meeting. in atlanta jurors hearing evidence against former president donald trump and others in a case about election interference. a possible fourth indictment looming against trump, and it could be the most complex yet, even ensnaring several others in his inner circle. >> pointing the finger, a new lawsuit blames the power company for those catastrophic wildfires on maui. but officials have not yet said what caused them. the humanitarian crisis is growing along with the death toll. the fire is now the deadliest in more than a century. survivors coping with losing their homes, loved ones, the threat of homelessness as well. and an act of piracy. that is what ukraine is calling russia's boarding of a cargo ship in the black sea. the latest fight over shipping in this critical area since a key grain deal collapsed last month. we are following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "cnn news central." today another grand jury is meeting, hearing another set of evidence that could lead to another indictment of donald trump. this one in downtown atlanta. a vote on whether to indict could come as soon as tomorrow on charges tied to trump's efforts to overturn joe biden's 2020 win in the peach state. fulton county district attorney fani willis is presenting her case today and cnn that's exclusively learned it includes some bombshell evidence. text messages and e-mails that directly connect trump's legal team to a voting system breach after the election. all of this as trump levels fresh criticisms at the d.a. and a key witness. let's take you now live outside the courthouse in fulton county with cnn's sara murray. sara, we are in the home stretch of this long, long investigation. bring us up to speed on what we can expect, especially about that new evidence. >> reporter: yeah, that's right. we are really at the culmination of 2 1/2 years of criminal investigation by fulton county district attorney fani willis, and we know there are witnesses who have already gone before this grand jury today that is hearing the case against former dont donald trump and his allies and their efforts to overturn the 2020 election. we saw a former state democratic senator, jen jordan. she just departed the courthouse. we previously confirmed that she was here to testify in this trump case. we also got a statement from former democratic state representative bee nguyen who confirmed she too was here to testify in the trump case. both of these women were witnesses to these conspiracy-laden presentations that rudy giuliani and other members of trump's post-election legal team gave before georgia state lawmakers in december of 2020. again, we're waiting to see when these indictments could potentially come down. this could take up to two days for her to present her case and she's expected to see charges against more than a dozen individuals, boris. >> sara, that voting system breach, that was in coffee county, right? an area that donald trump won by about 70%. so why was there an effort to even breach that voting system? >> reporter: well, yeah, we've been learning more information about this voting systems breach that is just one of the prongs of this investigation, and we've learned that investigators here have text messages and e-mails about the breach that lead to trump's team. they have long suspected that this was more of a top-down push rather than grassroots efforts by trump backers to try to help. and it seemed to be an effort essentially to try to explore these voting systems. you know, we learned about this written invitation that came from misty hampton, who was an election official, and was shared with other lawyers who were working with donald trump on his post-election efforts, people like catherine frees. we of course know sidney powell was part of that mix who was working with donald trump post-election. i want to read a couple of these texts that came through a firm that was hired to examine the voting machines. in one of the texts it says "just landed back in d.c. with the mayor," an apparent reference to former new york mayor rudy giuliani. "huge things starting to come together." the texts continue, "most immediately, we were just granted access by written invitation to coffee county's systems. yay." these messages were sent in january 2021, right around the time the breach occurred. and again, giuliani's attorney has insisted he had nothing to do with this. we'll see what the grand jury has to say. >> sara murray live outside that courthouse in atlanta for us. jim? with a possible grand jury vote on a trump indictment as soon as tomorrow in georgia, the former president on the public attack again, going after key players and witnesses in the 2020 election interference case. cnn's elena tureen joins me now. this is after by the way he received a warning from the judge not to do things that might be perceived as witness intimidation. and yet we have a truth social posting today. >> exactly. donald trump is reverting to the playbook we've now seen these three times with the previous indictments that he is facing. he's trying to get ahead of this potential indictment in georgia and frame it in his own terms. and so i think one of the most concerning things people pointed out today about his truth social post is that he attacked directly one of the key witnesses in this georgia case and said, quote, he shouldn't testify. that post reads, "i am reading reports that failed former lieutenant governor of georgia geoff duncan," noting that he spelled geoff's name there, "will be testifying before the fulton county grand