Republicans roll into Iowa State Fair for Deep Fried Tingys and a chance to deepen a connection with voters. It maybe the only chance to see the front runner, whose Debate Stage Decision is still tbd. Plus lifestyles of the rich and connected. Yachts, vip pass, ranches, hospitalers, private jets, Clarns Thomas got it all on someone elses dime. Who paid for what and how many times the justice may have broken the law. And a Cnn Exclusive, joe bidens Campaign Manager joins us for her first interview here in minutes. Im dana bash. Lets go behind the headlines and Inside Politics. Up first, new reporting. A source tells me that nikki haley just signed the Loyalty Pledge required to punch her ticket to the first debate stage. Haley is the third republican candidate to do so. More on that in a few minutes. Were going to start in iowa where candidates hope to turn a state fair into their own field of dreams. The fair is a tradition drenched in butter and opportunity and risk. It give candidates an up front chance to talk and eat with the iowans could fuel or finish their campaigns for the republican nomination. Lets get straight to jeff zeleny, who is the at the fairgrounds with the most Plum Assignment of the day. It looks like its already starting and rearing up there. Reporter this is the opening day of the Iowa State Fair. A tenday run here, and every four years the comes with a hearty side of politics. That is true this year as well. Are every republican president ial can with the exception of Chris Christie who are is not really competing here, will be attending the fair over the coming days. This weekend it is going to be peak fair time. Donald trump and ron desantis will be on the fairgrounds. But before then, all the other candidates will be as well. They will be making their case to undecided voters. They will be going through the rights of passage of flipping pork chops on sticks, talking to supporters and taking questions at the des moines registers soap box. Thats also where many candidates in years gone by have fielded questions and delivered a stump speech. But we are 158 days until the starting line of the 2024 president ial campaign right here with the iowa caucuses. But were less than two weeks before the first Republican Debate in milwaukee. Thats on all of the campaigns minds and candidates minds. What im looking for over the next couple days is to watch how the candidates start Drawing Distinctions between one another. Not necessarily against donald trump, but against other. The governor of iowa is also playing a central role here. She will be interviewing all of the candidates on spaj. What shes calling a fairside chat. This is just a right of political passage here in iowa. A lot of opportunity. But also the opportunity for some missteps, how do the candidates interact with voters. Donald trump brought his hospelicopter here in 2015. Im told thats not going to happen. He will not be giving helicopter rides, but he will be here along with all the other candidates. I remember that well. Off minute before the candidates get there. Cant wait to see the photos of all the amazing fried food youre going to be eating. Thank you so much. Here to share their insights is cnns niamalika henderson, Jonah Goldberg and sung min kim of the associated press. He has a really great assignment. We can all go out there. Hes at a place where not the big donors, regular iowans are going around. Some who are Republican Voters, who are not Republican Voters, but we thought this was a chance to taka look at smalldollar donors in iowa. The New York Times had this today. Theres no flood ofs rushing to support ron desantis. Just 17 iowans had given h campaign 200 or more. Nikki haley had 25 such iowa donors. While trump had 117. Mike pence just 7. What does that tell you . It tells me its early for the grass the roots work in iowa. And i dont know what the baseline is of what small donors was four years ago, but i do think were seeing time and time again the political contests are being nationalized. Small donors in iowa are more important as an indicator of grass root support than anything else. But i also think were dealing with a 25time where theres a l of cheering and selfcongratulations about the rise of small donors a decade ago. Now small donors are one of the biggest problems for democracy, for the gop. Because small donor large donors actually have a strategic view about moderation, who can win, who cant. Small donors really are just venting their spleen with their credit card. And they lock candidates into positions that can hurt them in the general election. Such an important point. I want to do an entire discussion on that later, because youre right, the emails that go out that are the screaming headlines that are the most extreme headlines tend to be aimed right at those small donors youre talking about. One of the open questions, of course, is the debate, which is less than two weeks away. And donald trump said something to newsmax yesterday about whether or not he would sign the pledge that is being required by the Republican National committee. Listen to what he said. I wouldnt sign the pledge. There are people on there i wouldnt have. I can name three or