good morning. top of the hour. so glad you are with us. we have a lot to get to. five things to know for this tuesday, october 3rd. in a few hours, hunter biden, the president's son, and the former president donald trump head to court, different courts, but it's extraordinary. the president's son set to be arraigned in federal court in delaware. the former president expected to head back to court right here in new york city for the second day of his civil fraud trial. the house headed for an historic moment. congressman matt gaetz filing a motion to remove kevin mccarthy as house speaker. >> charlotte sena rescued after she was abducted. police tracking down the suspect thanks to a ransom note. and if you are waking up, you are not a winner. i am talking about the lottery. not just generally, when it comes to powerball. the estimated grand prize now sits at $1.2 billion. the largest of the year. and after a five-month strike, late night is back. >> kinda weird coming back after being gone five months. nbc converted to a spirit halloween. >> thanks to the picket lines, my writers got fresh air and sunshine and they don't care for that. now they are back safely in their joke holes. doing what they do best. making my prompter word screen full of good and ha-ha. this morning, two defendants, two separate courtrooms, one in new york, the other in delaware. historic. donald trump says he will be back in a manhattan courtroom at 10:00 a.m. for the second day of his $250 million civil fraud trial. he is accused of inflating the value of his assets by billions of dollars to get better rates from banks and insurers. at the same time, hunter biden will be arraigned in wilmington on three felony gun charges. he is expected to plead not guilty. evan president zelenskyy is live outside the federal courthouse in wilmington. what happens today in the hunter biden trial? >> reporter: just in the next hour we expect hunter biden to walk into this courthouse. he was here two months ago about to iron out a plea deal that a judge asked a couple of simple questions on and the deal fell apart. now he be facing three counts, three of them all related to thinks purchase of a firearm back in 2018 at a time when he has said that he was addicted to drugs. that is a legal violation, a federal law violation, a felony, and as a result of that he is going to be coming in here. we expect him to plead not guilty. then he will go get processed by the u.s. marshals. now, you can see there is a long line of people already waiting, trying to go inside the courthouse. this is an historic day, obviously. the son of the sitting president coming in here to be processed for a federal crime. something that doesn't happen at all. so we expect, however, that this is not the end for hunter biden's legal problems. the special counsel, david weiss, who has been overseeing this investigation almost five years, is still investigating hunter biden for possible tax crimes. now, that decision is coming in the next couple of weeks. he could be charged in los angeles where hunter biden lives. now, we expect again to see hunter biden enter this courthouse in the next hour for this court hearing. phil. >> evan perez in wilmington, thank you. >> in a different courtroom in a different state here in new york city this morning, donald trump's $250 million civil fraud trial, that will continue. trump's decision to attend yesterday's proceedings was political and personal according to sources who spoke with our kaitlan collins. trump stands accused of inflating the value of these real estate assets to get favorable loans and insurance deals. a judge found him liable for fraud. he is now set to determine what financial penalties and punishments he could face from prosecutors as well. here is some of what trump told reporters yesterday outside the co courthouse. >> this is a continuation of the single greatest witch hunt of all time. we have a rogue judge, a racist attorney general who is a horror show. it's a scam. it's a sham. our country has gone to hell. it's run by doj, which is corrupt. our country is corrupt. >> joining us now, the co-author of donald trump' "the art of the deal." it's interesting. i was thinking about this yesterday as well. he doesn't have to be in the courtroom because it's a civil proceeding, not criminal. he has to be there for the criminal trial. he didn't go to the civil trial, the case that e. jean carroll brought. as someone who co-authored a book with him, what does that tell you about what is most important to him? >> donald trump's sense of value comes entirely from his net worth. so his survival, his emotional survival depends on looking outside himself to define his internal value, which he feels none of. he feels worthless. so when you take him, when you accuse him of having less money than he is falsely claimed he has, he feels deeply diminished. and it's one of the reasons why at that event yesterday you saw him looking so actively agitated. most of the time when he is accused of stuff, he doesn't look that visibly agitated. he did yesterday. i know it's because he felt small. >> does he really -- i think that thing i have always tried to figure out, having read a lot of depositions, particularly in 2016 trying to figure out how his business world operated, he was always inflating and lying and talking about numbers that simply had no basis in reality. why is he offended about being called out in court? >> he is in court. he is on the verge of losing a . size of his buildings is connected to his sense of self-worth. he is about to be stripped of all meaning or all sense of worthiness. i think it's no surprise that when that actually becomes the threat that he becomes more engaged and more interested. >> we were talking about this sort of kpaincampaigning from t courtroom. he said i could be in this state, but i am in new york and called this a witch hunt. would you expect to see, given how you knew him prior, more of this? this is going to be a months-long trial. >> he is dancing for the next 12 months, really. 