hu. if you know you know. thank you for jojoining me t to. i i ll see youou next satuturda 8:00 a.m. smerconish is up next. there s an election coming, but you ll never hear jack smith say so. the supreme court is about to have more influence on the outcome of a presidential election than at any time since is the 2000 decision in bush verv. gore. jack smith asked the court to bypass the appellate level and make a decision about whether donald trump is entitled to immunity. and separately, this week they agreed to hear a challenge to a law used to prosecute hundreds of january 6th defendants for obstructing or impeding an official proceedingsing, which could impact smith s prosecution against trump on those charges. here s what s interesting to me. nowhere in the government s petition is there any specific reference to the 2024 presidential election, but that s clear ly what is driving smith s request. in making his case, here s what he told the court. quote, this case prese
politicsnation. tonight s lead, multi tasking. last week, the biden administration reminded its republican detractors and the nation white voters overwhelmingly shows president biden and democrats. president biden as diplomatic chief wrapped up his successful east your pm trip marking the first anniversary of russia s invasion of ukraine with a surprise visit to kyiv. a renewed pledge of solidarity as the war drags into its second year. here at home, top biden officials were underground and east palestine, ohio responding to that trans trained around the disaster. the epa and fema worked hand in hand with local officials to clean up the mass and hold no for southern accountable for their accident. whether it was ukraine or ohio republican politicians could only offer photo ops and bad faith criticism threatening u.s. support for ukraine as another aid packages unveiled. run to the cameras in east palestine ohio to lay blame directly at president biden s feet. even as local of
welcome back to the cnn newsroom. i m jim acosta in washington. across the globe, major landmarks are lighting up in the colors of ukraine as the war there enters its second year. it s a stunning milestone for a battle many thought would end with a quick defeat by russia s powerful military. as vladimir putin s tanks rolled across the border last february. there was little hope that kyiv would be able to stand up to moscow for very long, but ukraine has shocked the world and perhaps russia most of all with its strength and determination. that defiance has come at a heavy price for the country and its people. the u.n. estimates have come up and they say more than 8,000 ukrainian civilians have been killed since the war began, a number that is likely much higher. some 8 million ukrainians have fled the country, many not knowing if they ll ever return. yet despite the cruel challenges his country has faced, president volodymyr zelenskyy is optimistic about the future. we st
during these truly extraordinary times. we are grateful. the beat with ari melber starts right now. we will cue it. we re now really 13 days outside these mid-terms. control of congress clearly hangs in the balance. we re in the homestretch, people fighting for the votes and have this record breaking early turnout. what does it mean? we re going to go to one of the national experts who s been exactly in this position 13 days out. michael steele, look around left, right, center. he s here in one second. michael stands by. over 12 million people have now voted. that smashes the turnout totals at this point in 2018, which was the first election since trump became president. you remember how energized people were then. i can only tell you what s happening as it happens. i can t predict. but right now as of tonight we re seeing huge intensity in these mid-terms. we re also seeing reaction in isthese big debates, pennsylvania senate, new questions for fetterman and the democrats,