For more information how you can help victims of Hawaii Wildfires go to cnn. Com impact or text hawaii to 707070 to donate. The lead with jake tapper starts right now. A brand new Special Counsel now focused on hunter biden. The lead starts right now. The Attorney Generals surprise announcement. The prosecutor who was overseeing The Hunter Case is now being elevated to a Special Counsel. What will this mean for the president s son . What will this mean for the president . And donald trump might be told to zip it. The judge in the 2020 Election Fraud case signaling that she is going to be willing to restrict sensitive evidence as she tells trumps attorneys the former president s right to free speech is not absolute. And hawaiis catastrophe sadly getting worse. Historic towns gone, homes burned to the ground, 55 lives confir confirmed lost, and that number is sadly expected to climb. Welcome to the lead im jake tapper. And we start with our Law And Justice lead with a new Special Counsel. The new title gives Attorney General david weiss who had been already been investigating President Bidens son more powers than he had as a federal prosecutor. You might recall a few weeks ago it looked as though this investigation was coming to an end. Hunter biden went to court after his lawyers had supposedly struck a deal with weiss prosecutorial team. But that deal fell apart in court among much skepticism voiced by the judge. The two sides were told try to keep negotiating, but now the Justice Department says it looks as though this case is headed to trial. Prosecutors allege hunter biden failed to pay more than a Million Dollars in taxes on time. He also faced a federal gun charge for lying on his Background Check Form that he was not using drugs at the time. But republicans in congress have also alleged hunter biden was involved in much more serious crimes including money laundering. Whistle blowers have claimed that the case was not treated as it should have been. Speaker Kevin Mccarthy today asked of the now Special Counsel, mr. Weiss, quote if weiss negotiated a Sweetheart Deal that couldnt get approved how could he be trusted as Special Counsel . Lets get to paula reid. This investigation has been going on for five years so why now for a Special Counsel . Its unclear. The Justice Department will only say that on Tuesday Weiss asked to be changed to this designated Special Counsel. He is as you noted the u. S. Attorney who was appointed by former President Trump, and hes been overseeing the investigation into hunter biden for like you said approximately five years. But theres no official explanation for why he wanted to change to a Special Counsel now. But we have seen in Court Filings that it appears that the talks between the u. S. Attorneys office and Hunter Bidens legal team to resolve the issues that the judge identified in that plea deal, that those have fallen apart and it is likely to go to trial. That appears to be the impetus, but its really unclear. One of the big differences now hes Special Counsel is that weiss is going to have to compile a full report detailing what he investigated and his findings and that the Attorney General who has now to make it public. Now, ive also given the white house was not given a heads up about this and neither were Hunter Bidens attorneys. How much more likely does it make it the president s son is definitely going to go on trial . It appears a lot more likely, jake. For a minute there it appeared this was going to be resolved with that plea deal. Even after the judge pushed back, asked for additional briefings, expressed skepticism, i think both sides expressed ultimately it would be approved. If there were any modifications we got signals indeed the Hunter Biden Team was willing to take this to trial. So at this point the fact hes gotten the Special Counsel designation, he can now bring cases in any jurisdiction, it does appear the most likely outcome here is it goes to trial. Paula, stick with us because i also want to bring in arlette saenz. What has been the biden administrations reaction to the news. Reporter jake, the white house has maintained this stay quiet strategy. And im told by white house officials here that white house officials and President Biden received no heads up that Merrick Garland was about to make this appointment of a Special Counsel in the probes investigating the president s son. But this really just marks the latest chapter in the ongoing legal and personal saga surrounding hunter biden, which has really come front and center in President Bidens reelection bid. Just two weeks ago the bidens had felt and hoped they were about to turn the page as hunter biden was expected to plead guilty to those tax charges. But as you mention that tax that plea deal fell apart, and the appointment of the Special Counsel indicates the investigation will continue. But this also comes as it marks a new phase for President Biden. As republicans have repeatedly sustained their criticism and questions about his sons Business Dealings and accusations of the biden family being corrupt. The House Speaker Kevin Mccarthy and republicans have threatened the possibility of an Impeachment Inquiry, something that the white house has pushed back on as describing it as a stunt. But this also is a very personal matter for President Biden. When he has spoken about his son, hunter, its to express his love and support saying that he believes his son has done nothing wrong. It was supposed to be a pretty quiet day for President