Cnn this morning continues right now. Good morning. Lets start with five things to know for wednesday, september 27. This Breaking News out of north korea. To country has decided to expel u. S. Army private travis king who crossed that the north from south korea in july. And its debate night in america. Seven republican candidates take the stage in california tonight to make their ways to voters. One person will not be on the stage, donald trump. He is going to give a Primetime Speech at a nonunion auto parts manufacturer in detroit as the United Auto Workers strike continues to day 13. With three days and 16 hours left, the Senate Unveiled a bipartisan plan to avoid the loo looming government shutdown. Speaker ke speaker Kevin Mccarthy is trying to get members in line. In philadelphia a dozen people under arrest after a big group of looters ransacked an apple store, a lululemon and a foot locker. This hour of cnn this morning starts now. We begin with the Breaking News out of north korea. Their staterun media reporting the country decided to expel u. S. Army private travis king after completing their investigation into his crossing into the north from south korea. This was during a tour of the Joint Security Area in july. North korea claims king said, quote, he confessed he illegally intruded in the territory of the dprk as he harbored ill feeling against Racial Discrimination in the United States army and was disillusioned about it. Its unclear where, when and how king would be expelled. Joining us cnn chief National Security correspondent alex marquardt. What do you make of this announcement . Should we believe it . Well, phil, as you know, everything from the regime of kim jongun needs to be taken with a huge grain of salt. This announcement by the north korean regime really came out of the blue. This is not something that we are expecting. As you noted, we have been asking the biden administration, the state department, the white house, the pentagon what they know right now, but everything we know is really coming from the north korean side and coming from their staterun media which, as you noted, says they are expelling private travis king after carrying out an investigation. They say that during this investigation that was carried out since he was detained back in july that he did confess to ille illegally crossing into the north, into north korea, because of that ill treatment. Now, lets just remind our viewers the extraordinary situation and story that unfolded in july, how king found himself in north korea. He was on a tour of the dmz when he bolted across the dmz. According to the u. S. Military, willfully and without authorization. Now, that area of the dmz is highly secured, of course, with forces from both the north korean and south korean sides. Its called the Joint Security Area. He had been he was being sent back to the United States, in fact, because of an assault that he had carried out while he was based in south korea. In fact, he served some 50 days in south korean detection. He was taken to the airport by u. S. Military officials. They wanted him to get on the plane and go home to face disciplinary procedures, but instead as soon as they let him go, he left. He then joined this tour the next day at the dmz and thats when he crossed into north korea. Now, there are immediate questions about his condition, where he was being held. There was very little communication, if any, between the north korean and the american sides. Of course, relations are really at an alltime low when it comes to the Nuclear Talks and concerns over north Koreas Nuclear program. If confirmed, the release of travis king will be welcome news. This would not be a long, drawn out saga in the way that we have seen with north korea in the past and with other countries, in fact. Of course, major questions still remain about whether a deal was struck, was there some kind of behindthescenes negotiation, and, of course, the condition of private king. As you noted, phil, we dont know how he would be released, whether he would be floe flown somewhere, taken back across the dmz into south korea. So this morning some major questions still remain as we get this news out of north korea. Alex, thank you very much. Also developing this morning, police in philadelphia are invo investigating what caused a large crowd of looters had hit the streets. 100 juveniles moved through the city, targeted high End Retail Stores for clothing and sneakerers, wine, liquor, pharmacies. A News Helicopter captured Police Chasing suspects in the street. They made 15 to 20 arrests last night. Bs smashandgrabs in los angeles and San Francisco have been seen recently. Its hard to say what is driving this crime specifically and whether the scenes last night in philly were part of a trend or isolated incident. Retail crime in the city is up 34 this year versus last but Violent Crime has been down in philadelphia over the same period. To help us figure it out, john miller. The video is jarring. And i think it tracks with things we have seen in other cities around the country. But why is this happening . Is it connected in some way . Well, what we saw in new york when we had the two nights of looting after the George Floyd Protests were very similar, which is we had protesters marches. The looters came in vcaravans o cars. They had lookouts on scooters. They werent there to protest. They were there to steal. They were talking about we are here to get paid. And