This horrific scene. They are working also from below to try to tunnel in to search for the missing and now you see in these live pictures they are working from above. Which i mean bucket by bucket trying to pull out debris. It is now been about 34 hours since that building just crumbled. Cnns rosa flores and sanjay gupta are at the scene and both joining me now. Rosa, first to you, what is the latest on the Search And Rescue operation . Reporter well you know, kate, the death toll increased overnight from one to four. Also the number of people accounted for increased to 120 and the number of people unaccounted for increased to 159. I just heard from Jackson Memorial hospital, they say that they are still treating two individuals, for privacy reasons they will not let us know what type of injuries they had. But spl of the challenges that firefighters have been dealing with overnight. I was here last night at about 10 00 when this started pouring. They also saw fires that they put out and then got reignited, just today weve seen multiple d downpours. And that complicates the situation given the fact that all of the water adds more weight. Were learning from officials about the dangerous work that firefighters are doing at this hour. Were hearing that they are working in about 15minute shifts at the moment depending on the conditions inside some of the tunnels where theyre searching. The amount of time that theyre able to be inside is very small. They are carrying about 80 pounds of skequipment including saws. They cant do very much because every single piece of rubble could have catastrophic consequences. That is why their working with engineers making sure that everything is shored up, secured, before the men and women enter those very dangerous areas looking for signs of life. Now we are learning more, of course, about the people who are unaccounted for. Right now that number stands at 159. My colleague poppy harlow interviewed a woman named rachel spiegle, she told us about her mother judy spiegle. The last time that she had communication with her mother was on wednesday, hours before the collapse. And now it is a very moving text for this woman. She said that her mom found a dress, a princess dress for her daughter. Take a listen. She wanted this dress and my mom found it onlineond it came back in my daughters size which is a four and my mom bought it and that is the last that i have, at 9 00 something she bought the dress and she was so excited. And the dress is in the mail and i just want my mom to give it to her. My moms helps me a lot. Im a working mom and during covid my mom choose to be if florida so she could help me with remote school, help me with pickups and dropoffs and dinner and my mom has attended many play dates, Dance Classes and everything. Everything that you could possibly imagine. Reporter now jim and poppy, families are at a Reunification Center hoping for good news as firefighters as you could see behind me continuing to sift through the rubble. Jim and poppy. Rosa, thank you very much. Im going to take it now. Sanjay, i want to bring you in on this. As weve talked about the hours that have ticked by, now 30 plus hours after the collapse, what are you hearing . What are the chances of surviving in the rubble this long . I dont think anybody is willing to put a time frame on it at this point, kate. For obviously reasons. I think it is still a Search And Rescue mission. Dy have a conversation with the Medical Examiner about that and that is still the mode in which theyre operating. But as you get further and further out, it depends on a lot of factors. All types of injuries a person may have had, are they in one of the voids that weve been hearing about. Do they have access to air . And obviously the preexisting conditions in terms of being able to tolerate all of this. It is tough. There is to question. But at this point, you hear that typically the 24 hour mark is typically when most people who are going to survive are recovered but you also hear stories as you well know, kate, being in haiti and other places, ive seen people rescued days after the initial collapse. So there is still very much working under that sort of that mission and the Medical Examiner sort of clued me in to the fact they are still into Search And Rescue. And from a medical b perspective, when you are 30 plus hours along, note not only the collapsed and the injures that you have to be concerned about, sanjay, but from just a medical stand point, what do you worry about if there are survivors who are stuck under the rubble . Well, i mean, for them, obviously it is a question are they are the injuries catastrophic to point where they may be rescued and be able to dish. Were going live to washington where the Attorney General is set to make a big announcement. Condolences for the community in surfside, florida. I know how difficult it is for the families who have lost and for those who are waiting to hear. And i express great gratitude for the First Responders and for the others who are assisting in the ongoing rescue operation. I know that the federal government is providing assistance to the state and local governments and we stand ready as things develop to provide more assistance if it is required. The rights of all eligible citizens to vote are the central pillars of our democracy. They are the rights from which all other rights ultimately flow. Two weeks ago i spoke about our countrys history of expanding the right to vote. I noted that our progress on protecting Voting Rights, especially for Black Americans and people of color, has never been steady. Moments of Voting Rights expansion have been often met with counter efforts to curve the franchise. Among other things, i express concern about the rise in state legislative actions that will make it harder for millions of citizens to cast a vote that counts. I explained that the Justice Department is rededicating resources to enforcing federal law and to protecting the franchise for all eligible voters. And i promised that we are scrutinizing new laws that seek to curb voter access and where we see violations of federal law, we will act. In keeping that promise, today the department of justice is suing the State Of Georgia. Our complaint alleges that recent changes to georgias Election Laws were enacted with the purpose of denying or abridging the right of Black Georgians to vote on the counts of race or color in violation of section two of the Voting Rights act. Several studies show that georgia experienced record Voter Turnout and participation rates in the 2020 election cycle. Approximately twothirds of eligible voters in the state cast a ballot in the november election, just over the national average. This is cause for celebration. But then in march of 2021, georgias Legislature Passed sb202. Many of that Laws Provisions make it harder for people to vote. The complaint alleges that the straighten acted those restrictions with the purpose of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race or color. In a few moments, assistance Attorney General clark will talk in more detail about this case. The United States versus georgia. I want to thank the staff of the Civil Rights Divisions, Voting Section for the hard work on this matter and for their every day efforts to protect americans Voting Rights. The critical nature of their work is the reason were doubling the enforcement. This is the first of many steps were taking to ensure that all eligible voters could cast a vote, that all lawful votes are counted and that every voter has access