and activating the national guard as the storms gutted entire communities. she spoke about the destruction earlier today. i have had the opportunity over the last couple of hours to speak with both the homeland security secretary as well as president biden, who have offered a tremendous amount of support anything that arkansas need from a city county state and federal perspective, i would say that everyone is working in total lockstep and we re going to do everything we can to make sure that people of our state are back on their feet again. and more devastation in several other states, including indiana and illinois. people are waking up to their homes and businesses destroyed their neighborhoods littered with debris. but the threat is far from over. some 70 million americans are now bracing for more severe storms. today cnn has teams tracking all of the latest developments from these destructive storms. derek van dam is in wynne, arkansas. at this hour. derek to you first. w
washington. glad to have you. here right now in south carolina, there are major developments in alex murdaugh s double murder trial. the prosecution now respond ing after the defense presented its closing arguments yesterday. defense attorney jim griffin made an emotional plea when wrapping up his presentation. there are two words that justice demands this thises case and those two words are not guilty. the oath you have taken in this case it requires a verdict not dwlt. on behalf of alex, of buster, on behalf of maggie and on behalf of my friend paul, i respectfully request that you do not compound a family tragedy with another thank you. just before closing arguments began, the judge remove d a jurr for discussing the case outside of the trial. diane gallagher is outside of the court in south carolina. diane, what more did the defense say today as they were presenting to the jury in these final hours of this trial? reporter: jim griffin spoke for about 2 hours and 15
this road, you can see just the number of trees that were toppled by this twister. and then you can see obviously the you hear this familiar sign of sound of chainsaws in the background. we ll look at this massive construction vehicle that s set to clear the road ways to make them accessible for the various utility trucks that are moving through the area. this is a business there s a nursery that has been destroyed directly behind this going to have my cameraman panned to the left here. that is a church. this is astounding. to me. that is the steeple of the top of the church that was toppled over by the tornado landed on the adjacent building took down a tree alongside it as well. i ve got a very powerful story to share with you what you re looking at behind me over my right shoulder. that is when high school, an area that was hit particularly hard by this tornado, and we saw this gentleman walking across the parking lot in the distance there, draped by an american flag over his should
tag on it that had the name. so the airport called out his name on the pa system on monday ask then security camera footage sho showed that gentleman walking out of the airport as soon as he heard his name. police knew the name because of the lugginage tag. they arrested him without incident. this is not his first encounter with the law. he s been charged in pennsylvania before, but they have been for much lesser offenses than the federal charges that he s facing. pz harassment, minor theft, but the federal charges that he now faces include possessing an explosive in an airport and attempt ining to place an exploe on a lane. we should know more at 1:30 at the federal courthouse. danny freeman, thank you very much for that. i do believe right now president biden is over on capitol hill where he s about to