news, we are tracking devastating and deadly wildfires across hawaii. drought and hurricane-force winds fueling multiple blazes which have killed at least six people. hawaii's lieutenant governor joins me live this hour. we are following breaking news out of utah where a man accused of threatening to kill president biden has just been shot dead by fbi agents trying to arrest him. the fulton county district attorney is expected to seek indictments against more than a dozen people as she nears charging decisions in her probe of the election interference by donald trump and his allies. stand by for details. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." this is cnn breaking news. let's get straight to the breaking news. the horrendous wildfires scorching the island of maui and that way. we are very grim reports of a rising death toll as authorities urge residents and tourists to flee the fast-moving blazes. cnn meteorologist derek van dam has all of the latest developmentses. >> it looks like an area that had been bombed in the war. >> tonight at least six people confirmed dead and a massive search and rescue operation under way in maui county as wildfires engulf two hawaiian islands. new helicopter video showing homes and businesses burned to the ground. >> in my 52 years of flying on maui, i've never seen anything like that. >> the state now activating military black hawk helicopters to fight the fires that are burning across maui and some brushfires on the big island. >> maui's mayor saying more than 2,000 people are in shelters and all of this as winds associated with hurricane dora continue to push across the island and fuel the flames. >> we never anticipated in this state that a hurricane which did not make impact on our islands will cause this type of wildfires. wildfires that wiped out communities and wildfires that wiped out businesses, wildfires that destroyed homes. >> lieutenant governor silvia luke who is acting as the governor as governor josh green travels back to hawaii says he's expected to return tonight and he's preparing to request emergency federal assistance from the white house. >> governor green and i have been talking very closely. we just feel so sad and great sympathy and prayers out to the people of maui. >> state officials also enacting an emergency proclamation discouraging tourists from traveling to the popular destination. with late word tonight that american and united airlines are canceling all flights to maui's airport. >> this is not a safe place to be. >> tonight, hospitals on the island are overwhelmed with burn patients and people suffering from smoke inhalation. complicating evacuations, 911, cell and phone services are down. >> oh, my god. >> right now emergency response teams are working together to gain control of the flames. the disaster wiping out power to thousands of homes and businesses and according to maui county officials, the u.s. coast guard has rescue at least 12 people from the waters off lahaina saying they jumped into the ocean to escape the smoke and fire conditions. some lahaina residents comparing the scene to an apocalypse. >> people basically running for their lives. >> many now saying they're homeless. >> our house is gone. everything that we've ever known was gone. >> everyone i know in lahaina, their homes have been burned down. >> and, wolf, the mayor of maui warns that the fires on the island are not yet contained with flare-ups continuing to occur and an analysis of our team of meteorologists here at cnn expects the winds to start to relax later tonight local time, perhaps a sliver of hope in a dire situation, wolf. >> perhaps. all right, derek van dam, thank you very much for that report. for more on the fires i want to bring in our meteorologist chad myers. he's joining us from the cnn weather center. how are the winds contributing to this ongoing danger? >> two things combined, wolf. a high pressure to the north up here. there's hawaii right through there and hurricane dora. a category 4 hurricane that passed south. you would think hundreds and hundreds of miles would be far enough away, but with that high there and that low there and the funneling effect, it wasn't. 82 miles per hour was the highest gust, but there finally goes dora, 130 mile per hour storm and it will get into cooler water and die off. the farther it goes away the more the winds will die off. we will lose some of that difference between the high and the low pressure, all of the smoke coming off maui in the overnight satellite picture. i looked at this this morning, and i saw all of these orange spot, wolf, and i thought, oh, we must be looking at a forest. this must be some burning trees. now in the dead of the day we are looking at those spots being homes that are no longer there. it really does look like something out of a wildfire in southern california want something you would certainly expect in hawaii. new report from the hawaii wild life management says that about 25% of all the grasses there now in hawaii are not native. that could have contributed something, as well because those non-native grasses are pretty flammable. >> chad myers, thank you very much for that report. awful situation, indeed. >> i want to get reaction right now to all of the breaking news from hawaii, senator mazy harona. let me first of all express my deepest condolences for the six people reported dead so far in this horrific wildfire. do you fear, senator, that more lives could be lost? >> the county is still engaged in the rescue part. the disaster is very deep and broad, thank you for your condolences, and so the county is still fighting the blaze and the search and rescue part continues, but we know that the harm that has been caused by this deaf