13 months. he is going to be moving between the campaign trail and courtrooms. and i think he is trying to -- and quite honestly, he has been successful at it, he is trying to take something that should be ending his career and landing him in prison, i think -- i think it will lead to guilty convictions. i don't know if it will land him in prison. he is trying to have that on the one hand and run for president on the other. so i think going back and forth between claiming these are witch hunts and shams is, first of all, a way for him to raise money. he has done that very successfully after each indictment. second of all, it's way for him to change the narrative. >> i am fascinated by the details of this case because i think the valuations and the way they are trying to defend themselves, particularly the -- the defense -- they are "mona lisa"s, everything's wrong. based on your knowledge, the valuation process, did he believe any of this was actually what he claimed it was worth? >> absolutely not. not for a second. >> how do you know? >> well, i mean, i knew him very well and i knew -- >> did he talk about valuations? >> he would wink at me, you know, frequently, like, can you believe it? when he was putting on one of these shows, when he was playing p.t. barnum, making a claim that wasn't true. did you explicitly say, by the way, tony, i'm lying? no, he didn't. but he literally had that wink. and i dreamt about that wink after he announced for president, i dreamt about it for a period of time. it made such a big imprint on me that he is a public performer. there is nothing inside. he is truly the definition an empty suit. so he -- his whole way of being is built around how he presents himself publicly. >> we appreciate you coming in. we will watch. we will see what happens today. he says he is going to be in the courtroom today. that trial starts pretty soon. thank you. all eyes on the capitol to see how house speaker kevin mccarthy responds to a fellow republican formally filing a motion to remove him from his leadership post. washington, d.c. capitol hill, where not such a beautiful battle brewing between speaker mccarthy and congressman matt gaetz. this set to begin, a vote could come as soon as today. and it looks like mccarthy may need democrats to save his job from a republican revolt. overnight congressman matt gaetz trigger vote to potentially oust his own leader. that hasn't happened in more than a century. >> i have enough republicans at this point one of two things will happen. kevin mccarthy won't be the speaker of the house and he will be working at the pleasure of the democrats. i am at peace with either result because the american people need to know who governs them. >> this morning house democrats are getting ready to meet as they decide whether to help keep mccarthy in power. we are told mccarthy may try to kill the measure today. he needs democrats to pull them off. he can only afford to lose four republicans. five have said they would vote to get rid of mccarthy. he needs democrats. hakeem jeffries, a democratic leader, we will see what they say going forward. it's not just the five who declared. there are 13 other republicans undecided but open to voting mccarthy out. back with us for more on this and a lot of other stuff as well, alyssa griffin and cassidy hutchinson. cassidy, i first became familiar with you because we were always standing in the hallways in capitol hill. you know speaker mccarthy. you had a close relationship with him. i am sure you are familiar with matt gaetz. everybody is. this dynamic that led to this point, are you surprised by it? >> not at all. you know, matt is an unserious politician. that's something that a lot of house republicans and house democrats have recognized for a very long time. matt is in office for himself. matt is more concerned about getting sound bites and about making an image for himself than he is about passing effective policy. we see that with what's playing out on the hill right now. he is single-handedly uplooting the republican party which is already hanging on by a thread. it's a symptom of the greater problem in the republican party. we need to focus on electing effective leaders to congress and not people bike matt gaetz who are willing to hold funding hostage. >> but we are where we are now. and he may be unserious. he is smart and he can act in a savvy manner and he is not going to give up, right? we know those things. i wonder, alyssa, how this plays out. can he pull it youoff? >> there are one of two scenarios. some democrats are going to vote with house republicans to table this measure, basically put it on the back burner. it's privileged. a vote is forced. >> in two days. >> or, i mean, there is a world i don't think this is as likely that democrats say let's let republicans display their chaos on the house floor. there were 15 rounds to make kevin mccarthy speaker. we can go all day. hakeem jeffries knows he has the full support of the conference and there is something kind of stark about hearing every democrat line up saying hakeem jeffries, hakeem jeffries. i sense moderates are extremely frustrated. mike lawler has been frustrated about this. it looks like a clown government. this is a personal with matt gaetz. it goes even before the ethics committee. he has a personal beef with mccarthy. but even if it is a scalise, he will do the same thing in a matter of several months. >> you think gaetz is? >> yeah. if this is truly about spending and have a full process and open amendment process, congress hasn't worked like that in 30 years. it's not going to change overnight and he will just pull the next time. >> the most work they have gotten done on appropriations in a single year as the same year as the longest shutdown in the history of the country. random appropriations. i want to go back to your book and your experiences. i have been waiting to talk to you both at the same time since your book came out because of how the january 6th committee operated, your public testimony, with which wei all saw and shoo the moores of the congress and the country, and your involvement in getting to that point. walk through how that happened. >> so, i go into detail about this in the book. essentially, there are pages of my public -- pages of may transcript that were released publicly and i have been struggling with not being completely forthcoming with the committee. i was sort of trying to bury under the carpet for myself. i toed the line with trump world for some time after the administration ended and it was a comfortable place for me to be in. i was very uncomfortable. i was very adamant that what happened on january 6th was bad, but i didn't want to be that voice to come out. i say that with shame now. i recognize the mistakes and i recognize the flaws i had in all of this, but i also, you know, exhausted my resources trying to find an attorney to work for me, pro bono or at a low cost. i had no financial resources. i am reading through the pages and i just have this, like, moral reckoning where i realize i have to do something. and i spoke with a member of congress who was -- did not serve on the committee, a republican member of congress, who suggested that i do the