he has pleaded not guilty. >> alex marquardt joins us, now. to directly, at this stage, link officer sicknick being sprayed with a wellca chemical agent and his -- and his death, have they? >> no, they haven't. so far, what the investigators have not said what the official cause of death of brian sicknick is. they haven't been able to tie the -- the medical examiner hasn't tied the use of this chemical spray to his death. it is incredibly power stuff, anderson. another of the officers. they were all temporarily blinded, said that during her training, it was more powerful than any of the pepper spray that she had experienced. so -- so, that's why. they are -- prosecutors are using this video that has been obtained by "the new york times." these two men are still in detention, and they are going to be tried here, in washington, d.c. anderson. >> alex marquardt, appreciate it. thanks. andrew mccabe is back with us. what do you see from an investigative point of view and as a visual point as a former law enforcement officer, as you see this new vi

alex marquardt, cnn, washington. >>> two top u.s.rrived in south korea just hours ago for talks that looked to revitalize ties. u.s. secretary of state antony blinken and defense secretary lloyd austin will be meeting with their counterparts in seoul. this as u.s. intelligence has assessed that north korea may be preparing to carry out its first weapons test since president joe biden took office. cnn's paula hancocks is in seoul, she joins us now live. good to see you, paula. so the threat posed by north korea will no doubt dominate discussions. what's expected to come out of these meetings and of course this overall trip? >> reporter: well, rosemary, there's a couple reasons for this trip, one of the first ones is the fact that president joe biden said all along that he wanted to reengage with allies, especially those allies that he felt that the former president and the trump administration had neglected. so certainly going to tokyo, going to seoul first up for their first trips is significant. they will be talking about north kore

alex marquardt reports now. >> reporter: good morning, laura and christine.nsive report we've seen about the 2020 election from the.u.s. intelligence community t details the extent of russia's major influence campaign that it used to dry to hurt joe biden's campaign and help donald trump's. the report goes farther than what we've heard before from the intelligence community, clearly stating that people close to then president trump and the administration were being targeted by russian intelligence at the behest of vladimir putin. now, that's the main goal of all of these influence operations, to divide americans, to pit us against one another but russia went farther according to this report saying that a key element of moscow's strategy this election cycle was its use of proxies linked to russian intelligence to push influence narratives including misleading or unsubstantiated allegations against president biden. to u.s. media organizations, u.s. officials and prominent u.s. individuals, including some close to former president trump and his administration. n

our senior national security correspondent alex marquardt is working this story for us. alex, this is very concerning. just been released by three of the country's top national security agencies, the office of the director of national intelligence, department of homeland security and the department of justice. what does it reveal? >> hand that's notable, wolf, because as you note intelligence community normally deals with foreign threats and here we're talking about domestic threats. that is short report, four pages long, straight to the point. it says that essentially because of everything that's going on this year, there is an elevated chance of deadly violence from domestic violent extremists. these are extremists, this report says, that are normally driven by racial bias and grievances against the government, but this year in particular, they are also motivated by this incorrect perception that the election was stolen. the january 6th insurrection and conditions surrounding covid, and this is something that they say will almost certainly spur some domestic violent ext

. >> our alex marquardt has been following this from the beginning. the headline that you broke this morning about the missing names. but there is a bigger question here as to what candidate biden said as far as holding saudi responsible for this murder and what they would do and what the biden administration is doing and not doing this morning, alex. >> reporter: there is a growing backlash accusing president biden of not doing anything to directly punish mbs for approving the murder of jamal khashoggi in a newly unclassified report on friday. so far the biden administration has said they will sanction one former saudi intelligence official and the protective force known as the tiger squad which protected mbs. they've put into place what they call the khashoggi van which is visa restrictions for 76 officials who -- saudis rather whose names we don't know. but this does fall short of what candidate biden had said during the campaign when he said that he would hold mbs accountable for this murder. take a listen. >> khashoggi was, in fact, murdered and

alex marquardt has more. >> reporter: good morning, erica.nsive look that we have had so far at the 2020 election by the u.s. intelligence community. and it says perhaps most importantly that president vladimir putin of russia was in charge of orchestrating yet again a massive influence campaign. this time to denigrate joe biden in support of president trump and he did it in part using proxies so people who had direct access to the trump orbit. the u.s. intelligence community found that russian president putin authorized and conducted influence operations aimed at denigrating president biden's candidacy and the party supporting former president trump and undermining the electoral process and exasperating sociopolitical divisions in the u.s. according to the report, putin was trying to create a false narrative which we have heard from trump and the allies that for a long time, joe biden and his family had corrupt dealings with ukraine. and the russians pushed this by having that contact and exchanging information with people linked to the trum

let's go straight to our senior national security correspondent alex marquardt who is working the storyor us. alex, this very detailed, lengthy, declassified report says proxies linked to russian intelligence and to putin directly pushed misleading, you be substantiated allegations against now president biden, pushed those allegations to american media organizations, officials, prominent individuals, including some very close to the former president. >> reporter: that's right, wolf. it says russian intelligence at the behest of vladimir putin, the russian president, targeted allies and people close to trump and hits administration. this is the most comprehensive report we've gotten about the 2020 election and foreign intelligence by the intelligence community and it makes clear that this massive russian influence campaign was designed, orchestrated by putin to denigrate joe biden and to support the re-election of president drew. i want to read you one. key findings about russia's involvement. the intelligence community says we assess that russian president putin authorized and range of

