top of the hour here in the cnn newsroom. thanks for joining us. i m erica hill. i m jim sciutto. happening now, attorney general merrick garland on capitol hill to testify before the jen at judiciary committee for the first time here. you see senators cruz and holly. he is expected to be hit with a wide range of questions including allegations from republicans as they said that the justice department is being weaponized against conservatives as well as updates into investigations into trump and biden and we ll take you there live as it happens. the annual cpac conference happens today as we get new cnn reporting about what trump s allies are doing to get house republicans in his corner. for 2024, not all of them are there. sdwloo also ahead, closing arguments are expected to begin today in the double murder trial of disgraced former lawyer alex murdaugh. jurors in that case at the crime scene at this hour. we will take you live to south carolina. let s begin this hour with
little to anything against churches and pro life centers. they will get in a lot. senator ted cruz asking garland during his last appearance before the committee about promise he made to keep politics out of the d.o.j. it went like this. i asked you quote, will you commit to this committee that under your leadership the department of justice will not target the political opponents of this administration? your answer, quote, absolutely. it is totally inappropriate for the department to target any individual because of their politics or their position in a campaign. that was your promise just a few months ago. i m sorry to say you have broken that promise. dana: that was more than a year ago. the committee will have plenty of ground to cover today. jason chaffetz ahead with reaction. david spunt starting us off on capitol hill. attorney general taking a seat behind me ready to answer those questions. he said multiple times he wants to keep politics out of the d.o.j. he wi
of mar-a-lago for classified documents. but also since he launched not one, but two special counsel investigations into both former president trump and president biden. we just saw garland walk into the hearing room moments ago. he didn t answer any questions on the way in. we are live on the hill. also, congress intensifies its scrutiny of china. one lawmakers even warning of a, quote existential struggle with the nation during the very first meeting of a house select committee dedicated to china. what we learned. plus, the warning from the head of the fbi about china s efforts to hinder investigations into the origin of covid. we are also following breaking news in greece, a devastating head-on collision between a freight train and a passenger train carrying 350 passengers. officials saying dozens were killed with reports of people being thrown out of windows from the impact. the desperate search this morning for survivors in the wreckage. and an extraordinary moment
bill: 10:00 in new york. early voting starts on monday in pennsylvania. there is a hotly contested senate race there. dr. mehmet oz and lieutenant governor john fetterman going head-to-head. it is one of the biggest toss-up battles in the battle for power on capitol hill as we say. brand-new hour starts today. it is friday, i m bill hemmer. sandra: nice to spend friday morning with you, mr. hemmer. here we go. hour to. i m sandra smith. nearly 40% of pennsylvania voters cast their ballots by mail in 2020. early voters now will have to make their choice without a single debate as fetterman faces growing questions about his health, of course, after suffering a stroke back in may. dr. oz says fetterman is cheating voters by waiting to debate until the end of october and by using closed captioning at his request, which is not allowed on the senate floor. bill: some voters in philadelphia say fetterman s health problems are less important to them than his policy platform.
senator graham made the reference to a person who thought they were buying percocet and bought fentanyl and died as a result of that. i asked her, the sellers had valet services where they would physically deliver boxes of these phony drugs to people to their homes to their porches. this is out hand. do you believe we need to do more to control the use of social media platforms that are currently exploiting families of children across america? senator, i agree with you and senator graham with respect to how horrible the situation is. i have personally met with the families of children, teenagers and young adults and even the elderly who have taken these pills often thinking that they re taking adderall or oxycodone or percocet, a prescription drug, but when, in