Right now on early start, debate day for the gop. The republicans who want to be your president face off in california with one big exception. No elephant in that room. Plus joe biden tries to strike a balance between striking autoworkers and detroit big three. And will you run for reelection . Embattled senator and gold bar collector bob menendez grilled on the run about his federal bribery charges. Good day to our viewers around the word. It is wednesday, september 27, 5 00 a. M. On the east coast, 2 00 a. M. In Southern California on a huge day for the white house. Were just hours from the second Republican Debate at the Reagan Library. But donald trump is casting the shadow that leaves his rivals in the awkward thinks of Shadow Boxing trying to explain how they would score points against terrorism if trump if he were there. I think he owe it is to show up, articulate his record, what he would do going forward. And hes not willing to do that. Ron desantis there telling fox that he would highlight trumps unkept promises from 2016 including the border wall, eliminating the National Debt and draining the swamp. Trump himself will be Counter Programming the debate with a speech to union workers. All this just one day after President Biden walked a uaw picket line. He raised a few eyebrows when he answered yes when asked if the striking employees should get the 40 raise that they are demanding. Just a day earlier the white house stressed that the president was there to show solidarity not to get into the specifics of the unions fight with carmakers. He is standing with the workers. Were not involved in negotiations, that is something for them to decide. President s of course have traditionally tried to stay above the fray in labor negotiations. Lets bring in isaac dovar who reports prime minprimarily on d but politics in general. 2023 has been unpredictable. Can we talk about those pictures of the sitting president talking to autoworkers . He talks about how hes the most pro Union President ever. He does not seem happy stance that he showed up in michigan which we know will be a state that there is a lot of focus on, a state trump won in 2016 and that biden carried by a size only margin in 2020. Not a huge margin. Trump going back there tonight as part of the fight in 2024 happening already here now in september 2023. Yes, trump of course trying very hard to project himself as inevitable nominee. And you had a piece published three or so minutes ago and you are writing about a new strategy biden has. As we know from the polling, that people are concerned about President Bidens age. And what it would mean should he get reelected, he will be obviously considerably older than he is now. But he has a new strategy here in trying to deal with it. And i think that we should point out they havent really been dealing with it at all, but now hes using some humor. I want to show everybody one of the quotes that you included in your piece, i wanted to see the video of it and then im hoping that you can explain some of this to us on the other side. Watch. I remember when i was young, we have something in common, i got elected to the senate when i was 29. Only difference was he was eligible when he got elected to take office, i had to wait 17 days to be eligible. That was 827 years ago, but it was a while. And of course standing next to Maxwell Cross who is the gen z person elected to congress. What does this all say to you . Joe biden is old. Just a fact of things. He is the oldest president ever. And he has been sensitive about that fact in the past. As we all are. Sure. And he has been sensitive about it i should say for many years. But one of the things that he is grappling with obviously going into the election is how voters will feel about that. Some advisers have said to him, look, one way to do this, to deal with it, is to make light of it a little bit. Make a joke of it. You see from joe biden coming out more and more where he is behind the scenes often in terms of his sense of humor. He has a sarcastic cunning sense of humor. Ive heard it, you see it pop out over the years some, but it has been showing up a lot lately and one of the ways that he is doing it is to try to diffuse the age questions a little bit. He is referring to hes been around for 800 years, he said last week at a fundraiser i know i dont look it, but i started when i was just 30 years old. This is all trying to take this and move it slightly from the center of peoples minds. And it strikes me that i think one of the things certainly people i talk to this democratic circle, when they hand wring about the age stuff, partly they felt as though the white house was just ignoring it, getting angry at people who brought it up, trying to pretend it didnt exist. There is something that feels more authentic about them actually being willing to say yeah, okay, im old, it is funny, lets move on. Do you think that is part of the calculation too . Because i mean, i do think a lot of people raise questions about the inso he rarity about the Biden White House and how they are defensive about this. R the Biden White House and how they are defensive about this. This is not big Innovation Politics that authenticity is something that people look for these days. But joe biden, that has been a strength of his. People feeling that he is being just a regular joe as he likes to say. This