Biden here at the white house. He had no Public Events on his schedule. He had one phone call to hawaiis governor to talk about the wildfires there. But in an a little less than a hour we are expecting President Biden to depart the white house for rehoboth beach, delaware, where he has a home. Its the first time hes in front of reporters so well see whether he decides to comment in any way regarding the appointment of the Special Counsel as to this now investigation entering a new phase. Arlette saenz, thank you so much. Cnns paula reid is back with me as well as laura coates. Are you surprised theres a Special Counsel five years into this investigation after a plea deal had been almost agreed upon . That plea deal was within the reach of hunter biden. Im sure hes lamenting right now whatever fiasco actually occurred in that courtroom to not have all the is dotted, all the ts crossed to go through. Remember we heard from david weiss about what the process was like. He had said i have the authority to do so. Now this raised a lot of questions, and whatever happened on tuesday now does make me feel surprised about why now . What is happening here . Remember hes still the u. S. Attorney in delaware, but now the Special Counsel allows him to go beyond his jurisdiction. You can look at other areas as well. Its the reason why you have jack smith and go beyond that, you have things in florida and washington, d. C. It now goes beyond that, but at its kier i wonder what the decision really came down to. The Special Counsel statute says you can have this. Does a matter actually warrant an investigation . Is it warranted . He had concluded it did if you were garland. Was there a Conflict Of Interest at play here . The Talking Point you see on the right and left suggest Talking Points around this very notion there is a conflict of being able to have the president appoint the Attorney General who would oversee an investigation. Into his own son. But finally its the idea of what are you going to do about it now, and is there a way you can structure an investigation that is in the interest of the public to have the information . Garland says all three criteria are met, and so whatever took place between the clear agreement and now is anyones guess. Paula, help me out here. David weiss, the u. S. Attorney, now Special Counsel had previously said in writing that he had all the power he needed. He didnt need anymore authority. If he wanted today do charges in d. C. , he could reach out to the u. S. Attorney in d. C. If he wanted to do charges in l. A. , he could reach out. Now he has Special Counsel powers that give him that authority in writing in between we should note there were Whistle Blowers saying Behind The Scenes david weiss was complaining i dont have the authority to charge in this city or that state. And the Justice Department saying, no, no, no these Whistle Blowers are wrong. It looks as though maybe the Whistle Blowers are right. Its messy. It appears as if here theyre trying to insulate at the Justice Department and the Attorney General from what appears to be a case headed to a likely trial of the president s son. And i think theyre hoping that this Special Counsel designation will also insulate them from potential congressional testimony. There were calls for weiss to go on the hill, but now they can say, well, the Special Counsel durham, Special Counsel mueller, they testified after they submitted their report. And theres a lot of emphasis today at the Justice Department on this report and how that will offer some transparency here and that maybe fair in some respects, but that is not going to satisfy republicans who have a lot of questions about the investigation if that report and Special Counsel designation are now going to be used to prevent him from going to the hill. Its not just republicans who have questions. I have questions. So many questions. And im not getting all my answers. Heres another one for now. Im david weiss, appointed Special Counsel. Just a few weeks ago i was reds tee a say a diversion, a slap on the wrist, a misdemeanor. Really it was not a big punishment, and now i want special Counsel Authority to investigate something that just a few weeks ago i was basically saying this is the most i can prove in a court of law . That doesnt make sense to me either. By the way, im fully willing to believe theres a lot more to investigate and a lot more to charge him with, but that wasnt his position a few weeks ago. And remember go back to that courtroom where the judge had that same question where she talk about have you contemplated this is actually going to be the 360, everything is solved now and assume Hunter Bidens team had either negotiated that, were well aware if this could actually be a fully resolved issue, and that was part of her consideration of, well, hold on a second, you dont know if theres other investigations . Its a problem, ding, ding, ding. But it also lends credence now to not only the point made by Whistle Blowers which, by the way part of their point those Investigate Akin to a Police Officer arresting someone and says to the prosecutor heres what i arrest the person on, how dare you diverge on that. Well, the prosecutor has the power to decide what to bring. Just because you wanted Something Different doesnt mean it was a justifiable prosecution. What else was a part of it . Why did david weiss i think it was twice in writing already said, no, i actually did have the power. It seems what he meant was i have the power