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Essentially further restrict Abortion Rights. Now it has so many talk being how the fallout could reach all the way from this summer to november 2024. Emergency evacuations, people jumping into the ocean to stay alive. Hurricanecharged winds fueling a raging wildfire that is burning out of control. Im john berman with kate bolduan. Cnn news central starts now. New this morning, a memo that could be central to the January 6th Case against donald trump. What prosecutors call a plot to create a, quote, fake controversy that would derail the proper certification of biden as president elect. Now, the phrase Fake Electors has been tossed around for some time, but now the New York Times has obtained this key piece of evidence describing the alleged conspiracy. It was written by protrump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, this december memo explains in great detail how Fake Electors might swing the election or at a minimum and this is important muck up or slow down the process to, quote, buy the Trump Campaign more time. We should note none of the coconspirators listed in the indictment have been charged and this revelation in the times comes as the first hearing before the judge who will hear this case is set for friday. Cnns senior crime and justice reporter Katelyn Polantz has the new details in this memo which we hadnt seen before. Reporter john, this memo it is something thats known to prosecutors because they wrote about it in their indictment as they are alleging donald trump took part in this criminal conspiracy to defraud voters, to defraud the United States government. This memo that now the New York Times has published in full, so thats the new piece of it, that we now see the full memo not just the highlights that the Justice Department were using in their indictment. It essentially is showing how this plot to use Fake Electors in Battleground States, six Battleground States initially, then seven ultimately, how that evolved from something that was just a way for Donald Trumps campaign to preserve his rights in the case that one of those states might go in his favor, how it evolved into something much more deliberate, something that could create a cloud essentially over the counting of the Electoral College votes. The memo there is a key section in it where ken chesebro the lawyer who wrote it and sent it on december 6 after the 2020 election, where he writes essentially that the Supreme Court is probably going to rule against us, but this is going to bereat for us because it will create a lot of public confusion. What he writes is, even if in the end the Supreme Court would likely end up ruling that the power to count the votes does not lie with the president of the senate, but instead lies with congress, letting matters play out in this wayould guarantee that public attention would be riveted on the evidence of electoralbuses by The Democrats and would also buy the Trump Campaign more time to win litigation that would deprive biden of electoral votes and or add to trumps column. I recognize that what i suggest is a bold controversial strategy. He is acknowledging that and then others that were hearing of this plan as theyre trying to get these Fake Electors in place for donald trump, just a week after that so that they could mimic being true electors, the biden electors, other people had apprehension about it. There were Fake Electors themselves that were not sure if what they were doing was right and they were being told by the people around donald trump, no, no, we just need you just in case, even though the plan was much broader than that as laid out in this memo. And others who were hearing about this even in the campaign saying, this is wild, creative, fake, even crazy. John, this is going to be a key part of the case as it goes to trial. We are very likely to see this memo again. Again, the Fake Electors plot, in Quotation Marks as it were is so important because it goes beyond speech to a discussion of what actions they could take to derail or obstruct allegedly the election process. Katelyn polantz, thank you for explaining this so well. Kate . The caveats he sprinkles throughout the memo are interesting as well. We will talk about that. Im curious whether or not they help or hurt his defense. Going from the 2020 election indictment, lets focus on whats been going on in georgia related to very similar. The timing of when possible charges could come for trump in georgia now appears to be coming somewhat more clear. Next week the Fulton County da fani willis is likely to spend two days presenting her case against trump and others to a grand jury. After that the jurors will decide if donald trump will face indictment for a fourth time this year. This time possibly including charges of conspiracy and racke racketeering. Cnns sara murray has much more on this. Can you talk what youre hearing more about the possible timing here. Reporter yeah, kate. We do think that this is going to be a grand jury presentation that happens this week or next week, sorry. Shes already been lining up the witnesses to show up to testify before the grand jury. These are witnesses prosecutors have already heard from in front of the special grand jury, so they know what theyre going to say. Its not about getting new evidence, its about crafting this presentation for the grand jurors when youre speak seeking one or more indictments about what happened in the aftermath of the 2020 election