attorney general wants tech giants to flag you. the lead starts right now. attorney general merrick garland grilled on capitol hill today from classified documents to abortion rights, fentanyl to rising crime. the wide-ranging topics have put garland on the spot. and five close calls in 2023 and it s only march 1st. the latest, a private plane came 565 feet from a jetblue flight loaded with passengers at boston logan. are these frightening encounters happening more often or just being reported more often? plus, protests turning violent. the faceoff between police and anti-netanyahu demonstrators in israel as crowds there call for a national day of disruption. welcome to the lead, i m jake tapper. we start with two high-profile hearings in capitol hill. one room joe biden sen battled pick to lead embattled pick to lead the administration finally had a confirmation hearing after being picked nearly eight months ago. republicans pressed phil washington, a 24-year a
vow to fight on. we won t give up bakhmut. we will hold on until the very last. glory to ukraine, death to the enemies. and the wagner boss in an audio message, acknowledges the ukrainians aren t budging. translator: the ukrainian army is throwing extra reserves into bakhmut and trying to hold the town with all their strengths. tens of thousands of ukrainian soldiers are repelling the attacks. bloodshed increases every day. reporter: wagner mercenaries are the spearhead of the invasion force. he claims they re making progress but often lack the ammunition to advance. translator: i will say a system needs to be worked out. i hoch that this system will start functioning soon, and we will be getting ammunition regularly. reporter: the u.s. and ukraine say the attrition rate among wagner s assault groups, often made up of prisoners recruited from russian jails, is as high as 80%. but the media channel is trying to convey how wagner is helping the convicts. in this film,
everyone including vladimir putin to see. you re in the cnn newsroom. extreme heat roasting most of the united states this weekend, and get ready because next week you re going to see the heat really crank up. right now more than 15 million americans are under heat alerts stretching from the dakotas to the gulf coast. a heat dome as weather experts call it, is blanketing much of the country talking triple digit high temperatures in some places and all of this, of course, coming on the heels of a record-breaking heat wave just last week and it is not just hot, it is dangerous. heat is the number one cause of weather-related deaths in the united states. and with that i want to go to our meteorologist in the cnn weather center. what do folks need to know so they can prepare and can stay safe? pamela, what they really need to do is take these heat alerts seriously. don t just think, oh, it s just hot. remember, the combination of temperature and humidity is what can really
military commanders say they re still holding on to bakhmut in the eastern part of the country as russian forces keep up their assault in the middle of the fierce battle. ukrainian officials say an estimated 4500 civilians remain in the city. cnn s fred pleitgen starts off our coverage with a look at how russian forces are bringing in more experienced fighters from the russian mercenary wagner group to secure a victory by any means necessary. reporter: russia s view of what is currently the most bloodily battle in ukraine. moscow troops here hitting a ukrainian armored vehicle in bakhmut, the city devastated by months of relentless fighting. here, mercenaries from the wagner group show off a u.s. made howitzer. even as they acknowledge they re on the back foot, the ukrainians
saying officials are trying to open a new frontline. shelling to the south in the mykolaiv area where president zelenskyy recently visited with troops. all along the frontline ukrainian forces pleading for more help. the ukrainian military put out hand out images showing ukrainian forces firing an american-made howitzer. these are long-range artillery weapons, have up to 15-mile range and important trying to hit at those russian artillery positions in what is an artillery war. we ve heard separate comments from prime minister boris johnson of the uk and the nato secretary-general each saying that this war could drag out for many more years but that western support must not wane. still ahead on this sunday the gun reform issue you lawmakers struggled with for decades called the boyfriend loophole. coming up i will explain what it