welcome to this special 8:00 hour of the cnn newsroom. i m jim acosta in washington and we begin this hour with an emotional anniversary of a pivotal moment in american history. on a busy weekend when the race for the white house was taking shape. president joe biden was in selma, alabama, today for the anniversary of bloody sunday, and a speech before some of the country s most prominent civil rights leaders. while outside washington, a very different scene in a very different speech, as former president donald trump spoke to the conservative political action conference, vowing retribution in his words. and earlier today in california, the politician who could be trump s biggest rival for the gop nomination in 2024, florida governor ron desantis, speaking at the ronald reagan library. but we begin in selma, alabama, with arlette saenz. arlette, what can you tell us? jim, president biden used the anniversary of bloody sunday as an historic moment in civil rights history,
for ac 360. good evening, and take a look, this is the face tonight of alex murdaugh, convicted killer, his head shaven at a south carolina prison system intake facility on his way within the next several weeks to serving two consecutive life sentences, life without parole for murdering his wife maggie and his son paul. this is the face of a man whose family name was once synonymous with the law in the county in the legal profession and criminal justice system there. at today s hearing in the courthouse where his grandfather s portrait once hung, murdaugh was sentenced. he spoke briefly, but judge clifton newman had the last word. i would never under any circumstances hurt my wife maggie, and i would never under any circumstances hurt my son pau-pau. and it might not have been you. it might have been the monster you become when you take 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 opioid pills. maybe you become another person. well, tonight a prime time exclusive interview with creighton
world. wolf blitzer is off today, i m brianna keilar, and you are in the the situation room. let s go right to ukraine, as we follow the pivotal ballots for bakhmut, and growing concerns it could fall to the russians very soon. melissa bell has our report from the war zone. reporter: bakhmut still stands, says the ukrainian military out of sight any sign of life driven underground. what is like life for the civilians, for the soldiers? what life? what, what life? you know, the soldiers are doing their work, which is quite and civilians are trying to survive. there s no water, there is no electricity. reporter: this was bakhmut in august when the siege had just begun. this is bakhmut seven months on. the city is empty, people are afraid to go . empty, people are afraid to go out. every day new destruction. it s better not to go outside writing dr. elena from inside the town. cnn met her and other nurses on christmas eve, not quite happier times, but certain l
guilty verdict. signed by the forelady. and we had no doubt that if we had a chance to present our case in a court of law, that they would see through the one last con that alex murdaugh was trying to pull and they d. wow. what a night. so quick. so fast. what a night. we ll get into all of it. good morning, everyone. it is friday. we re dwglad you re us with. it took that jury less than three hours. alex murdaugh found guilty of murdering his own wife and son. hours from now, the sentencing, plus this it just came up. glass breaking out anywhere. tornadoes ripping through texas and louisiana as well. the severe weather threat is not over yet for millions of americans we have correspondents live on the ground. we also have this for you. i m begging you, by the grace of god, please, people, do what is best. can you hear the outrage and desperation. it is boil over in east pal stun. families are demanding to evacuated or relocated from their own hometown. but
the u.s. is arming ukraine with more american ammo and rocket launchers. the lead starts right now. stocking up ahead of a likely russian spring offensive. the u.s. deploys another $400 million in military aid to ukraine. can president biden secure even more as russians encircle the strategic town of bakhmut? plus, from prominent attorney to convict, the swift prison sentence today for alex murdaugh after a jury took only a few hours to find him guilty of killing his wife and son. and drag shows shut down. tennessee becomes the first in the nation to put new restrictions on the performances. welcome to the lead. i m pamela brown in for jake tapper today. we start with our health lead. moments ago, the white house announced a lesion removed from president biden s chest last month was a common type of skin cancer. cnn s phil mattingly joins us now from the white house. tell us more about this diagnosis. reporter: that lesion was removed during the president s annual phy