blitzer in the situation room. happening now, a judge in manhattan just scheduled donald trump s criminal trial for next year right in the middle of the republican primary season. we ll share all the latest details from the former president s court appearance earlier this afternoon. also tonight, governor ron desantis is about to official. the florida republican is poised to launch his white house campaign tomorrow during a conversation with elon musk on twitter. we have new details on the announcement and how his gop rivals plan to respond. plus, we re learning new information right now about the driver who slammed a u haul truck into a white house barricade, what a court filing is revealing about the threats he allegedly made about president biden and his praise for adolph hitler. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer, you re in the situation room. . let s get straight to the news on former president trump s criminal trial
control of the eastern city to moscow s army. the battle for bakhmut has been the longest and bloodiest of the war. this aerialfootage taken earlier this month shows intense shelling in a residential area. most people fled before fighting broke out. bakhmut is of little strategic value, but its capture would be a symbolic victory for russia. the battle for bakhmut began last august. ukraine says its forces still control part of it. our bbc verify team has been looking at images that show the extent of the destruction there during these months of fighting. this is bakhmut before russia invaded ukraine. once famous for its sparkling wine and thousands of rose bushes. this is bakhmut now reduced to a landscape of ruin and death. but not defeated, the ukrainian army told us. ukrainian troops stay in south western part of bakhmut. ukrainian army keep pushing the enemy from site of the city. 70,000 people used to live here before russia s full scale invasion of ukraine. i was her
hello, i m vishala sri pathma. ukrainian officials have dismissed claims that the city of bakhmut has fallen to russia, after wagner mercenaries said they ve started handing over control of the eastern city to moscow s army. the battle for bakhmut has been the longest and bloodiest of the war. this aerialfootage taken earlier this month shows intense shelling in a residential area. most people fled before fighting broke out. bakhmut is of little strategic value, but its capture would be a symbolic victory for russia. meanwhile, the ukrainian president volodymr zelensky made a surprise speech for graduates atjohns hopkins university in maryland. i m proud that ukraine is not losing a single day in its defence against russian terror. every day, we do everything to become stronger, to give more protection to people, to save more lives. the united states has also not lost a single day to help ukraine repel the russian aggression. the battle for bakhmut began last august, and ukra
good evening and welcome to a special edition of outfront. i m erin burnett in new york. tonight, along with my friend wolf blitzer in washington. former president donald trump is set to arrive just moments from now at his first town hall of the 2024 election in new hampshire to answer voters questions. former president looking to broaden his base as he attempts to win back the white house. he s leading all the other declared and nondeclared republican primary contenders by a wide margin in what are extremely early polls. but it comes at a time when trump is facing mounting legal troubles. this town hall comes just one day after a jury found trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation forcing him to pay some $5 million to the writer e. jean carroll. and just one month ago, the former president was indicted by the manhattan district attorney. the stakes are very high tonight for the former president of the united states. let s go right to cnn s kristen holmes who s at th