We begin this morning in hawaii where authorities have increased the death toll caused by the wildfires there, at least 55 people now confirmed dead from the raging inferno that swept through the town of lahaina. The community there is just devastated from the loss. We are going to try our very best to identify those that have perished so that the families can have their closure and can have that understanding. When the mayor said it is all gone, it is all gone. It is all gone. It is gone. The governor estimated thursday that about 80 of the overall lahaina area was destroyed. County officials in maui say the fire there is mostly contained. The federal government also swinging into action with President Biden issuing a Disaster Declaration for maui and parts of the big island. And sfeefema oig administrator traveling there today. And i want to bring in a woman who is safe but also separated from her family. Her parents home has burnedsis firefighter there. First of all, how are you doing . It has been hard to watch. How are you doing . You know what, i feel an immense amount of guilt for not being in lahaina to help my hometown and the people i love the most. Im okay. Im safe. I have electricity, i resources, i have my husband, i have my family. Im grateful i have my mom and dad and my sister who is a firefighter alive. So im good. Thank you for asking. I know a lot of people in lahaina, they are not doing good. So thank you. And walk me through what is happening with your family right now in terms of communication. What can you tell us about the communication youve had with all the people you are connected to in lahaina . Going back to the night of the major fire, having connection to anyone was nonexistent. Finding my mom, my dad, my sister who is a firefighter was impossible. No one would answer. There is no reception. Still to this day there is no reception. My mom and dad are safe. I can contact them. They are on the other side of the island, the south side of maui which has resources and it has electricity, but im telling you, west side of maui has nothing. And so contacting my sister is im unlucky to reach her and contacting my friends. I have friends many of them if not all are displaced. No homes. Hard to reach. Near impossible. When you talk to your sister im sorry, go on. No, go ahead. Im curious when you talk to your sister as you said a firefighter there, what has she told you about about just the extraordinary amount of work ahead and what they are still dealing with now . Anyone that knows my sister, she is even keeled, cool, calm, collected. She is a female firefighter. Were born and raised in lahaina and i remember the call, she said im okay, everything is gone. Lahaina is gone. And when she said that, my heart dropped because i knew it was serious. She has seen what she has told me is she has seen devastation beyond belief. I mean, bodies everywhere. Hour our hometown is gone. Buildings, homes. We grew up in lahaina. And i cant even i cant even begin to describe what she has talked about because the trauma that our firefighters and our First Responders are facing is enormous. And i dont think that anyone understands, i dont think anyone can grasp until they see it firsthand. Pictures, videos will not do justice. And im believing that. I know it is the pictures and just comments coming out of lahaina have been so incredible to hear and witness. Tell me a little bit more about the Lahaina Community for those who have not been there, for those not been to hawaii. Whatyou tell us about the community and people there . Lahaina is the Strongest Group of people that you will ever meet. They hold true to the Lahaina Strong Belief that you are a family there. There is nothing like anything ever if you have visited lahaina, if you have experienced lahaina, if you have been born and raised in lahaina, you are a proud human being, you are a proud person. And all my family, all my community, all my friends in lahaina, i know you are suffering and im so sorry, im so sorry for all the loss. Im so sorry for all of the pain and suffering. And i just la liehaina is st and we will recover and we will rebuild, but it will take a really long time. And i cant even begin to explain how long but i know from what ive seen on social media i cant get a hold of a lot of people, so what im seeing on social media and what im seeing on the news is what i can see, but what im seeing is that they are strong and withstanding and resilient and they will come back from this. My dad is born and raised in lahaina. And he is adamant, he said i will not leave. I will rebuild. I will stay here and a lot of la l lahaina residents will. And it is unimaginable, you think this is apocalyptic, is this a bomb hit lahaina. But people in lahaina, this is how strong they are connected to the land, to the people. They want to stay. They will stay until the end. That is lahaina. And were hoping that the people of lahaina and hawaii get everything that they need to rebuild as quickly as possible. But we so appreciate your time today. We know it wasnt easy to talk about but were plaid glad that and your family are safe. We appreciate you being with us this morning. Thank you. Thank you. In other news this morning, federal prosecutors and lawyers for donald trump will appear before a judge in the special counsel case of election sub version against the former president. Both sides will argue about restrictions that prosecutors want to impose on