control. but a city of bakhmut is facing a ferocious assault right now with thousands of civilians in dang danger as the russian s advance. and a man is rested for trying to bring explosives on a flight to florida in his suitcase. what we re learning about the case. new information coming in. and juries visit the scene where alex murdaugh s wife and son were kill and then the closing arguments in the disgraced lawyer s murder trial. prosecutors wrapping up just a short wild ago after condemning his lies confirm his guilt. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer and you re in the situation room. let s get right to our top story this evening. very intense fighting raging right now in the key eastern ukrainian city of bakhmut. civilians hunkering down as russia throws some of the most battle hardened forces into the fight. cnn s melissa bell is joining us live from kyiv with an update. melissa, how dire is the situation in the
now. mind bending. they are. they are. see you soon. welcome, everyone, to the beat. i m ari melber. the top story is the earthquake rocking the fox news empire. a lawsuit putting pressure on fox for the first time, puper murdoch who s wielded power and enjoyed it, and he s said so for about seven decades. do you like the feeling of power you have? yes. murdoch deploys fox news and his tabloids with that power that he admits he enjoys, to shape and sometimes all but run america s republican party and impact conservative discourse in this country. now he s under legal pressure because fox aired falsehoods and lies about the 2020 election. and allegedly pushed the specific lies they knew were false at the time which paved the way and built the support for many of the people who then showed up at the election. the company hit with this billion dollar lawsuit. weaver covered that before on this program, from a voting company that alleged defamation. this is the top
most of congress has yet to see, let alone the republic and has the ability to now act in a similar manner around information. taking a step back, it is more than about the first amendment or defamation. it is also about what might still be forthcoming from that very network. and wolf, to laura s point. rupert murdoch testimony guts what i think is the best potential defense for fox. their defense, they ve art tick lated is these were newsworthy comments by the then president and his top advisers and we re reporting them. now murdoch admitted we endorsed them but he tried to draw this distinction, not fox but the anchors. who is fox if not the voices of the top journalists and reporters. and it is interesting, lauer s a, this dominion $1.6 billion defamation case against fox is set to head to trial next month. are you surprised they haven t settled in.
appointing people whom i trust. look what he did there. people thought he was cornered on that one, but he and his powerful son there don t know and don t have direct knowledge. that s a weasely term that could mean any number of things and as you see, he maintains his power in any number of countries. they didn t really get him. although some other people did pay for what they did at that tabloid. now murdoch faces more hard evidence. the lawyers he faces in today s deposition allege he fed the false story line in america this his anchors repeatedly and knowingly lied about the fraud, recklessly disregarding the truth, and that murdoch knew but encouraged on-air personalities to perpetuate the base his claims and lies and that he, murdoch, called the shots directly. they allege he was in the loop on this. dominion came under heavy fire after allegations that their machines caused thousands