in georgia. Shes looking at potential conspiracy, racketeering charges, that would allow her to charge multiple defendants and sort of cast what happened after 2020 as this sort of criminal enterprise with donald trump at the head of it. We also know shes been looking at solicitation of election fraud, making false statements, violation of Oath Of Office and electionrelated threats to sort of run the gamut of what weve seen from Donald Trumps call to skr Brad Raffensperger on to the Fake Electors scheme and beyond that. This has been a wideranging investigation, kate. And staying true to form, donald trump not holding back, speaking out, lashing out really last night about all of the legal troubles that he is facing. Whats he saying now . Reporter yeah, he had a lot of complaints at his Campaign Event last night about the various court cases that he has found himself in the middle of and essentially complaining that he doesnt have time to campaign. Take a listen to what he said last night. Im sorry, i wont be able to go to iowa today, i wont be able to go to New Hampshire today because im sitting in a courtroom on [ bleep ] because his Attorney General charged me with something. Reporter and i think we do have a calendar that sort of suggests donald trump is right, that his calendar is pretty full up. Theres a couple hearings this week related to the classified documents case, the election case, federal cases. Next week thgrand jury is in in georgia at two separate periods and then he has a Republican Debate and yet another hearing in the federal election interference case. So he should does have a packed schedule, kate. You move into, i think, march is when theres another round of a lot of this red circles on a calendar that we are going to need to be looking at as well past super tuesday. Lets see whats coming next week. With us now is former Deputy Assistant Attorney General tom dupree. I want to go back to this memo published in the New York Times, its the first time we have seen this in this detail, the Fake Electors plot as written by attorney Kenneth Chesebro. I want you to finish this sentence for me. This memo is proof of, blank. I think its proof of the scheme that they were looking to implement here. I think that the memo will be helpful evidence to the Special Counsel for his prosecutors to say to the jury, look, you dont need to take my word for what they were trying to do here, you can read it in their own words. This is the scheme that they were planning, this is how they planned to execute the Fake Electors plot and thats basically our case right then and there. Its coming straight from the mouths of at least one of the unindicted coconspirators as to how they plan to change the outcome of the election . Chesebro in the memo says, hey, its possible the Supreme Court will overturn this effort. I understand this is bold and controversial. Does writing that down, do those words, does that inoculate him in any way legally or have a separate maybe opposite impact . Well, it doesnt inoculate him. I mean, look, i will give him credit for acknowledging doubt and the fact that he said this is an untested theory, its bold, its controversial, in other words, he forthrightly acknowledged the weaknesses in his argument, but the portion of the memo that would concern me if i were a Defense Lawyer is where he says, look, even if these arguments are legally meritless they might help us delay things. As a lawyer thats not a good look. In other words, you should not be advocating for arguments that you think are incorrect or meritless or even frivolous for the purposes of securing a delay. Thats not good. Lets drill down on that more. This gets to specifically what some of the charges here are in the indictment against donald trump. The suggestion that there was an effort to use the Fake Electors scheme to obstruct the Process Inside Congress and by obstruct i mean to slow down. Here you have in this memo saying that this plot, whether or not its legal, will buy us time. So how much of a problem is that . Right. And i think it is a real problem. In other words, it is one thing if the arguments that they were presenting were legitimately founded, in other words, that they had evidence of fraud and that they were creating these slates of electors in order to basically be a backstop in case trump actually was able to flip the outcome in one state and they needed a slate of electors to present the votes. But this memo suggests they knew that was not what was going on, these werent backstop electors, rather they were false, fraudulent electors they were trying to put up. Thats why i think the memo will be very damaging to the defense because it lays out the plot, the lawyers themselves acknowledge the problems with it and i think it will enable the Special Counsel to make a powerful case that this was not a legitimate legal argument but simply a means to obstruct the official proceeding. A powerful case against whom . Because Kenneth Chesebro wrote this memo. The charges right now the indictments are against donald trump. So is there anywhere in this memo i mean, i dont see Donald Trumps signature or his initials, says having read anywhere by it. How important is it to prove that donald trump knew what was in this . Well, theyre going to have to link him to the memo in some way, shape or form. In other words, to your point, its not enough to say that, look, one of your lawyers sent a memo to another one of your lawyers if you never saw the memo. If