jury. he shouldn't. i barely know him but he was right from the beginning of this witch hunt a nasty disaster for those looking into the election fraud case that took place in georgia." he also went on to call him a, quote, loser. i think the key thing here, jim, is it's unclear how a judge, if there are charges brought in this case, would try to talk about his social media activity. we know as you just mentioned that in a separate case, the federal case of donald trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election result she's trying to impose restrictions on his social media activity. i've also spoken with many of donald trump's advisers over the weekend and they tell me that they don't expect him to stop posting on social media. they think that it's his first amendment right to do so and that also it's his most direct way of communicating with voters and that he has the right to defend himself. but the key thing here, is this witness intimidation. will the judge ultimately decide that he can't be issuing these kinds of posts? >> has there been any reaction from the court yet or no? >> in this case it's hard to -- the indictment hasn't been brought. so i think we have to wait and see how the judge in this case, if there is not a diemt, how she would react to these kinds of -- these posts. >> understood. we'll see how soon that comes. thanks so much. boris. >> we're now joined by that key witness set to testify tomorrow, former georgia lieutenant governor and cnn political commentator geoff duncan. we're also joined by former federal prosecutor renato mariotti. gentlemen, thank you so much for being with us. geoff, i want to start with you and get your reaction to that social media post by donald trump. he's insulting you and calling you out. do you believe he's trying to intimidate you as a witness? >> well, this close into my testimony, which is going to be tomorrow, i'm going to refrain from any comment with the exception of saying, which was just pointed out, he did misspell my name. >> and how about what you are anticipating you'll be asked about tomorrow? if you won't comment on what trump said, can you at least give us an idea of what you're anticipating? >> well, i'm just going to answer the questions as presented to me much like i did in the special grand jury, whatever the questions are to the best of my ability, i'm going to answer the questions. and you know, this is an important part of the healing process for the republican party. this is painful. this may feel ugly to some. but this is part of this process, right? we've got to put these facts and figures and details and reality on display for america, specifically for republicans to see what reality really is. the social media game that donald trump has played over the years, it's shallow, right? you don't have to be any more than a few hundred characters' worth of information with no facts behind it, with no details to stir the crowd. and that's certainly been his game for a number of years. and it looks like it's continuing. >> notable that you are not the only person he has gone after on social media. he's also targeted a number of other officials involved in these investigations. renato, to you. how do you read that situation? is that appropriate? and if you were prosecuting this case, how would you respond to something like that? >> very interesting. it's a bizarre situation. and it's complicated because of course trump's running for president and he's got first amendment rights and he can go after some of those people, not -- like mike pebs and so on. he certainly has a right to criticize the judge, for example. although it's unwise to do so. i actually think what the government should do, jack smith in the d.c. case, and which is what i think they are doing, is using it, putting it in front of the judge, making sure every time he does this, every time he goes across the line, every time he does something inappropriate or wrong regarding his communications to put it in front of the judge and inspire her to move that trial forward quickly, to inspire her not to cut him additional breaks. and in fact, she's actually mentioned that she may do so, that he's tainting the jury pool and that may inspire her to move this earlier to avoid any additional tampering. so i really think that's one of the consequences for him. i will say in georgia it sure doesn't look like it's helping matters there. you know, realistically, obviously the lieutenant governor has just said he's not deterred from giving his testimony. it doesn't seem to me that the district attorney is deterred. usually, throwing tomatoes at witnesses and prosecutors and the judge in cases you're in front of is a really bad idea for a criminal defendant. >> i can't imagine that his attorneys are encouraging him to do this. but the former president doesn't seem to listen to his attorneys or perhaps anyone else. geoff, over to you. i want to get your perspective on this key evidence that cnn is reporting on, that there are text messages linking the trump team to this voting systems breach in coffee county. i'm wondering if anyone from team trump reached out to you or people that you know of to try to get access after the 2020 election to other voting systems in georgia. >> well, once again i'm going to refrain from answering any of those detailed questions just based on the nature of my testimony tomorrow, or potential testimony. but look, from a broader narrative here what we're going to see put on display is just a plethora of conspiracy theories that really originated in solutions