>> he was sent to prison for his crimes. brook aster died in 2007, at the age of 105. with her passing from the end of an american fortune. >> on the one hand, the aster family leaves a legacy of civic involvement, and philanthropy. on the other hand it has a shocking legacy of capitalist, advantage taking of people who are really in dire straits. so like most great fortunes if you scratch the surface a little bit there are a lot of unfortunate lessons about human nature you can come to. >> the aster money may be gone in america, but you can still see the aster name all over new york city. especially in aster place in greenwich village, but on the walls of the subway stop, especially in the stock around greenwich village. on the walls you will find ceramic tiles depicting beavers. the source of the fortune john aster had ruthlessly and relentlessly card of the american wellness. >> the book asked for the rise and fall of the american fortune is out, now i hope you enjoy it. news continues the source of kaitlan collins starts now. >> tonight, straight from the, sort senator bob menendez defiant, now trying to explain the hundreds of thousands of dollars snapped around his house as the third democratic senator calls for him to resign. plus for president trump threatening the entire military officer in the nation who also happens to potentially be a witness in the special counsel case against him. we will get reaction from trump's former defense secretary in moments. and the trump campaign first said he bought a gun today in south carolina. after an immediate uproar they walked him back. what is the law for someone who's been indicted four times? i'm kaitlan collins, and this is the source. ♪ ♪ ♪ but tonight new jersey senator bob menendez is refusing to resign, despite the growing calls from within his own party. now three democratic senators are calling for him to step down. and just in tonight former speaker nancy pelosi joins them. >> the charges are formidable, and if in fact we're going to say if you're indicted you should resign it would be probably a good idea of you did resign. >> probably a good idea. democrat who is now been indicted for a second time says he has no intention of doing so. >> i firmly believe one of the facts are presented, not only will i be exonerated, but i still will be the new jersey senior senator. >> these were his first comments on camera since being indicted, the member of the senate banking committee offered this explanation for why nearly half 1 million dollars in cash were somehow safer in jackets in closets in his home then say, a bank. >> for 30 years i had withdrawn thousands of dollars in cash from my personal savings account. which i have kept for emergencies and because of the history of my family facing confiscation in cuba. >> menendez did not offer an explanation for the gold bars or the mercedes-benz sportscar that prosecutors say he received as bribe payments for using his position to funnel money in military aid to egypt. allegations of course are made all the more brazen given he was the top ranking democrat on the senate foreign relations committee. >> throughout my 30 years in the house representatives and the senate. i have always worked to hold you accountable in those countries, including egypt. the human rights abuses in infection of the citizen. >> senator made no mention about running for reelection today, as he insisted the west of the details he believes will come out in court. >> the court of public opinion is no substitute for our revered justice system. >> i should note that justice system has bipartisan track record, currently two sitting lawmakers are facing charges. senator menendez and congressman george santos. one democrat one republican. given the allegations against the senator focused on his position to implement arms sales and u.s. aid to egypt, i want to go straight to the source tonight. democrat and cofounder of the egyptian human rights caucus, congressman don beyer of virginia, congressman thank you for being here tonight. you have heard senator menendez there, he says he's not resigning. you believe he should? why? >> absolutely, first there is a strong tradition in the congress, that one indicted you should resign. you are still going to get your day in court, he has not been convicted yet. but i don't know how we can do his job effectively with a damning over his head. frankly i was impressed today. >> what questions we have? >> firstly if you believe he has $100,000 of cash flying around, even if he did have it why would he put it in a safe at home? that doesn't explain why he texted a list of u.s. embassy employees that ended up in cc scans, doesn't explain why he goes through the memo, calling for lifting the hold on military aid. doesn't explain why he had the secret meeting with israeli, or egyptian intelligence. we've been pushing hard against egypt's human rights violations. thousands of people indefinitely, the violation of human rights. so the senator says one thing but he does these letters. this is exactly the opposite but it's not -- >> i should note on the money some of it was in a safe deposit box. a lot of it was found in jackets or just around the house. you mention egypt i know obviously this is something that has been a huge issue for you, how they are on human rights. you heard the senator, he stepped down as the chair of the relations committee for democrats. for the time being following democrats rules. he made this defense of the record on egypt today. what >> one fact is indisputable. throughout my time in congress, i have remained steadfast on the side of civil society. and human rights defenders and egypt, and everywhere else in the world. >> if you look at my actions