in delaware and now i want the power in other places, maybe d. C. , maybe california as well part of it. So it raises a lot of questions. Again, it goes back to the point where, you know, it was in his hand, the burden hand. Now youve got two jurisdictions in the bush because the Plea Agreement fell through. And lastly, there were a couple reasons why the judge was pushing at this Plea Agreement. One of them was she didnt think the Gun Charge Thing was legitimate and she didnt want to have to supervise all that. The question is they were on the same page whether or not hunter biden could be charged in the future. That was key to them. They made it clear if you pull back and say this was not the end of it, were going to trial. And not only are they willing to go to trial, theyre confident theyre going to win. But what im saying is if im hunter biden youve been david weiss, youve been hunter biden. Youre jake tapper. I have to put on lots of different hats. If i say wait a second, this is going to get much, much worse for me if they had the opportunity if they wanted to bring future charges, now its even worse. None of it was good for hunter biden. Sure, but isnt this worse . It depends on what the eventual outcome is. If his benefactor and attorney pays for that and hes ultimately acquitted and that is stressful and an awful thing to go through, but maybe that is better in the long run. Its unclear. Its a disaster for everyone. Did the Attorney General need to appoint a Special Counsel . Im going to talk to someone who used to do his job. Plus why todays announcement rattled republicans who have been leaning towards an Impeachment Inquiry into President Biden. Plus this just in a judges order in the 2020 election interference case. And the tragic scenes in hawaii. Heart breaking, really. 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Actually, were mostly hearing complaints from republicans because they dont like the choice of david weiss. David weiss was a trump appointed u. S. Attorney for delaware as the Special Counsel now. Nobodys actually on capitol hill because its a friday in august, but a social media post from House Speaker Kevin Mccarthy says, quote, is action by bidens Justice Department cannot be used to obstruct congressional investigations or whitewash the Biden Family Corruption If Weiss negotiated the Sweetheart Deal that couldnt get approved. A statement from the House Oversight committee reads quote, this move is part of the Justice Departments efforts to attempt a biden family coverup, unquote. And that echoes what Chairman Comer told me yesterday here on the lead. And so were concerned that the president is compromised because of the millions of dollars his familys received. And remember, jake, the president hasnt been truthful with the american people. This is why were investigating, and its difficult, jake. Its very difficult. The biden attorneys are obstructing, theyre intimidating witnesses. The doj will not cooperate with us, the fbi will not cooperate with us, the irs will not cooperate with us. With us now former Attorney General roberto gonzalez. He served in the george w. Bush administration. First of all, thanks for joining us. Whats your reaction to todays news u. S. Attorney weiss is now Special Counsel weiss . I mean its surprising given the fact hes been investigating this case in his status as the u. S. Attorney out of delaware. Everyones wondering, well, why now, why this change . Honestly, i dont know. From my perspective, and again theres so much that goes in these kind of decisions, information that as Attorney General you may have and others dont have. Looking at the circumstances here, it seemed like there was a conflict by virtue of the fact that hunter biden is the son of the president and the person the president appointed Attorney General. And why wasnt a Special Counsel appointed as soon as President Biden took office . And it may be the feeling, the calculation was thered be enough insulation, enough confidence in someone who had been appointed by donald trump, had been controlled by a republican controlled senate, that that would be sufficient to maintain confidence in the integrity of the investigation of the son of the president. And maybe this you know, maybe maybe as simple as Attorney General garland particularly if, in fact, weiss came to him and asked he was appointed Special Counsel. Maybe circumstances have changed so much, this has become so politicized and polarizing that he felt this was the appropriate thing to do. Again, from my perspective i always wondered why there wasnt an obvious conflict, and again i think its perhaps no Special Counsel was appointed because the fact weiss was appointed by former President Trump and confirmed by a republican controlled senate. We are where we are, but again im just speculating. Im not intending in any way to have my comments reflect any criticism or second guessing of the Attorney General. He has more information than we do, quite frankly. He sure does. Hopefully soon well find out the answer. I guess what im really wondering about so u. S. Attorney weiss goes to Merrick Garland on tuesday and says he wants Special Counsel powers even though in previous months he had asserted in writing he had all the power he needed to do the job. And then a few weeks ago he had a plea deal he was ready to engage in with hunter biden, basically a slap on the wrist, a Misdemeanor Charge and a Diversion Program. Now hes asking for Special Counsel power, which would