in philadelphia, you see the protests they had yesterday. These werent the protesters. These were young kids, teenagers, early 20s. Same thing, caravans of vehicles, a plan to go hit specific stores and get specific goods. They were able to kind of fly under the Protest Radar maybe as part of it, but thats according to the Police Commissioner of philadelphia, not what they were there for. I know this is the issue in california. I dont know if its the law in philly and they also showed minneapolis. In california, if its under 1,000 worth of goods taken its a misdemeanor. Some argue by having that law in place, it doesnt put a stop to this. Is that the case in all these cities . I think it is. You know, the litmus test is where is this happening. And you are seeing this kind of, you know, Looting Happening i mean shoplifting and organized retail theft happen in places like new york, los angeles, philadelphia. If you look at where target closed nine stores yesterday, four stores in San Francisco, stores . Seattle, stores in portland, new york. Bail reform laws, criminal just us reforms have taken the inside of a jail cell outside of the equation. Shoplift something a crime where a judge cant set bail. Think about this. In new york city there are over 300 people who have between them 4,000 arrests, 70 of them are not in jail and they ask the for 30 of all shoplifting in new york. This is actually their job. They go out to steal every day and that has gone up significantly because they know getting put in jail is not in the equation any longer because of the laws that say its a No Bail Offense and d. A. s policies are they dont want people in custody for dwha they call nonViolent Crimes. You mentioned target. It has been fascinating watch how retailers operated the last year plus. Not that i would be skeptical of corporate messaging having covered the Business Community but there is a sense this could be a way of blaming crime to cover up some of the issues the companies have themselves. Do you feel like the connection is that concrete . This has been a debate in the Retail Shopping industry. Some stores say its overplayed. I think, you know, there is a couple of categories. One is these corporations measure shrink, which is all goods that are lost, damaged, broken, not accounted for . Inventory, what part is made up by theft. The National Retail federation shows that the part of it covered by theft is actually rising. Interestingly, they did a survey of stores, the retail federation, in 22 that said 81 of their store associates feel the people stealing are becoming more violent and aggressive when confronted, and 54 of them feel that this bail reform where they have shoplifters telling them there is nothing you can do and i am not going to jail is a factor there. So is it going up as dramatically as some of the stories portray . Nationally, thats a harder statistic to grapple with. But if you look where, its going up in cities where you have these policies and people realize this is just like shopping without money. That bail reform here in new york has been scaled back in just the last year. But some of it is still there. They introduced some legislation that says if you are arrested for a crime while youre out on the other crime and you havent had a hearing where thats been adjudicated. There is that window if you get caught multiple times, they can set bail. In large measure, they are not doing it. Turning to your fantastic and important piece on cnn. Com, this is about Senator Menendez and the questions raised by the indictment, has to do with u. S. Secrets and egypt. You write, quote, the Senator Menendez case raises major questions for u. S. Intelligence and i think we were talking about this has been its been more of the accusations of his alleged fraud. But tell us why your Big Questions here are so important. Well, we were kind of stunned as a medium by the story itself, the senator who is a chairman taking allegedly hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash stuffed in pockets and closets, gold bars, convertible mercedes, you say who is the centerpiece of of this . Its an egyptian american businessman arranging meetings between the senator, Jonah Williamso intelligence officials, Egyptian Military individuals, meetings where the senators staff isnt invited but the senators wife, who was a longtime friend before the senator met her with the egyptian businessman, as an Intelligence Officer when you look at this. You have to say, wait a minute. Where does this middle man come from . How does he meet his wife . Why are they only doing things for the benefit of the Egyptian Government . You ask the key question. Are we dealing with a straightup bribery case or is this sprauj and spying on the part of a u. S. Ally that has large money at stake and other issues. The indictment is jarring. The address are the gold bar. The forest is what you are talking about. It is huge. There is more to come seems like. At least in the allegations. John miller, thank you. Thanks. So Donald Trumps rivals calling him out for skipping the Republican Debate tonight again. The harsh reality is none of the seven candidates to will be on the stage are even close to him in the polling right now. A rematch with President Biden looking more and more likely. Instead of debating trump will be trying to Upstage Biden in michigan. President biden was the first to join a picket line. Trump is set to give a Primetime Address at