trump never saw the memo, never was given that advice or acted on that advice its hard to see how that helps the case against trump. That said i think its a virtual certainty that mr. Chesebro and the other unindicted coconspirators likely to be named and charged in this case. This will be powerful evidence against them and i think it will be up to the Special Counsel to find the facts and evidence that links the advice in this memo to former President Trump. Just one last question, tom. We had that calear, sara murray and kate put up the calendar Going Forward and trumps lawyers are saying they cant do a hearing right now because theyre so busy. How persuasive is that to a judge saying i cant possibly go to trial because im so busy going to trial . Well, look, i think that weve seen judge chutkans First Response to this as saying thats no excuse. If i want you here in my courtroom on friday you will be here. I think its one thing, though, for the judge to order lawyers to appear at the hearing and juggle multiple balls at once, i think its another thing if shes demanding the presence of former President Trump in proceedings. I think you can have multiple proceedings moving forward at the same time if it involves lawyers filing briefs and appearing for hearings, but when it comes to actually scheduling a trial, something for which you need the physical presence of the defendant, i think thats going to be tougher and there i think there is going to need to be some sort of coordination either between the prosecutors or judges to stage these cases in a way that preserves the constitutional right to a fair trial. Tom, great to have you on this morning. Thank you very much. Thank you, john. That was super interesting. Also this morning theres a lot of talk about whats happened in ohio. Ohio voters rejected a measure led by republicans that would have made it harder essentially to protect Abortion Rights in the state. What would normally have been a low key, low turnout special election in the middle of the summer turned out to be the opposite, Energy Yiezing voters, drawing in big money and capturing the eyes of the nation. More than 3 Million People voted, 57 voting no on what was officially called issue 1. The measure if passed would have required a super majority in order to make changes to the states constitution. Instead of the simple majority that is required now. Cnns jeff zeleny in columbus, ohio, this morning is joining us now. 5743 is where it ended up. 428,000 more people voted against this than for this measure. What are you hearing today . Reporter there is no question this is one of the strongest rebukes of Republican Leadership in this state that we have seen in at least a decade. If you look county by county suburban areas, urban areas, even some rural areas, counties that went for former President Trump in 2020 voted no on issue 1. What this was was an effort to change the rules for a November Ballot question on Abortion Rights, on protecting Abortion Rights and enshrining that in the states constitution. If yesterdays vote would have passed it would have required a 60 vote in november, because it failed it only requires a simple majority. Thats what supporters tried to frame this around, the fight for democracy and one person, one vote. Here is what they said last night at their victory party. Voters saw issue 1 for what it was, a deceptive power grab, designed to silence our voices and diminish our voting power. We defeated issue 1 because an enormous coalition that spans ideological divides came together to defend democracy. Reporter and that coalition there they are talking about, democrats of course, independent voters of course and even some republicans, including several former Republican Office holders here who were opposed to just the simple process of changing the language for how you amend the constitution. So a lot was wrapped up in this vote, but the result was absolutely clear, and it follows in a long line that weve seen over the last year from kansas to kentucky to montana to swing states like michigan, when the people have a voice to say they vote to protect Abortion Rights. Important listing those states out and kind of what that trend, if you want to call it that, means as this has become very clearly a big issue in the president ial election. Good to see you, jeff. Thank you. John . So three white men now facing charges for the fight in montgomery, alabama, involving the black cocaptain of a riverboat and the police say more charges could be coming. Gun Safety Advocates with a rare win at the Supreme Court, the justices restore a rule that cracks down on ghost guns. And new reports of the destruction and fear in hawaii. People jumping into the ocean to escape a wildfire fueled by hurricaneforce winds. [clock alarm] morning. Life after student debt is within reach. Refi at sofi. Com. You could save thousands and get to your goals faster. Sofi. Get your money right. Tourists tourists that turn into scientists. Tourist taking photos that are analyzed by ai. So researchers can help life underwater flourish. Right now in hawaii several wildfires are burning through maui and the big island. A nearby hurricane is helping to fan the strong winds thats fueling all of this over the islands. Fires have forced evacuations, cut off power in some areas. We will show you some drone video, this is drone video you can see of just one of the fires on the island of maui. The Drone Operator described the situation as apocalyptic. 