state media. meanwhile, rescue workers continue the desperate search for more survivors. >> translator: one thing i can guarantee, we will find out the cause of this tragedy and do everything in our power to make sure it never happens again. >> reporter: greece has declared a three-day mourning period. flags flying at half staff across the country to remember the crash victims. but authorities say that the death toll is still expected to rise. nada bashir, cnn, greece. >> and i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. "outfront" next, russian soldiers calling their commanders incompetent. a remarkable statement and it's new video just into "outfront" tonight. this as a former deputy of jailed opposition leader alexei navalny faces nearly 20 years

behind bars. that sham trial starting today. plus, the ceo of my pillow still propping up fox with his ads. so how much money has mike lindell poured into the fox empire? it's a you'll see first "outfront." and a chilling discovery. the fbi arresting a man for trying to bring an explosive onto a plane. the explosives were said to be lining or hidden in the lining of his suitcase. let's go "outfront." and good evening. i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, taking it directly to putin. russian soldiers whose comrades are dying en masse are tonight appealing directly to the russian president for help. >> translator: our command has replenished our unit with new mobilized six times now. this is evidence of the incompetence of our superiors and of the whole unit. please help. there is nowhere else to turn. >> just to break that down, these mobilized men are saying

that their unit has been replenished six times. think about all that death. it is horrific. and what is most significant about this appeal is that they directly, as mobilized men, are calling their commanders incompetent and directing that entire thing not just at telegram for a random post, directly to putin for him to see it. and it comes as we have another video of another russian soldier as a soldier is calling the situation on the ground in eastern ukraine a cluster-f. >> translator: our tank is burning over there. big greetings straight to everyone from the front line. first-hand evidence of what's happening here. it is a cluster [ bleep ]. but we are pushing, holy [ bleep ]. glory to russia. >> thooez damning videos coming as inside russia itself, the brutal wagner group is purportedly turning to students from moscow in order to fill its ranks. and we understand that the students are in tenth grade.

i want to emphasize the significance of the fact that these boys are in moscow, which is the region that has sent the least fighters to the front line, the region that has been kept the most isolated from the effects of the war, where more elite live. this is the video of what's believed to be a wagner fighter, his face is covered, he's in a classroom, and he's lecturing students on so-called contract service. now, the students were forced to fill out, we understand, this survey, showing it to you on the screen. it asks for their personal information, also the contact information of their parents. it also asks, do you have any relatives who are living in hostile countries, and what is your level of physical fitness, do you possess any basic military skills. those are elaborated as tactical first aid or shooting. cnn can't independently verify the claims, but this push for more recruits for the wagner group comes as putin is continuing to crack down on dissent. today a former top deputy of jailed opposition leader alexei navalny appeared in a russian courtroom. her name is -- she's already

been in jail for a year and faces another 18 years if convicted after opening a regional headquarters for navalny's anticorruption foundation. that foundation has uncovered example after example after example of corruption from putin and his inner circle. in a moment i'm going to speak to the vice president of alexei navalny's anticorruption foundation. she can't go back to her home in russia or she'll be arrested upon her arrival. i want to begin with fred pleitgen. he is "outfront" live in moscow tonight. fred, both russia and ukraine now are -- it's the focus, the obsession, the day-to-day death on this fight in bakhmut. what is the latest there? >> reporter: well, the latest, erin, is that the city is apparently getting absolutely pull vuriesed. it's one of the things that the ukrainian commanders on the ground are saying. they're fighting back hard, but the russians are bringing in some really heavy weaponry and military aviation as well. they say the city is just being absolutely ground down in pretty much all places in that city.

now, the russians are saying that they're making progress, and they say their aim right now is to try and encircle bakhmut. here's what we're learning. russia's view of what's currently the most bloody battle in ukraine, state media releasing video of moscow's troops pitting a ukrainian armored vehicle in bakhmut, the city devastated by months of relentless fighting. here mercenaries from the wagner private military company show off a destroyed u.s.-made m777 howitzey. we won't give up bakhmut, the soldier says. glory to ukraine, death to the enemies. and wagner boss yevgeny prigozhin in an audio message acknowledges the ukrainians aren't budging. >> translator: the ukrainian army is throwing extra reserves into bakhmut and trying to hold