what trump can say publicly about sensitive evidence in the case. Trump is not expected to be in court for todays hearing. Meantime on thursday prosecutors filed their proposed Trial Schedule for the case and their ambitious calendar would have the trial begin the day after new years. More now from Katelyn Polantz in washington. Reporter the Justice Department now has their hopes for a Trial Schedule out lined in a new filing in Federal Court On Thursday for donald trump. What the Justice Department and prosecutors want to do, they want to take donald trump to trial in this january 6 Criminal Case in Federal Court by january. They would like to have Jury Selection in december and then the case deckick off with evide being presented Beginning Onnian 2 of 2024. That is a date that donald trump and his lawyers are almost certainly going to be pushing back on quite harshly. They wont have to respond this court to this until next week. But when they come, they have already signaled that they are very likely going to want to claim that they have a lot of legal arguments to make that are not going to allow for a trial that quickly in four to five months. Things about president ial immunity, things about the first amendment. And also they have argued in other cases and here that donald trump is quite a busy individual who is running for president. Not only is january and february going to bring about the beginning of voting in the 2024 primaries for president , he will be running there, Iowa Caucuses will be on the calendar, but also there are other things that he needs to do at the beginning of the year including prepare for other trials both lawsuits that are taking him to trial, there is already one scheduled in midjanuary. E. Jean carroll taking him to trial on a Defamation Case for the second time and other criminal trials he is preparing for now that hes been indicted multiple times in multiple courts. So it wont get hashed out right away. On friday morning there will be a Court Hearing in this case, the federal Criminal Case against donald trump related to the 2020 election. And in that hearing, it will be the first before federal judge Tanya Chutkan in the d. C. District court. She will be talking to the lawyers about how evidence should be handled in this case. There have been disputes over that, how much donald trump will actually be able to share publicly as he learns information that the Justice Department gathered and they hand it over to him so his team can prepare for trial. She will be determining that. And she also may be responding to some of the things both trumps lawyers and the Justice Department has said in Court Filings so far about his social media posts, that he has been quite aggressive on social media talking about mike pence, talking about the judge, talking about the prosecutors. And so a lot to watch for. Exactly how the judge responds and what the tone will be in this very first hearing before the federal judge who will oversee the trial of donald trump related to the 2020 election. Katelyn polantz, cnn, washington. And in the last few hours in kyiv, Officials SayMissile Fragments fell in the area of a Childrens Hospital and in the Southern City of zaporizhzhia. At least 16 people including four children are hurt this morning after a Russian Missile strike on a hotel thursday. I want to now bring in salma abdelaziz, she is following the story live from london. So what more can you tell us about this hotel . Officials have said that it was the site of a childrens day camp. What more do we know about this site . Reporter it is an attack that the United Nations is calling appalling. This hotel in zaporizhzhia was frequented by ngos, humanitarian groups, United Nations. And used as a day camp. Just by a stroke of luck, children had finished their session there just an hour before the strike. And we understand two people were killed and several others wounded, among them several children including a 3yearold girl who is still in hospital being treated for her injuries. As you can imagine, this is yet another illustration that civilians are not off limits to russias assaults. And it comes as ukraine makes marginal gains in the south that is a key frontline for ukraine. But ukraines military says russia is working on a destruction, trying to pull kyivs troops toward the Kharkiv Region by sending reinforcements there including for their tank divisions, for their airborne divisions. In fact officials there say in some areas strikes are occurring up to 50 to 80 times a day. Of course using its Air Superiority yet again to push back ukraine on that counteroffensive. And that is again the problem that were seeing all along the frontlines. It is hundreds of miles of active fighting forcing ukraines forces to stretch all along it and of course stretching their resources thin, this coming as President Biden asks for 24 billion in more aid with very few successes in hand. And comes as even zelenskyy admits that the counteroffensive hasnt exactly gone the way that they had hoped. At least not yet. Thank you, salma. This could be a more active Hurricane Season in the atlantic than officials initially predicted. A new forecast just came down from tnoaa. Derek van dam has a break down. It is a battle between the record Ocean Temperatures that help fuel stronger hurricanes versus a strong el nino that helps limit hurricane activity. Just yesterday the National OceanicAtmospheric Administration upped the