12 people have been rescued off the coast after having to jump into the ocean to escape the smoke and flames. Huge plumes of black smoke can be seen rising across this neighborhood. The Lieutenant Governor of hawaii said the 911 service and cell service had gone down in parts of maui because of the fires and that the situation the way she describes it is becoming dire. Cnns Derek Van Dam hes watching this for us. Derek, what is the situation there now and is there any relief . I mean, they need some help to put these fires out. Reporter kate, this is an all hands on deck situation. In fact, weve been told that the National Guard has been enlisted to help with these wildfires as well. I mean, a dire situation, apocalyptic, that is the perfect adjective to describe what people are witnessing and seeing on the ground, specifically offer the western sections of the island of maui. I want to explain how hurricane doras influence is helping fuel these stronger winds across the Hawaiian Islands. We have an area of High Pressure to the north, theres hurricane dora. The Pressure Gradient between these two Weather Systems are actually putting that squeeze on the Hawaiian Islands and what thats doing is helping pick up the winds out of an easterly direction. So gusts, get this, have been over 80 miles per hour. Thats equivalent to a category 1 atlantic hurricane, however, we cant say that the windser directly associated with hurricane dora, but the winds are equivalent to a hurricane status. Look at this, current wind gusts 24 miles per hour, thats at or thats sustained winds, thats at the airport within maui, however, we do expect stronger wind gusts especially on the west side because similarly to Santa Ana Winds in southern california, once the air rides up and over mountainous passes and funnels through these canyons, it actually helps speed up the airflow, increase the wind speed. It also dries out the winds and it also creates warmer temperatures at the lower elevations. So all of these working together in Combination Help create the extreme fire behavior that we are seeing on the western side of maui, not to mention 30 of the entire Hawaiian Islands across this area are currently under Drought Conditions with the western side of maui under moderate risk of Drought Conditions. Satellite imagery picking up on the hot spots and you can even see the plume of smoke that is billowing from one of three active wildfires that are ongoing across the western sections of maui. We have the latest reports about 14,000 people without power on the island currently, thats roughly 20 of the population. You can see just the amount of dry air that is in place across this area, again, not helping with that relative humidity, which is part of the ingredients that fuel fires. Kate . Derek, thanks for laying it out for us. John . With us now is maui countys chief of communications and public affairs. Thank you so much for being with us. Just bring us up to speed on what you are seeing. I know its still overnight where you are. Whats it like right now . Hi. Good morning. Yes, its 3 30, just about, here in the morning on maui. We still have three active fires on our island in three separate districts located across maui. The most concern, they all are requiring evacuations, we have four shelters available, we have 2,000 visitors at the local airport, they have either missed their flights or have arrived and have nowhere to go. We are certainly facing an all hands on deck as was said earlier. Were most concerned with the western side of the island, as was mentioned, you know, it was experiencing individuals jumping into the ocean, concerned for their safety, the smoke and fire conditions. The u. S. Coast guard retrieved them from the shoreline and took them to safety. That area is also experiencing lack of cellphone coverage, so the connection to be able to communicate to the public there has been a challenge throughout this incident. 911 calls are possible in that area only if you have a landline and if you call a different number. So we are experiencing some very extraordinary conditions and very unprecedented for our people. What is your message to people right now, including those who felt they had to jump into the ocean to stay safe . I can appreciate that there is much anxiety out there. If you are not in an endangered area, please stay in shelter and place. If you are asked to evacuate either as a proactive need or as a mandatory urgent immediate need, please follow all Law Enforcement and Emergency Management personnel. The one thing i can say is to look out for each other. These are very, very difficult times. We will know more in day break and if you have not yet been evacuated and are in these concerned areas, our recommendation is that you have your family prepared, your home prepared, including your pets and animals that are with you at home. Be ready to evacuate once that call is made. Do not do not second guess a call for evacuation. To what extent are these fires under control . They are not contained in any fashion currently. They are all active fires, creating the need for urgent evacuations in a variety of places throughout those districts. All right. Mahina martin, we appreciate you being with us. We know its early hours for you, but i also know you must be looking at many nights without sleep at this point. Please, stay safe, let us know if theres anything we can do to help. Thank you very much. Thank you. Not contained at all. Yeah, it sounds like the