in search of a problem. hey, let's do this and then try to go find a scenario something in good good, whether it be state farm arena or coffee county or brad raffensperger's office or dominion machines. i mean, the list is endless. and you know, look, america is begging for new leadership right now. begging. both sides of the aisle. a majority of democrats don't want to see joe biden run again. a majority of republicans don't want to see donald trump run again. but this primary process has got it short-circuited just feeling like victims of gravity. this is a painful part of the process for republicans. i do believe when this finally gets behind us we will be a better party for it and a better country for it. >> geoff, a very disciplined witness in this grand jury process obviously. renato, over to you. you heard from geoff talking about the overarching narrative of what voters are looking for. in this process does it seem to you that something could be discovered like these text messages that might sway voters to think differently? is there enough evidence there not only to succeed in a co courtroom but in the court of public opinion? >> well, you know, public opinion can be a challenge to move, right? and i think as the lieutenant governor just mentioned sometimes even where there's no facts, right? where trump is just, you know, tweeting things out or in this case truthing it out there's no facts. it's often contrary to the facts. and sometimes it takes time for those facts to reach the public. what i will say regarding all of this is from a legal perspective some of these facts, and you alluded to a moment ago this exclusive cnn reporting about the text messages related to the breach. that would have a devastating impact in front of a jury if there was a concerted effort by trump and his associates to try to breach a voting system. that's the sort of thing that you can't explain away. i think everyone understands that that's a crime. a typical juror who's called to engage in jury service is going to get that. and it could have an impact in other cases like the jack smith january 6th case as well. >> renato mariotti, geoff duncan, thank you both for the time. appreciate your expertise. thanks. jim? >> let's take a closer look at some of the key players in this case, beginning with fulton county district attorney fani willis here as well as the other players surrounding trump at the time. fani willis, she launched this probe back in february 2021, of course not long after january 6th. this followed trump's "find votes" call to brad raffensperger where trump asked him to find, that's his own words, enough votes, just enough to overturn biden's victory. trump tried to get her removed from the case, citing a conflict of interest, arguing that she is pursuing the case for political reasons. that effort was rejected. all right. presiding over the case is fulton county judge robert mcburney. he was assigned to the case. he ordered portions of the special grand jury report to be released to the public, and he has defended the d.a.'s professionalism. he did block willis from building a case against one particular potential target, former state senator and current lieutenant governor burt jones, one of the alleged fake electors in the case, on the grounds that she had hosted a fund-raiser for his political opponent. let's look at another key case mention in the previous conversation. georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger. he was the one trump asked to find those votes, just enough, by one vote extra, to overturn the state. have a listen. this is key. >> so look, all i want to do is this. i just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state. >> one more vote than necessary to overturn the results. regardless of the president's demand, the former president's demand, raffensperger certified biden's win in the state of georgia, recertified the results after trump's team requested a recount that didn't change the results. he also testified before the special grand jury last year. also key, rudy giuliani. remember him? former mayor of new york. also former personal attorney for donald trump. he oversaw trump's post-election strategy including pursuing many of the false claims of fraud. he led efforts to challenge vote-counting efforts in a number of states, not just georgia, and he presented those bogus fraud claims to lawmakers, state officials, et cetera. he's very much at the center of this as well. also involved is former georgia gop chair david shafer. he played a key role in the fake electors scheme. he told the house select committee that trump himself directed that scheme, also testified before that grand jury now considering these charges against trump, potential charges. finally, those fake electors we've been talking about, these are folks, 16 gop activists who attempted to subvert the electoral college, in effect the electoral votes that showed biden's win, they were going to replace them or at the least attempted to. many of them have actually cooperated with the d.a.'s investigation. as i mentioned earlier, one of these fake electors, lieutenant governor burt jones, he is protected from the investigation, but several others, more than a dozen in fact, boris, are still involved, and many of them, and this is key, seem to have cooperated. >> still ahead on "cnn news central" -- hawaii expecting the death toll to keep rising after those devastating wildfires on maui as the state launches a formal review of its emergency response. we're going to take you there. plus, russia accused of piracy after one of its warships fired warning shots and boarded a cargo ship in the black sea. what that means for a key goebel trade route. and six former mississippi police officers pleading guilty to state charges for torturing two black men. the sheriff of that department just speaking out about the case. you're going to hear directly what he has to say when "cnn news central" returns. what do we always say, son? 