suggest knowledge of greater crimes, theoretically, because why would you want Special Counsel power for misdemeanor and Diversion Program . Again, jake, we dont know. What i do know, im hearing some of the commentary this ensures this is going to go to trial. Im not so sure thats the case here because the risk is potentially much greater personally for hunter biden, but it also is bad for his father. And i dont know what the relationship is by all accounts. Certainly from the president s side theyre close. He loves his son. But does the son really want to put the president through a trial in the middle of a campaign . So its possible. Im not going to say its very likely, but it is possible there will be some kind of settlement still and that this will not go to trial. You know, again, theres so many Unanswered Questions i just dont know. Even based upon my experience as Attorney General, i just dont know. House republicans are signaling they want to move forward with an Impeachment Inquiry into President Biden. Will the existence of a Special Counsel interfere with that . I fear probably probably not because they they understand they will not get information as long as the investigation is ongoing. And so that their congressional investigation is going to be stymied, and so i think theyre going to elevate it, try to do something to appease their base. And so theyll begin an Impeachment Inquiry, which honestly i mean impeachment into criminal wrongdoing against a president of the United States for actions of the son. But, again, thats a world we live in today. Based on what you just said it seems you havent seen evidence that President Biden did anything criminal. And havent seen evidence, and i havent heard of any evidence coming out of the congressional hearing today to the contrary. It appears there is no such evidence. But, again, this is the world that we live in. One other thing that i will say, again, in terms of this is not a criticism of President Biden, but statements in fact his son did nothing wrong, you know, i dont know how he can say that when his son was willing to plea to criminal wrongdoing. And so that message is probably going to have to be calibrated to some extent. But remains to be seen whats going to happen going forward, jake. U. S. Attorney general alberto gonzalez, have a good weekend. Coming up what a judge said today about inflammatory statements by trump and what it cocould mean in the case agains him to overtrturn the 2020 election. Limited Edition Smart bed. Er plus, 36 month financing on select smart beds. Shop now only at sleep number. If you struggle. And struggle. And struggle with cpap. You should check out inspire. No mask. No hose. Just sleep. Inspire. Sleep apnea innovation. Learn more and view Important Safety Information at inspiresleep. Com wayfair has deals so big that you might get a big head. 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Splenda Diabetes Care shakes find them in the pharmacy aisle today. And were back with our Law And Justice lead. This time lets switch parties from the democrats to the republicans. A federal judge has just issued a Protective Order barring donald trump from publicly disclosing Sensitive Information including Witness Interviews thats turned over to his legal team as part of the 2020 election interference case. Judge Tanya Chutkan held her first hearing for the case earlier today. Cnn correspondent Jessica Snider is with me. What did chutkan have to say . She was forceful, jake. And she did issue that official Protective Order. It mandates trump and his team cant disclose any Sensitive Information from the case. Notably here she didnt give prosecutors that broad Protective Order that they wanted, but she did also issue several warnings to trump and his team. She noted that even though trump is running a political campaign, he still has to in her words yield to the administration of justice, and she said if that means his political speech has to be somewhat limited, then thats how its going to be. So she warned she will, in fact, be carefully scrutinizing statements from both trump and his legal team. And she didnt necessarily address some of trumps most recent posts from his truth social page. When he did criticize her the judge and the Special Counsel jack smith deranged, she did put it this way even ambiguous statements by parties and counsel, if they can be reasonably interpreted to intimidate witnesses or to prejudice potential jurors, that can threaten the process. So the government here, jake, said theyre prepared to start providing trumps team with all of that discovery today. The expectation is theyll have it all handed over by august 28th. And they talked about how wide ranging this material is. It includes Hundreds Of Reportings of Witness Interviews. Trump will not be able to discuss any of those. It also includes 11. 