is maybe a way to that in some peoples minds. Some of the people that i spoke to about this felt that way. Brendan boyle, congressman from philadelphia said to me that is the authentic joe, that is the joe that he has seen behind the scenes making jokes about things. But again, he is old as just a matter of fact. And so not letting it be this giant looming subject that nobody can really talk about is part of what is going on here. For sure. And isaac dovere, appreciate you h sharing your reporting here with us. In a few hours senator bob menendez appears in Federal Court to be arraigned on federal bribery charges. Meanwhile the list of lawmakers calling for the new jersey democrat to resign has grown to include at least half the Senate Democratic cause causes. Among them cory booker. But menendez remaining defidefi. Will you run for reelection . Will you run for reelection . Im here do the work of the people of new jersey. Why wont you resign . Because im innocent. What is wrong with you guys . What is wrong with you Guys Menendez says in case it was hard to catch him there at the end. Four codefendants, his wife and three of the new jersey businessmen also named, they will appear in court today. With the Government Shutdown looming now less than four days away, House SpeakerKevin Mccarthy says the house will consider a Stop Gap Funding Bill that includes money for Border Protection likely today. Mccarthy says the republican controlled house will consider the stopgap. They are called continuing resolutions, or crs in the jargon of the hill. And he will consider it whether or not gop leaders are sure the votes are there to pass it. Ill bring up the cr regardless. Remember what it is. This is a Stopgap Funding to keep government open and securing the border. I dont know that anyone is opposed to that. I think that is where people would want to be. Mccarthy there essentially daring his hardline republican members to vote against the measure. Mccarthy dismissed a Bipartisan Senate version of a Stopgap Funding bill floated yesterday. He said, quote, let me know when they actually pass it. Dont forget those hardliners have been more than willing to embarrass Kevin Mccarthy publicly. So something to watch on the house floor today. All right. Coming up, more on that big debate tonight as top rumtrump rivals seek to dull his momentum. Good luck there. Plus a new york judge rules donald trump is liable for fraud. Well break down what it means for his latest civil case. And Hunter Biden SuesRudy Giuliani. Details ahead. Lets go overseas now. At least 100 people are dead after a fire ripped through a Wedding Party in iraq. Officials say the disaster was set off by the fireworks and candles being used during the celebration. And that the wedding hall was covered in highly flammable panels that violated safety regulations. As for the bride and groom, a Wedding Guest says that they are devastated but safe. Now this, Officials Say more than 47,000 people have been forced from their homes in nagornokarabakh region of azerbaijan and now in neighboring romania and there are more coming. Nagornokarabakh is home to 120,000 Ethnic Armenians. It is a mountainous enclave that is territorially part of azerbaijan but controlled by Ethnic Armenians for 30 years. But azerbaijan launched a Lightning Offensive there last week saying that they have taken back full control of the Br Brea Breakaway Region and now residents are fleeing fearing a fullscale Ethnic Cleansing. Azerbaijan denies the claims but that is a risk that the people of nagornokarabakh are not willing to take. Cnns Max Foster Live In London with more on this. Max, good morning. Always nice to see you. Real humanitarian crisis unfolding in this region. What happened to cause this to happen now . Well, it was sudden. Most of the world wasnt expecting it. And what the analysts are telling us is that there is a shift in dynamics there. Imagine that armenia traditionally a russian ally has been upsetting russia recently. Russia has been talking about these unfriendly actions of armenia. So armenia has been sending aid to ukraine. It has hosted u. S. Troops for exercises. Also signed up to the International Criminal court which would mean if President Putin ever stepped foot in armenia, they would have to arrest him. None of these things have been, you know, welcomed obviously in russia. So analysts are suggesting that azerbaijan is seeing an opportunity here to go in, clean out armenians, Ethnically Cleanse is the accusation, and then they would have no response from russia. So they saw an opportunity here and indeed that has happened. Russia has not stepped in to prevent it from happening. And that is such important context. Essentially russia had been a Security Guarantor for armenians in this region. And so with them essentially throwing up their hands, you are left with this really difficult situation. And were seeing increasing calls for western countries to Pay Attention to what is going on. You saw the white house put out a statement yesterday talking about this and about western and american support for those who are fleeing. And of course there is a really dark history here for armenians in terms of whether they have been protected or frankly not protected by the western world. What do you think the imperatives are for supporters of freedom, democracy and human rights . Well, in