i m not going to bite down. the stakes are way, way too high. i think every republican knew there was baggage out there. the weight of that baggage is starting to feel a little closer to unbearable. announcer: live from london, this is cnn newsroom with max foster. it s friday, october 7th, 9 a.m. here in london, 4 a.m. on the east coast of the united states where we start in new york. that s where u.s. president joe biden gave a stark warning about nuclear talk coming out of russia. president vladimir putin hinted using nuclear weapons is not off the table. statement came after the military racked up losses in the ukraine. wednesday night mr. biden responded to that threat saying there s no such thing as the ability to easily use a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up in armageddon. after the speech u.s. officials made it clear they did not see any change in russia s nuclear posture. phil mattingly explains, mr. biden s statement caught even some u.s. officials by
kennedy and the cuban missile crisis. what is putin s off ramp? where does he find a way out? where does he find himself where he does not lose face but significant power? his military is, you might say, significantly underperforming. cnn s fred pleitgen is in kyiv. fred, significantly under performing. there are voices inside russia saying the same thing right now. reporter: there certainly are. i think those voices are growing. we ve also seen a lot of in fighting, if you will, between a lot of the power sectors of russia, especially at the top of the country. one of the interesting things we ve been seeing over the past couple of weeks, christine, the ukrainians believe there is a threat, that russia might at some point use tactical nuclear weapons in this conflict. the threat of which keeps rising all the time. however, the ukrainians are saying that is not something that will have those counter offensive. here s what we re finding. dangerous battles for ukrainian force
how far will u.s. and allies go to try to calm rising tensions in the region? plus, a heartbreaking find. the california family that was kidnapped, found dead. the youngest victim, only 8 months old. what detectives are saying about the person they believe is responsible. welcome to the lead. president biden taking his first steps possibly towards the decriminalization of marijuana on the federal level. he is pardoning all prior federal offenses of quote simple marijuana possession. this will clear convictions for several thousand americans. president biden is now also encouraging governors to follow his lead and pardon those convicted on similar state charges. the biden administration also says it will continue to review the federal classification of marijuana. right now, it is still a class 1 drug alongside heroin and lsd which means according to the government, cannabis has no accepted medical use at the federal level despite study after study. it is legal in 37 states
soon as december. and herschel walker now says he s not backing down despite the abortion scandal rocking his campaign. ma maggie haberman joins me this hour on donald trump s decision to back walker despite his checkered past. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. let s begin our coverage in ukraine where a furious counteroffensive is now sweeping russian troops out of territory. moscow has held for months. cnn is your national security editor. nick paton walsh is joining us live from the war zone. nick, this rapid ukrainian advance comes as vladimir putin laid claim to that troubled nuclear power plant. what s the latest on the ground tonight? ukraine s president zelenskyy clear that half a thousand square kilometers of territory in the kherson region have since the beginning of the month been liberated from russian control. that s a larger number of than officials said earlier today and it s part of the slow drip we saw ourselves just yesterday of territory r
you hear that? the herschel walker exception. republicans want to eliminate all access to abortion in america for you. but if herschel walker or any other rich republican or republican at all was involved in an abortion, well, we re just going to have to pretend it never happened. plus ron johnson s statement that january 6th was no armed insurrection, that did not age well. it was refuted in the on earth keepers trial the day before he said it. cori bush s challenges to make it to congress, and why the midterm afflictions five weeks have so vitally important. we begin the reidout with president biden and the first lady touring the damage florida today, one week after hurricane ian made landfall. the storm killed more than 100 people and left thousands without a home to return to. president biden met with some of those families whose lives were upended, promising to help them rebuild. today we have one job and only one job, and that s to make sure the people of fl