right now on andrea mitchell reports live from munich, but reporting that the georgia special grand jury report has been made public today against the objections of the district attorney that it could hurt imminent prosecutions. the president will finally speak out about the chinese spy balloon and other shootdowns. will he explain his policy after bipartisan criticism? and here in germany, vice president kamala harris attending the munich security conference and world leaders gathering to talk about how to help ukraine survive russia s onslaught. i ll speak to the ambassador and richard engle from the front lines. good day, i m andrea mitchell in munich. it s 6:00 here. you can hear the bells tolling. world leaders, including vice president harris, gathering at a critical time in the war in ukraine. i ll be interviewing the vice president tomorrow on administration plans to help ukraine defend against russiaes spring i ve and hold vladimir putin accountable. breaking
ayman al zawahri, al qaeda s leader and a former deputy to osama bin laden on 9/11, was killed by a cia drone strike in kabul. the administration has not confirmed al zawahri was the target ahead of the president s re, ma. the senior administration official said there were no civilian casualties in the mission. al zawahri has been on the run for year, and his history of violence extends well beyond his role in planning 9/11. the egyptian doctor was at one point arrested in connection with the assassination of egyptian president anwar sadat and was indicted in 1999 for the 1997 bombings of the u.s. embassies in tanzania. joining me now is chief white house correspondent kristen welker. what do we know about what the president is going to announce, and any details about that operation? reporter: the details are still coming in. what we do know is that the president is going to announce that ayman al zawahri was killed over the weekend in a counterterrorism operation. the pres
toward a civil war. president biden, meanwhile, is expected to address the threat of political violence head on as he hits the road today. the white house says the president will call out the far right for its dangerous rhetoric and challenge the republican claim that it is the party of law and order. we re also following major developments out of ukraine, where officials in kyiv say russian forces are in retreat as ukraine launches a counteroffensive in the south. president zelenskyy says, quote, we will chase them to the border. major news out of ukraine. we ll get to that in a moment. boy, it really is something. and you look at the poll numbers. first of all, fascinating it is joe biden s poll numbers that go up, willie, as democrats seem to be doing far better in the midterm elections than expected. the same group of people, donald trump, lindsey graham, those type of people, who challenged the 2020 election, or with lindsey, went back and forth, back and forth, th
china claims taiwan as part of its territory, despite having never controlled it and repeatedly warned against pelosi visiting the island, vowing to take resolute and forceful measures if the visit goes forward. john kirby addressed the trip on cnn last hour. there s no reason for the chinese rhetoric, there s no reason for any actions to be taken. it is not uncommon for congressional leaders to travel to taiwan. it is very much in keeping with our policy and consistent with our support to taiwan under the taiwan relations act. we shouldn t be as a country, we shouldn t be intimidated by that rhetoric or those potential actions. this is an important trip for the speaker to be on. we re going to do whatever we can to support her. cnn is on capitol hill, but we begin with will ripley in taipei, taiwan. will, what can you tell us the latest about this announcement of the speaker s trip? reporter: well, for one thing, this is not going to be, you know, a fueling brief stop
also tonight, one of former president trump s long time allies steve bannon found guilty on two counts of contempt of congress for refusing to comply with the subpoena from the january 6th committee. pierre thomas with late reporting. the bannon verdict coming less than 24 hour after that dramatic public hearing. the january 6th committee sharing testimony from former top trump officials showing how the former president failed to act. the dramatic secret service recordings from agents protecting then vice president mike pence. the testimony that some feared for their lives, calling to say good-bye to their families. and the outtakes of the former president refusing to say the election was over 24 hours after the mob stormed the capitol. jonathan karl standing by. the dangerous and deadly heat wave sweeping from coast to coast. 94 million americans in 28 states under heat alerts. rob marciano timing it all out. new video just coming in. the moment a small plane crashed i