relating to egypt during the period described in this indictment. and throughout my whole career, my repute is clear. why >> is that how you see his record? what questions do you have about the actions he took regarding egypt, given these allegations? >> caitlin, let's look at his actions. he says he wrote a letter standing up to human rights. the only tool we really have in our diplomatic box is to withhold military aid. under the conditions of our agreements we can uphold what, sorry, withhold up to $3 million a year in aid to egypt. because of the human rights violations. he actually in the biden administration right, now holding 65 million withholding the rest of it. but senator menendez on the other hand was working actively to make sure they have all of them. so he is doing one thing, says one thing, but he does something completely opposite. >> what do you think this warrant from the administration? they just announced $235 million in military aid in recent weeks to egypt. i know you put out a statement on that as well. what question does this raise about that relationship going forward? >> the biggest question it raises, egypt, a friend and ally extensively. conducting a essentially espionage operation within the u.s. senate. right here in washington d. c.. i think that calls for a much stronger response in the biden administration. the straightforward one to withhold the $300 million. >> so far 37% of democrats have called on senator menendez to resign. we just heard from former speaker pelosi a few minutes ago. do you believe that senator schumer and other democratic leaders also need to call for him to resign? >> i think everyone approaches it in their own way. it's harder when he's been a college year after year. nancy pelosi calling very powerful. if she is still the most important person even in her status. you notice phil murphy governor of new jersey and democrats i'm sure a longtime associate with senator menendez also called for him to step down. he has certainly been an ally of menendez, but one of the first to come out we haven't heard from senator cory booker yet if he stays in the senate what do they do for your party 's credibility. >> it hurts it. i think you know, we all make mistakes. but when we make mistakes we have to owe them and take responsibility. whether it's our own personally or part of our family or in this case our democratic cause. it won't help us to have him hanging around. >> right now he says he plans on doing, that will see if that's a case. thank you so much for joining us tonight congressman. i'm joined now by leslie caldwell, eight years ago was a prosecutor for the justice department. announcing a difference at a bribery charges against senator menendez i should note menendez was acquitted after the jury deadlocked in that case. former president trump commuted that dr. sentence in another case against other charges. regarding this indictment, what do you make of -- do you believe it stronger than what the justice department tried to do in that previous case? look >> so i think it's very different. the first indictment was filed and tried when the law was one thing. and actually filed when the law was one way. and then between the indictment of the trial the law changed in the form of supreme court decision. making it much harder for prosecutors to do public corruption. this is a different kind of indictment with very different fact pattern. and the indictment is very careful to alleged links between specific conduct and specific benefits that will provide the senator and his wife. i think that makes a big difference and you'll see how it shapes out. >> of course what you're referring to the supreme court essentially law survives what counts as bribing a cup of coffee shot. after that trial, one of the jurors in this case said this about why they did not convict him ultimately in 2017. >> but there's no smoking gun in this case, we didn't see. you know, we went by that. pretty much won by our heart. we didn't think that there was enough going on there in the case. to convict him. >> these charges obviously leslie there are pictures of bars in cash found in his house. text messages complaining about late payments. how challenging do you believe are the facts laid out in this indictment. the allegations? how challenging is that to rebut? >> i think it's going to be very challenging, the first case involved the individual for whom he was getting benefits. that individual was also a longtime friend. that is not a fact in this case apparently. the allegations, the visual power of the items that were given to him, the amounts given to him. it's much more significant than it was in the earlier days. i think it's going to be very difficult to explain the bars i understand he's already made some statements about cash. i think it's going to be difficult to explain particularly when there are allegations of links to very specific behavior by him. >> he did offer an explanation for the cash. just his background, this is what senator menendez said to explain why he had nearly half 1 million dollars in cash. >> this may seem old-fashioned but these were monies drawn from my personal savings account, based on the income that i have law fully but made over those 30 years. >> if you are prosecuting this case, how would you respond to that defense? >> well i first want to see if it's even accurate. i'm sure the government is subpoenaing, if they haven't already. bank records from his personal savings accounts where he said this money came from, to see what the plans were in and out of the account. apparently according to the allegations some of the envelope that contained cash had fingerprints and dna of some of the codefendants which was