we will not waver. president biden reaffirming support for ukraine as nato wraps up its critical summit. while the ukrainian president did not get a time line for membership to nato, president zelenskyy did get long-term commitment of military support. facing his republican critics and a flurry of gop accusations, the head of the fbi appointed by donald trump testifies on the hill amid a political firestorm there. we are following these developing stories and many more all coming in right here to cnn news central. president biden is on his way to helsinki, finland, to close out a trip that has had major global implications. earlier today he had a lengthy one-on-one meeting with the ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy. he wrapped up the summit with a sweeping speech that touted an alliance that is stronger than ever and reassured ukraine its fate is tied to nato. natasha bertrand is there for us following all of these developments. how was this speech received, natasha
the fbi director on defense. the lead starts right now. are you protecting the bidens? absolutely not. the fbi does not hold on. you won t answer the question. the fbi, christopher wray on the hill questioned by some of his harshest republican critic. calling for a culture shift at the fbi. and more promises for ukraine but president zelenskyy is not getting the thing he really wanted, entry into nato. why not? plus, taxpayer beware. it s not just uncle sam getting your data, the report out today on who else can see your most sensitive tax information. welcome to the lead i m jake tapper. we start with that explosive battle on capitol hill. republicans released a tsunami of accusations and attacks against the fbi and its trump-appointed director christopher wray accusing wray of weaponizing the bureau against conservatives, lambasting the bureau s participation in last year s search of trump s florida home. american speech is censored, parents are call t
another official who prosecutors in the special counsel s election probe have spoken to, details and what it could suggest. republican lawmakers grill the republican appointed registered republican fbi director, is there evidence for their allegations? i will ask the republican former us attorney who recommended them for the job, chris christie joins us. later, ray epis, january 6th protester in hiding after right wing media painted him as a plant. the lawsuit they just filed against fox news. good evening, the breaking news, new word another top state election official has spoken with prosecutors in connection with the former president s efforts to overturn the eleck. she is joselyn benson, michigan secretary of state, she joins her georgia counterpart, brad raffensperger, former arizona republican lawmakerer rusty bowers and two republican officials in talking to jack smith s team. what have you learned about secretary of state benson s interview with jack smith? well
this post in 2017. he is also a registered republican. but that did not matter to the gop members who used today s hearing to go after him personally. when the court says the fbi misled, but it s a nice way of saying they lied. the american people fully understand that there is a two tiered justice system. that has been weaponized to persecute people based on their political beliefs. and that you have personally been worked to weaponize the fbi against conservatives. i would disagree with your characterization of the fbi. and certainly your description of my own approach. the idea that i m biased against conservatives seems somewhat insane to me given my own personal background. your job is to review what they do, your job is to protect the american people from tyrannical fbi, storming the home of an american family. i could not disagree more with your description of the fbi s tyrannical. you seem deeply and curious about, it don t you? almost suspiciously i m c
report on inflation was better than ever expected, prices rose just 3% in june, which is the lowest increase we have seen since march of 2021. there is so uncertainty out there about what this means long term, we are gonna hash all of that out later in the hour. but inflation was not at the top of the agenda for some lawmakers on capitol hill today. the republican-led house judiciary committee spent about six long hours questioning fbi director chris wray. the house gop along with former president trump had been hammering ray and the bureau for months. the attacks of course have intensified and made the trump classified documents case and after hunter biden took a plea deal. keep in mind that christopher wray is not a democrat he is not a joe biden crony, he was appointed by donald trump to this post into thousand and 17. he is also a registered republican. but that did not matter to the gop members who used today s hearing to go after him personally. in the court, they say