6 million pages of discovery and hard drives, jake. You say trump wont be able to discuss it. Just watch him. Judge chutkan wants the trial to start on january 2nd, she says, 2024. That date might slip, of course. But we should note the Iowa Caucuses, the first in the nation contest in the president ial race thats january 15th. January 2nd, thats fast and aggressive. Why the urgency . Shes already showing this intent to move quickly. She had that hearing today even though trumps team only wanted it next week. And part of the reason shes moving very quickly here is like you said, she seemed concerned trump may actually say things hes not supposed to. And she put it this way the more comments a party makes, the more urgency there will be to proceed to trial quickly in a jury pool. So, jake, she does thought want this case dragging on. Trumps team has until next week to propose their trial start date. Its likely theyll wait until after the november election in 2024 to want to begin trial, but well see the judge really wants to move quickly here, jake. Here to discuss cofounder and editorinchief of the dispatch and a fellow at the conservative American Enterprise institute. Jonah, thanks so much for joining us. This is interesting the judge, judge chutkan saying if he makes inflammatory statements that could taint the jury pool, and that might cause her to proceed to trial more quickly. I mean knowing trump i hope shes ready to start monday based on what he might say. But in all seriousness, Iowa Caucuses, january 15th, shes pushing for january 2nd. Is that fair and feasible . It seems its obvious theres simply no good options here. Good options are in the rearview mirror. Obviously the trump team wants to wait until after the election in part because the hope is if trump wins, he just erases the whole thing, so thats a bad outcome. Thats a moral hazard, and doing it while hes running for president is not good really for anybody. And so you just sort of have to pick your battles where you can. I think you raise the most salient point, which is and the therefore what question. Lets say trump does Say Something crazy i know thats a real stretch, take a moment to think of the possibility. But not only says something crazy but something that crosses the line . What does judge chutkan do and how does he respond to that . You could see in a normal circumstance if he was the ceo of a normal company and misbehaving in these normal ways you could see him end up going to jail for contempt. Putting a president ial candidate frontrunner in contempt thats a whole other level of crazy. Help us get in mind of people who defend this. You wrote in a recent article when arguing with trump die hard one of my favorite tactics is to agree with them. What do you mean . Well, because trump we remember all that he plays fourdimensional chess and all that kind of stuff. He actually plays like a china town tictactoe chicken, right . Its just in the moment. So hell say things in the moment to get him out of a specific accusation. So hell say i declassified all these documents. Well, those documents were declassified for a reason. Hes basically saying i declassified incredibly sensitiveatorily so i could show it off to my friends at maralago, that is not a great defense. Similarly, when he says when his defenders say, oh, look he just believed he won the election and he was acting on that, and you kraent prove his state of mind. You run through the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney general, 63 courts, private firm he hired to investigate claims of fraud all coming back and saying, yeah, theres just no there there, youre wrong, you didnt win, all the facts are against you. And the defense is, yeah, but he was just delusionally deranged with his idea somehow you cant prove otherwise. Okay, so maybe thats a good legal defense, but its an incredible indictment of the guy as a leader, as a human being, as a president. It shows hes unfit if hes that out of touch with reality. What do you think of this move by Merrick Garland today, the Attorney General to make u. S. Attorney david weiss the Special Counsel investigating. David weiss, weve heard republicans in the house and senate saying they didnt like the plea deal they signed off on, the judge didnt like it, so why should they trust him to be Special Counsel . I think its a complaint. I also think there are republicans on the hill who think the real reason for this is it will stymie investigations on the hill. People get to say including weiss himself, look, its an investigation, i cant come and jeopardize an ongoing investigation, and it slows down the gears of Chairman Comers investigation. I think the bigger issue here you were getting out as you were quizzing people trying to figure this out is we have no real reliable narrators anywhere here. Garland isnt telling us all the facts they have. Weiss isnt telling us all the facts they have. Joe bidens made it clear his preference is to back his son to the hilt even when the facts go the other way. The manucuser against hunter biden is obviously a corrupt and his manucuser is in the same business under investigation for all sorts of other things. Theres no one here to really say this is straight shooter, this is whats going on, so its very hard to parse. You dont think hunter biden is appreciate it. Were going to go live to hawaii next where the stories were hearing is heart breaking. One man who saw neighbors trapped by flames says a motorcycle saved his life. Stay w with us. Couple questions and got a real offer in seconds. Then, they just picked up the car and paid me right on the spot. Sell your car at carvrvana dot com today. Every day, more dog people, and more vets are deciding its time for a fresh approach to pet food. Theyre quitting the kibble. And kicking the cans. And feeding their dogs dog food thats actually ll, food. Developed with vets. Made from real meat and veggies. Portioned for your dog. And delivered right to your door. Its smarter, healthier pet food. Get 50 off your first box at thefarmersdog. Com realfood being middle class right now, its tough making ends meet for sure. Republicans in