difficult to explain. so i think it's going to be very challenging. >> we'll see what he says going forward, of course obviously he doesn't have the presumption of innocence until proven guilty is that first quarter appearance on wednesday. thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> still ahead, america's top general facing a disturbing new threat including the man who appointed him. donald trump insinuating the general mark milley be executed. what is trump's former defense secretary who served alongside general milley saying about these remarks? secretary mark esper will join me in moments. plus the trump campaign, forcing the former president bought a gun, then correcting themselves after an uproar of course member trump is under four felony indictments. can you can legally purchase a firearm? that's next. >> general mark milley tonight facing an onslaught of violent rhetoric just days before he is set to retire as the nation's top military officer. on friday, former president donald trump basically accused the party in joint chief chairman of treason. quote an act so egregious that in times gone by, punishment would have been death. republican congressman paul gosar than suggested in a newsletter rant on sunday night that merely be hanged along with other disgusting remarks that do not bear repeating and therefore will not be repeated here tonight. both trump and the congressman while piling on milley to his response to the january 6th attack including phone calls milley had made to allies into government officials in china. reassuring them of that time that the u.s. was still a stable government, despite what had happened in washington that day. as a reminder trump handpicked general milley to the role that he has now, in 2018. and showered him with praise at the time. >> mark milley a great gentleman. great soldier. >> joining me tonight former defense secretary under mark esper, worked alongside general milley in the administration. and wrote about his experience in a sacred oath, secretary esper, how dangerous do you believe this post from donald trump's? >> look it's very dangerous caitlin, it's wrong, it's disgusting. it's despicable. it's not just an assault on one person, mark milley. who has served his country notably. and who now has to fear that someone may act on such remarks. it's also an attack on institutions as a military officer for the professionalism and their sworn oath to defend the constitution of the united states. look, i see this on multiple levels. either way you look at it it's despicable. >> one thing that kind of stands out when trump says something like this, obviously so egregious typically you would never hear a president or former president attacking the person he put in as the joint chief chairman. kind of how muted the response to it is. certainly from republican leaders on capitol hill. do you believe it's important for the to speak out against this kind of incendiary comments from trump knew? >> look first of all i'm offended that one american would say this about another american. far forward the fact that the president the commander in chief no less, is saying this against the, about the chairman joint chief of staff who spent 40 plus years in uniform fighting and defending his country. his family sacrificing along with him. i think it should be condemned from folks on the right, republicans, democrats. conservatives and liberals alike. this type of top should be condemned once and for all. >> secretary at the heart of, this is what trump was talking about can you just clarify what did happen? with those phone calls, to government officials in china, who directed those and why this would've happened despite what trump is obviously implying? on social media? >> yet, there's two incidents. one in january of 2021, i was not part of that. i was fired in november. the other one happened in mid october. and as a result he's been accused of a road general acting on his own possibly sharing information with the chinese so forth and so on. i think much of this is due to incomplete and inaccurate reporting. by a few authors. most of whom i have respect for. but depicting a hero fighting amongst him. the story is much more complicated. it's simply wrong. i had reached out to my chinese counterpart in mid october of 2020 to send the message because of what we were hearing through intelligence channels and open sources and whatnot that the chinese were scared alarms and uncertain about what was happening in washington. i wanted to send a message to them that everything was okay. we had no intentions about them. we want to keep the lines of communication open. so forth and so on. i wanted to avoid any type of accidental conflict or confrontation with the chinese. so about a week later after my call through nestor borden it was initiated. i was in a meeting with mark milley and admiral davidson and others. i conveyed to them we had said this message to the chinese. and since it typically happens we have others doing the same. milley davidson i spoke about this, i directed milley to reach out to his counterpart as well. conveyed the same message which he did a few days later with the help of some of the civilian employees who work for me. by the end of october he conveyed the message. the good news is the chinese came back and said thank you very much, we've been very concerned. we appreciate what's going on. at the end of the day nobody wants some type of accident on the conflict to happen with the chinese or any country for that matter. i thought it was always good diplomacy and responsible statecraft for the d. o. d. to be doing this. >> to our chief sterman, they just take orders from either the defense secretary or the president. but