Special counsel jack smith announcing the third indictment of donald j. Trump after months of investigating the former president and his allies and their efforts to overturn the 2020 president ial election. This hour well have indepth coverage of the accusations against trump and the new information were learning about his attempt to stay in power from that sweeping federal investigation. And well also look at how this latest legal issue could impact the president ial campaign as he has used previous indictments to boost fundraising. Good morning, and welcome to Way Too Early on this wednesday, august 2nd, a historic day. Im jonathan lemire. Thanks for starting it with us. And well begin this morning with history once again. Former President Donald Trump who took an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the United States constitution has been indicted for allegedly trying to subvert that very same document. In washington, d. C. Yesterday a federal grand jury of trumps own peers convene
its closing arguments in donald trump s civil fraud trial after a dramatic scene in which the former president himself addressed the court. the judge had only allowed trump to speak on the condition that he focus on the facts but the president quickly veered into other territory claiming he is an innocent man being persecuted d the judge telling defense counsel please control your client. th former president has already been found liable for inflating properties to get loan deals. the judge will attempt to issue his ruling by the end of the month. yasmin vossoughian is reporting for us outside the courtroom in new york. vaughn hillyard is urbandale, iowa, also with us, renato, former federal prosecutor. somebody might argue at least in terms of drama donald trump s a tough act to follow. reporter: yeah, i think that person would likely win that argument. nonetheless, i think lee tee james has a lot in store. she is not likely to offer closing arguments to other attorneys.
america s second largest city slammed by flash floods and bracing for more. the justice department documents found into a private office once used by joe biden. and a huge celebration in the streets of georgia as the bulldogs go back to back in the college football championship. here we go. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i m christine romans. good morning, everyone. right now, 90% of the population of california under flood watch. america s second largest city is slammed by a relentless storm. flash flooding, mudslides, wind damage all across central and southern california. this is video just in from santa clarita. firefighters pulling a person out of that car as water rushes around them. there are scenes like these all over the los angeles area. roads now closed. firefighters rescuing people caught in these flash floods. santa barbara county alone responding to some 200 calls like this. in some cases it s better to leave the car home
historic inflation. the decision will likely produce ripple effects on your personal finances and the economy in the months to come. cnn s matthew gin et joins us. we ve been awaiting this decision, what has the fed said? 75 basis points, the fed just delivered another massive interest rate hike, designed to put this inflation fire out. that means higher borrowing costs. this is the fourth straight interest rate hikes. this is historic. we ve never seen drastic actions like this under janet yellen. we never saw this from ben bernanke, or even alan greenspan. you have to go back to the early 80s under paul volcker. i think this says how stubborn the inflation has been. the fed s statement, which is watched very closely, is basically identical to last month, except for one key part. the fed reiterated that ongoing interest rate hikes are likely to be appropriate, but they added that this is going to be the case in order to get policy restrictive enough to get inflation down
he would be able to pay anywhere near the fine, the penalty that may be levied in this case. there s the over arching idea of immunity. in the little bit we played right now talks about his example with president zelenskyy and quid pro quo, got him impeached the first time around. his lawyers went so far as to suggest a president could use navy seal team 6 to assassinate a political foe and he would have immunity unless it went through congress first. this is someone who is obviously deeply concerned about the legal matters he faces. as much as his campaign has used them as rallying cries, they have bolstered his poll numbers within the republican primary field, though a general election later this year might be a different story, but personally you can tell how anxious he is about this. it comes through in his remarks there, and in private conversations he s had. usa today captures just how