station is going to be deep and long, and so i'm really grateful for all of the support that we're getting from the federal government as well as, you know, the press conference that was done by the state that it's all hands on deck. i have been in touch with the homeland security secretary mayorkas who stands by to provide fema assistance, which has been provided to some extent and our request to the president for our declaration of an emergency so that more resources can be brought to bear in this devastation. >> have you had a chance yet, senator to speak directly with president biden? >> no, but we know that he is well aware and that's why the secretary of homeland security contacted me, and i have also been in touch with the small business administration, admini administrator guzman because there are many businesses of lahaina, a very historic town. at one time capital of hawaii and so sba support will be very important and so my reaching out and talking with the administrator guzman is a very critical part of enabling all of us to recover from this devastation and it is going to take time and commitment. >> senator, just how unprecedented of a challenge is this for maui and hawaii county, for that matter? >> what is your message to your fellow hawaiians right now? >> that we are coming together to make sure that the people of maui get the resources and the support that they need. i know that there are people calling our emergency services to find out how they can be of help and the federal government stands ready. we are strong and resilient, and so we are doing everything we can to restore the power and there are some 3,000 without power and we are doing everything we can to restore those facilities, but working together, that is what's going to be necessary, and i want to say that for the visitors who are on maui that our airlines are working to enable them to get off maui and residents who have lost their homes to come to oahu and go to our convention center where they will receive additional support and help that they need. so we are all coming together to provide the kind support that is necessary at this time of crisis. >> the video we are showing our viewers, the pictures are really horrendous. what else can you tell us, senator, about where e vavacuat efforts stand right now? >> we are really grateful that the airlines have stepped up to basically lower their prices so that some 4,000 or more people can leave maui, come to oahu or to receive the kind of assistance they need to return to their homes on the mainland, and also to shelter at the convention center on oa hugh if necessary in order to provide assistance for whatever else that they need. so, truly, wolf, it is all hands on deck in terms of the federal support, state, county and volunteer support. >> i want to say good luck to all of the people, senator mazie hirono. >> thank you. aloha to everyone for your expression of support and concern. >> i will speak with the acting governor out of the state right now. just ahead, there's more breaking news we're following in the situation room. fbi agents fatally shot a man while attempting to arrest him for allegedly threat edge president biden. we are learning new information right now and we will bring that to you right after a quick break. ...unless s grandpa's got flavo. dayumm! crabfest is here for a limited time. welcome to fun dining. ♪ ♪ we're reinventing our network... ...with smarter, more efficient routes... ...so you can deliver more value to your customers. fast. reliable. perfectly orchestrated. the united states postal service. hi! need new glasses? buy one pair, get one free at visionworks! how can you see me squinting? i can't! i'm just telling everyone!...hey! buy one pair, get one free for back to school. visionworks. see the difference. you're watching football wrong! what do you call a guy in face paint that can't get the game? ...a clown! sorry, what app was it again? no, no. just give me a second... amateurs. ohhh! sorry everybody. directv sports central gives you access to every game... ...so you never have to compromise on gameday. ...was that necessary? i was just illustrating a point. oh. get in the redzone with sports pack. call 1-800-directv - [announcer] do you have an invention idea but don't know what to do next? call invent help today. they can help you get started with your idea. call now 800-710-0020. officials say fbi agents in utah shot and killed a man today while trying to arrest him for allegedly making death threats against president biden. our senior crime and justice correspondent shimon prokupecz is gathering more information for us. what can you tell us, shimon? >> wolf thshgs was a very serious situation for the fbi. the last threat coming just days ago in preparation for the president's trip to utah. this is an individual by the name of craig robertson. he'd been under fbi surveillance for quite some time, but finally after this last thread where he talked abo biden coming to utah, that he was going to be digging out his guille suit and dusting off his m-24 sniper that they finally decided that they needed to move in to arrest him. they went to his home this morning at 6:00 a.m. when they encountered him and that is when they shot ask killed him. i am told he was armed with a handgun at the time, but this threat was so serious, certainly for the fbi this morning as the president was getting ready to go to utah. fbi s.w.a.t. members and agents were suiting up to go and take him off the street. this man has made other threats according to the fbi. he made threats against fbi agens who visited him back in march after they learned of online postings that he had previously made. they went to his home to talk to him and just days