situation is still becoming more and more dangerous. Were going to track this throughout the show today. Also on our radar this hour, the Supreme Court has reinstated federal restrictions on socalled ghost guns for now. These are guns that can be built from kits rather than needing to go through a licensed gun dealer to purchase the gun. The court voted 54 to put on Hold A Ruling by a texas judge that invalidated the biden administrations regulations on ghost gun kits. This means the regulations can remain in effect while the legal challenges play out. Disturbing new details are coming out this morning about the 6yearold student who shot his first grade teacher in virginia. Unsealed warrants now allege that the student bragged about the incident afterward, telling School Officials that he said this, quote, i shot that bitch dead. The teacher, you will remember, suffered Gunshot Wounds to her hand and chest, but survived. She said after the fact that shes still suffering from the injuries, though, and will for a long time to come. These documents also detail a previous incident in kindergarten where the same child allegedly choked a teacher. A lawyer for the childs family tells cnn that the 6yearold is in therapy for what they describe is extreme emotional issues and is improving. John . All right. A legal Battle Brewing In The Gilgo Beach Murder case that centers around pizza cusses, a napkin and the suspects dna. Ukraine claims partial success on the Southern Front, but ukraines president acknowledges progress is slower than many hoped. Were getting new reaction from western officials this morning. Young lady who was, mid 30s, couple of kids, recently went through a divorce. She had a lot of questions when she came in. I watched my mother go through being a single mom. 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For 40 years, mercy ships has deployed floating hospitals to provide the free surgeries these children need. Join us. Together, we can give children the hope and healing they never thought possible. Its a mission powered by love, made possible by you. Give today. With new scope squeez mouthwash concentrate, just add water. Squeez to control the strength of your mouthwash. And find a zone all your own. Scope squeez. So just in, a u. S. Nurse and her daughter who were kidnapped in haiti, we are getting word they have been released, this is according to the christian humanitarian group she works for. Alix dorsainvil and her lawyer went missing a couple weeks ago amid the deteriorating Security Situation in haiti. So good news, they have been released, kate. Obviously we are looking for details on exactly how this went down. Exactly. But very good news. The best you could ask for in this moment. We will learn much more and bring it to you when we get it. This morning montgomerys mayor says justice will be served and Alabama Police say more charges to be coming after the Riverfront Brawl in montgomery over the weekend. Three men have been charged with assault, all of them white men who were on the pontoon boat blocking the dock, how this began. They are accused of attacking the black riverboat cocaptain. Police say the brawl started when damien picket, you see him in the white shirt maybe you dont because its a melee there now spent up to 45 minutes trying to peacefully in the Police Chiefs view get the men to move their boat so the riverboat could dock that had a lot of people on board. One of those men charged now as richard roberts, he is now facing three counts of thirddegree assault. Joining us right now for more on this is Montgomery City councilwoman marshe johnson. Thank you so much for coming in. Police say arrests more arrests are highly likely, i think is how the police chief said it last night. What more do you hear could be coming . Yes, we do know that we have two more outstanding warrants for other individuals. There are several addresses listed for those men, so we know that they will be turning themselves in, which should have happened last night and they would have will be transported from the Selma Police Department to montgomery. Do you think more people are going to face charges or do you think these three are going to be the extent of it . I believe these three will be the extent of it because this was the onset of that brawl. Everyone else that got into that altercation and that incident was going in as a protective measure and as a Defense Measure for the cocaptain that was attacked that day. The police chief said that they looked at possible hate crimes here, but he says that the evidence did not meet the criteria. Councilwoman, what do you see in the video and what have you heard from folks in the community . Do you think race was a factor here . Do you see this differently . Kate, thats an awesome question and im glad you asked. As we know montgomery is the cradle of the confederacy, the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement, so race issues are not new to us. Its very coincidental how that happened and where that incident happened. The community is in an uproar but and i think that a lot of feelings and emotions came out of this incident on where weve came to far in the country because as we know that those onsetters of this incident were from selma and other small rural towns in alabama and not from montgomery. Because in montgomery we have built a culture, weve been actively engaged in building a culture of moving forward and reconciliation of our past. With eji, which is the equal Justice