the chairman of joint chiefs of staff to the president national security council. he has no formal command authority over anyone. he's an adviser he is a manager he can be a communicator. what he was acting on my direct to reach out to the chinese counterpart. something we did typically, look we would do it with other militaries around the world to make sure we are passing along a unified coherent message. up and down the chain of command. not >> what i was reading this, i was reading the post, i was thinking of how we reported several months ago that general milley actually met with federal investigators over that recording of trump allegedly discussing documents. milley could potentially be a witness in that case, maybe in the election subversion case as well. do you believe that could be part of why trump is targeting us now? >> who knows. it's hard to say, i think trump is obviously not happy. apparently before the committee trump and others are not happy with some of the reporting coming out. marley is quoted as doing when this or that. what something inaccurately are incompletely, writing about situations looking to find a hero to strike a contrast against and so all these things get amplified. look, milley's tenure was extraordinary. he did a great job. he served honorably and he deserves our praise and thanks. he does not deserve what he has received from the president trump right now. >> you mentioned is new reporting, a new piece in the atlantic and part of that says milley has told friends he expects if trump does return to the white house, which he's obviously trying to, that the newly elected president will come after him. milley has reportedly told people quote, he will start throwing people in jail and i would be on the top of the list. do you think that is a justified concern? >> look i think it's a legitimate fear. if you recall from my memoir, i cited circumstances where the president hang on by his close advisors and general mcchrystal court-martial for some things that they allegedly said in the public domain. million i had to talk with the president about doing that for any number of reasons. it's impossible that a new loyalist sitting around trump in the oval office will say let's call it milley. it's quite likely now the good news is there's a silver lining in all of this that trump's kind of poisoned the well. we giving that we would get what we would call command influence. nonetheless i think it's a legitimate fear. presidents also that it's about retribution. i think these are all legitimate concerns. >> can we just take a moment. you were his pentagon chief. the former defense secretary is saying it's a legitimate fear that the former commander-in-chief who is seeking to be a commander-in-chief again would want to be seeking contribution against someone like general milley, simply because he doesn't like the way that that tenure is being reported. al >> yeah, simply because it was to offer candid and frank device. if it wasn't what the president wanted here because of what milley was saying or he didn't hear what i was saying, look, he doesn't like that. he wants to find yes men in his office. and so yeah he would do that. it's hard for me to believe i'm saying that as well, i wish i didn't have to say that. but if i didn't have the experience in the oval office with president trump seriously wanting to call back at the active duty, but to court-martial them. you know, i would be less certain. but unfortunately it is what it is. >> remarkable. secretary, thank you very much for joining us with your perspective tonight. >> thank you caitlin. >> coming up donald trump seemingly gun shopping on the campaign trail in south carolina today. saying he wanted to buy this handgun, that actually had his face on it. but because he has been charged with multiple felonies, questions were immediately raised about whether or not he can even legally do so. we'll discuss next. you're probably not easily persuaded to switch mobile providers for your business. but what if we told you it's possible that comcast business mobile can save you up to 75% a year on your wireless bill versus the big three carriers? it's true. plus, when you buy your first line of mobile, you get a second line free. there are no term contracts or line activation fees. and you can bring your own device. oh, and all on the most reliable 5g mobile network nationwide. wireless that works for you. it's not just possible. it's happening. loving this pay bump on our allowance. wonder where mom and dad got the extra money? maybe they won the lottery? maybe they inherited a fortune? maybe buried treasure? maybe it fell off a truck? or maybe they switched to xfinity mobile - the fastest mobile service. save hundreds a year over t-mobile, at&t and verizon. now i can buy that electric scooter. i'm starting a private equity fund that specializes in midcap. you do you. switch to xfinity mobile today. >> former president donald trump made a campaign stop at a gun store in south carolina today. 