the town with all their strength. tens of thousands of ukrainian soldiers are fiercely repelling attacks. bloodshed increases every day. wagner mercenaries are the spearhead of the invasion groups. they're making progress but often lack the ammunition to advance. >> i will say that a system needs to be worked out. i hope that this system will start functioning soon and we will be getting ammunition regularly. >> reporter: the u.s. and ukraine say the attrition rate among wagner's assault groups, often made up of prisoners recruited from russian jails, is as high as 80%. but prigozhin's media channel is now trying to convey how wagner is actually helping the convicts. in this film, a former inmate thanks the mercenary group. >> translator: wagner gave me freedom and hope. hope that we have a chance. there are many guys who are ready to give their lives for their motherland and hope that

our society is still not fully rotten. >> reporter: ukraine says fighters like these are often little more than cannon fodder. ukraine's president vowing to hold on even as the russians say it's only a matter of time before they take bakhmut. >> translator: russia does not count people at all, sending them to constant assault on our positions. the intensity of the fighting is only increasing. >> reporter: tonight an official from the russian controlled area around where bakhmut is, he's claiming that even some of the toughest ukrainian units are apparently suffering heavy casualties and some of them have had to be rotated out. of course, the ukrainians are saying they're trying to hold on, and they certainly say at this point in time they have no plans to retreat from bakhmut. >> all right, thank you very much, fred pleitgen from moscow tonight. and on the back of that reporting, let's go straight to retired air force colonel cedric leighton. you heard the ukrainian soldier in fred's reporting there saying

we won't give up bakhmut. now, this was a town of 70,000. was, obviously it's uninhabited now, essentially. but you heard fred, they're not going to stop fighting for it. is it worth it at this point for ukraine? obviously it is possible to lose a battle and win a war. >> yeah, absolutely, erin. and i think that's what the ukrainians need to think about. so, to answer your question, it is not worth it right now any more for the ukrainians to hold onto bakhmut at this point in time. they've made their point, they have decimated a large number of russian forces, and they now need to go and basically live to fight another day. it is very important for them to preserve as much of their army as they possibly can, especially if they want to mount an offensive in the spring. >> so, obviously that would be a significant decision, and they're not there yet, but i think it's important to hear your call for that. i want to show in the context of, as you talk about, the russians -- part of the reason

they have been able to get to where they are in bakhmut is they just throw wave after wave of soldiers. you heard that one talking that their unit has been replenished six times. this is of a wagner fighter at that school in moscow. now, we haven't been able to verify this. but these are boys being recruited to fight. and it's in moscow, the region that at least up to this point has been the least touched by this war. what does that signal to you? >> so, to me, what that means, erin, is that they are desperate to get more personnel, and they're thinking for a future war. they're thinking for the long term. so either one of two things is going to happen. these boys in moscow are going to be recruited into the wagner group, and at least some of them will be. and the idea is in two years' time when they will be 18 two or three years' time, they will be ready to replenish the forces that will be decimated in the intervening area. so this is a very important move

on their part and very interesting that they're doing this in moscow because they think that they will need that population to replenish the forces that have come from the provinces, from other parts of russia, and it's very significant that they are doing this at this point. >> as you point out, perhaps running out of people that they can use from those provinces. thank you very much, colonel. and now turning to putin's crackdown at home, cracking down on the dissent, the trial of the former top deputy to russian opposition leader alexei navalny. now, she was arrested after opening a regional headquarters for navalny's anticorruption foundation. and now she is facing 18 years in a russian prison. she's been charged with, quote, establishing an extremist community. according to radio free europe. she was arrested nearly 16 months ago, been in detention ever since. "outfront" now the vice president of alexei navalny's anticorruption foundation and a former spokesperson for navalny.

i very much appreciate your time. do you believe there is any way that lilia will avoid an 18-year sentence here? >> well, unfortunately, we don't have fli evidence that would suggest she would avoid that. the way that she's been put into this detention center instead of being under house arrest. this is the measure which is implied when the persecutors are afraid that the person will try to escape but clearly she was always very vocal about her staying in russia, not going anywhere, and not leaving her country, and not leaving her region. so, the fact that she is not allowed, she was not allowed to talk to her parents on the phone, not to have visits with them with her parents and with her husband for the 16 months behind the bars. so, we do think that they will be harsh on her.