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>> reporter: well, boris, when we talk about the death toll expected to rise, this is the slow-moving part of the disaster. what we saw tuesday into wednesday, that was the acute, most dramatic pictures that we've been able to see. this is certainly a level of drama in its own right. and why we say that is because specialized crews that focus in on the delicacy of finding human remains are needed when there are quite literally thousands of buildings in the burn zone, boris, that have not been searched yet. that is why there is the certainty that this death toll will rise above at least 100. in terms of accountability, we had an interesting development over the weekend. a lawsuit filed against hawaiian electric, the main utility that serves the islands. and the plaintiffs here, a couple from lahaina, they are asserting that the company did not -- was negligent in failing to turn off the electricity in several power lines that would eventually blow over and perhaps be a contributing factor to the wildfire. lots of utilities in california if there are high winds do turn over the power in lines that could potentially snap and spark a wildfire. today schools are starting to reopen across maui. staff showing up. the school system had to come to a standstill for most of last week as you can imagine teachers, staff, families trying to find out what happened to family members. a high school was being used as a shelter. and one school on front street was unfortunately lost to the devastation. finally, wildfire spreading. one mile a minute. a staggering figure that is even difficult now to get your head around. this is coming from the governor of hawaii saying this is why the wildfire was inescapable. something that was once outside the realm of possibility now hauntingly possible as more disturbing, heart-wrenching developments are to come, boris. >> our thanks to mike valerio for that report. jim? >> goodness. spread spreading at one mile a minute, just hard to imagine. joining me now is ilahia johnson, the public affairs officer for the hawaii tourism department. thanks for joining us. i know you and so many of your colleagues there have had so much to handle in these last harrowing days. your group helped some 28,000 people leave the island last week. i wonder as you look back, did people get enough warning of this? why wasn't there more of a warning? >> you know, it's still really early in this disaster. we have crews out there looking for those who lost their lives. it's really too early to start pointing fingers and looking at things. but what we do know is there's an incredible outpouring of aloha for maui. the families that were affected. you know, maui has a place of 150, 160,000 people. on an average day in 2023 there were about 70,000 visitors. that gives you an idea of the kind of impact that tourism has on maui. and so we did our best to help get visitors off of maui as quickly as possible to alleviate the pressure on the systems, to be able to focus attention and resources on where they needed to be focused the most, on the residents. last night we started moving people out of shelters into hotels in west maui as they regain power, as they were able to get their own employees in there to be ready to host folks. we're talking evacuees from shelters. we're talking about emergency workers, you know, from federal, state, county level getting in there and doing the work alongside the community to help lahaina recover. >> let me ask you this because i know a count is still being conducted as best you can among residents. do you have any estimate of how many visitors to maui are still missing? >> i don't have that number. there's lots of information flying around. some we know to be accurate. some we don't. it's early to tell numbers. >> okay. you're in honolulu now where we know an emergency assistance center has been established for some of the folks who are now homeless. tell us what you're seeing there. what is the scale of the need? >> sure. the center that we stood up in honolulu and it was good to hear mike valerio is safe on maui, he was there on the first night. the purpose of that was for those visitors getting off maui who needed to go back home, couldn't quite get their flights right, couldn't quite get their accommodations right. we had that center to help folks. we were ready for thousands. we saw hundreds. that center has since left the convention center. it's a little closer to the airport now, to the smaller number of folks we saw. and again, the purpose of that was just to free up those resources, free up shelter space, you know, space on transportation for the folks of maui who need it the most. >> ilihia gionson, thanks so much for joining. we look forward to having you back when we know more about this and get more information about who's still missing. thanks so much for taking the time. >> thank you. >> boris. the head of russia's largest ship builder says that moscow is working to equip its new nuclear submarines with hypersonic missiles. what that could mean for global security. plus caught on camera. two pilots avoiding tragedy, both of them ejected from a vintage fighter jet at a michigan air show. we're going to show you more of these harrowing moments caught on camera when "cnn news central" returns. muscle, bone, and heart health. yaaay! woo hoo! ensure witith 25 vitamins and minerals and d ensure complete with 30 gramss of protein. ♪ remember the things you loved... ...before asthma got in the way? fasenra is an add-on treatment for asthma driven by eosinophils. it's designed to target and remove them and helps prevent asthma attacks. fasenra is not for sudden breathing problems or other eosinophilic conditions. allergic reactions may occur. don't stop your asthma treatments without talking with your doctor. tell your doctor if your asthma worsens. headache and sore throat may occur. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. get back to better breathing. ask your doctor about fasenra. ukraine calls russia's boarding of a cargo ship in the black sea on sunday a deliberate attack and an act of piracy. russia's defense ministry says that one of its warships fired warning shots and then boarded the vessel after it refused to stop for an inspection. this video captured by the turkish crew aboard the cargo ship shows crew members sitting and waiting on deck as a russian military helicopter hovers closely over the vessel and soldiers with guns board the ship. cnn's nic robertson joins us now. so nic, what more can you tell us about this incident? >> reporter: well, the turkish captain of the ship, when he was questioned by the russian officials, they asked him, well, why -- essentially why were you trying to evade us, why didn't you try to stop when the ship first fired and then when the helicopter fired warning shots? and the captain said, i was in international waters and i maneuvered then to try to put myself in a place where i could make a call to -- make a call ashore and alert people about what was happening. they said after that the russians spent about an hour or so on board the ship. they checked the documents of the crew, all turkish, checked around a little bit, but he said they didn't really do any big inspections of the ship. it does seem to be a warning from russia that it is upscaling its efforts, if you will, to try to stimulate more discussion about the black sea grain deal because what this vessel was doing was literally going to a port to stock up with grain and try to get out through the black sea in the way it's been doing over the past year as part of that black sea grain deal which russia has pulled out of. and russia pulled out of it because it seems to want better terms and conditions for the russians, easier access to financial institutions for payments. and if you add this into russia's missile attacks on odesa overnight you can see they've really got a big focus on that grain deal on the black sea right now. >> and nic, there's also an update regarding russia's largest ship builder and hypersonic missiles. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: yeah, they're going to put these hypersonic zercon miss aboard nuclear-powered submarines. this will give them a greater stealth capacity because obviously that type of submarine can stay submerged for longer, and it will bring the potential for a hypersonic missile closer to land in unpredictable locations, which is an advantage for the russians. now, they do have other hypersonic missiles, the kinzhal, which is fired from aircraft. but this particular missile they want to put on board the subs is a marine-launched missile. and the ability to shoot down a hypersonic missile is determined by how long you can see it coming, can you track it and can you shoot it down. and the answer is it is possible. but if you shorten the flight distance, which is what the russians essentially by doing this are talking about, it's much harder to intercept and therefore is an increased level of threat. >> a significant maneuver by the kremlin. nic robertson in london. thank you so much. jim? attorneys for hunter biden say their plea deal with the justice department is still, quote, valid and binding. ahead, why they say a trial is not inevitable. plus, more fallout from senator tomb tommy tuberville's blockade of all military promotions. another chief has given up command without a senate-confirmed replacement. what this means for the nation's military readiness, ahead on "cnn news central." ...becauss pano ai innovate, so they can stop the spread of wildfires. now's the time to see what america's largest 5g network can do for yourur business. he snores like an angry rhino. you've never heard an angry rhino. baby i hear one every night... every night. okay. i'll work on that. save 50% on the sleep number limited editiosmart bed. plus, 36 month finanng on select smart beds. shop now oy at sleep number. meet three students all learning to save and spend their money with chase. freedom for kids. hungry? thank you, chef. control for parents. nice. one bank for both. chase. make more of what's yours. from pep in their step to shine in their coats, when people switch their dog's food to the farmer's dog, the effects can seem like magic. but there's no magic involved. 