spies, lies, bribes, and russian disinformation. it sounds like something out of a novel, but it is a very real drama playing out washington right now. a long time fbi informant who provided explosive allegations of a biden bribery scheme, now charged with lying to the fbi and accused of passing off false information that he got from kremlin intelligence officials the claims from x and format alexander smirnoff or a central part of house republicans impeachment inquiry of president biden. but for now, the gop has no plans to pull back on that probe. cnn s kaitlan polantz is tracking all of this. kaitlan. what more have we learned about this case? well, jessica, this is a major case from one of the special counsel working within the justice department. it is case against a man named alexandra smirnoff, who lives in las vegas, an american citizen. but as an fbi informant over many, many years, was putting disinformation into investigative authorities in the us, spec
investigators said the two men did not know each other and got into a verbal argument which then escalated. the news continues right here on cnn right now on early start, donald trump finally speaking out about alexey navalny, not to condemn is death, but to convince there himself to the fallen dissidents the fbi informant who lied about the bidens being tied to a ukrainian engine energy company myths he got his information from russian intelligence agents i have no fear of trump s retribution. nikki haley refuses to be intimidated by donald trump. she says and she s not getting out of the race anytime soon good morning to our viewers in the united states and around the world, i m kasie hunt. it s wednesday, february 21st is 05:00 a.m. here in washington. it s also 05:00 a.m. in greenville, south carolina, where former president donald trump is doubling down on recent comparisons. he s made between himself and alexei navalny, the opposition leader who died in one of
could have a major impact on people or stroke struggling to start a family. we re following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to cnn news central president biden is rearing for a fight with donald trump. cnn has learned that biden person holy directed his staff to do more to call out recent inflammatory trump comments, not using those words. clearly looking to draw a contrast ahead of a possible 2024 rematch to help get that message out, biden has stockpiled a record amount of campaign cash and he s on his way to get more in california right now to see fundraisers to pad those coffers. former president trump meantime, is also on the trail today. he and his last remaining republican rival, nikki haley, are holding dual events in south carolina with four more days to go before that state s primary haley today vowed to keep fighting well past saturday. let s start you off at the white house with cnn s mj lee, mj, walk us through your reporting
december 5, 1989 it was a cold night in dresden, east germany. and it would change the course of vladimir putin s life the berlin wall had just formed all over east germany, angry crowds roamed the streets lashing out at symbols of communist rule that night in dresden they found a target. the local kgb headquarters a mob surrounded the building as the hour grew later, the crowd grew larger inside, peering through the curtains, was a young kgb lieutenant colonel named vladimir putin he was terrified that they re going to storm the building putin was a junior officer but the boss was away. he was in charge. the berlin wall had come down. police weren t going to help. and he called for instructions desperate for help putin diouf kgb headquarters in moscow over and over again finally one official told him simply, moscow is silent. and i think it felt like a deep betrayal to vladimir putin was on his own he went down into the bowels of the building an
washington, and this is cnn the republican party is shrinking house majority getting even tighter as democrats flip the vacancy left by george santos with the house speaker is now saying about that loss. plus the families of israeli hostages, slamming prime minister benjamin netanyahu, calling his decision to stay away from negotiations. a death sentence for their loved ones would netanyahu is now demanding from hamas and six years later, the parents of those killed or injured in the parkland, florida high school shooting are still making their push for any kind of action on capitol hill. we are following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to cnn news central today, house speaker mike johnson made it clear that he wants a meeting with president biden to discuss the border. my national security, the white house. let s say they re non-committal on the prospects for that. sit down. the two leaders are at an impasse on how to handle the bord