and this is -- why they are being so harsh on her, because she is a very talented opposition politician. she was very effective in what she was doing. she was very successful in gathering -- she was investigating corruption of the officials in her region. she was a very effective manager of the headquarters of the regional campaign. >> and i know that this, of course, her situation right now is coming ahead of navalny -- i use the word trial with great quotation marks, is coming up as well. and he is currently in solitary confinement in a maximum security russian penal colony. his recent tweet was, which i want to be clear to everybody when i say this, he can't tweet, it's when he's able to get a message out and someone can put that tweet out for him. it was, the main torment of imprisonment is of course the inability to see the faces of your family, to talk to your loved ones. i haven't had any visit for eight months. and yesterday i was told i'd be

transferred to a cell-type facility for the maximum possible term of six months. so he says he wouldn't have had a visitor then for a year. now he's got this other trial. do you believe that you'll see him out of jail alive? >> of course i believe i will see him out of jail alive. but we also understand that his sentence is a life sentence in terms that it's either his life sentence or putin's. so as long as putin is in the office, navalny will not see freedom. but we do believe that we will see him free one day, and we will get putin out of kremlin and of course out of ukraine. >> you know lilia very well and i know she made the decision to stay. i know if you were to go back, you were to be arrested. you know what would await you at this point. are there others who are still continuing to try and stay in russia and continue this fight? >> of course. there are still people who are protesting against the war right now in russia, and there are a

lot of people in political prisons who've been protesting, who've been opposing this government and this war. of course, a lot of people decide to stay, and they do it for the reason that it's their country and they don't intend to leave it, they don't intend to leave it in the hands of these bandits in kremlin. and they are trying to -- they are waiting for the time to be free, to make russia free and great again. >> all right, well, anna, thank you very much. i appreciate your time in coming out and speaking about your friends and your colleagues who are suffering through this, thank you. >> thank you very much. free navalny. friday i'm going to host a special hour on navalny including with his daughter dasha. it airs friday at 9:00. and, next, why can't fox quit my pillow ceo mike lindell? and the network is still taking his advertising dollars.

we'll tell you just how much money he gives fox. plus, rail workers cleaning up the toxic train derailment say they're getting sick. the white house is facing a lot of pressure to do more. plus, new video of the murder scene where prosecutors say alex murdaugh shot and killed his wife and son as the state makes its closing arguments. >> we couldn't bring you any eyewitnesses because they were murdered. ing to help reduce the carbon intensity of the fuels that keeeep things movin. today, we're producing renewable dieselel that can b be used in existing diesel tanks. and we're committed to increasing our renewable fuels production. because as we work toward a lower carbon future, it's only human to keep moving forward.

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tonight, grilled. fos at the network knowingly pushed lies about the 2020 election. >> if you are on the board of directors of a company that is pumping toxic sludge, racism, disinformation, and attacks on democracy, if you don't stand up now, then when? >> i have a responsibility to offer my opinion and perspective, and i do that. but i don't go out on tv and do it. >> right, but do you? >> i do. i offer my perspective and my opinion often. i'll just leave it at that. >> well, it comes as fox continues to air ads by the election denier mike lindell, the ceo of my pillow. and he continues to push voter fraud claims. tom foreman is "outfront" on why fox and lindell are inseparable.

>> this is the biggest cover-up ever. i have the evidence. >> reporter: from the get-go, it was a match made in media. mike lindell, the conservative entrepreneur who made a fortune selling pillows and fox -- >> he's one of our biggest sponsors and we are grateful for that. >> reporter: the right-wing news empire that took his ad dollars and let him relentlessly push unfounded conspiracy theories about how the election was stolen from donald trump, how dominion voting machines were part of the plot and how dominion was allegedly trying to take him down to expose it. >> went after all my vendors, all these box stores to cancel me out. >> do you ever see this guy with the pillows on fox? [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: lindell's mutual admiration with trump has always been out in the open and unshakeable. >> when i walked out of his office, i was 100% convinced he would be the greatest president in history. [ applause ] >> reporter: less his chief

outlet for promoting trump in the summer of 2021, the "wall street journal" said lindell told the paper, my pillow spent almost $50 million on fox news last year. and so far this year has shelled out about 19 million for ad time on the network. >> i want you to get the best night's sleep of your life. >> reporter: in a recent court deposition made public in a legal filing, rupert murdoch, the chairman of fox corporation, acknowledged lindell is a very big advertiser. the man is on every night, pays us a lot of money, murdoch said. but then he saided, at first you think it's comic, but then you get bored and irritated. what's more with dominion denying all the accusations and suing fox, lindell, and others in massive defamation cases. murdoch suggested under oath he was troubled by a fox news star letting lindell repeat his unfounded claims again and again

