battlefield. now after a year of war, their powerful tributes announcer: this is nbc nightly news with lester holt good evening, and thank you for joining us tonight alex murdaugh s sometimes failing memory, glaring contradictions and courtroom admission that he had lied to police were all fertile ground for prosecutors today as the accused double murderer spent another day testifying in his own defense. at moments displaying flashes of anger murdaugh on trial for the murders of his wife and 22-year-old son facing more cross-examination today. the prosecution digging into the heart of its case against him. the time line of his actions around the time of the murders. confronting the former attorney with cell phone records, his own words from his initial interview with police, even the number of steps recorded by his smartphone leaving murdaugh at times struggling to provide full explanations. catie beck is covering the trial for us in walterboro, south carolina. when
It. reporter: and now after giving russia a critical economic lifeline, china is offering to play peacemaker presenting a 12-point peace plan that s light on specifics. u.s. ambassador to the u.n., linda thomas-greenfield, speaking to nbc s andrea mitchell with a warning if china were to give weapons to russia it would be a game changer, and it would be something we would have serious concerns about. reporter: one year on, ukrainians are fighting for their homes. it apeeve appears putin failed to appreciate tha there s no more powerful motivation than that. just incredible images after this unforgettable year, and, richard, how is ukraine responding to that peace proposal coming from china? reporter: president zelenskyy said that he will meet with chinese president xi to discuss china s new peace plan zelenskyy said that there are some positive elements to it, so he s certainly leaving his options open to see if china can or will convince
Civility to return to politics and that these times in his words call for different leadership experience as for the former vice president, he told me he and his family will make a decision by spring on his own plans to run for president. but, look, hanging over all of this, the department of justice s investigation into the efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. a senior law enforcement official telling nbc news today that the special counsel has asked a federal judge to compel pence to testify. the former vp reiterated tonight he feels the request is unconstitutional lester ali vitali, thank you. here in california and across several western states, severe weather tonight. a dangerous winter mix of snow, flooding and powerful winds in a region that rarely sees these conditions. here s miguel almaguer reporter: snow near santa barbara, whiteout conditions in napa valley s wine country, and hail in los angeles. tonight, some of california s most iconic cities now pictures
Richard engel has been covering the war for us from the beginning, and he s in ukraine tonight. reporter: ukrainians this morning observed a moment of silence for a war they were widely expected to lose, but no one here is celebrating. they ve paid a heavy price to survive the worst year of their lives. president zelenskyy thanked his troops and honored the tens of thousands of ukrainians killed so far. ukrainians have proven invincible, he said later getting emotional as he spoke about his own family saying his wife is working to help children and all ukrainians this war doesn t appear anywhere close to over. poland today delivered new german made leopard tanks, just the first 4 of 14. ukraine is expected to launch a new counteroffensive when more weapons including american tanks arrive. a year ago, russian
Could take is tough to say, lester. all right catie beck, thank you. let s bring in our senior legal correspondent, laura jarrett. laura, did prosecutors appear to move the needle today? reporter: lester, the prosecution made the most headway attacking his fuzzy time line just before and after the killings and repeatedly calling the jury s attention to his alibi as, quote, his new story but the prosecutor also risked losing the jury s focus when he bounced back and forth between the murders on the one hand and murdaugh stealing his clients money on the other, but on redirect the defense came back to its previous strategy, highlighting the charges murdaugh faces for financial crimes perhaps to show jurors he ll likely face time behind bars no matter what happens at this trial. lester laura jarrett, thank you. exactly one year since russia invaded ukraine. a defiant message today from ukraine s president zelenskyy, all while china is unveiling its own peace proposal