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(♪) astepro allergy, steroid free allergy relief that starts working in 30 minutes, while other allergy sprays take hours. with astepro's unbeatably fast allergy relief you can astepro and go! in a new twist lawyers for hunter biden are now arguing that at least part of his collapsed plea deal still stands. in a new court filing they say the deal they made with federal prosecutors to resolve a felony gun charge against the president's son is still, quote, valid and binding. this comes just two days after trump-appointed u.s. attorney david weiss was granted special counsel status following the breakdown in those plea talks. cnn's kara scannell is covering this skoir for us. kara, to be clear, there were two parts to hunter biden's plea deal, one dealing with the tax misdemeanors, and then this diversion agreement on a felony gun charge. why do his attorneys think at least the gun portion of this still stands? >> reporter: well, jim, so the gun diversion agreement was something that was struck between the prosecutors and hunter biden's lawyers, and normally these diversion agreements are between two parties and they are binding and valid when they are signed. the issue in this case was that the judge had raised this exact question to the parties in court last month where she said they had inserted her into the process and therefore it was now before her. and she had some questions around that. she questioned in fact whether it was a constitutional deal. so hunter biden's lawyers now after doj filed a court filing on friday saying that talks had broken down, they were at an impasse and none of these deals are together, they're saying they actually do believe that this one is valid and bind ing and the judge is giving prosecutors until noon tomorrow to make their position. it's really unclear where that's going to go from here since she already had some concerns and issues about it. you know, that said, hunter biden's legal team over the weekend has been saying even with the elevation of david weiss to special counsel they seem to be optimistic that they will at least on the tax charges end up in the same place that they were a month ago, hopefully in their minds with another plea deal. and one of hunter biden's attorneys, abbe lowell, was on cbs yesterday and he was asked if a trial is inevitable. here's what he said. >> it's not inevitable, and i think -- >> and you're trying to avoid one? >> yes. we were trying to avoid one all along, and so were the prosecutors who came forward to us and were the ones to say can there be a resolution short of a prosecution. so they wanted it, and maybe they still do want it. >> reporter: jim, it remains to be seen if prosecutors will get there at some point. but as of friday they said they were at an impasse. this elevation of special counsel certainly does not lead you to think that this investigation is going to wrap anytime soon. jim? >> we know you'll be watching. kara scannell, thank you so much. boris. now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour. officials are trying to figure out what caused a huge explosion in a neighborhood outside pittsburgh. a blast that killed five people and injured three others. three homes were destroyed with at least a dozen more damaged. a doorbell camera captured the apparent moment of the blast. officials say this is at least the third time in 15 years a house in this area has exploded. also, some incredible video to share with you showing two people ejecting from a fighter jet during an air show in michigan. the jet crashed in the parking lot of a nearby apartment complex. officials say the two people who ejected fortunately did not suffer serious injuries. no one on the ground was hurt either. you see the plane right there. the faa and ntsb are now investigating. and three military services are now without senate-confirmed chiefs for the first time in the defense department's history. as senator tommy tuberville continues his blockade against military confirmations. today the chief of naval operations relinquished command. his appointment -- his appointed replacement, i should say, is one of 300 military officers whose promotions are being stalled by the alabama republican to protest pentagon reproductive health policies. jim? >> lots of families waiting for those pro notions as well. six former mississippi law enforcement officers, some of whom referred to themselves as the goon squad because of their willingness to use excessive force, have now pleaded guilty to state charges in the torture of two black men. the group has also pleaded guilty to federal charges. correspondent ryan young, he's been following this story for us. this is a remarkable development in this case. walk us through what happened today, and does this represent a deal with prosecutors? >> reporter: well, you know, that's the great question here. they all pled guilty, jim. but look, this story has really been turning people in mississippi upside down in terms of just how angry they are about the fact that this goon squad was even operating inside rankin county. and then there was of course one other police officer that was part of the ridgeland police department. now we have their mug shots. now they all walked into court and they pled guilty. now, what they pled guilty to was basically they went to the home of two men and they tortured them over a two-hour period. they used tasers to see which one had the most powerful taser. they threw eggs at them. they called them the n word over and over again. they then even tried to sexually assault one of the men. but unfortunately, he became so sick and so terrified that they could not complete that sexual assault. the story had been going on for months. it happened back in january. these men have been trying to get the attention to so many in the law enforcement community. once the mississippi state investigators got involved, they started unveiling things to make