without even pushing back. >> i have the evidence. i dare dominion to sue me. >> reporter: yet, lindell steamed on, denying any wrongdoing in the dominion suit against him and sounding off at fox on his podcast and other venues for not more wholly embracing the wild theories of one of their biggest advertisers and the defeated former president he admires. >> nwhere are you, fox! >> reporter: we reached out to fox and to lindell. fox also denies all these claims and this lawsuit from dominion. it's worth noting that they haven't responded yet. and more so that as the evidence emerges here, one of the things that is clearly showing up is that plenty, plenty, plenty of people in fox knew from the beginning that what mike lindell was saying was simply not true. there was nothing to back it up, and yet they kept putting him and his claims on the air. erin? >> absolutely. tom foreman, thank you very

much. i want to go now to a prominent media defense attorney. he's represented many news outlets. so, david, you think there's a powerful case here against fox news. and i know you've had a chance to read through all of the information that's available. how do you come to that conclusion? >> well, first of all, i've tried to take a look at the basic lines of defense that fox has attempted to establish in its motion papers. and they're relying on powerful sources of defense that most of us rely on. but my feeling is after reading through those things that dominion is going to punch through all four of those lines. one of the things that i think is the most interesting about this case, the most teachable thing about this case is that it helps us actually understand what actually malice really means. that's something that dominion has to prove. and it looks like they can do it. but here's what it is and here's

what it isn't. this is what's really significant. it has nothing to do with bias, it has nothing to do with financial motive, it has nothing to do with advocacy of a particular position. that's what many plaintiffs say. that's what many jurors think. it's about a state of mind about truth and falsehood. it's saying something that you know is false, that you subjectively believe to be false, and yet broadcasting it. and here you have this big in single stories that may be more complicated. but here you have a long series of broadcasts, all of which promote and propagate a particular point of view, a particular fact, and it is done at the same time that they believe it to be false. >> right. and they were doing it. they were doing it on their own on an individual basis. 70 million bucks in that time.

but the point you're saying is that as tucker carlson privately was saying he knew it to be a load of b.s. and knew it to be false, he put mike lindell on his show and allowed him to say those falsehoods and then repeated them himself. >> and endorsed it and promoted it. and that's the problem that they face. they may be able to eliminate some of the statements as opinion. they may be able to eliminate some of them as fair reports of a public proceeding or a public official. you can do that. and you're protected in new york, very comfortably. they're not going to succeed with a neutral reportage. there's nothing neutral about the way in which they presented it. it's an important defense that we're all trying to protect and develop. it's not well recognized in new york. i want to see it succeed. this case is going to hurt that effort. but we'll still manage to push that through. and as far as actual malice, they're going to try to slice and dice it if they can and separate murdoch's statements

from, you know, from the anchors' statements. it's not going to succeed. it was a top-down effort to make sure -- i know our listeners don't believe -- do believe it, we don't, but we're going to say it. >> and that's clear. all right. well, thank you so much, david. i appreciate your expertise. and next the biden administration under pressure as workers cleaning up that toxic train derailment say that they're getting sick, and those who live nearby, of course, are afraid for their safety. >> the soil at the farm, can we plant, can we not plant? will anybody buy it if we do plant? plus, returning to the scene of the crime. cameras are there just as the jury visits the place where prosecutors say alex murdaugh killed his wife and son. get directv withth a two year price guarantee.

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new tonight, rail workers at the site of the toxic train derailment in east palestine, ohio, are sick. many employees, quote, reported that they continue to experience migraines and nausea days after the derailment. it comes as tests in the area show unusually high levels of chemicals. the ohio governor mike dewine warns that 30,000 truckloads of waste will need to be removed. think about that, 30,000 truck loads. miguel marquez is "outfront" in east palestine with more. >> reporter: nearly a month since the derailment, toxic chemical spill, and fire, small ohio town of east palestine and the surrounding area in recovery mode. the community still struggling

to its feet. >> there's definitely lots of questions that still remain to be answered. >> reporter: possible answers from the u.s. environmental protection agency, the epa now opening a full-time community resource center in downtown east palestine. >> i understand that we have to earn the community's trust. there's a trauma here in this community. we understand that. and we want to be transparent and responsive. >> reporter: officials at every level trying to reassure residents here that their concerns are being heard and addressed. >> this is a very elaborate process. they're going about it methodically but quickly. this operation here is a 24/7 operation. >> reporter: ohio governor mike dewine making yet another visit today to east palestine getting a first-hand look at the derailment site and the cleanup process. >> the whole goal here is to, you know, make this community safe. and it can't happen overnight. you can't get all the stuff out

