back here at home, four current and former police officers facing federal charges in connection with the shooting death of breonna taylor. attorney general merrick garland accusing the officers of lying to obtain the search warrant for her home and lying again to investigators after the shooting. breaking news in the alex jones trial. a jury in texas ordering the conspiracy theorist to pay more than $4 million to parents who lost their 6-year-old boy in newtown, for calling the sandy hook massacre a hoax. extreme heat from montana to texas to maine. 70 million under heat alerts as we come on the air. the texas power grid pushed to the brink. record-breaking temperatures nearing 100 degrees in the northeast. and now the threat of flooding rain. rob marciano timing it out. overseas tonight, china conducting intense military exercises all around taiwan, responding to house speaker nancy pelosi s recent visit. china test-firing 11 ballistic missiles in less than two hours.
in the u.s. and around the world. it is thursday, august 4th and i m brianna keilar with john avalon in for john berman. good morning. good morning. we begin with a surreal intersection of the defamation case against conspiracy theorist alex jones and the investigation into the january 6th attack on the u.s. capitol. jones is on trial in texas for the lies that he spread about the sandy hook massacre and in a jaw-dropping moment in court a lawyer for the sandy hook parents revealed this did you know that 12 days ago 12 days ago your attorneys messed up and sent me an entire digital copy of your entire cellphone with every text message you ve sent for the past two years and when informed did not take any steps to identify it as privileged or protected in any way, and as of two days ago it fell free and clear into my possession and that is how i know you lied to me? cellphone records appear to show jones had, in fact, texted about the sandy hook shooting even thou
also tonight, cnn has learned that former president trump s lawyers are now in direct talks with the u.s. justice department about the january 6th criminal investigation. stand by for our exclusive new reporting as sources now reveal that trump s attorneys have warned him that indictments, criminal indictments are possible and wnba star brittney griner is sentenced to nine years in prison after being convicted by a russian court on drug charges. the u.s. is now reviewing for moscow to accept a proposed prisoner swap aimed at bringing griner home. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. this is cnn breaking news. let s get straight to the breaking news right now. a texas jury awarding more than $4 million to the parents of the sandy hook shooting victim suing alex jones over defamation and distress over his repeated lies about the tragedy. cnn correspondent drew griffin is working the stor
release her immediately. back here at home, four current and former police officers facing federal charges in connection with the shooting death of breonna taylor. attorney general merrick far land accusing the officers of lying to obtain the search warrant for her home and lying again to investigators after the shooting. breaking news in the alex jones trial. a jury in texas ordering the than $4 million to parents who - lost their 6-year-old boy in newtown. extreme heat from montana to texas to maine. 70 million uealerts as we come on theowusd t e k.regtures ro mar er se intse military exercises all around taiwan, responding to house speaker nancy pelosi s recent visit. china test-firing 11 ballistic missiles in less than two hours. and why the u.s. is now canceling a missile test of its own. and news coming in late today, four people found dead n two house fires just blocks apart in a small town in nebraska. police searching for a silver sedan leaving town, possibly
backed by the former president in his state senate race. some of those very same candidates are alsobeing supported controversially by democrats hoping to run against more extreme opponents in the fall. all of this, with inflation and fears of recession as a backdrop. president biden s recent legislative actions and foreign policy decisions on the table, and the midterm elections now just 90 days away. cnn s john king is over tracking all the important races and trends. let s check in with you first. so john, missouri polls are just closing. as we know, the former president caused a lot of confusion in his senate endorsement of two people named eric, both running for the same office. how is that race shaping up? yeah, anderson, the fact that we are talking about missouri is actually the story. in the sense that this is a retirement republic in government, roy blunt, with the wind at the republicans back, they should be a safe seat pull for republicans. but as you noted, t