sure that they saw that there was something wrong with this. in fact, take a listen to one of the victims who was in court today to watch these men plead guilty. >> i enjoyed the view of seeing the shame, the walk of shame, head down. i hope this is a lesson to everybody out there. justice will be served. >> you think about whether or not justice will be served, you understand why these men were so angry about what happened to them. the sheriff has released a statement. he says, "i believe today's guilty plea showed the community that our system of checks and balances is effective." jim, i can tell you this statement goes on. but we were hoping to hear from the sheriff himself in a news conference. we're not sure that's going to happen. cnn has asked him multiple times for interviews. of course, we traveled to mississippi to talk to these two men, and one of their mothers just about this pain they've been going through for months. because as you can understand, this really came to light because at one point one of the deputies took a gun, placed it into the mouth of one of the men and pulled the trigger, lacerating his tongue and having the bullet come out his throat. that man will suffer with that for the rest of his life. so you understand there's an entire mississippi community trying to figure out exactly what happens next. brian bailey says he's not stepping down as sheriff. he also says he did not know this was going on. but the goon squad was known throughout that community. jim? >> ryan, you've been covering this case since the beginning. they referred to themselves as the goon squad. does that presume that this was not an isolated case of torture? >> well, i will -- yeah, i will tell you this. there are people in that community who said they have encountered these men before, it's part of the story that we're still digging on right now. we're hoping to go back to mississippi to talk to people in the community who have faced these men before. but as you can understand, not only did they do this and they've said they pled guilty to it, they disappeared for two hours, jim. they turned off their body cameras. they surveilled the home to know where the cameras were. so this was a procedure they had understanding of. you've just got to ask, how were they able to do it and not be checked on for two hours? >> and turned off their body cameras. ryan young, thanks so much. the details of that just shocking. boris. still to come this afternoon, one stroke victim calling it the greatest feeling in the world. how a new device implanted in patients changed their lives and is giving them new hope. ly price from sofia vergara you're in my shot! ...be sure to get my good siside! get two pairs of celebrity frames for $89.95 for a limited titime at america's best. bookok an exam today. 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[ cheers ] running up and down that field looks tough. it's a pitch. get way more into what you're into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. new today, some promising early results from a first in humans trial. researchers found that implanting a stimulation device directly onto the brain could help patients who've been impaired by a stroke. this effort to help them regain motor function is critical because strokes are one of the leading causes of disability in the united states. cnn medical correspondent meg tirrell joins us now with the results of this new study. so meg, how exactly does this work? >> reporter: yeah, boris, this is very early research. phase one trial in 12 patients done at the cleveland clinic. and what they did here was insert a tiny electrode into the back of the brain. this was a wire that was no wider than a grain of sand. you can see it going in there at the area. there at the bottom in the back. that's a really important area for controlling movement. and they found that when they inserted this deep brain stimulation device and they essentially had it turned on for at least four months, continuously providing stimulation, that that in addition to physical therapy could help people who survived a stroke but had upper limb movement problems restores some of that function. we talked with a patient who was in this trial, and you can actually see an image, we've got it, of the deep brain stimulation device in his own brain. you can see there that wire in the back. he had what he described as really amazing recovery here of some of his functions. he'd lost a lot of it and really wasn't improving after about a year of physical therapy alone. so this he said really made a huge difference for him. the hope is this could bear out in larger clinical trials because there's more than 7 million survivors of stroke in the united states, 2/3 of whom have some disability. so this patient we talked with, stan nicholas, said this is really helping him restore some of the functions important in his daily life. boris? >> an amazing result for him, hopefully with big implications for the future. meg tirrell, thanks so much for the reporting. jim? ahead on "cnn news central," a grand jury is meeting today in atlanta and could soon return a fourth indictment for former president trump. we are live outside the courthouse. safelite came right to us, and we could see exactctly when they'd arrive with a replacementnt we could trust. that's service the way we want it. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. . ♪ (vo) in one second, sara (woman) yes (vo) will get a job offer somewhere sunnier. relocating in weeks. 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