hello, i m ana cabrera reporting from new york. i want to get right to the breaking news we re following this morning. donald trump arriving just moments ago at a manhattan courthouse for the closing arguments in his multimillion dollar civil fraud trial, and he spoke just before going into the courtroom. there is high tension this morning because trump has suggested he could challenge the judge who has barred him from speaking during closing arguments. another big development, a threat we re following, law enforcement responding to a reported bomb threat at the judge s house this morning. a source with direct knowledge tells nbc news. i want to get right to our yasmin vossoughian joining us from outside the courthouse in lower manhattan. and also with us, former u.s. attorney barbara mcquade and criminal defense attorney danny cevallos. we just saw trump speaking before heading into the courtroom saying, you know, it s not fair that the judge won t let him speak at closing a
number one, but fears about crime are up there, too, and republicans are winning the issue by double digits. but should they be? the fact is the rates of violent crime are higher in oklahoma that s not true. under your watch than in new york and california. that s a fact. oklahomans, do you believe we have higher crime than new york or california? that s what she just said. well, here is a fact check. she s right. so should more democrats take joy hofmeister s lead and talk about what people are talking about around the kitchen table. steve bannon sentenced to four months behind bars for thumbing his nose at a congressional subpoena. he s heading home instead of to jail. we ll explain that in a moment. finally, if you re joining us from the west coast. look up. numerous ufo sightings over the pacific ocean by more than a dozen commercial pay lots. mysterious lights caught on camera. some of them 10,000 feet above where the planes were flying. what the heck is
teachers at the end of may. and new details about what the 77 minutes of school hallway surveillance video shows. plus, a new covid variant spreading at an alarming rate throughout the united states, and this one is not deterred even by recent infections. so how do the vaccines hold up against it? welcome to the lead. i m jake tapper. we start with our politics lead and members of the january 6th select house committee now publicly suggesting they will use tomorrow s hearing to draw direct links between the extremist groups who stormed the u.s. capitol and have been charged with seditious conspiracy and people inside donald trump s orbit. we are going to be connecting the dots during these hearings between these groups and those who were trying in government circles to overturn the election. what we heard cassidy hutchinson testify along the lines of trump telling mark meadows, the chief of staff, to talk to roger stone and others, mike flynn, and stone and flynn ha
to leave on a major middle east trip including a controversial visit to saudi arabia. can he reset relations with the country he had vowed to make a pariah? and new efforts are now underway to free americans britney greiner and paul whalen from captivity in russia. the better and hostage negotiator former governor bill richardson is now expected to travel to moscow in hopes of winning the release. we want to welcome our viewers here in the united states and around the world, i m wolf blitzer, you re in the situation room. on this the eve of the next january six hearing, select committee aides are sharing new details on what to expect as the panel zeros in on the far right extremists at the forefront of the insurrection. cnn congressional correspondent ryan nobles has our report from capitol hill. the justice department says they were among the writers causing the most trouble on january sixth. right wing extremist groups many of which came to washington intent on disrupting
cnn has confirmed many probes connections between extremist groups and trump associates, roger stone and others. we also bring him a specific mean committee asked former white house counsel pat cipollone about and what he told them. at the last hearing we saw former white house insider, top aide to chief of staff, mark meadows, testified that the former president knew the mob was about to incite and said marching into the capital was armed. i was in the vicinity of a conversation where the present day something today backed up, i don t care that they have weapons. cassidy hutchinson testifying under oath. she testified to the former presidents eagerness to join the mob of the capital. also to the white house councils horror at that prospect and his fear of being charged, according to her, with every crime imaginable. it s hard to imagine after that welcomes text. in a moment committee members, stephanie murphy, will be handling some of the question tomorrow joins us. but