after this in march, he's poing threats against the fbi. helso posted other threats saying he was getting ready for the elections in 2024, that he d guns and that he was getting ready. that is a photo from his facebook page that the fbi released of the guns that he had in the house, and then finally, what really started all of this, wolf, is that there was a threat made against the manhattan district attorney who has been investigating former president donald trump. that's what set all this off. this man claimed that he was going to come to new york, kill alvin bragg, shoot him ask that was the post that ultimately led to the fbi opening an investigation against this man. they had him under surveillance and finally after this last threat days ago saying he was getting ready for the president's visit and that he was going to have his gun and they decided to move in and tried to arrest him and then this happened this morning. >> very disturbing, indeed. shimon, i want you to stay with us. i want to bring in senior law enforcement analyst andrew mccabe with former deputy director of the fbi. president biden is set to land in utah any minute now. just how imminent and serious was this death threat to him? >> well, wolf, it was extremely serious coming from an individual who was already under investigation for lodging disgusting and serious threats against other pol titicians and political figures. you mentioned the threat he made in march against alvin bragg in new york. that's what initiated the fbi's investigative interest when they received a tip from a social media company that brought that threat to their attention. so this wasn't the normal chatter that you hear in the run-up to an event that might include a politician or a president. this was someone they were already concerned about and then they started talking about acting out against the president in this tip and i'm sure that fwrazed everyone's concern to the absolute highest levels. what goes through your mind, and they're all included in this 49-page complaint that was just issued by the united states attorney against this defendant, fred robinson. what goes through your mind, directly threatening the fbi with a loaded gun. >> wolf, it's a remarkable document. as said, pete threats and i, i think what really strike treks me how serious it is for law enforcement can particularly the fbi rid now to be in this realm, in the social media space trying to understand who actually presents a threat to our political figures and who are folks that are just kind of talking, posturing or boasting online. this is a very, very hard thing to do. in this case you have someone who made not just one threat in the fit of peak, but multiple threats over a period of time, yet aggressive interactions with law enforcement when they went to his house some month oos and he threatened to kill them. this is a guy that really rises to the top of your threat matrix as someone who you have to be most concerned about and certainly that's how this leethsal enters action play out today. >> it certainly is, shimon, letty moo get back to you, how much is this heightened for this political extremism? >> it's very he, wolf, you have the fbi and social media companies mono thor torring this, and that's they learned, we were so concerned about it, we're letting you know about it. the other thing that's going on with this is his talk about former president donald trump. there are very clear indications that he was a supporter of the former president. in fact, when the fbi went to visit him to say hey, we're on to you, we know what you're doing. he was wearing a hat with trump's name on it and he was talking about other people who either investigated or prosecuted the former president. so there's clearly that going on, as well here and that is something that is extremely concerning for law enforcement. >> if you head this complaint, it is very, very disturbing to see what's going on. >> shimon prokupecz, andrew mccabe, thank you very much. >> coming up, evacuations are under way and the national guard has been deployed while wildfires, stay with us. yoyou're in "the situation room" diabetes can serve up a lot of questions, like, "what is your glucose?" and "can you have more cbs?" fore you decide... with the freestyle libre 2 system know your gluce level and where it's headed. no fingersticks needed. manage your diabetes with more confidence. and lower your a1c. the number one doctor prescribed cgm. freestyle libre 2. try it for free at freestylelibre.us you're watching football wrong! what do you call a guy in face paint that can't get the game? ...a clown! sorry, what app was it again? no, no. just give me a second... amateurs. ohhh! sorry everybody. directv sports central gives you access to every game... ...so you never have to compromise on gameday. ...was that necessary? i was just illustrating a point. oh. get in the redzone with sports pack. call 1-800-directv [ applause ] >> the day you get your clearchoice dental implants makes every day a confident day... a never-hide-my-smile day... a life-of-the-party day... a take-on-the-world day... a believe-in-myself day... a flash-my-new-teeth day. because your clearchoice day is the day you get your confidence back for good. a clearchoice day changes every day. schedule a free consultation. that's why comcast business de is launching theal. mobile made free event. with our business internet, new and existing customers can get one year of unlimited mobile for free. it's our best internet. powered by the next generation 10g network and with 99.9% reliability. plus one line of free mobile for an entire year. it's the mobile made free event-happening now. get started for just $49.99 a month. plus, ask how to