a nonunion auto parts plant. Sense skipping the first debate, his lead over his republican competition has only grown. The venue for the debate tonight, good morning. He will try to steal trump the spotlight from that stage tonight . Reporter are well, they are all hoping to get a little bit of that shine as, you know, trump isnt here and, yes, youre right,ner calling him out. They are trying to take swipes at him. We are hearing from the various campaigns, like tim scott and Vivek Ramaswamy that they are going to bring it up, be more aggressive or put it out on the debate stage, their differences with trump. Nikki haley testing out the antitrump lines in the days leading up to this debate and just hours before this debate is set to start, two other candidates also took to the airwaves to call out trump. I think its interesting he is not willing to stand on the stage. I think he owes it to the voters show up, defend his record, articulate what he would do going forward. He is running in 2024 on a lot of the same promises he ran on in 2016 and didnt deliver on. The donald trump today is different than the donald trump of 2016 and you bet, i think he ought to be on the debate stage. He ought to be engaging all of us what are vying for this nomination. Reporter though trump is not here, this is still expected to be a very important chance for these candidates to talk to millions of republican primary voters directly, phil and poppy. And its also a way to continue to talk to republican donors. It is something that they need at that stage to continue their campaigns. Phil, poppy. Thank you very much. Joining us from simi valley, california, well get back to you soon. With more on the impact these debates can have, harry enten. There was a debate. What changed from that first debate . It was a fantastic debate. A lot of back and forth moments. Lets listen to one of those big moments. You want to defund israel . You want to let me address that. I am going to address each of those right now. The false lies of a professional politician. Make america less, you have no Foreign Policy experience and it shows. If we look at nikki haleys National Poll standing before the first debate at 3 . She is up to 6 now. Obviously, trump still leads the primary by a lot. Thats not bad. If we look at the early states, Nikki Haley Support has gone up more there. New hampshire up by seven points. Iowa support up by six points. South carolina up by four points. Trump is still well ahead head. Nikki haley is fighting with ron desantis and the other candidates for second place in these early states. At least about trump . Lets take a look at the 2015 debate to give you an idea what these candidates might be able to do. Donald trump said the following about you. Quote, look at that face, would anyone vote for that . Can you imagine that, the face of our next president. Mr. Trump later said he was talking about your persona, not your appearance. Please feel free to respond what you think about his persona. You know, its interesting to me, mr. Trump said that he heard mr. Bush very clearly and what mr. Bush said. I think women all over this country heard clearly what mr. Trump said. [ applause ] an actual moment where donald trump was shown to be human. You could actually shift the support. This is 2016. Presecond debate donald trump 32 , then 24 after that second debate. Carly fiorina, 3 to 15 . So going after donald trump can work. We will see if any of the candidates are willing to do so. Thats the question. Harry enten, thank you. Tune in tonight for postdebate analysis by Bradley Cooper and dana bash at 11 00 p. M. Eastern on cnn. President biden calling out House SpeakerKevin Mccarthy over the looming shutdown. He also went after former President Trump saying maga republicans are, quote, determined to destroy this democracy. We will have a member of his cabinet, respond to everything thats going on, transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg joins us live next. This morning congress inching closer to a shutdown. Just three days left to pass a spending deal. Senate brokering a bipartisan bill to keep the government open to midnovember but includes 6. 2 billion for aid for ukraine, making it pretty much dead on arrival it looks like in the house. That is where embattled speaker Kevin Mccarthy is trying to wrangle his party, vowing to put a shortterm Spending Bill on the floor on friday. Lauren fox with us from washington with more. Good morning. Does this go anywhere, any chance . The expectation is that if it can pass out of the United States senate it will then be up to Kevin Mccarthy to decide what comes next. Speaker mccarthy made news last night in saying that he plans on friday to bring a shortterm Spending Bill that includes Border Security funding and other measures to the floor of the house trying to force some of his hardline members to essentially make a decision. Do you stand for something or not . The problem with that strategy and the gamble for the speaker is the reality that there are a number of hardliners who say they will never get to yes on a shortterm Spending Bill, arguing it just kicks the can down the road. Then the question becomes what happens if the senate has sent him something. Does he amend it . Does he change is . What he said yesterday is that he would plan to try to include Border Security on anything senate sends over. Another reminder that will he have the votes . And i think that is the Es