2024 republican front runner seen on camera admiring and posing with a handgun that had to face on it. he was heard on camera saying he was interested in buying it. >> i like it. >> so if you want, won this one. [laughter] >> moments later his spokesperson posted online that trump had got the gun. saying he bought back lock, immediately raising questions about his ability to do so in obtained a new weapon, now that he is a criminal defendant in multiple jurisdictions. not long ago the trump campaign spokesman deleted that post and clarify to cnn the former president did not actually buy a gun despite saying initially he had. joining me now cnn contributor again safety instructor and firearms reporter for the -- obviously stephen first question everyone had in the reason it was likely deleted, it raised questions about what trump can legally do here given he has been indicted four times, facing those 91 counts, can he legally buy a gun now that he is a criminal defendant? >> as a law stands right now he can't. anyone who's under felony indictment is prohibited from receiving new guns. they can't buy or obtain new ones. so long as they're under that indictment. >> does this raise any constitutional questions as the law stopping criminal defendants from owning a gun receiving a gun, being tested in the courts before? >> there's quite a lot of controversy around this right now. the decisions on either side of whether or not it's constitutional since the supreme court handed down its landmark decision in bruen. and so the constitutionality of this is questionable. but at the same time it's still in effect. there is no circuits, appeals court has ruled that this law is unconstitutional yet. we may still get that, as of now, it's clear that he could not buy that gun. >> isn't this the same issue we heard hunter biden's attorneys weighing over his gun charges, that they believe essentially it's on shaky legal ground. they can challenge that? >> it's similar yes. it's a different law, hunter biden's charges deal with him lying on the background check of his drug use. and being a drug user while owning a gun. but the same legal theory applies in both cases because of that supreme court ruling. which says any modern prohibition or modern gun law has to have a historical analog that dates to the time of the founding. and it's not clear whether these laws do. >> when it comes to trump specifically, we saw him he's at a campaign event in south carolina. he stopped at the store there, selling these firearms. what can he do as he's facing this indictment? >> he can keep the guns he already has. no shooting, not a possession ban. like you see for someone who is convicted of a felony. it's a ban on receiving new guns. he cannot buy a gun, in fact, if you've ever brought a gun you've done a background check. they explicitly ask you if you're under indictment for a felony on that form. and if you say yes, you failed background check. but yes, he also likely cannot receive guns as a gift. which is a pretty significant problem, when you're running as a republican pro second amendment guy. oftentimes people want to give you guns on the campaign trail, especially donald trump. there is a number of companies that make these guns that have his face on them. >> yes that's exactly the issue that was here today. what caused all of this was not that people saw him there and assumed oh he's gonna try and buy something. instead his own spokesperson had posted he had actually purchased that gun for before saying no he didn't actually. >> yes, this is a fairly obscure, i guess for the most average person who might know about this people know that the conviction of a felony makes you prohibited from owning guns. a lot of people might not understand just being indicted on elie felony willard's federal or state would trigger this federal prohibition. so it seems like his campaign staff certainly didn't understand that, seems like he didn't understand it either. >> yeah it's not something typically the campaign staff would have to know but obviously this is an extraordinary circumstance, steven thank you so much for joining, with your expertise on this obviously. >> thank you. >> meanwhile house speaker kevin mccarthy is plotting his next move, big question about whether that's going to be as the government is hurtling towards a shut down tonight, his job is potentially on the line, white house saying it's republicans who are to blame. >> tonight president biden is blasting hard right republicans for driving congress potentially towards a government shutdown, now just less than six days away. >> now extreme house republicans -- they're paying the price for that. -- now we're gonna make another deal, which is not really a surprise these days. >> this may not surprise you, what i'm about to say, but former president trump is backing those few on the hard, right telling them they should shut down washington unless they quote, get everything they are asking for. of course the problem, is there is almost no chance of that happening. but without a deal millions of people in americans could be impacted by a government shutdown. it could happen just days from now. potentially meaning active duty troops and border patrol agents have to work without getting paid. nearly 7 million women and children who rely on food assistance programs, could potentially be cut off. farmers could lose access to their loans and air travel could see disruptions if those unpaid tsa officers call out of work. house speaker kevin mccarthy is facing a defining decision by the end of the week when it comes to this. he could either potentially set up a bipartisan bill, risking his speakership. or he could side with the hard right flank and it would eventually trigger a shutdown. let's discuss options with jamal simmons, former deputy assistant to president biden. doug, hi former communications -- director for the republican national committee. doug, i want to start with you because house republicans would essentially need some kind of legislative trick at this point, to avoid a shutdown. given there is such little time and speaker mccarthy sent them home last week. how does the gop get himself out of this? if they even potentially can do so. >> that's short answer is we do not know. we know there is going to be a shut down, almost 99. 