get one free line of unlimited mobile. comcast business, powering possibilities. braking news we're following. wildfires are forcing evacuations on hawaii's big island and maui as thousands of people are taking refuge in shelters and many homes and businesses are in flames. cnn's brian todd is covering all of this for us. what's the latest, brian? >> wolf, officials on maui say there are more than 3,000 people in shelters at the moment and for those who survived and other witnesses we are getting fresh and horrifying accounts overnight of narrow escapes and lives devastated in an instant. >> bands of flames and smoke that spread horrifically fast arriving without warning, giving people little or no time to evacuate. those are the consistent, terrifying accounts of victims and witnesses on maui. >> we saw the smoke start away from our house and this is 3:30 or 4:00, by 5:30, everything was gone. everything weave ever known was gone. >> claire also got out of her home just in time. >> holy cow, within an hour the flames had moved all of the way down to the end of the neighborhood. >> kent and other residents of the town of lahaina and the area surrounding it giving harrowing accounts of what they saw and g images to match them. >> oh, my gosh. look at the harbor. >> this video of a building violently burning was taken by allen dickar who said at least one of his houses caught on fire. this is a historic area of front street where he has a gallery. >> i started taking a video of it because i was amazed there were no fire trucks there and as i turned and looked out front street, front street exploded in flame. >> motorist marjorie st. clair narrated as she drove through the flames in lahaina. >> it's like lahaina is on fire. oh, my god! >> jeff says he was told his house was gone after he, evacuated. he took this video of a salvation army facility in flames. claire kent who works on a boat sent us these pictures of fire in the distance and what appeared to be smoke and flames on the water. she said the coast guard and brief at boaters had to scramble and rescue people. >> they had to get people out of the water because they had just run down and started swimming to get away from the fire. >> kent said it's not just the victims who are in shock. rescuers are also traumatized. >> my friend got out of his car and he was covered head to toe in ash, his eyes were plaque, his mouth was plablack, and he a car full of old people and he was just, like, the look on his face was -- terror. >> claire kent and other survivors say those apocalyptic scenes were made worse by lack of communication, they couldn't see news reports or get communication ahead of time that the fires were spreading. at one point, quote, there were guys on bicycles just screaming at people to leave. wolf, imagine that in yours or any other neighborhood. >> terrible, terrible indeed, brian todd, thanks for that report. for more on the breaking news i am joined by hawaii's lieutenant governor silvia luke. lieutenant governor, thank you so much for joining us. my deepest, deepest condolences for the six lives lost so far. are you bracing, lieutenant governor, for more potential deaths? >> wolf, thank you for your concern. this has been a devastating moment. it's been so shocking and devastating not just for maui, but the entire hawaii community. six -- we were just -- we just learned recently that six lives were lost. this is just the beginning, initial assessment. we are still making assessment on damage to properties, damage to people's homes and additional potential losses. we are just so heart broken and devastated by this entire conte. >> what can you tell us, lieutenant governor about the search and rescue efforts that are under way right now? how much are they complicated by the power outages and the disruptions, for example, in cell service? >> yeah, no. absolutely, you've got that absolutely right. what made it even more complicated was the fact that we have hurricane season around this time every year and with hurricane season the anticipated impacts are flooding and heavy rains. we, you know, rarely we see situations where due to a hurricane we would see this kind of severe fire -- wildfires. the wildfires were exacerbated by the gust of wind that reached anywhere between 70 to 80 miles per hour, so quickly, these flames reached other neighborhoods. they jumped highways and freeways and destroyed people's homes. as you recognize, the cell service and 911 calls were damaged and people couldn't call 911. the only people who could make calls were individuals with satellite service and so people were trying to connect, for instance, hotel with satellite service so we were trying to connect with those individuals. today substantial number of personnel and air support have been deployed to the island and evacuation and rescue efforts are donincontinuing as we speak >> how challenging is it for your state's emergency workers to suppress these fires and to anticipate where they could head next when facing such harsh winds? >> you know, because we're an island state, it's difficult only because we can't just drive to the next island, next town and assist because of the high winds. air supply or air support and even people support, we couldn't fly them from one island to the next and that impeded and that led to even more slow are response. i think this is something that we will definitely tacke a closr look at and the fact that people's lives were lost. properties were lost and people's homes were damaged. this is just a terrible day. >> terrible, terrible, indeed. i know you've been serving, lieutenant governor as the acting governor of that way. we know the governor will be returning to hawaii very soon. what is the update