of here overnight. >> reporter: transportation secretary pete buttigieg also recently visited after president biden faced mounting criticism for not coming himself. but despite all the attempts to show the work being done to make east palestine safe, residents remain worried. >> i have a part ownership and a farm so i'm concerned about that, the soil at the farm. can we plant, can we not plant? will anybody buy it if we do plant? >> reporter: more than 160 residents from the affected area have come to the health assessment clinic set up to specifically address lingering health issues stemming from the derailment in subsequent controlled explosion and release. the epa is vowing to continue to hold norfolk southern accountable for effects of the accident. >> in no way, shape, form, or fashion will norfolk southern get off the hook for the mess that they've created. >> reporter: the railroad company has distributed $6.5 million in payments to affected residents so far.

that number, though, dwarfed by the $7.5 billion the company had earmarked for shareholder buy-backs in the latest financial report, filed just hours before the derailment. norfolk southern has not responded to cnn on whether it expects to change its shareholder repurchase plans in the wake of the derailment. so, what people want here in not only east palestine but east of here where that toxic plume into pennsylvania, where that toxic plume went after that fire, is a sense of when they're going to be beyond all of this. they want to know when their kids can play outside in the grass again because that plume settled chemicals throughout the area. they want to know when it's going to be safe to swim in their ponds, play in the streams, and go fishing again, all the things that they love to do here. they feel that they're not getting enough information, and certainly not enough testing to know when they will be on the other side of this.

erin? >> miguel, thank you very much from east palestine. and i want to go now to the democratic senator from ohio, sherrod brown, who just unveiled a bipartisan bill with ohio's republican senator j.d. vance along with others in response to this disaster. they want to prevent future train derailments. and it is a move of bipartisanship. and, senator, i want to ask you about it in just a moment. but first, we've got this developing news about the union saying that rail workers at the site of the train derailment are now sick, symptoms include migraine and nausea. do you know anything about this? do you think this is the tip of the iceberg for what many people there could suffer? >> i don't think we know. we do know that people, some people haven't gotten back into their homes. we do know that they haven't tested many water wells. i talked to melissa smith, a small business owner in east palestine who has a farm four miles away, not too different from the lady you interviewed who has 25, 30 beef cattle. and she's hearing from her

regular customers that they're unsure now if they want to buy that meat. that's why -- you keep in mind norfolk southern has benefitted for years by their executives by stock buy-backs. they've laid off a third of their workforce in the last ten years, meaning they're not doing the track inspections. they're almost cursory inspections instead of having enough employees to do that. they want only one person on the trains in the locomotives that are pulling 150 cars. they want to scale back to that because it's all about their bottom line. and they go to wall street every quarter and they show the cuts they're making in employees in safety and all that. and they're going to be held responsible. but we've got to make sure that we look at people's health today and people's health five years down the road, too. >> right. and as you point out, we don't know what we don't know, and that's what's so terrifying about it. this industry has been going through, you know, seismic shift

towards automation as you point out. one person on a train like that. your bill does something that -- well, we just don't ever see these days. you and j.d. vance are working together. but you're in on this together. how exactly does this bill, how would it stop another east palestine? >> well, it would stop -- it would mitigate the damage and maybe even stop it by having -- first of all, something governor dewine has been upset about is he can't bring these trains into his state without disclosing you have hazardous materials. you've got to make sure that we're looking at, at minimum staff on those trains bracing that number. we want to make sure that fines -- and these fines are pennies in their profits, the fines that the railroad federal authorities or state authorities can levee against these rail

companies. those have got to be that much more severe. we just -- on safety measures generally on the tracks they don't have enough employees to do the kind of inspection. senator tester from montana and i teamed up. he's the chair of the veterans committee on something called the pact act where we are making sure those veterans who have soldiers in iraq and afghanistan were -- if they were exposed, if people develop a bronchial illness or a cancer that two years, five years from now, they are going to get the kind of help that they need. and norfolk southern's paying for it because this was created by their greed and their ineptness and incompetence. and they are going to pay every cent of the damage they caused. >> when we look at the national response to this, the transportation secretary pete buttigieg admits that he has

