lapping now, gut-wrenching images of homes and lives destroyed near the earthquake epner. cnn is on the scene as the death toll in turkey and syria soars above 12,000. also tonight, president biden is doubling down on a line of attack against republicans that prompted gop jeers during his state of the union address. he is taking the top themes on the road in key presidential battlegrounds. and ukrainian president volodymr zelenskyy is now in ha included a stop in london, a visit with. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situati situation this hour a race against time in the earthquake zone as the window for finding survivors narrows and the death toll grows more catastrophic. cnn s nick paton walsh is in turkey right now. nick, tell us what you have been seeing and experiencing. reporter: yeah, it is sadly, wolf, around this time that it seems the race against time for survivors is slowly being lo
bret: but, first, breaking tonight. house republicans are taking a microscope to the hunter biden scandal. the oversight committee grilling former twitter executives today about their censorship of the story in the new york post which many in the g.o.p. contended could have directly affected the 2020 election. the most pointed questions though aimed at the u.s. government influence into the censorship decisions. correspondent david spunt reports tonight from the justice department. good evening, david. bret, good evening to you. a fiery hearing lasting the majority of the day. democrats argue there is nothing there but republicans believe something more sinister wer and. and this was the chance for republicans to make the case to the public. we don t know where the fbi ends and twitter begins. emotions running high. we are talking about hunter biden s half fake laptop story. i mean, this is embarrassment. front and center this new york post cover from october
speeches i have heard. reporter: even as in the moment he attempted to calm members of his own conference. this is what the choices are. chaos or stability. reporter: a split screen that one biden advisor called a dream moment for the white house, coming at a critical moment for an 80-year-old president on the verge of one final campaign. i think tonight he showed the energy, the empathy, the hopefulness that a presidential candidate would have. and moments ago we got the first reaction from president biden to what transpired in that house chamber last night in an interview with pbs news hour. take a listen. the vast majority of the public isn t that way. you know, there is still a significant like all the maga republicans, you know, the make america great again republicans. i kind of anticipated. the speaker was gracious.
scott plan. so they are really just taking something that they road tested in the last midterm cycle to actually great effect considering how well they did considering the political headwinds. and they are trying it out on the cusp of a potential 2024 run. you are talking about that. a heavy influence, emphasis on pocketbook issues. it really steams indicate that the white house is at the moment trying to really zero in on the things that they know they need to shore up, and that s the sense of the american people, that the president is addressing their real economic uncertainty and pain when they go to the grocery store, when they go to the pharmacy and trying to pay for goods on a paycheck that isn t going as far as it used to. michael, didn t republicans play into the president s hands with the heckling last night, particularly with the line about sun setting social security and medicare?
connected to a private back equity firm. oversight comer in an interview today with politico hinted he actually s the department of justice where i am to hold off on any hunter biden indictments until the house finishes its probe and wraps up all things hunter biden for more on that fbi statement, we have it right now on foxnews.com, bret? bret: okay, david spunt at the justice department. david, thanks. president biden, as mentioned before, attempted a victory lap today following his state of the union address. he talked about his economic policy in madison, wisconsin this afternoon. but his comments today seemed to ignore a big moment from inside the house chamber last night. white house correspondent jacqui heinrich has the story live from the north lawn. good evening, jacqui. good evening, bret. even though the american people watched live as the president seemingly negotiated a deal to protect medicare and social security at the state of the union, it appears he is embracing t