40% chance of that happening. it seems impossible for not to happen. then the question becomes, if we shut down the government, how do we reopen it? what is the deal that could be cut between kevin mccarthy and senate democrats? the democrats obviously the white house as well. and what is he allowed to do with his own comforts? and his challenge is, it only takes five people to move a deal south and to make a motion to vacate the chair. so whatever he does, it's a very difficult situation and why the elections in 2022 were disappointing for republicans. even though he won back the house, democrats through the party. it was essentially why republicans in the house found themselves in a very precarious position. governments gonna, close they don't know how it's gonna reopen. >> yes it's such a slim majority, president biden you saw him weighing in on this. they're coming out in front of it and the secretary essentially saying if this happens, it's republicans who are to blame. i think the reason trump is obviously advocating for a shutdown. it's chaos in washington. it could benefit him. do you think the white house is doing enough to emphasize who it is that is responsible for the shutdown? >> white house is doing. that they're sending out different cabinet secretaries as you were talking about a minute ago. different cabinet secretaries every, day telling us what's gonna happen. each individual place. at some point the weight of this and what its impact people will start. to matter. when i was a kid my stepfather was an entrepreneur we had a couple years we didn't make ends meet. you know what's worse and having to depend on the government to help feed your kids. not having the money to feed your kids. and so with wick payments, and these payments for moms drying up. those are not gonna go down without fighting. same thing will happen with military pay, same thing with border patrol. i think we're gonna have a real shutdown happening, if it doesn't have exemptions. i think that might be a counter weight that finally gets this thing to move. >> you just heard what doug mentioned, there look speaker mccarthy, democrats could potentially play a pivotal role in deciding his fate. should democrats help kevin mccarthy keep his job? what is your sense? >> my sense, that is not going to happen. there is no stomach and the democratic caucus to help mccarthy keep his job. democrats want to keep the government open, but they have a problem, doug can probably speak to this better. the rules committee. they have to get a bill out of the rules committee. he's gonna need some republicans to get that bill out of the rules committee. that will be the touch for him. >> of course they're struggling to even get their own gop, their own defense bill passed. doug i know that you are coming on here to talk about this. i do want more of your thoughts on kevin mccarthy. we have some breaking news from the republican national committee. they have just announced who is qualified for the second republican debate that's going to be happening this wednesday. right now that list includes north dakota governor doug burgum, chris christie. ron desantis. nikki haley, mike pence. ramaswamy, and tim scott. but notably not on there is arkansas former arkansas governor asa hutchinson. what do you make of what that debate is going to look like on wednesday night? with one fewer candidate on the stage? >> i don't think there's any reason to expect it will be any difference, then the last one we might see some more breakout moments from different people here or there. but ultimately all of these candidates need to ask themselves a question. are you running to win the nomination? or are you running for something else. everything we have seen so far sort of suggests there is something else. because they are awfully hesitant to go after donald trump, directly. and when you have an opponent who has a huge lead and then gets indicted in politics, whether you're running for mayor, congress, president, what have you. you use that against them. instead what we're seeing for most of the republican candidates in these debates is and outside the debates, it's not just not going after trump as they normally would do. they reinforce donald trump's messaging. that is unheard of in american politics. we're gonna find out once, tonight is someone running for real? are they going to go after trump. we do not know if that's going to be successful or not. we sure know it won't be successful if it's not trump. >> let me ask, you isa hutchinson it was someone who is willing to criticize trump. and often did so pretty regularly, i mean, he's not on that debate stage either because he didn't reach the fundraising or pulling threshold. what does that mean? >> i think first it means asa hutchison is a good honorable man who is a good governor for arkansas, it's time to get out. time to window that field down. coming out of this debate. whatever happens we should see more republicans get out of this. if you want to be the nominee, you want fewer people running, and you want to draw those contrasts with your opponent. that opponent is donald trump. look, everyone who saw star wars knows luke skywalker had to confront darth vader. he couldn't sit back and just hope the force or hounsell it would take care. >> you have jamal laughing at that. doug, jamal simmons. i'm gonna say have never seen star wars, don't kill me. >> don't say that. >> thank you. both major u.s. city facing a water crisis tonight. army corps and engineers now involved, planning to send 36 million of gallons to freshwater a day to hold off the threat, inside the plan to save the drinking water in new orleans, that is next. breaking news. tonight republican national committee is just announcing the list of candidates who will appear on stage for the second republican debate on