off. look at this report from cnn, trump lawyers waging a secret fight to try to halt a grand jury from getting information from his inner circle, basically blocking testimony that otherwise would be relevant, meaning the prosecutors at least want to introduce it. we know the context for this, those 40 new subpoenas. you have a former prosecutor on the letitia james side saying that the business probe is basically a dealt penalty for trump org. so you have the insurrection and the business probe both going at trump hard, and then that s not the only thing going on. these are circling trump while he has no presidential powers left. we have seen in the special master case where they thought it would help to have more court review, which could be true if he were president because in the process if the president says, hey, national security, he
Thats why more choose Comcast Business. And now, were introducing ultimate speed for business our fastest plans yet. Were up to 12 times faster than verizon, at t, and tmobile. And existing customers could even get up to triple the speeds. At no additional cost. Its ultimate speed for ultimate business. Dont miss out on our fastest speed plans yet switch to Comcast Business and get started for 49. 99 a month. Plus, ask how to get up to an 800 prepaid card. Call today thats one Hundred Solomon in new york welcome to our breaking News Coverage of former President Trumps hush money criminal trial. Im Briana Keeler in washington, Abby Phillips is outside of the courthouse in new york torque and testimony has finished for the day, but we just got some major news after the jury left the courtroom, the prosecution telling the judge that its entirely possible they will wrap up the case by the end of next week. The jury heard from several witnesses during todays session, starting with former wh
the country remains divided in terms of its willingness to stay the course on mask wearing and social distancing for the final month before the vaccine has been distributed. president biden is expected to preview what a return to normal will look like here. he ll also address the grief of a nation consumed for one whole year. the anniversary marks the day for many americans, the grim reality, from the washington post, quote for most people march 11th was when the crisis first became real. it was the day of a high-profile diagnosis, and official decidingation of pandemic. schools closed, streets emptied and commuters stayed home. we didn t know it then, but the virus had already infected thousands. over the next 12 months, leaders bungled opportunities to quell its spread. case levels rose, fell, rose again. hope endured and more than 525,000 people lost their lives. dr. anthony fauci, who has become a household name, first for his beleaguered attempts, acknowledged today