illegal arms dealer and lied to authorities about all of those things and now is actually on the run after being indicted? that s who james comer and the republican party is defending? that is. this so-called whistle-blower is now facing charges on all of that. that s interesting. we ll have more on that. interesting tact for any party. republican senator tommy tubberville of alabama is backing up on comments about white nationalists serving in the military wait. i m confused here. you have the republicans in the house who are supporting a guy who like funnels illegally iranian oil to the communist chinese and is an illegal arms trafficker and illegal agent for the communist chinese and then on the senate side, you have a 57, 58-year-old guy from alabama who refuses to call white nationalists racists? is this i guess i don t know, is this their 2024 strategy? and senator tuberville had been to be dragged kicking and screaming to that position. he said i de
top of the hour here in the cnn newsroom. thanks for joining us. i m erica hill. i m jim sciutto. happening now, attorney general merrick garland on capitol hill to testify before the jen at judiciary committee for the first time here. you see senators cruz and holly. he is expected to be hit with a wide range of questions including allegations from republicans as they said that the justice department is being weaponized against conservatives as well as updates into investigations into trump and biden and we ll take you there live as it happens. the annual cpac conference happens today as we get new cnn reporting about what trump s allies are doing to get house republicans in his corner. for 2024, not all of them are there. sdwloo also ahead, closing arguments are expected to begin today in the double murder trial of disgraced former lawyer alex murdaugh. jurors in that case at the crime scene at this hour. we will take you live to south carolina. let s begin this hour with
little to anything against churches and pro life centers. they will get in a lot. senator ted cruz asking garland during his last appearance before the committee about promise he made to keep politics out of the d.o.j. it went like this. i asked you quote, will you commit to this committee that under your leadership the department of justice will not target the political opponents of this administration? your answer, quote, absolutely. it is totally inappropriate for the department to target any individual because of their politics or their position in a campaign. that was your promise just a few months ago. i m sorry to say you have broken that promise. dana: that was more than a year ago. the committee will have plenty of ground to cover today. jason chaffetz ahead with reaction. david spunt starting us off on capitol hill. attorney general taking a seat behind me ready to answer those questions. he said multiple times he wants to keep politics out of the d.o.j. he wi
of mar-a-lago for classified documents. but also since he launched not one, but two special counsel investigations into both former president trump and president biden. we just saw garland walk into the hearing room moments ago. he didn t answer any questions on the way in. we are live on the hill. also, congress intensifies its scrutiny of china. one lawmakers even warning of a, quote existential struggle with the nation during the very first meeting of a house select committee dedicated to china. what we learned. plus, the warning from the head of the fbi about china s efforts to hinder investigations into the origin of covid. we are also following breaking news in greece, a devastating head-on collision between a freight train and a passenger train carrying 350 passengers. officials saying dozens were killed with reports of people being thrown out of windows from the impact. the desperate search this morning for survivors in the wreckage. and an extraordinary moment
joins me on that. and then senator chris murphy, on a big step forward for gun safety. this is the most significant anti gun violence bill that congress has voted on in 30 years. all in starts now. good evening from new york, i am chris hayes. the story of the january six committee hearing so far has been, well, a lot of things. but a story about human beings facing high stakes, ethical task. very high stakes test. and how they respond to being squeezed, and pressured by the most powerful man on earth. we saw that on stark display yesterday. we saw her testimony from three republicans who hold key positions of power in their home state. those three men, all conservatives, all voted for donald trump, resisted pressure from the ex president and his allies to help overturn the 2020 election. some of the most compelling testimony came from a man name rusty bowers who is this sitting arizona speaker of the house. arizona, of course one of the few state that decided the ele