Initiative here, we have a lot of visitors and as the representative of that district we have tourism on an alltime high. We are the second highest visited location when it comes to reconciliation and the Civil Rights Movement and all of those things therefore and thereafter. Right now the community weve had so much support from across the country, even internationally on what can be done next. The feelings and emotions are high now because of the history of montgomery and where we stand. Were Fertile Ground for reconciliation, right, but right now what i see is a country coming together from all walks of life to want to know what can we do next, how can we resolve this, how can we come together as communities on two separate aisles and really truly resolve the past and move forward to the future. So were getting people that want to do charity and they want to do something in defense of the gentleman that was attacked so brutally and for no unforeseen reason truly, and then we have Community Members that are ready to set up safe spaces to truly have conversations and those tough conversations on race. So i think now as we look forward from what happened this past weekend, were going to look at the solutions that we can bring to the community, what we can do for that dock so that incident wont happen again because what we heard from the captain was that this wasnt new for them dealing with those pontoon boat owners. Councilwoman, just real quick, have you had a chance to speak with Damian Picket that cocaptain that was attacked. No, maam, i have not, but we have been in contact with the family as my team has and he is doing well but i do know there is some emotional charge they are still settling and he is going to have to resolve it. I do hope and pray that some counseling does come in and as the community and as the representative of that community i will do what i can to help to assist because he also is a city employee. It will be good to hear from him whenever he does feel up to it. Councilwoman marche johnson, thank you for coming in. New this morning, investigators in the Gilgo Beach Serial Killing say getting dna from the suspect now is extremely important to the case. The Suffolk Countys da office submitted a Court Request to obtain a new dna swab. They are waiting for a judges response. Cnns jean casarez who has been covering this, jean, you cover dna and genealogy so closely. Why is this new dna swab so important and when will a judge decide . Its fascinating, and we dont know why they want it, but under state law theyve got to go to a judge. You know, the prosecution, they have forensics in this case already that led to the arrest. They have the telephone records, they have Cellphone Tower Pinging and where the movement of Rex Heuermanns phone and the movement of the victims phone, and remember that pizza crust, because that was discarded pizza crust by Rex Heuermann according to legal documents and they got that, they say they got his dna, compared it to dna on the victims and remember there was a male hair on the burlap outside of one of the victims they found and they said they want a match, but they want more dna and according to state law and there is a Precedent Setting Case People Versus Rodgers in new york state, it says there is an innate privacy to someones dna, a privacy right, and when you are arrested you get the mugshot, they take your fingerprints, but they cant take the dna because of that privacy right. So prosecutors have to go to a judge and ask for that swab of additional dna. Thats what they have done. I want you to listen to what the Suffolk County sheriff said last night on this issue to erin burnett. Gathering his dna is extremely important to this case. You know, clearly its left in the hands of the judge to decide whether to go forward and get a dna swab or not. So thats where we have to wait and see whats going to happen with the journals decision. What the task force has gathered and what we have discussed, i have no doubt that he is the person that killed those three women. And the defendant has pleaded not guilty. The defense Attorney Says do you think you even have the right person here . You may not. Well, once according to people v. Rodgers, once the prosecution makes the request, the defense can fight it. They go before a judge at a hearing, this case law says, and the judge decides, but once they get that dna, if they get that dna, john, they can use it for other investigative purposes outside of the current investigation. It has to be at the local level, but they can use it for more than just what is charged at this point, and the defense it looks like is really going to fight this based on constitutional grounds. All right. I know you will be watching it very closely and you will give us the results as soon as they come in. Jean casarez, thank you very much. Kate . Coming up still for us, ukraines president zelenskyy says the counteroffensive is, quote, difficult. And happening probably slower than some had hoped, his words. Hes meeting with his top military commanders this morning. We will have the latest next. On. Observing investors choose assets to balance risk and reward. With one element securing portfolios, time after time. Gold. Agile and liquid. A proven protector. An everevolving enabler of bold decisions. An asset more relevant than ever before. Gold. Your strategic advantage. 