on when he will arrive back? >> yes. the governor was out of state. he actually cut his trip short. he wasn't supposeded to return until next week, but i've been in communication with him throughout this whole time, and he decided to cut his trip short. that tells you how devastating this incident is. he will be arriving midnight hawaii time tonight, and we will be talking as soon as he touches down. >> lieutenant governor silvia luke of hawaii, thank you very much so much for joining us. good luck to all of the people in hawaii right now. we'll continue to stay, of course, on top of this story. thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. appreciate it. >> just ahead, sources tell cnn to expect more than a dozen people to face indictment from the georgia district attorney investigating 2020 election sub version in her state. i'll get reaction from a key lawmaker who served on the january 6th select committee. -wait, wait, hold on... that neighbor is hot! what? it's the inspire plant he got. he's not struggling with cpap anore. all that rest is working wonders for him. and for me. gotta go. naughty girl. hi sweetie! ah! (scream) here comes the choo-choo train of love! inspire. sleep apnea innovation. learn more and view important safety information at inspiresleep.com. you're watching football wrong! what do you call a guy in face paint that can't get the game? ...a clown! sorry, what app was it again? no, no. just give me a second... amateurs. ohhh! sorry everybody. directv sports central gives you access to every game... ...so you never have to compromise on gameday. ...was that necessary? i was just illustrating a point. oh. get in the redzone with sports pack. call 1-800-directv the minute you drive off the lot. or more. that's why farmers 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 ♪ there's growing anticipation in georgia tonight that prosecutors there could seek indictments against more than a dozen people in the alleged scheme by donald trump and his allies to overturn his 2020 election defeat. our senior legal affairs correspondent paula reed is joining us right now. what can you tell us, paula. >> for months, fani willis has been investigating to overturn the state of georgia and she's been conducting interviews and we expect this will all come to a head next week. she's going to use a regular grand jury to present her case including questioning at least three witnesses before this grand jury and then they are expected to hand out indictments if the former president will be charged and his own team expect that they'll be charged in georgia and we have learned she is considering charges ranges from racketeering to conspiracy. >> more than a dozen people potentially. >> take us behind the scenes on the special counsel's fight for trump's twitter data. >> this is an interesting dispute because here the special counsel wanted a search warrant to gather certain information in, within trump's twitter account. of course, most of that is public, right? the opinion is written very carefully so as not to disclose exactly what they wanted and it is not clear if they wanted drafts of tweets or dms that were there. >> direct messages. >> exactly, you know the lingo. they said wait a second, you're not letting us tell trump that you're seeking this information. they believe that was a violation want only of the first amendment and only the current laws that govern communications and social media purpose there were communications back and forth and provided the government with most of the information that they requested and eventually prosecutors said, look, you can tell trump about this warrant because there's enough information in the public sphere about the fact that this investigation exists and there is this concern, wolf, about the former president attacking the investigators themselves. >> a legitimate concern, indeed. paula reid, thank you very much. let's discuss more of this. democratic congresswoman zoe lofgren of california is joining us. thanks so much for joining us. the fulton county district attorney is expected to indict as we reported more than a dozen people in contract to the narrowly focused charges from the special counsel jack smith. do you think this is the right move? >> well, you know, it's not something the january 6th committee looked at. we were focused at the federal issues. i'm sure that the prosecutor in georgia is proceeding under georgia law. there's some overlap because we do know that there was an effort to have fake electors submit bogus certificates. that probably violates some state laws, but like everyone else, i'm waiting to see what the prosecutor thinks that she is required to do. >> we'll see what happens. we've also learned, congresswoman, that the special counsel secured a search warrant for trump's twitter account. trump slammed that move and i'm quoting him now, just found out that crooked joe biden's department of justice secretly attacked my twitter account, making it a point not to let me know about this major quote on my civil rights. what do you think the special counsel wanted from this information? >> i don't know, but as often is the case, trump is a bit unhinged. they got a warrant and the statute provides for a warrant and the statute, by the way, also provides for non-disclosure and i just read the appellate decision. twitter really engaged in misconduct in this matter and was fined for it. you know, i don't understand what they got. i presume it was information they thought was important to the case. that part of the matter is sealed from public view even today. >> i assume we'll find out at some point, the new york times has obtained an internal trump campaign memo from december 2020 that lays out the