congress say if we just cut taxes even more for the biggest corporations the money will eventually someday trickle trickle down to you. Right. Joe biden would rather just stop those corporations from charging so damn much. Capping the cost of drugs like insulin. Cracking down on Surprise Medical Bills and all those crazy junk fees. Theres more work to do. Tell the president to keep lowering costs for middle class families. Beautiful. You see how the light catches the hubcap . Stunning. You sure you dont want your family in the family photos . They helped us save money when we bundled, so. Yeah. Same difference. Okay. This ones going on the mantle. [car screech] [car door slam] [camera shutter sfx] introducing neds plaque psoriasis. [camera shutter sfx] he thinks his flaky, red patches are all people see. Otezla is the 1 prescribed pill to treat plaque psoriasis. [ned . ] it can help you get clearer skin and reduce itching and flaking. With no routine blood tests required. Doctors have been prescribing it for nearly a decade. Otezla is also approved to treat psoriatic arthritis. Dont use otezla if youre allergic to it. Serious allergic reactions can happen. Otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Some people taking otezla had depression, suicidal thoughts, or weight loss. Upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. [crowd gasp] with clearer skin, movie night is a groovy night. [ting] live in the moment. Ask your doctor about otezla. And topping our National Lead today, devastation on the Hawaiian Island of maui. The death toll from the fires have reached a confirmed 55 people. Officials are warning that number will likely soar even higher. Thousands of people have been displaced, thousands remain without power or methods of communications. The maui county mayor says the Historic Town of lahaina is, quote, all gone. The town has no power, no internet. No one knows how many survivors or victims could still be in those scorched remains youre look at. Residents of the town are allowed back into their homes today to get a first look at the ashes left behind. Cnns Chief Climate Correspondent bill weir is on the island of maui with more now on the utter destruction. Reporter the trees you guys see behind you right here, this was all from the tornado that came through. No, weve never even seen a tornado in hawaii. Reporter in a place so familiar with weather extremes. Wow, its crazy. Reporter maui locals have never seen anything like the fire storm that obliterated lahaina. We were like now theres a little brush fire and within five minutes the whole thing was engulfed and went up in flames. Theres nobody there to put anything out. Reporter were just pulling into lahaina now and just getting our first glimpse at this town after hearing these nightmare stories, and it is worse than you can imagine. It looks like a world war ii set, like a bomb went off here, just utter scorched devastation ever where. Melted boats in the harbor. What was once the capitol of the Kingdom Of Hawaii and one of the most wellpreserved towns in nation is ash including bills famous art gallery. And he says he escaped the flames on his harly davidson, riding around evacuees trapped between fire and ocean. Everybody else jumping in the water. I mean flames were shooting over the top. I didnt even want to look behind me because i knew they were behind me. And theres noare to go. Thats what happened to all the people i think. All those cars sitting and waiting for someone to move in front of them, no one was moving anywhere. Youre dead in the water. They all jumped in the ocean and a lot of them didnt make it i heard. Im sure if there were winds it wasnt just that. There was diesel fuel in water as well and the coast guard cant come too close because of the reefs and a lot of people died from smoke inhalation. I know a woman who stood in the water for eight hours. Reporter now bracing for much bigger losses. When i was down there early there were uncles and people i know down in the street dead. People were trying to get to the end of the street you can tell by the cars parked. They say hundreds of people jumped in the water. Reporter you personally lost crops . I lost nothing compared to what people lost. I lost farm stuff and food and whatever, tiny Little Things compared to what people lost. People lost their family, they lost their houses. Everything weve seen, all the landmarks, everything that weve seen for years, history, its all gone. Reporter this is the closest port to the south of lahaina here in maui. Yesterday we saw everyone from fishermen to charter captains who are usually shooting Surfer Videos going out and trying to bring relief. So now youre seeing road traffic. They just started opening up the road to lahaina, but theres so much confusion right now. We just had someone drive by yelling their frustration about the government response right now. You know, jake, ive covered a few of these from the florida keys in irma where we heard really horrific stories about body counts that might be pending. We saw it in paradise, california, the deadliest fire in u. S. History, but about 90 of those people turned out to be just fine. Right now so many are worried the death toll could go into the many hundreds because of the lack of communication. So much electricity is down. People just dont know, have no way to get proof of life for their families. So it outpouring now is starting. The compassion jeff bezos whose fond of hawaii, and his wife donating 100 million