outfront next, the war coming to russia. putin and his forces on defense as the kremlin vows to exterminate ukraine. plus, republican kari lake still obviously won t accept she lost the race for arizona governor, giving a keynote speaking slot at the upcoming georgia republican convention. why? well, a top georgia election official who publicly rejected trump s claims of election fraud and bravely so is outfront and china s brutal campaign against its own people now at a boiling point as chinese officials take on mosques around the country. let s go outfront. good evening, i m erin burnett. outfront, the war inside russia. there s a bold, new front in the war and it is on putin s territory. a russian official just this hour announcing that russia s air defense system shot down several ukrainian drones over western russia. that s just this hour. right? earlier today smoke rises over belgorod. new video in from there. you can see on your screen, belgorod is the russian
russia resorts to pictures of rubble to convince the public to get behind the war. the treasury department warning it has $39 billion left in cash as of tonight. yellen moves the dead ceiling deadline. an update to a story we told you about. $2 million and jail time after a chinese comedian made a comment about the communist party. wait until you see tonight. let s go out front. good evening. an aggressive strike. new video tshowing thick smoke what is believed to be a steel plant in mariupol. ukraine hit the city with two missiles. this is tactical but hugely symbolic in terms of a strike. this is where ukrainian troops were in the deadly standoff for russian forces for weeks last year. mariupol is even important staging ground for russian forces in southern ukraine. it s crucial. there s a flow of russian military convoys. a ukrainian strike changes the game. in russia, staid imte media is something new. i want to show you the drone video. this is from bakhmut. it is
good morning. hopefully you re awake. making breakfast having your coffee coffee? welcome to cnn this morning. it is sunday. i hope you re not drinking coffee? actually me just coffee it off because you don t drink coffee. you don t want anyone else to do it right. morning. tea would be nice, right? i don t like taste. there we are. i m victor blackwell. thanks so much for spending part of your easter sunday. what? what would you recommend? just a nice green tea. maybe an earl gray something with cinnamon. maybe. i ve got something. my office. maybe i ll swing by the wild. it s okay. it s all right. here s what we re watching this morning. top democrats are vowing to make abortion a central issue in the lead up to the 2024 election after a judge ordered the suspension of a drug used in medication abortions. what senate majority leader chuck schumer is telling his caucus about the fight ahead a weekend of religious celebrations and escalating tensions in the mideast. the israe
washington. we begin this hour with the tempers flaring in nashville. where emotions are raw politics, much like the rest of the us bitterly divided republicans in the state house there voted to expel lawmakers were breaking decorum during a raucous but peaceful protest demanding gun reform that protest ignited by the nashville school shooting that left three adults and three young students dead. how the expulsion vote ended, has only added to the anger representatives justin pearson and justin jones. who are black, were expelled their fellow protester and colleague gloria johnson, who was white kept her seat by one vote. cnn correspondent isabelle rose salas joins us now with the latest isabelle what happens now? i guess there is some hope that these two lawmakers who were expelled might get their seats back. and that is certainly a very real possibility. here, jim. right now the spotlight is on filling those two vacant statehouse seats, and what we re seeing is local lawmak
hi to everyone. it is 4:00 in new york. happy friday. what began at a celebrity golf tournament in 2006, an affair between a porn star and a business mogul, now has the potential to throw the entire country into unchartered territory with donald trump reportedly on the verge of becoming the first ex-president to be criminally indicted. as we reported on this program yesterday, blockbuster reporting in the new york times reveals that the manhattan d.a. has invited donald trump to testify before a grand jury in the probe examining hush money payments to adult actress stormy daniels. the new york times notes that such offers almost always indicate an indictment is close. it would be unusual for the district attorney alvin bragg to notify a potential department without ultimately seeking charges against him. as for whether donald trump will take bragg up on his offer, the washington post quotes a trump associate saying that everyone will advise him not to go in. here is ter