strategy for trump to try to overturn biden's election win. was the january 6th committee and you remember the select committee aware of this memo and how significant do you think this is? >> well, we were aware of several other memos by chesebro, one on november 9th and december 13th all on the same subject, but no, we did not have this december 6th memo, and i think it makes the plot, the illegal plot more apparent than what we knew. i think it's significant in proving the illegal conduct although we had one judge already, judge carter find on an of d evidentiary that it was more likely than not that mr. eastman and mr. trump engaged in a crime relative to these fake electors. >> while i have you, congresswoman on another subject. i want to get your reaction to these incredibly disturbing social media posts from this utah man who repeatedly threatened to kill president biden and other senior democratic officials. >> well, you know, unfortunately, we have people that have been caught up in this crazy escalation of competition and disagreement. at a time when americans can disagree with each other and still get along seems to be fading in some circles. obviously, this individual was a threat. you never want anyone to be killed, but i understand that during the arrest he did lose his life. he's not the only person threatening violence. it's mainly on the right, but of course, we had someone in the other political camp open fire on republicans a number of years ago playing basketball. violence and politics is wrong and we all of us in public life should speak out against it. >> you're right. democratic congresswoman zoe lofgren, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you. coming up, a second republican presidential hopeful has formally pledged to support the eventual nominee, but are the candidates actually prepared to stick to the promise as donald trump's legal problems continue to mount. mlb partners with t-mobile to not only enhance the fan experienence, but to advance how the gameme is played. aaa relies on t-mobile's network to stay connected nationwide, so they can help get their members back on the road. and we're helping pano ai innovate, to stop the spread of wildfires. now's the time to see what america's largest 5g network can do for your business. >> woman: why did we choose safelite? >> vo: for us, driving around is the only way we can get our baby to sleep, so when our windshield cracked, we needed it fixed rht. we went to safelite.com. there's no one else 'd trust. their experts replaced our windshield, and recalibrated our car's advanced safety system. they focus on our safety... so we can focus on this little guy. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ they're off from school, but not really home. images and videos. social media, fine-tuned to suck them in. and steal them away. alone you can't stop it. together we will. we have a plan. join us. ( ♪ ) i'm sholeh, and i lost 75 pounds with golo. i went from a size 20 to a size 6. before golo, nothing seemed to work. i was exercising for over an hour every day. it was really discouraging. but golo's so easy, the weight just falls off. bath fitter is a better way to remodel your tub. precise measuring means the perfect fit. the bath fitter tub over tub process means no mess or stress. a custom-made tub and seamless wall mean a watertight fit. premium acrylic means it lasts a lifetime. and all this together means a great value. bath fitter. it just fits. visit bathfitter.com to book your free consultation. carvana has hundreds of thousands of five star reviews and counting. the whole process was really simple and easy, and this is my third time selling to carvana. you just enter your license plate or your vin, answer a few questions. boom, you get a real offer. sell your car to carvana today. new developments tonight in the 2024 presidential campaign. the republican national committee announcing a time, place, and network for its second primary debate. this as governor ron desantis and vivek ramaswamy become the first two gop candidates to sign the party's loyalty pledge. i want to bring in our political commentators for some analysis right now. a lot of indications this loyalty pledge may not necessarily mean much. what are you hearing? >> well, identify defer to my colleague alice who knows a lot about what's -- >> this is the gop debate. rnc is running this so they certainly should ask for this. and it's certainly aspirational to want to unify the party behind the eventual nominee. and it's certainly not out of the question to ask all of the questions to sign this. but that doesn't mean they're going to actually follow through on this. donald trump didn't do this in 2016. look, if this is what is required to get on the debate stage, and this is an important part of the campaign, they should all certainly sign this. but it doesn't mean they certainly have to follow through. but for the sake of the republican party, whoever the eventual nominee is, i would like to think that everyone on that stage will rally behind them. >> well, listen to what chris christie said earlier this year. let me play the clip. >> there were ten of us on the stage, nine of us raised our hands. the one who didn't was donald trump. and so i'll take the pledge in 2024 just as seriously as donald trump took the pledge in 2016. >> so what's the point of this pledge? >> well, obviously the party is really trying to make sure that we can unify behind who the nominee is, because the ultimate goal is to win the general election. and, look, it might be a pie in the sky hope, but that is certainly what the party should do. there's going to be a lot of them just like governor christie who feel like if donald trump didn't do