good morning. buenos dias and welcome to cnn this morning. we are grateful you are starting your sunday, march 19th with us. i m boris sanchez. i m amara walker. is there a good morning? it is a very good morning for me. it is a great one. because boris is going to getting a lot more sleep on the weekends. look, there is really no bad news. there is some breaking news. i guess the bad news is that you won t be able to see boris bright and early in the morning saying buenos dias, but, for all the boris fans you will be getting a lot more of boris during the week. we don t want to disclose all the details. look, i think you and i channelled each other because we are kind of in mourning with all of our black. sadly, because we won t be together. that s the bad news. the good news, you will get so much more of boris. you are too kind. more of that in a sec. here is what we are watching today. russian president vladimir putin makes a surprise visit to the russian-o
hi there, everyone. it s 4:00 in new york on state of the union day when president joe biden delivers that state of the union address to we thought it was important to remember that that address will take place in what amounts to a crime scene. for which there has yet to be accountability for many of its perpetrators. members of the mob that stormed the capitol on january 6th have been swept into the largest investigation in justice department history. more than 950 of them from all 50 states have been arrested. at least half of them have pleaded guilty to charges. on trial right now at this very moment on the rare and historically significant charge of seditious conspiracy, the right-wing militia groups, the oath keepers and the proud boys, the groups that form the tip of the spear of the mob that reached the capitol on that day, january 6, 2021. what about the campaign staffers? attorneys, activists, officials, the members of congress who helped put into motion complex
challenges, it will be no easy feat to crack many conservative activists support. last night, donald trump grabbed the harness of the maga base. i m thrilled to be back at cpac. all type of activists he s relying on to catapult him back into the white house. we re going to see this battle through to ultimate victory. we are going to make america great again. at cpac, the annual conservative gatherings, a wild scene of republican enthusiasts and a crowd overwhelmingly supportive of trump s 2024 bid. donald trump. i m a maga guy through and through. there is no stopping him. what are people coming to buy? it s like 30 to 1 trump over desantis. an arena most other possible contenders opted to avoid except for nikki haley, the only major declare challenge to trump. if you re tired of losing, put your trust in a new generation. haley heckled by several on her way out. a straw poll taken at cpac shows attendees favoring trouble for florida governor ron des
sanchez. i m amara walker. thanks for joining us. i ve been checking the poll enforecast every day. it hasn t been good here. how about you? we may be getting the cherry blossoms. here s what we re watching. the white house rolls out another $400 million in aid as fierce fighting continues in the eastern part of the country. our alex marquardt has a look at the bat tle for bakhmut. it sounded like a freight train going by the house. at least ten people are dead after severe storms hammer the south. where we re seeing impacts from that system this morning. alex murdaugh will spend the rest of his life in jail. the judge s worjs for murdaugh during the sentencings and why the former south carolina lawyer will likely find himself in court again on dozens of other charges. also, cnn still in east palestine, ohio, as residents there begin to recover from that toxic train derailment. they care about their food. they want to know what they re getting. they want to kn
cpac s dominated this year by trump loyalists, like representative jim jordan, marjorie taylor greene, and matt gates, kari lake a prominent election denier, who lost the governor s race in arizona last december was also a guest speaker. so is steve bannon, and pillow salesman mike redell. key republican leaders like house speaker kevin mccarthy, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, and rnc chair woman did not take part in cpac this week. meanwhile, other possible presidential candidates sat out the conference in favor of a different event this weekend. a sign of how the republican party remains splintered with some of its members trying to chart a new path forward, and leave donald trump far behind. instead of cpac, florida governor ron desantis, former vice president mike pence, south carolina senator tim scott, and new hampshire governor chris sununu opted to attend a private retreat with donors hosted by the conservative organization club for growth. another group has