regrets that he didn't address the situation sooner. house republicans are now pushing a resolution demanding his resignation. from failing to immediately respond to last month's major economic environmental and humanitarian disaster in east palestine, to neglecting his duties during a historic supply chain crisis, commercial flight crisis, rail worker strike and so much more, buttigieg has endangered and failed the american people time and time again. there have been five near misses documented at american airports so far this year. senator, do you still have confidence in secretary buttigieg? >> there are people that want to politicize this. that's what they're going to do in the house of representatives. and i don't really much care. senator vance and i and senator rubio and the new senator from missouri and the new senator from pennsylvania and bob casey and i are actually working to solve this bipartisanly. that's why we've done this bipartisan bill. i've spoken to senator schumer about moving this bill.

i've spoken to senator cantwell and the chair of the subcommittee that works on this, senator peters from michigan. i want to do something. they can do all the criticism and call on people to resign. people in east palestine, it's a republican community. but they don't care about that. they don't want politicians coming in and disrupting things. they want action, they want solutions. that's what j.d. vance and i are doing. >> all right. well, i appreciate your time, senator. thanks so much. >> sure. we'll do it again. thanks, erin. , and next, the prosecution calling alex murdaugh a family annihilator during its closing arguments as the disgraced attorney is accused of killing his wife and son. >> maggie and paul, too. and they paid for it with their lives. don't let him fool you, too. >> and congress taking a major step tonight toward banning tiktok from the united states.

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tonight, alex murdaugh was the only person with the motive, means, and opportunity to murder his wife and son, according to the prosecution, making that case today, and presenting their closing arguments to the jury. they painstakingly laid out point by point the brutality of the crime and the lives that

murdaugh admitted to. that's where the bodies of paul and maggie murdaugh were found, near the dog kennels. dianne gallagher has been covering this trial. she is "outfront." >> on behalf of the state of south carolina, i asked you to return a verdict of guilty against the defendant richard alexander murdaugh. >> reporter: the state of south carolina closing out its double murder case against alex murdaugh. >> because he was the threat to maggie and paul. he knows there's no vigilante out there. >> reporter: the prosecutor slamming murdaugh as a chief and a liar who killed his wife and son to avoid a decade of financial crimes from being discovered. >> and he fooled maggie and paul, too. and they paid for it with their lives. don't let him fool you, too.

>> reporter: waters telling the jury the gun used to kill maggie murdaugh has since disappeared but that her husband would've been familiar with it. >> family weapons were used to commit this crime. >> reporter: while recalling all the details data, video and testimony presented to the jury over the nearly six-week trial. >> and after an exhaustive investigation, there is only one person who had the motive, who had the means, who had the opportunity to commit these crimes. >> reporter: with emotional descriptions painting the state's picture of maggie and paul murdaugh's final moments on june 7, 2021. >> you heard that maggie had no defensive wounds. you also heard paul at close range shot with no indication that he detected a threat from the person who fired that weapon. and, why? because it was him. same with maggie. because maggie sees what happens and she comes running over there, running to her baby.

>> reporter: after denying he was ever at the crime scene before the murders, prosecutors say the video found on paul's phone changed everything, forcing murdaugh's bombshell testimony, admitting he'd been at the kennels in the minutes before the state says paul and maggie were killed there. >> one thing i will agree with him on that he said up there, oh, what a tangled web when we first practiced. how appropriate coming from that man. >> reporter: jurors getting to see that crime scene for themselves wednesday morning. a media pool granted access after the jury tour described the now overgrown deserted moselle property as haunting. the last place maggie and paul were seen alive. >> we couldn't bring you any eyewitnesses because they were murdered. >> reporter: now, in his three-hour closing arguments, creighton waters presented a lot of evidence. but he also spoke to the jury about reasonable doubt and

circumstantial evidence, explaining that you can still come to a guilty verdict with circumstantial evidence. now, look, alex murdaugh has admitted to a lot on the stand, including lying and stealing. but he has not admitted to killing his wife and his son. he has maintained his innocence from the start on these charges. i anticipate tomorrow when the defense begins its closing arguments that we are going to hear a lot about reasonable doubt and circumstantial evidence. >> absolutely. and dianne, thank you very much. you have been covering this from the very beginning. and tonight on cnn, a breakdown of the trial. don't miss cnn prime time inside the murdaugh murders. next, congress taking a major step and banning chinese, owned tiktok from the united states, something used by millions and millions of americans. and tonight an arrest after a man allegedly packed an explosive device in his suitcase and tried to board a plane.

