but the threat of violence also looms directly over the jewish community like never before in recent american history. attacks on jewish institutions, they are up 61% from 2020 according to the anti-defamation league. just yesterday, the fbi warned of what it describes as a broad threat to synagogues in new jersey. the new york times reports that as a result of a warning, the new york police department immediately announced it had stepped up its monitoring to ensure the safety of every area that encompasses our jewish citizens and synagogues. of course, we all know that none of this is happening in a having vacuum. it s bubbling through sports, culture and our politics. they re the anti-semitic outbursts on social media by kanye west. there s the refusal by kyrie irving to disavow a post he made linking to a documentary filled with conspiracy theorys about jewish people. he s been suspended for at least five games. a statement from the team reads in part kyrie irvin
world. it is thursday, october 13th. i m christine romans. donald trump remains a clear and present danger to democracy. that s the case the january 6th committee plans to make in this afternoon s final hearing before the november mid terms. sources tell cnn we ll hear new testimony and recently uncovered evidence. the political coup and all of the events surrounding the attempt to overthrow joe biden s majority electoral college, the insurrection nair ray violence, the mobilization of the mob, all of it flowed out of the will and determination of one man to seize the presidency and that s donald trump. danielle diaz joins us live from washington. what else can we expect this afternoon? it s really important to emphasize this will be the last time we ll publicly hear in this kind of format from the committee. of course, the last time that they will have some sort of hearing to present to the american people publicly what they found in this investigation of donald trump
we start with the breaking news. a jury has just awarded nearly $1 billion in damages to sandy hook elementary families and an fbi agent in the connecticut defamation trial against alex jones. eight families and a first responder sued the far right conspiracy theer orists for the lies he told. this is the second of three against jones, concerning the sandy hook massacre, comes after a texas jury decided in august that jones and his company should pay nearly $50 million. the connecticut jury, nearly a billion. let s go outside the courtroom. bryn, you were in there when the big figures were read out. walk us through the jury s decision. reporter: big figures leading up to the announcement of the numbers, even the jurors were taking a deep sigh. there was just so much pressure and tension inside that room. then what a release from these family members when those numbers were being read and tallied. i can tell you as we talked about, robbie parker, he received the biggest amou
$965 million to the victims of the sandy hook school shooting massacre. we re getting reaction about the verdict and impact of jones lies about the shooting. also tonight, russia launches mass casualty missile strikes in ukraine. as the u.s. and nato scramble to beef up ukrainian air defenses. i ll ask white house national security official john kirby about administration s response to vladimir putin s provocation and learning more about tomorrow s january 6th hearing and new evidence that will be presented. the select committee poised to argue that former president trump remains a clear and present danger to democracy in america. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer. you re the situation room. announcer: this is cnn breaking news. let s get right to the top story. a connecticut s jury massive judgment against alex jones for spreading lies and conspiracies about the sandy hook elementary school shooting. for more on
still without power. the extent of the death and destruction may just be coming to light. governor ron desantis is defending officials in lee county where more than half the storm related deaths have been announced. they re facing criticism for issuing evacuation orders a day later than neighboring counties. here s what governor ron desantis told cnn. is that what you ll be reviewing, looking at the evacuation orders even lee county if they had followed their own evaluation orders from what we reviewed they should have had the evacuation order sooner. the issue is they informed people and most people did not want to do it. that s just the reality. you re in a situation, are you going to grab somebody out of their home that doesn t want to. i don t think that s the appropriate use of government. i think that takes it a little too far. reporter: boris sanchez joins us live from fort myers this morning to tell us what they re dealing with there. boris, what s the latest?