four people i wouldnt support for president. So right there, theres a problem. Im going to make a decision. I havent totally ruled it out. I would love to do it, in many ways, because i enjoy that. But well let people know next week. I think there was a vat of items in her drawer. At some point, i think hes going to make a big announcement about whether or not hes going to come. Hes stringing us along for the attention of it all. He is facing a field that hasnt done so well in terms of polling. He is far out ahead of them. It doesnt really make sense for him to go. Theres no upside for him. So its unlikely he will come. I do think his comments about the pledge is one of the reasons why voters like donald trump. There is a sort of honesty about him when it comes to silly things. I do think the pledge is kind of silly and people are going to sign it, but they are talking trash about donald trump, but saying they would vote for him, which makes them seem like hypocrites. Hes saying, no, im not going to sign the pledge because if Chris Christie was the nominee, i dont think he would vote for Chris Christie or mike pence even. There are a lot of people in that field he doesnt reich. But thats the honesty and calling in as he sees them. Lets look the at who signed the pledge so far. Nikki hay nt her pledge in. We already knew that ron desantis has. We talked about donald trump, tim sct, crust crist, doug burgum, tim scott said he has, but i dont think republicans have gotten it. Right. And i think theres obviously the contrast of the people willing to go along with the pledge. Lets be honest. Its nonbinding. Theres no real forcing mechanism here. But i do think that trump going back to the question of whether hes going to participate in the debate, im not sure. On all of the strategic questions, he he is way ahead in the polling. There really isnt a strategic upside to him participating. But also this is donald trump. He cant avoid a show. He relishes the fight. I dont how much hes going to be steam ing when he sees some f the other candidates be up on that stage and leveling these attacks that hes unable to respond in that moment. So it will be really interesting to see what he decides. I see it differently. I see this as trump likes to force institutions and individuals to humiliate themselves. Thats what hes. Com to the dgop. He might not do the pledge, but wants to do the debate. The great irony is hes declaring to the world hes a rhino. Hes a republican in name only. He wont support the party if hes not the nominee. He demands all his loyalty from republicans, but he shows no loyalty to the party. So by saying hes not going to sign the pledge, but saying i havent made up my mind, hes daring the gop to say you cant participate unless you sign this. I dont think he has the fortitude to say that to him. Theres another layer. One of the main reasons is to make sure if donald trump is the nominee, everybody says they will support him. Thats the irony here. I want to talk more broadly about the debate and just kind of where the field is right now. Listen to Chris Christie, who has said you have to plow through donald trump in order to get the nomination. Listen to where he is right now on that. Our momentum is going the right way. Ron desantis is going in the wrong direction. So first job is to get past ron desantis here in new hampshire. We have caught him. Now we need to pass him. And then were going to take on donald trump oneonone. Thats what this debate is going to be about for Chris Christie. Hes a master debater. We remember what happened with marco rubio. It was pretty unpleasant for marco rubio. And i imagine thats the kind of strategy hes going to take with ron desantis. Hes kind of a shaky debater. If you have looked at his past performances up against charlie crist, not a great debater. So this matchup is going to be real headline out of this debate. Im interested to see how ron desantis reacts under pressure when hes challenged. We know when hes been asked frankly basic questions by reporters, he has kind of lost his cool at times and snapped. And thats just reporters. These are other republican candidates who dont want him to get the nomination. Thats something that perhaps well be watching closely. Thank you so much. Were going to come back on that small donor thing. I think thats really important. A not guilty plea and yet another postponement. Two of Donald Trumps codefendants in the maralago documents case appear in a florida courtroom. The latest twists and turns, after a quick break. Visuals that inspire pride districtwide. Fastsigns. Make your statement. For yoyour most brilliant smil, crest t has you covered. laughing nice smile, brad. Ni thanks . Crest 3d white. 100 ore stain removal. Crest. She found it. The feelinof finding the Psoriasis Treatment es been looking for. Sotyktu is the firstofitskind, oncedaily pill for moderatetosevere Plaque Psoriasis for the chance at clear or almost clear skin. Its like the feeling of finding your back. Is back. Or Finding Psoriasis cant deny the splendor of these thighs. Oncedaily sotyktu is proven to get more people clearer skin than the leading pill. Dont take if youre allergic to sotyktu; serious reactions can occur. 