Ukraines counteroffensive and sobering new assessment. And now it is time to set the rule of the road as they head to the trial, and trumps team is saying that the prosecutors are going after his First Amendment rights now. And 40 Million People are under severe threats today after the extreme storms have battered the United States over night. Im omar jimenez with kate bolduan and john berman. This is cnn news central. We have brandnew reporting this morning on ukraines counteroffensive in russia. Weeks into the fight, the reports from the battlefield are increasingly sobering. Specifically, concerns of the ability to retake specific territory. The National Security correspondent and the awardwinning author jim sciutto broke this reporting, and now he heard the reporting, and this is a marked change in weeks to folks in the u. S. And europe and the military and diplomacy and also lawmakers and there is a consistent read of the intelligence assessments here, and that is the counter offe
that in the midterms of the small d democracy, and also i am sure that we will see you taking a poll at a diner some time soon. thank you. and now, former vice president pence says he has met the requirements to take the stage at the first republican presidential debate. he has met the unique 40,000 donor threshold. he made quick and easy work of the threshold and he is looking forward to the substantive debate of the issues for the american people, and he said that hopefully trump has the courage to show up. and david chalian, you stood at this table with us one week ago essentially as the cnn news central anchor, and so you can ask the questions here. as we approach the first republican debate, what are the major questions outstanding that you see? well, the biggest single
you don t want as much focus on him and just him if trump is not on the stage, but other candidates want to carve their own path forward to build support. david chalian, political director and sometimes news central anchor. yes, i am in the renegotiations with the contract right now. thank you, david. and the reason that popped up is because john berman started to be extremely rude, and david chalian is the only gentleman on set who would come to someone named kate s defense. i am here for you. all right. thank you. and now, president biden is going to designate a new monument in his western swing to appeal to new constituencies like younger voters. we will be back.