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
very good wednesday morning to you, i m jim sciutto. and i m erica hill. happening right now, more than 4,500 civilians are stuck in the ukrainian city of bakhmut, this as russian forces launch a barrage of attacks on the fiercely contested area, president zelenskyy calling it the country s most difficult situation. as of now, though, ukrainian forces are still holding the line. cnn is on the ground in eastern ukraine and we will bring you the very latest. plus a political sorry, go ahead. it s all yours. plus a political shakeup in chicago. mayor lori lightfoot the first mayor in 40 years to lose an election bid in that city as concerns about crime and public safety rattle voters. we re also watching the alex murdaugh murder trial. take a look at this, aerial images from southern california where a winter storm has already dumped feet of snow, that s southern california, another 12 to 24 inches expected today. we do begin, though, in ukraine where 48 children
hello, everyone. at this hour, trying to cling to hope as rescue and recovery efforts continue in turkey and syria and the death toll continues to climb. plus, new details out today of what that chinese spy balloon may have been capable of. a member of congress who was just briefed on the incident is our guest. and north korea is showing off the military arsenal a very big way as kim jong-un s daughter is stepping out into the spotlight. thank you for being here. i m kate bolduan, and the images coming out of turkey and syria continue to boggle the mind of how widespread and just complete the devastation is just building after building pancaked and freezing temperatures the of course challenging every effort to find survivor and yet still moments of hope. a mother and two sons were just rescued alive today after being under the rubble for more than 70 hours, and the death toll is still rising passing 17,000 people dead and hundreds of thousands of people without a place
the u.s. supreme court. we re following the protests and the stakes as the nine justices weigh challenges to president biden s loan forgiveness program. and fox news is facing even more scrutiny and questions tonight after the chairman rupert murdock admitted under oath that some of the network s hosts endorsed lies about the 2020 presidential election. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer and you re in the situation room. tonight congress is putting the spotlight on deteriorating u.s. relations with china and the growing threat that the communist regime poses to the united states. the first hearing of the new house select committee on china begins in the next hour. let s bring in cnn s jessica dean. she s up on capitol hill for us. also let s bring in cnn s david culver who has reported from china for years. jessica, i ll start with you. tell us what to expect at tonight s hearing. reporter: wolf, this is the first prime
the second world war or new assessment of the worst pandemic since 1918 china is front and center tonight. on ukraine members of the administration spoke today and over the weekend warning beijing that arming russia would be a mistake. we are confident that the chinese leadership is considering the provision of lethal equipment that would be a very risky and unwise bet. bill burns, the cia director. on covid we learned yesterday that the department of energy has assessed in a newly updated intelligence report that it most likely originated from a laboratory leak. cnn has just learned the reason for that updated report. three sources telling cnn that the department of energy shift was based in part on information about the research that the chinese centers for disease control, the chinese cdc in wuhan, was doing around the time of the outbreak on a coronavirus variant. cnn has previously reported that the lab was studying coronaviruses m bats but it is unclear how closely