it, why should we. but they should all go on there to the debate stage with the opportunity. this is not only a chance for us to go after donald trump. but they need to make the case why they can reverse the economic decline that we're on and provide an optimistic vision for the future and make their case as to why they are the person to do that. >> let's talk a little bit about what happened in ohio yesterday. the referendum in effect on abortion rights for women. those who support abortion rights for women won with a 14-point margin. it was a big deal. >> absolutely. and i think we've seen there have been seven states where this issue has been on the bala ballot. the pro-choice outcome has won every single time. we saw it was something that brought out not only traditional democratic voters but independent voters, women, suburban women who turned out in droves because republicans were advancing the fact that they were going to take away the healthcare rights and say that the government was not going to allow these women to make their own healthcare decision. i think what we saw in ohio was that even as some of the republican presidential candidates, mike pence and vivek ramaswamy who we just saw released videos. i think the pro-yes organization, organizational effort spent about $11 million trying to get this passed and couldn't. and we still saw enormous turnout. so i think this is a two-pronged messaging problem for the republicans. one is the issue of choice and the fact that they're telling women that they can't make decisions for themselves about their bodies. but it's also this issue of governance, of the will of the people, of people being able to go out to the ballot box and trust that their vote is going to count. and so what they're hearing consistently from republicans and what they heard in ohio through this measure was we're going to reduce your voice, we're going to make it so that your voice doesn't count as much. and that's a huge problem for republicans. >> it's happening in these republican-led states. >> often times when abortion is the key issue on the ballot, we are seeing where the pro-abortion advocates are winning out. and here's the challenge for republicans. look, the pro-life issue and movement overturning roe v. wade has really been important for the republican nominees. and the sanctway of life has been the heart and soul of republicans. we run the risk of it becoming the achilles heel if we continue to push measures that are so extreme as opposed to nuanced addresses to this such as certain restrictions on abortion. >> ladies, thank you very, very much. coming up on "erin burnett outfront" right after "the situation room," a closer look at attacks on military recruitment centers in russia and who the kremlin is blaming. that's coming up right at the top of the hour, and we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ ♪ 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. this is your summer to smile. to raise your glass and reconnect. to reel in the fun and serve up great times. to help you get ready your aspen dental team is celebrating 25 years of affordable care with an epic summer of smiles event. right now, new patients without insurance get a free full exam and x-rays. plus, everyone can get 20% off their treatment plan. but hurry, because while these summer savings won't last, the memories you make together will. aspen dental. book today. i'm a bear. i'm coming out of hibernation, and papa is hungry. and while you're hittin' the trail, i'm hitting your cooler. and your cut-rate car insurance might not pay for all this. so get allstate. in ukraine, a church and retail outlets are among the buildings destroyed after another deadly russian attack on the city of zaporizhzhia. cnn's nick paton walsh is there for us. what's the situation there like tonight? >> reporter: we heard the blast about dusk. a church hit. initially three reported dead. one of those in fact resuscitated, the death toll adjusted down to two with about seven injured now. part of the nightly toll we report for you here of civilians being hit by russian barrages. regular, frankly, response from moscow because it seems the pressure they're feeling on the southern front line here, and one that led ukraine's president volodymyr zelenskyy to say that they needed more air defenses and pledged to ukrainians that they would see f-16 u.s. supplied jets in the skies here soon. that's a number of months off, but it really speaks to a key issue ukraine is currently having in their southern counteroffensive. we saw parts of that firsthand, some of the first journalists trying to get to the front line, and the real key focus of ukraine's push south. the troops there really struggling to make the progress they want to, analysts being critical of the slow pace that they're seeing on the front lines there. but the real issue they're facing is russian air superiority. russia is able to drop half-ton bombs on their positions on the town that they're trying to coral troops in. and that is setting up the pace of that counteroffensive. they're also seeing mine fields, deep russian trenches, and at times the troops said to us seeing a russian force that's actually better equipped, better trained and more able to hold those positions than they had in fact expected. so a tough fight author them certainly. but they were very dismissive of the criticism of the pace that they'd currently managed to gain so far in the counteroffensive. >> nick paton walsh in zaporizhzhia, ukraine, stay safe. to our viewers, thanks very much for watching. "erin burnett outfront" starts "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com "outfront" next, more than a dozen individuals, the d.a. investigating rm