top of the hour here in the cnn newsroom. thanks for joining us. i m erica hill. i m jim sciutto. happening now, attorney general merrick garland on capitol hill to testify before the jen at judiciary committee for the first time here. you see senators cruz and holly. he is expected to be hit with a wide range of questions including allegations from republicans as they said that the justice department is being weaponized against conservatives as well as updates into investigations into trump and biden and we ll take you there live as it happens. the annual cpac conference happens today as we get new cnn reporting about what trump s allies are doing to get house republicans in his corner. for 2024, not all of them are there. sdwloo also ahead, closing arguments are expected to begin today in the double murder trial of disgraced former lawyer alex murdaugh. jurors in that case at the crime scene at this hour. we will take you live to south carolina. let s begin this hour with
of messages and depositions from fox news hosts, senior executives and employees as part of a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit. these documents show the depth of the contempt many at fox news had for the truth and frankly for their own viewers. prime time host laura ingraham blasted the fox news decision desk for something that every other normal reputable news organization in the country values, for being accurate. from the new york times, quote, ms. ingraham said the work of the decision desk was an inside job intended to sabotage conservative hosts like her, quote, we are all officially working for an organization that hates us she fumed. the messages show that host sean hannity responded to that, quote, why would anyone defend that call, referring to the decision desk s highly accurate and early election night projection that president joe biden would go on to win arizona. no, sean and laura were not alone. from the washington post reporting on these new filings, quote
pay a roll is the silicon valley bank collapse. this hour, everything that you need to know. forget frenemies, president trump is acting as if governor desantis is his biggest rival, and the new nickname that trump is using on the trail for desantis and the regret he says that he now has. and a powerful nor easter is hitting hundreds of thousands of people with heavy snow and wind as heavy as 60 miles per hour slamming the northeast and you can see it churning there and a lot to get to this hour, and a lot to begin with the latest on the response to the banking fears. cnn business reporter matt egan processing all of the new inflation data which met expectations, and what is the new consensus this morning? well, jim and erica, it is saying that inflation is not gone, but it is cooling off. 6.5% increase in consumer prices over the last six months is not good, but it is triple what is considered healthy, but everything is relative. as you can see on the chart, the tren
cnn s jamie gangel, who broke the story, joins us in the moment. first, though, the irony of classified documents ending up where they did, of all places. did you take any classified documents with you from the white house? i did not. do you see any reason for anyone to take classified documents with them leaving the white house? well, there would be no reason to have classified documents, particularly if they were in an unprotected area. so that was the former vice president in november talking about the former president, saying there is no reason for anyone to take classified documents with them after leaving office. here he is three days after the first batch of biden documents was reported suggesting that he knew how to handle such things. and then vice president did not. the handling of classified materials and the nation s secret is a very serious matter, and as a former vice president of the united states, i can speak from personal experience about the atte
of everything nefarious, as willfully taking them are obstructing their efforts to restrict that of course is in stark contrast with the mar-a-lago documents, former president posting this on his social media site today. mike pence is an innocent man, did not do anything knowingly dishonest in his life, leave him alone. he certainly not saying the same about president biden, newer will james calmer, the new oversight chairman backing off of his investigation with the president. saying today, former vice president pence s transparency stands in contrast to white house staff who continue to withhold information from congress and the american people. this is the same comer in that last week said that investigating the president would the would not be a priority for his committee. the news today helped blur with the real distinctions are between former presidents case and apparently the other two. an opportunity to blame the system, but instead as a member of the house intell