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Now, whether they will how far they will get and where that will be and what kind of break through they might be able to achieve, i dont think anybody can say right now, but weve got to make sure were staying behind them and supporting them. Lets go to cnns Natasha Bertrand at the pentagon. Natasha, again, today they are pointing to some success, the question is is it fast enough . Reporter well, even the ukrainians of course have acknowledged that it is not fast enough. It is not as quick as they had anticipated here and u. S. Officials are also well aware of that. It is very unclear to u. S. Officials how long this counteroffensive is actually going to take, and it is, of course, unclear whether this is what the americans and the ukrainians as they were war gaming for this counteroffensive had actually anticipated. We have to remember here, john, that the ukrainians did not necessarily anticipate the fact that they would be encountering such mined areas, the land mines that the russians have dropped there in territory all along the front have been really, really difficult for the ukrainians to surmount. As to that the vast network of trenches that the russians have really dug in in anticipation of this counteroffensive, just layers and layers of defensive lines that the ukrainians have had some difficulty breaking through. But, look, the u. S. Saying that they are not giving up here. They are going to continue to support the ukrainians for as long as it takes for them to regain their territory. We should note that just this past weekend the first shipment of those abrams tanks, those heavy western tanks that the ukrainians have been asking for for so long were approved and are expected to arrive in early fall. That could give the ukrainians a powerful Ground Component to continue to prosecute this counteroffensive, but, again, no one is expecting this counteroffensive to end anytime soon, john, and it remains to be seen how much territory the ukrainians can win back from the russians. It is frustrating to so many, but at the same time they do need to remain determined. Natasha bertrand, thank you so much for the update. Kate . Check your tickets. Only if you are or have just been in florida apparently. The largest ever Mega Millions jackpot has a single winner. Up next, the dreams dashed by millions and millions and millions of people and what we know about the Winning Ticket. We will be right back. s now slig their meats fresh. Thats why soccer pros like me profer the grand slam ham. And this rookie prefers fresh sliced turkey. Perfect for when youre subbed out of the game. And if we profer it, we know youll prefer it too. Nothing better than a sub, sub. 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Wow. vo request a cash offer at Opendoor Dot Com Warehouse Ambience introducing togos new french dip sandwiches featuring fresh Artisan Bread piled high with tender roast beef, smothered with Melty Provolone cheese and served with hot au jus for dipping. Try the roast beef or pastrami french dips today only at togos a very, very, very, very lucky person in florida i dont know how many of you applied to this, but a lot veries. That lucky person has won big. Like, the largestever Mega Millions jackpot kind of big. The total 1. 58 billion. The Winning Ticket was sold at a Publix Grocery store in neptune beach. Here are the winning numbers in case you havent woken up and havent looked at your ticket. Theyre dropping just like the lottery. I feel like ive missed my calling. Cnn Carlos Suarez is in florida. Carlos, do we know anything about who has won quite yet . Hey, kate, good morning. We dont know a whole lot about the person who has this Winning Ticket, though, in florida, the winner does have a couple of months before they can come forward to claim that Winning Ticket and in florida at some point we will know who this winner is because state law says you have to make their name publicly available, as well as the city that they live in. As you said, kate, 1. 58 billion. The winning numbers were 13, 19, 20, 32, 33 and 14. The last time that someone won the Mega Millions jackpot was back in april and so that amount of money just kept rolling week after week after week. That Winning Ticket, as you said was sold at a Publix Grocery store near jacksonville, florida. We are told that it was a quick pick that delivered this amount of money to a single person. Now here in hollywood, floorida we are outside of a Convenience Store and we are outside of where a person bought a 2 million. That person picked five out of the six numbers and kate and john, i always wondered what it would be like to win the lottery and how it feels when you were one number shy. Thats a horrible thing you have to answer. Its bad enough knowing that youre never going to win, but then knowing that you were so close. Yeah. Look, its still a good amount of money. You go around thinking one number shy of 1. 58 billion, huh . Thanks for being there. Stick there, someone is smiling ear to ear walking into publix today. You know what i was thinking, john . How many of these we talk about over the years and i always get excited and john has that look on his face. Its the giant letdown. Its the Great American letdown. How many times we talk about this. These are minutes ill never get back in my life for the billions of people that never win. You can still have a chance. Carlos looked like he was happy there, and thats whats important. Carlos is happy. Carlos is enjoying his life today. 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