very real sandy hook mass massacre, calling it a fake. they today a texas jury ordered him to pay more than $4 million in damages to parents of six-year-old jesse lewis, one of the 20 young children and six teachers murdered in that shooting. jessie s parents wanted at least 150 million for defamation. this afternoon their lawyer said the next step in this case is the real name of the game. the jury just returned a verdict for damages exceeding $4 million. that s a darn good start. we now have the punishment phase. it s perfectly expect-able that we are going to see an over nine figure judgment against mr. jones. that punishment phase of the trial begins tomorrow. jurors have already heard about the damage done by alex jones s lies. i can t even describe last night i have nightmares of the living hell that i and others have had to endure because of the negligence and the recklessness of alex jones. jones may soon face even more legal jeopardy. yesterday the lawyer for
plus i know everyone is talking about political pawn, and politics, but that is far from this courtroom. the truly unacceptable sentencing of britney griner. nearly a decade in a russian prison. plus, a verdict reached in the alex jones defamation trial. you are saying that everything is true, but it isn t. your beliefs do not make it true. that is what we are doing here. the millions of dollars he owes for his sandy hook lies. when all in starts, right now. good evening, from washington d. c., i m mehdi hasan, in for chris hayes. cast your mind back to two years ago. the summer of 2020, donald trump, still an office. federal agents, being sent into american cities like portland, and seattle, and using war tactics against protesters for racial justice. i was in this seat, filling in for chris hayes, for the first time. we should stop talking about the f-word, fascism. i have worked around the globe. i ve interviewed prime ministers, and government officials. dic
preserved ever since the gunman killed 14 students and 3 adults on valentine s day 2018. and in texas, we re on verdict watch. jurors are now deliberating in the defamation trial against conspiracy theorist alex jones. they re deciding how much money he should pay to the parents of a 6-year-old sandy hook victim for repeatedly pushing derange conspiracies that the murder of 20 first graders and six adults did not happen. the judge in the case denied jones s request for a mistrial after it was revealed his lawyer accidentally sent two years of cell phone records and text messages to the parents legal team. the parents lawyer says multiple law enforcement groups are now seeking those texts, including the january 6th committee. request from various federal agencies and law enforcement to provide that. absent a ruling from you saying you cannot do that, i intend to do so immediately following this. i believe there is absolutely nothing, nothing that he has done to fulfill h
also tonight, cnn has learned that former president trump s lawyers are now in direct talks with the u.s. justice department about the january 6th criminal investigation. stand by for our exclusive new reporting as sources now reveal that trump s attorneys have warned him that indictments, criminal indictments are possible and wnba star brittney griner is sentenced to nine years in prison after being convicted by a russian court on drug charges. the u.s. is now reviewing for moscow to accept a proposed prisoner swap aimed at bringing griner home. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. this is cnn breaking news. let s get straight to the breaking news right now. a texas jury awarding more than $4 million to the parents of the sandy hook shooting victim suing alex jones over defamation and distress over his repeated lies about the tragedy. cnn correspondent drew griffin is working the stor
dollars. all of this coming as the biden administration has pushed the kremlin to accept an offer they put on the table in june to get griner home. offering to swap griner and another american, paul whelan, for viktor bout, an arms smuggler serving a 25-year sentence in the united states. so far, russia has not agreed. they should have accepted it weeks ago when we first made it. it was an earnest attempt to see if we could get outcomes here. we are still going to keep making the attempts. reporter: as for where the efforts stand now, administration officials say the ball is in russia s court. all while her family, teammates and support percent in the united states turn up the pressure to get her home. griner s agents saying today that getting a deal done will be harped but calling it urgent. her team saying they will not allow her to be forgotten and lawmakers urging the administration to bolster the offer. there is nothing we schanot do short of impacting the national