a way it is contained at the moment because this region is recognized as part of azerbaijan. So while contained, it is difficult for other countries to get too involved as it were. Americans are clearly concerned about the humanitarian crisis, Ethnic Cleansing happening there. They want to send in observers. They are also frankly behind the scenes concerned about It Flaring Up into a wired war. But without russia getting militarily involved, that is not scenes as too much of a concern. But you dont want a situation where the Armenian Military is fighting the azerbaijan military and then another war escalating on the edge of europe. Such a good point. Max foster, thank you as always for being with us. Ill see you tomorrow. Indicted democratic senator bob menendez facing growing calls to resign from within his own party. But why he is finding defenders from across the aisle, that is ahead. And yet another biting incident involving President Bidens dog commander. How the family plans to handle it, next. Is it possible my network could take my business to the next level . It is with comcast business. Powering all your devices with gigspeed wifi. And you get fast downloads and uploads. Pick it up pick it up oh we got this because its powered by The Next Generation 10g network. More speed for your business . Its not just possible. Its happening. Get started for 59. 99 a month for 12 months. Plus, ask how to get an 800 prepaid card with a qualifying internet bundle. Comcast business, powering possibilities. Quick hits across america now. Hunter biden is suing Rudy Giuliani claiming that they hacked his personal devices and then shared the information. The lawsuit comes as republicans launch an Impeachment Inquiry into President Biden of course related to his son hunter. Police arresting more than a dozen people in philadelphia after multiple stores were looted tuesday night. Police say this has nothing to do with peaceful protests last night that came after a judges decision to dismiss all charges against Officer Mark Dial in the Fatal Shooting of eddie irizarry. And jamie dimon warning that the fed could still raise Interest Rates even more to try to cool inflation. And he added the world might not be ready for a 7 interest rate. He made those comments in the times of india. And commander bipartisan bites commander bites another secret service agent. Officials say the family is working on new training and they add that the injured officer is doing okay. To weather now. We have more rainfall expected in washington, oregon and california today. Lets get straight to our weatherman derek van dam. Always great to see you. What are we seeing across the country . Were talking about the pacific northwest. We love our night owls on the west coast, dont we . About 2 30 in the morning there. If they are tuning in, they will see the rainfall and they know it is falling outside their houses from seattle southward into portland. This is the second wave of what we call an atmospheric river, just a river of water in the sky basically producing some rainfall. But what is abnormal about this, it is occurring in this time of the year. We typically get these types of Weather Patterns into the winter. So what were looking forward to is that this could bring an end to what we call the fire season throughout the pacific northwest. And very defined low Pressure System on this Water Vapor Satellite Imagery and that is what is suspiciousing in all the moisture from the Pacific Ocean and centered itself across the State Of Washington and oregon. And much needed rainfall as well. In 39 hours, seattle has received just under an inch and a half of rain. But the entire summer were talking june to september 22nd, we only had about an inch of rain. So we want to see it, we want more of it. Maybe it is a bit too early for some people, but nonetheless it will help extinguish some of the flames still ongoing. Notable rainfall totals, more rain on the way as the system moves in. Sounds like the rain is welcome, but if it comes down too fast, i hope flooding impacts arent too intense. Derek, thank you for being with us. And for the nod to our night owl viewers. Love having those who are not actually up early but instead up late. See you tomorrow. Just ahead here, who is expected on stage for tonights gop president ial debate in california and who is not . Welcome back. Just a few seconds shy of 5 30 on the east coast. Im kasie hunt. It is 2 30 out west where gop Gids Wi S Candidates will be waking up to debate day. Seven candidates not named donald trump will take the stage at the Ronald Reagan president ial library. It is a storied venue that celebrates a man venerated, all but enshrined really by republicans for decades. The man who told gorbachev to tear down this wall, a man who now finds his brand of politics distinctly, well, over. Passe. Old fashioned. Yesterday reporters asked me if i thought President Putin was smart. I said of course hes smart. To which i was greeted with oh, that is such a terrible thing to say. Yes, hes smart. Those comments with are made just days after Vladimir Putins russia invaded ukraine. As noted, trump who is not terribly welcome at the Reagan Library quite frankly wont be on the stage and some of his rivals have started to take him on more directly than they did earlier this year. But is that too little too late for them . Joi