to a maui relief right now. But the days ahead, were afraid, are just going to become more grim as people come to grips with how much has truly been lost here, jake. Bill weir in maui for us with the devastation. Thank you so much, bill. And we know so many of you watching and listening right now want to help the victimsf these Hawaii Wildfires. You can get an idea of the best ways to do so if you go to cnn. Com impact. Cnn. Com impact, where we provide a list of vetted resources. Another way to do it is you can text Hawaii To 707070 In Order to donate. Well be right back. A new car loses about ten percent of its value the minute you drive off the lot. Or more. Thats why Farme New Car Replacement pays to replace it with a new one of the same make and model. Get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. Farmers mnemonic of the same make and model. christina with Verizon Business unlimited, i get 5g, truly unlimited data, and unlimited hotspot data. So, no matter what, im running this kitchen. vo make the switch. Its your business. Its your verizon. Your Shipping Manager left to find themself. leaving you lost. You need to hire. I need indeed. Indeed you do. Indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. Visit indeed. 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Governor Kim Reynolds Reveling in the new Iowa State Fair and the republican president ial race at the center of both, rolling out a welcome mat to a parade of candidates, five months before the Iowa Caucuses ring the opening bell of the 2024 campaign. Kind of a metaphor for all the candidates. It is kind of right, get them to participate and do what they need to do and have fun with it. Showering all hopefuls with attention, staying neutral, at least for now. Its really important that they feel that they have a fair shot here in iowa, and i want iowans to have a chance to interact with them. Are not ruling out potentially an endorsement . I dont think you should never say never never, got to see what happens, i made it clear, looking at neutral, especially at the beginning of this, naturally going to start to narrow and then we will take a look at where it is that. So it is early for that. With republicans, to find the strongest candidate to win back the white house, she believes the race is far from settled. The national polls, and what im hearing from iowans, when im traveling around. There could be surprises over the next five or six months. Theres always surprises, i cant think of one where there has not been a surprise. For months she has been hosting the republican hopefuls and basking in accolades. The best governor in the entire company, kim reynolds. Joining on stage at the fair. Except for President Donald Trump, hes been lashing out, attacking her for not supporting him, reynolds, the first female governor smiled and took exception to that. Actually i went to made that, 2018, and squeaking by. 2018 midterms were a referendum, won reelection by nearly 19 points and remarkably popular the ones close relationship has grown more complicated. Kinsa wrong to see them as the nominee . I think its early. Our job is not to pick the winner necessarily with narrow the field, thats really what the caucus has done. Jake kava governors popularity among republicans makes her a valuable asset for all of these candidates to gain attention, and of course if she would offer a recommendation at the end of the Iowa Caucus Campaign that could also be incredibly helpful. Repeatedly declined to say she would not leave an endorsement, she left the door open, but what is clear, the race is much more fluid in iowa then polls suggest, thats what she believes, our conversations with iowa voters suggest that as well, tomorrow at the fair, for President Donald Trump will be here as well as Florida Governor ron desantis doing appearances, five months from next week are the Iowa Caucuses. Thanks so much, the Special Counsel appointed in the hunter biden case, a democrat thinking of challenging joe biden will be here live, we will ask if todays announcement impacts his decision, stay with us. 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Get way more into what your into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. Welcome to the league im jake tapper, this hour entire towns reduced to ash from the fires in hawaii, cnn learning that mao is warning sirens were not active when the fire started. A key hearing for the 2020 Election Fraud case, and something that could affect the timeline. President joe bidens son hunter is part of the special investigation, elevating david weiss, the u. S. Attorney from Delaware Appointed by trump to the position of Special Counsel, already investigating him for allegedly paying failing to pay more than 1 million in taxes and a federal gun charge for lying about his drug use on a Background Check Form. Last month Hunters Lawyers that they had struck a deal but it fell apart in court, and when the judge questioned it, both sides said they tried to keep negotiating but the Justice Department says the case is all but certain to head to a trial. What does this all mean for hudson by hunter biden, especially as his dad is running for reelection . Bigger that means this investigation is far from over, it had been going on for five years, hunter biden was close to this plea deal until it fell apart under the scrutiny of the judge last month. She was not prepared to sign off on it. It seemed like everything was wrapping up with a Special Counsel appoinen