to accurate information. The Civil Rights Division continues to analyze other state laws that have been passed and we are following the progress of legislative proposals under consideration in additional states. Where we believe that the civil rights of americans have been violated, we will not hesitate to act. We will use all existing provisions of the Voting Rights act, the National Voter registration act, the help america vote act, the americans with disabilities act, and the Uniformed And Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act to ensure that we protect every qualified american seeking to participate in our democracy. Under the supervision of the associate Attorney General, the Civil Rights Division is also taking proactive measures to help states understand federal law and best practices. We are in the process of developing guidance to help ensure that post election audits comply with federal law, and we are working in guidance with respect to early voting and voting by mail. And because the upcoming redistricting cycle may be the first since 1960 to proceed without the key preclearance provision of the Voting Rights act, well publish new guidance to make clear the Voting Protections that apply to all jurisdictions as they redraw their electoral maps. These include maps used for congressional districts, state legislatures, county commissions, City Councils and more. Pursuant to president bidens executive order, we are also working to ensure access to Voter Registration for eligible individuals in federal custody and will assist other federal agencies in expanding Voter Registration opportunities as permitted by law. Finally, as i noted two weeks ago, we are seeing a dramatic increase in menacing and violent threats ranging from the highest administrators to volunteer poll workers. To address this effort to undermine our electoral process, today the Deputy Attorney general will issue a directive to all federal prosecutors and the fbi which will highlight the prevalence of these threats, and instruct them to prioritize investigating these threats. Today we will also launch a task force including personnel from the criminal, the Civil Rights Division, the National Security division and the fbi to focus on these threats. We will promptly prosecute any violations of federal law. We are using every method at our disposal at our Enforcement Efforts but that is not enough. We urge congress to act to provide the department with important authorities it needs to protect the Voting Rights of every american. Eight years ago today, the Supreme Court issued the decision in Shelby County versus holder. Prior to that decision, the Justice Department had an invaluable tool it could use to protect voters from discrimination. Section five of the Voting Rights act. Under that section, any change with respect to voting in a covered jurisdiction could not be enforced unless a jurisdiction first proved to the Justice Department or to the United StatesDistrict Court for the district of columbia, that the proposed change did not deny the right to vote on account of race, color or membership in a language minority group. Using that tool, the department prevented over 175 proposed Election Laws across georgia from being implemented because they failed the statutory test. If georgia had still been covered by section five, it is likely that sb202 would never have taken effect. We urge congress to restore this invaluable tool. I will now turn the podium over to Chrissin Clark who will tell you more about our filing in the United States versus georgia. Thank you, Attorney General garland. Two weeks ago you made clear that the department we just heard a big announcement from the Attorney General of the United States. The Justice Department is suing the State Of Georgia over the recently passed and enacted law restricting making it harder to vote in that state. And that is what the Justice Department is alleging in its complaint in this lawsuit. Let me bring in right now cnn justice correspondent Jessica Schneider and Senior Analyst laura coates. How significant is this, laura . It is extremely. I actually worked in the Voting Rights section of the Civil Rights Division in the department of justice and it is extraordinary that they are taking this action. Not because the facts do not lend itself to this. But the fact that theyre trying to ensure that what is left of the Voting Rights act, the idea of protecting people against the infringement of Voting Rights on the basis of color and other factors is not going to be infringed. And we heard from Merrick Garland where he promised to essentially say even without section five, he was going to use all of the available tools for the Justice Department to talk about these issues. And here we have section two which essentially said you cannot craft laws with an efforts on any eye to undermine vote on the basis of race and other factors and based on the results test, meaning even if you didnt d not intend to do so, the results test of section two said that if it has that effect on voters of color, it could still be thought of as unconstitutional. Now he interestingly said that he believed not only had the result, but also it would have the intent there. So the combination of those two things tells you is a new day in the department of justice. I was just looking at as notes that i took from what said. Many of the Laws Provisions were enacted with those restrictions with the purpose of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race or color. Directly to your point, laura. Jessica, remind folks about the georgia law. This is a big debate leading up to it. And we reported on it extensively. But the law that the Justice Department is directly targeting now. And remember georgia was really ground zero of these calls of election fraud. We heard that january 2nd phone call from former President Trump who was still president at the time urging georgia officials to just find him a few more votes. And so really georgia has been the focus here. And in march of 2021, just a few months ago, georgia enacted this very wideranging law restricting voting in many senses. Ill run down. There were new voter i. D. And allows State Officials to cake over control from some local election boards. Limited use of Ballot Drop Boxes an then the last provision, which critics went crazy over, it made it a crime for people to offer food and water to voters who were standing in line. Something that is really standard especially last election where we saw lines stretching and people waiting for sometimes hours to actually vote. So now the Justice Department really taking their commitment to Voting Rights with which theyve stressed over the past many weeks, taking this to the new level and suing the State Of Georgia over these laws that were enacted. And what is interesting here, kate, is that were actually in the process of waiting for the Supreme Court to issue a decision about the scope of section two. Because as you and laura have been talking about and as the Attorney General mentioned, section five was usually the reason that many of the states werent allowed to pass these expansive voting laws or voting laws that restricted voting. But now that that was taken away by Shelby Versus holder in 2013, the people challenging these laws have looked to section two. And were awaiting in the next few days that the Supreme Court will be issuing a decision as to how broad section two can be for people challenging those laws. This will directly play into how the Justice Department continues