our senior national security correspondent alex marquardt is joining us.w there's a lot of concern of a possible attack and it's been very high today, that concern. what's going on right now especially since the house of representatives decided they were not going to be in session? >> reporter: that's right, wolf. these security forces on high alert today because there had been intelligence this week indicating a chatter of a possible attack against the capitol today on march 4th. this massive security presence has been out here since after the insurrection on january 6th, and they remain because the threat remains. this is the fencing that we've been showing you, eight foot high with razor wire on top. behind that, you have the national guard that is on high alert. they are armed and many of them have rifles. i was just speaking to some of these gentlemen and they're from michigan. over here, wolf, you can see these two armored trucks that are blocking the way and this is constitution avenue on the western side of the capitol. march 4th, wolfs are was the

cnn's alex marquardt is following this. what else does this intel report say, alex? very detailed, brianna. it is a look now four months after the election at what countries tried to do what to influence and interfere in the 2020 election. on the technical side of things, there's no evidence, according to the u.s. intelligence community, that any of these countries tried to, say, hack in and interfere with the actual votes. but the report goes into pretty significant detail as to what these countries, and it's primarily russia, iran, and china, what they tried to do to influence the american electorate, what they tried to do to sow divisions and guide the election in a way that their countries wanted and really, i think the most significant details that we're getting out of this report pertain to russia. they carried out perhaps the most significant influence operation on the 2020 election at the personal direction of the president, vladimir putin. that is according to the u.s. intelligence community, which goes on to say that the goal of these influence operations w

. >> alex marquardt, thanks.new video? >> well, i mean, it disgusting. i it's -- you know, watching these videos how these law enforcement officers were assaulted and t terrorized are disturbing to anyone who has ever worn a badge and a gun. but i have to say that i think the investigators are really in a tough spot here on this one. so we have, you know, incontrovertible proof of an assault by these two defendants on officer sicknick and that's a serious charge but to raise it to murder, we have to know that the assault led to his death and i would guess that there is probably not a large volume of reliable scientific evidence that shows us what happens when a human is attacked with bear spray. it not made for humans. so this is not the average post mortim medical examiner's report. they will have to dig into the science and figure out how that stuff will impact him on a fatal level. >> we heard senators, johnson and others talk about how these rioters were not armed saying that, you know, indicating that it was

we get more now from cnn's alex marquardt. >> reporter: good morning, laura and christine. is short, just four pages long, it goes right to the point. it says that there is a bigger chance of deadly attacks from domestic violent extremists this year, 2021, because of everything that's going on. these are extremists, they are already motivated by racial bias and by grievances against the government for overreach and this year those factors they say are being exacerbated by things like the january 6th insurrection which they view as a motivator for these extremists, covid-19 conditions, conspiracy theories and policy changes that they say will spur some domestic violent extremists to try to engage in violence this year. now, among the different types of domestic violent extremists the report singles out two as most likely to carry out deadly attacks this year. they say in the report that racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists and militia violent extremists have the most violent threats. with racially motivated extremists most lick i l. toy have attacks and mill s

alex marquardt has more from washington. >> reporter: as the violent insurrection raged at the capitollding new video obtained by "the new york times" shows officer brian sicknick facing off with rioters on the western side and how he was wounded. in the crowd were julian khater and george tanios. khater moved up to within feet of sicknick and can be seen unleashing a stream of chemical spray at the officer. sicknick is hit and retreats, dealing over, a day later he was dead. khater and tanios have been arrested. federal prosecutors are discovering evidence of more coordination amid the chaos. new court filings alleging for the first time there was collaboration between the far right extremist groups the proud boys and the oath keepers. messages released by the justice department show that oath keeper kelly megs discussed on facebook his communication with proud boys leadership, saying he, quote, orchestrated a plan with the proud boys for january 6th. two weeks before the riots meggs wrote we have made contact with the proud boys. christmas day he wrote to someone with the proud boys

. >> reporter: i'm alex marquardt in washington, d.c. a number of covid related restrictions would be lifted as the city's cases decrease. for example, starting next week 50 people will be allowed to gather together outside and for the opening day of the washington nationals baseball team around 5,000 are expected to fill the stands. >> reporter: i'm alison kosik. pennsylvania governor tom wolf says he will ease restrictions on businesses and restaurants and increase limits on large gatherings beginning april 4th. the moves come adds covid-19 cases decline in the state and more residents get vaccinated. according to a press release, capacity at restaurants, gyms and entertainment facilities like malls, casinos and theaters will be raised to 75% capacity. masks and social distancing will still be required. >> reporter: i'm adrienne broaddus in chicago. the city's mayor and state comptroller announce add plan that would relax some of the rules surrounding the automatic collection of unpaid parking and traffic fines. it's a move to help eli

. >> let's go straight to our senior national security correspondent alex marquardt.fending the actions they have taken. have they done enough to live up to candidate joe biden's promise? >> certainly not in the eyes of many. in that clip he goes on to say that is a saudi arabia will be held accountable. that was candidate joe biden, and in the eyes of many president joe biden has not lived up to that and passed in fact passed on the first chance to hold mohammed bin salman, the crown prince, accountable. the biden administration has sanctioned one senior saudi intelligence official, protective force that protects mbs known as the tiger squad, and impose what they call the c khashoggi ban on 76 saudis. their goal is a recal abrasion, not a rupture of this relationship. the white house has said going forward their goal is to make sure this doesn't happen again. listen to how jen psaki, the white house press secretary, rationalized this earlier today. >> we also, from day one, even prior to the release of this report, have recalibrated the relationship, have made clear