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i stay undetectable with fewer medicines. ask your doctor about switching to dovato. (fisher investments) in this market, you'll find fisher investments is different than other money managers. (other money manager) different how? aren't we all just looking for the hottest stocks? (fisher investments) nope. we use diversified strategies to position our clients' portfolios for their long-term goals. (other money manager) but you still sell investments that generate high commissions for you, right? (fisher investments) no, we don't sell commission products. we're a fiduciary, obligated to act in our client's best interest. (other money manager) so when do you make more money, only when your clients make more money? (fisher investments) yep. we do better when our clients do better. at fisher investments, we're clearly different. >> tonight a major step forward in banning tiktok. the house foreign affairs committee giving president biden the power to ban the chinese-owned app in the u.s. for security reasons. congressman mike mccall saying "anyone with tiktok downloaded

on their device has given the communist party of china a back door to all of their information. it is a spy balloon in their phone." the chinese president xi jinping rolls out the red carpet for one of putin's closest allies, the country who helped set the stage for the invasion of ukraine. will ripley is out front. >> from one strongman to another, a lavish state visit in beijing for the man many call europe's last dictator. alexander lukashenko meeting behind closed doors with chinese president xi jinping. two close allies of russian president vladimir putin. china and belarus bolstering autocratic support for putin, for moscow, despite russia's unprovoked war on ukraine. beijing's last... china calls external interference in belarus' internal affairs and

illegal unilateral sanctions against country for supporting putin's war. before beijing rolled out the red carpet, lukashenko praised china's progress. >> today not a single issue in the world can be resolved without china. >> on the surface, they seem like unlikely allies. china's economy dwarf that is of belarus. china's population? about 150 times bigger. belarus straddles a strategic hot spot. bordering both ukraine and russia. last year, lukashenko allowed putin's army to invade ukraine through his territory. russian troops expanded joint combat drills in january. casting doubt on lukashenko's claim he won't send his soldiers into battle unless ukraine attacks first. tanks and trenches bolster ukraine's northern border with belarus. i traveled there in december. troops train with world war i-style tactics, constantly

preparing for potential russian attacks. >> we are not afraid of them, says the captain dimitri. >> china's deepening ties with putin's allies puts further strain on its u.s. relationship. the tensions rising more this week. top u.s. officials accusing china of a plot to possibly send weapons to russia, warning against what the u.s. calls lethal support. >> we did very clearly, warn china about the implications and consequences of going through with providing such support. >> this is a red line that both the u.s. and many other western countries and the e.u. itself have drawn for china and told china directly not to cross it. >> china denies planning to arm russia, positioning itself as a potential peacekeeper, publishing a 12-point document without calling putin's war an invasion.

now entering its second year. president xi jinping claims to be neutral in all of. this he is widely believed to be preparing for a potential visit in the coming months. he is joining forces with fellow strongmen like lukashenko, another close putin ally as the russian president appears determined to win this war in ukraine at any cost. erin? >> well, thank you very much. and next, a chilling discovery. an explosive the evice with two fuses hidden in the lining of a suitcase. tonight, the man who tried to get that through airport♪ security and on a plane is in custody. expeperience the capability of the complete line of suvs at the invitatioion to lexus sales event.

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>> finally tonight an explosive device found inside a passenger's suitcase at an american airport. the f.b.i. arresting the man at an airport in pennsylvania. an alarm alerted tsa agents that the bag contained explosives. when they looked at it, they found a compound packed with powder and two fuses. it was found hidden in the lining of a suitcase.

iaccording to investigators, the black powder and flash powder-- i'm quoting-- are susceptible to ignite and posed a significant risk to the aircraft and passengers. an incredible thing. investigators say the man fled the airport after being paged by airport officials. he was later arrested last night at his home. he is due to appear in court on thursday. pretty incredible to think about this happening now. wow. thank you so much for joining us. don't forget, watch out front any time. go to cnn go. in the meantime, let's hand it off to my friend anderson cooper and ac360. >> good evening. on that story you just heard erin burnett talking about, there is new information that our sources are telling our correspondents on this. what we are learning about the man arrested on monday now charged with trying to bring explosives aboard a flight from an airport in southeastern lv