wednesday night, former arkansas governor asa hutchinson who was there on the first onstage republican debate, did not meet the criteria to participate. he has now joined us, thank you so much for joining us. what does this mean for the campaign? that you're not going to be on that stage wednesday night? >> we're gonna continue the campaign whenever you look at where we need to be, upset a goal to be a 4% by thanksgiving or by the next debate. and so we said internal goals, we're not gonna let everything be dictated by the standards that are set by the rnc. and so we are excited to continue this week, i'll be in a number of different venues, three or four different states. over the next couple of weeks. we will continue to do the campaign. we will evaluate, i know there's gonna be those that say we ought to step aside. but wherever you look at the roles but i new hampshire play, we're gonna continue to compete there and measure from the response. >> okay sounds like thanksgiving is your next state for when you're gonna reassess the campaign. governor you have been one of the few 2024 gop candidates who have spoken out against trump very critical of him. what does it mean when you're not on that stage wednesday night? without that criticism of the republican front runner? but >> well we will see. heard your previous bid. criticizing the republican candidates for not being tough on donald trump. you know they have to recognize that i went out there and i made my case. and you know, look i'm not on the next debate stage. there is a lot of critics that are outside you know, the realm of the candidates. they're going to offer a lot of advice. i think that you will see the candidates going after donald trump. he is the leader. if you're gonna run against him you have to make your case, and you have to do it in a way that presents your own argument. that's what we're gonna do. no one brings more experience in this race than me. as a governor. on the issues we face, that is the case we make. and i think as time goes on, voters will be responding to that. >> governor asa hutchinson, just confirmed he will not be on the debate stage wednesday, night you said he will not be dropping out of this, race you say you will reassess come thanksgiving. governor thank you so much for quickly hopping on the phone with us tonight. >> thank you, have a great evening. >> just heard the story we touched a few moments ago on the water crisis happening in new orleans. back on that story with bill weir in just a moment. the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. serious intuition unfolding in new orleans tonight a salt water in the gulf of mexico now threatening the city's water supply. mayor signing emergency declaration as the army corps engineers plan to barred 36 million gallons of freshwater daily into the lower mississippi river. this is the second straight year that climate change has made the river drop so drastically, and it is making it less resistant to the salt water that is coming in from the gulf. joining me, now cnn chief climate correspondent bill weir. obviously they're trying to fix this, what is their plan to do that? >> they're building is still underwater. basically what has happened a couple years ago, we lowered this mississippi river. which needs bigger ships can move up and down it. a lot bigger threat for this to happen. as a result of this incredibly drive record hot year, mississippi just isn't strong enough to push out the gulf of mexico. should be running about 300 cubic feet for second. about less than half that. could go lower, as this drought continues. it doesn't just threaten water systems, because they don't filter it. gets in the pipes, if it's lead pipes. 50,000 of those in new orleans. cut loose heavy metals. people want to accidentally poisoned themselves, bill takes to solve before it'll make you sick. but it is a huge concern. because it's happening back to back, years never predicted the sort of thing. that the same time the traffic trying to get all the, grain the natural gas out to the world. now in a bottleneck. >> they're saying don't panic. you don't need to stop on bottled water yet. >> not yet. a couple folks that are being affected, those folks deserve to have the bottled water in case they need it. but this is a slow motion disaster. this will be four or five or six weeks from today. >> i know something, else as we're monitoring that. but after we saw the wildfires in maui happen, some residents were finally able to get back into their neighborhoods today. what you know about that? >> at least a dozen families were let in with ppe gear under supervision from the authorities there. hugely painful as you can imagine. so many weeks since it happened. they are opening up wider in a couple weeks, i'll be there for that as well. it's interesting the fatality count was about 115 for a few weeks. they modifies that downwards double counting or non human remains, over 300 missing for a while that list is now down to 31? still deadliest in law modern history the fire, but not as bad as we fear. >> what are officials saying about what they plan to do going forward about that? the theory is that it's a reoccurring issue. >> yes, how they rebuild will be the world will be watching. a huge fight between native hawaiians longtime locals about water, writes about land rights. about affordability and not letting resorts of elephants come in and take over. you have to think about fire reality in specific islands a lot of other places we never thought about in those kind of disasters of four, adaptation in realtime. and hawaii. >> just devastating for those families. but, we're finally back. keep us updated. and thank you so much for joining us tonight.