Hello from CNN, I'm Tanner Galgano with the five things you need to know for Wednesday, February 21st. House Republicans are entering a critical moment in their efforts to impeach President Joe Biden. Today they interviewed James Biden, the President's brother. House Republicans are trying to prove that the President profited from one of James' business ventures in 2017.
But today James said the President played no role in it and received no benefits from it. This has another key part of Republicans' case seems to be falling apart too. Alexander Smirnoff was an FBI informant, and House Republicans previously touted his claims that a Ukrainian oligarch paid millions of dollars to the Biden family in bribes. But now Smirnoff is in charge of lying to the FBI and about making up those very claims.
CNN's Manu Raju confronted Representative Jim Jordan about this development today. What's your emotional bribery scheme? What's false? Russia's defense minister claims the military has captured Krimki, a key village in the Kherson region.
But Ukraine denied this, saying defense forces continue to hold their positions. And this comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to celebrate capturing the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdika and awarded medals to Russian soldiers today. Ukraine withdrew troops in Avdika over the weekend, handing Putin his first notable win since Russian soldiers captured Bakhmut last year. President Joe Biden claimed the fall of Avdika on Congress's failure to pass additional aid for the war-torn country.
And Ukraine's foreign minister seemed to echo similar sentiments. We wouldn't lose Avdika if we hadn't received all the auxiliary ammunition that we needed to defend it. All this comes as we're just days away from the two-year anniversary of when Russia invaded Ukraine. And as the U.S.
plans to unveil new sanctions against Russia over the war, and the death of Alexei Navalny. You might remember Julian Assange, the haptivist, the founder of WikiLeaks. Well, today was the second and last day of his extradition hearing in London for him to argue for an appeal. No extradition!
Great brain to the top! Great brain to the top! Supporters protested outside. While in the court, both sides argued why he should or shouldn't be extradited to the U.S.
But unfortunately, the hearing ended with no decision from the judges on whether he should be granted permission to appeal his extradition to the U.S. During the hearing, the U.S. government counsel's main argument to bring Assange back to the U.S. is that he went beyond journalistic practices in his WikiLeaks posts.
But Assange's legal counsel argued that his life is at risk if he's brought back to the U.S. Assange faced charges for aiding her abetting treason, which the lead counsel for the U.S. said could in principle carry the death penalty. The man accused of murdering 11-year-old Audrey Cunningham has been charged with capital murder.
42-year-old Don Steven McDougal was already in jail due to an unrelated assault case. McDougal was a family friend, and at the time of Audrey's disappearance, McDougal lived on the same property where Audrey's family currently lives. They say he agreed to take the 11-year-old girl to a school bus stop on the morning she disappeared. According to the complaint against McDougal, a rope that was tied around Audrey when her body was found is consistent with the one found in McDougal's car during a traffic stop two days earlier.
Coming up, the trial begins for the shooting death on the set of Rust. Hey, welcome back! Jury selection starts today in New Mexico for the armorer on the Rust movie set, who's been charged with involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering. Prosecutors allege Hannah Gutierrez-Reed accidentally loaded a real bullet into a gun that actor Alec Baldwin fired on set, killing the movie cinematographer.
CNN's Josh Campbell says prosecutors will focus on her alleged drug use. They allege that on the day of the shooting, after being interviewed by police, she handed off a small bag of cocaine to someone. They write in filings that she was likely hung over when the gun was loaded. Of course, if there's anyone on a movie set who needs to be elucid aware of what's happening, it's the person responsible for safety.
Now, so we're pointing out that all along, her attorney has claimed that his client is innocent. They say that she is being scapegoated. And that's a wrap. We'll be back with more news at 6 p.m.
Eastern.