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No, i said, shouldve used behr. Today lets paint. Right now, get americas most trusted paint brand at a new low price. Behr. Only at the home depot. The Breaking News is out of iran. Four americans wrongfully detained in iran have been released on house arrest. Cnns Christiane Amanpour broke the story and is joining us now. What does this mean for the four americans . It is a major step forward. However, we have to make a caveat. Cthat this, according to to ther lawyer, who confirmed that four americans who were detained at the Notorious Tehran Prison are at a hotel thats going to serve as house arrest for a period of weeks. Its been reached between the ts United States and iran. The u. S. And iran do not have diplomatic relations. There have been in treaties and held by the government of kut qatar. We know these american have left and are at the hotel. We understand they are being fitted and they are wearing and will be wearing ankle bracelets. They are being in the custody not of the americans, not of any International Diplomats in iran, but in the custody of iran still. The irgc, that is the way its going. Once the ts are crossed and is are dotted, then they will in the next several week, we dont know exactly when, be actually freed. So what their lawyer has been saying and is saying to us, im going to read you what he said. This is an important first step. We welcome it, but we are just waiting. We are not going to call it freedom yet. Were waiting to see how it all plays out. But this is a really big deal. A 51yearold has been held there for over 7 years. Hes the longest ever american hostage, they call themselves, held there just because of being american. And the two others have been held for the last five years. There was another whose identity we do not know because the family has not made it public. That person was held for about a year. But what we do know is today, they have been at least allowed to leave the prison. Christiane amanpour, good news indeed. Great news for these prisoners, hostages and for their families. Im sure youll be on throughout the day as you learn more information. Thank you so much for that. Now to the special counsels case against former President Trump. Today carlos and walt nauta, two names now forever recorded in an indictment alongside donald trump, were inside court to answer new charges. Lets go to florida outside the federal courthouse. Cnns randi kaye is there. What happened . Reporter donald trump wasnt here. He waived his appearance, but his aid was here and his Property Manager at maralago were both here. Walt nauta did plead not guilty to the new charges in the superseding indictment. He showed up here with his two lawyers. We were expecting the Property Manager to enter a plea as well. He was in a miami courtroom. He did not enter a plea because he did not officially have a florida lawyer. There was a florida lawyer in the courtroom with him today. But he wasnt officially signed on yet, so he told the court he was waiting confirmation before entering his appearance as counsel. So his d. C. Attorney told the court they believe they have ironed out the details, but they need another day or so to make it official. Now another day, another delay. We have carlos returning here to the court, at least his attorneys will be. He maybe waive his appearance to officially enter a plea in the classified documents case. And all of this comes as they are facing these charges from the special counsel, which include false statements, conspiracy and concealing documents. Its very hard to find. No question about it. That was sarcasm. Now to a different jurisdiction, georgia. The prosecutor and the former president are trying to tilt the scales. Cnn learned wednesday that fani willis plans to indict more than a dozen individuals in her case against donald trump. The front runner is already out with an ad that willis calls derogatory and false. Sara murray is here now to give me more on whats going on in georgia. I think were seeing some political sniping ahead of fani willis going before a grand jury. We expect shes going to seek charges against more than a dozen individuals as part of her sprawling case. Shes been looking at potential racketeering charges, which would allow her to ensnare many defendants. But the Trump Campaign is air ing an ad in the atlanta area where they include a number of claims. Some of them are true. Like shes been disqualified from investigating in this probe because she hosted a fundraiser for his democratic opponent, something the judge slapped her down for. There are other claims in this ad that are more salacious and baseless. They allege she had a relationship with a local rapper that she had previously defended. Therejust no factual basis to back that up. So fani willis sent a note to r aff, and im going to read a part of it. She said, we have no personal feelings against those we investigate and should not express any. This is business. It will never be personal. She goes on to say, your instruction for me is to ignore all the noise and keep doing your can job with excellence. Obviously, we have seen donald trump come out harsh a