which is more cruel and unusual? one of the most influential appellate courts erupted in public disagreement over one of the most difficult issues of our time, homelessness. having recently decided matters of affirmative action, student loans and adoption, on top of last year s rulings concerning abortion, guns, religion and climate change, scotus might soon have the final word here, too. at issue, ordinances in grants pass, oregon, which would impose fines on homeless people for encampment on public property. a trial court was faced with this issue, whether cities can impose criminal penalties for sitting, sleeping or lying outside on public property for homeless individuals who cannot obtain shelter. it held the ordinances were unconstitutional and constituted cruel and unusual punishment under the eighth amendment. the matter came before the powerful ninth circuit court, which has jurisdiction for much of the western united states and all of california. the ninth circuit
trump. just as trump s legal issues grow more precarious, his political challenges are also growing more complicated. his republican opponents testing new ways to take him down, but do they risk focusing too much on the former president? we ll explain the trump trap coming up. take a look at this. u.s. and chinese warships coming heartstoppingly close to coming close to the coast of taiwan. both sides warning a military confrontation would be a, quote, disaster for the world. we re on the verge of a decision that could drag the country into uncharted territory as new clues indicate we could soon find out if special counsel jack smith is going to do something that s never been done before, charge a sitting or former president with a federal crime. nbc news learned that the grand jury investigating donald trump s handling of classified documents will be back in session this week after they ve been on hiatus. in fact, nbc news has confirmed that some members of trump s legal
for protests, sender about the optics of a mass protest in the streets of manhattan growing out of control or resembling the january 6th attack on the capitol. john miller reported about meetings between city, state and federal law enforcement agencies in new york city about how to prepare for a possible indictment. we ll bring you more on this story as details become available. now to the guns of war. this week came several significant and troubling developments with regard to the war in ukraine. the latest the news that next week chinese president xi jingping will travel to russia to meet with vladimir putin. a putin adviser told russian state media they plan to discuss the war in ukraine and will sign documents attesting to closer ties. china refused to condemn russia s invasion or even call it such, instead echoing the kremlin s stance of blaming it on nato. u.s. officials are monitoring the meetings as china considers sending weapons to russia and are working to get xi
to our viewers in the united states and around the world, welcome to the situation room. happening now, a sixth memphis police officer has now been relieved of duty after the deadly beating of tyre nichols and the release of chilling videos of his arrest. our experts are breaking down the evidence and the growing calls right now for federal police reform. also tonight, cnn is on the front lines in ukraine amid fierce fighting in the east and the south after nearly a year of war, we re told some battles are worse than ever before. u.s. secretary of state antony blinken is on an urgent mission in israel and the west bank amid a new outbreak of violence, meeting with prime minister benjamin netanyahu and urging a deescalation of tensions. i ll discuss these high-stakes international conflicts with key white house official john kirby. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. let s get straight t
need to be a higher cost? they re not going to stop. this comes as proxy forces launched ten rockets in northeast syria earlier today. those attacks came from president biden ordered a series of retaliation strikes in response to a suspected iranian drone that killed a u.s. contractor and wounded six americans on thursday. all the breaking news in the past few minutes. our jennifer griffin following the late development from the pentagon. good evening, jen. reporter: tonight iranian forces fired more missiles based in eastern syria, near the oil fields. additional, u.s. forces received entries. we learned some may be serious and the pentagon is assessing its response. the u.s. does not seek conflict with iran but is prepared to respond forcefully to respect u.s. personnel. reporter: the iranian drone carried out an attack on a maintenance facility at a u.s. base shared with the kurdish defense forces in northeast syria, midday on thursday. a u.s. contractor was kill