ante and increased the likelihood of an above average Hurks Sricane season. You can see after already having four named storms, any are anticipating for the entire season up to 21 named storms. That is a big difference from what they forecast in may. Hurricanes between 6 and 11. And get this, two to five major hurricanes, that is category 3 strength or greater anticipated across the atlantic basin. Typically when we have a strong he wiel nino like we do now, thn Development Region inhibits hurricane potential, it really kind of tears apart a hurricane. We do have these Water Temperatures that are running 2 to 4 and even 4 to 7 degrees farenheit above average. So we believe and so does noaa that this will actually win in this Battle Betweeo and record warmth. So that will help bring an above average season. Here is the four named storms so far. We are we did have hurricane don. And peak of the season still to come, september 10, but it is really the week starting from next week all the way through the end of september where we keep all eyes on the atlantic and Gulf Of Mexico for hurricanes. Back to you. And still ahead for us on early start, another person charged in the montgomery riverfront brawl. Plus well take you to india with the Global Impact that their new ban on rice exports. And what President Biden plans to make a key part of his reelection fight. Well discuss. And my design bu . Were exploding. But my old internet, was not letting me run the show. So, we switched to vererizon business internet. They havave business grade internet, nationwide. vo make the s switch. Its your business. Its your verizon. Im currently out of the office. Focusing on a little bluesky thinking. Ill be taking meetings. With family and friends. And checking voicemail. As my activities permit. Ill connect with you. After reconnecting with me. Get 1. 9 apr for 36 months plus 1,500 Purchase Allowance on a 2024 xt5 and xt6 when you finance through cadillac financial. Lactaid is 100 real milk, just without the lactose. Delicious too. Just ask my old friend, kevin. Nothing like enjoying a cold one while watching the game. Whos winning . We are, my friend. We are. Welcome back. Quick hits across america. Brooklyn grand jury has indicted a 71yea17yearold on murder ae Crime Charges after he stabbed to death sisibley. And a fourth person charged in assault in the riverfront ball. Mary todd who you see here turned herself into police thursday. Laura coates spoke to the police. Damian is my first mate. And he has been on the boat for he was the one who was struck. Yes. And he has been a dear friend of mine for a long time. And when first guy hit him, he threw his hat up, and i said oh, no, we got problems. And then three or four more guys came running down the dock and i said thank god they will stop this. But they didnt stop it, they jumped in as well. More to come there. It wouldnt be Campaign Season without a trip to the iowa state fair. Candidates looking to drum up support Haeftd Fahead of the fi debate. To qualify for the debate they have to hit certain Polling Numbers and also signing the pledge to back whoever the eventual nominee. And donald trump will have met the polling and donor requirements but have not signed the pledge or at least publicly announced it. And discussing the pledge, ron desantis didnt hold back. Listen. I signed the pledge to support the team Going Forward in 2024. I always said that that is what you do. There is no way that i would every just take my ball and go home and pout. You have to continue to fight for what you believe in. Lets bring in White House Correspondent for bloomberg news. Great to see you. Trump hasnt said for sure whether he will participate in the debate or not but we know where he stands on the pledge. Take a listen. I wouldnt sign the pledge. Why would i sign a pledge . There are people on there that i wouldnt have. I wouldnt have somebody that i didnt endorse. So what does the rnc do if the current frontrunner decides he wants to be on the debate stage but doesnt sign the pledge . The answer is there is not much that they can do and that is the problem with this pledge to begin with, it is very difficult to enforce. In 2016, trump signed the pledge and later said that he would no longer honor it. And this is something that Chris Christie has pointed out, that even if somebody signs the pledge, the rnc cannot force them to eventually support them as the nominee. But this is a part of trumps narrative that he is untouchable, he knows that he has a sizable lead over his opponents. And all indications right now is that he will skip. But one thing that i want to focus in on is desantis committing to this debate is significant because there was a time where his team avoided saying at all whether he would join the debate. And in fact his super pac implied that if trump didnt join the debate that he may not either. So this is just one side again of him taking a 360 with his Campaign Strategy and no longer following trumps blueprint which was not talking to mainstream media, not committing to debates, not focusing on Kitchen Table issues. And weve seen his campaign really change that strategy in the recent weeks. Perhaps another sign in the reboot of his Campaign Strategy. Nikki haley posted her signed pledge. I want to post it for you. She said fellas, your turn. But you can see she notably crosses out President Bidens name and replaces it with Vice President harris. We havent seen a lot of