mirror test to look in the mirror and see if i'm looking at a person i can live with for the rest of my life. so enthis i realized i couldn't or i didn't want to. so i reached out to my dear friend alyssa, who we had spoken after the end of the administration a little bit. but it was a little awkward for us for a bit because i was trying to tow the party line and she was a very outspoken voice, courageous voice. i went to her house. it's sort a one of those emotional things to look back on now. she had no reason to open the door that day. and i don't mean that in, like, try to exaggerate at all. like, she did. she opened the door and she welcomed me inside and we talked about what i was facing, the moral dilemmas that i was facing. >> and i was stunned with what she smard with me because i left december 4, so i missed the craziest stretch of the stop the steal pressure on mike pence campaign. she said they didn't ask the right questions. and you laid out for me some of the things we know, which we saw -- >> the committee -- >> yes, the committee. and what we ultimately came up, you know, i'm gonna backchannel to liz cheney and say she has more she wants to share, she doesn't feel empowered because she has this trump world attorney. you got a pro bono attorney. but i think there are two things important here. a lot of people in trump world are having their bills paid and feel like they can't tell the full truth because of that. there is always a way to break. somebody will be willing to represent you because these cases are too important for the public. it's never too late to come forward. i can't believe you felt any level of, like, shame areound i. >> we hear there will be one witness and it's going to be you. i contacted to dig in on something you said to katlyn last night on "the source." you said all roads lead to mark meadows. can you elaborate on that? >> we were discussing if mark were to be completely forthcoming with jack smith and his investigation and what i meant and mean by that is, you know, what i provided the committee with, i won't say it had value. i am not going to make that determination. but i think what i had to offer the committee was a roadmap of who knew what, who was in what meetings. mark was in metromost of those if not all. mark knew everybody who the president spoke with. mark if not quite literally if mark was not quite literally by the president's side he was going getting emails about what is happening, getting phone calls from him. mark knows far more than i know. so if he wants to be completely forthcoming and share what he knows and uphold the oath he swore to protect and defend the united states, mark is the person that can open those doors effectively. >> great to have you. congratulations on the book. a lot of bravery to put it out there. >> thank you. >> thank you. i am not surprised you opened the door, the kind of person you are. this morning, 9-year-old charlotte sena has been found safe and returned to hir family after an intense two-day search. officials say the suspect was arraigned on a first-degree kidnapping charge this morning. latest details next. dangerous levels of saltwater draining in the mississippi river are potentially having an irreparable effect on louisiana. >> when you look at this way and that way, you are looking at water. we are in the middle of water. we are in the middle of the wrong kind of water. c'mon, we're right there. c'mon baby. it's the only we need. go, go, go, go! ah! touchdown baby! -touchdown! are your neighbors watching the same game? yeah, my 5g home internet delays the game a bit. but you get used to it. try these. they're noise cancelling earmuffs. i stole them from an airport. it's always something with you, man. great! solid! -greek salad? exactly! don't delay the game with verizon or t-mobile 5g home internet. catch it on the xfinity 10g network. ♪ this just in. officials tell cnn that the suspect in the abduction of charlotte sena has been charged with first-degree kidnapping. he was arraigned this morning. new york governor kathy hochul detailing the critical clue that led to her rescue. >> literally drove up to the family's mailbox, assuming they were not home at 4:20 in the morning, opens the mailbox and inserts the ransom note, leaving a critical piece of evidence behind. his own fingerprint. >> charlotte was rescued yesterday evening two days after she vanished during a bribing ride at a new york state park. her bike was found in one of the park's loops that triggered a multiday search that ended with a s.w.a.t. team raiding the suspect's home where charlotte was found in a cabinet. joining us now someone who covered this story extensively, the manager editor for the albany times paper, brendan lion, and cnn chief law enforcement intelligence analyst jonathan million early. thank goodness. this is the answer to everyone's prayers, especially her family. what more can you tell us beyond the details shared there by the governor? >> i can tell you i don't believe they had a suspect until craig ross drove up to that mailbox yesterday at 4:20 in the morning. so that was really a breakthrough that i don't think they expected and were gifted. and made a big difference. ten hours after that, the fingerprint on that note was relayed to a dwi arrest from 1999 and then at that point they started moving fast to get search warrants. they located every resident that had -- and property which mr. ross was tied to and pinpointed a trailer that was behind his mom's mobile home on barrett road in the town of milton, about 13 miles south of where this family had lived. >> john, it doesn't seem or hadn't seemed like there was any connection between this individual and the family, at least that we knew as of this morning. what more do we know about him? >> he has a history of minor arrests and basically i think a lot of what we are going to see today, phil, is them going with a fine toothed comb through his background and working with the family to figure out is there any crossover. was this targeted? or was this just an opportunity where he planned a kidnapping and took a child because the child happened to be alone? there is a lot of questions. and she may have some of the answers. remember, she said after riding around that loop with the other kids, that's loop a in the park, i want to go around one more time by myself. that could have been an impulse which is a kid trying to get some early independence, or did somebody say, you know, come back here and i'll give you x? all of that is going to be unfolding today. their first order of business is to get her to hospital aside from the criminal piece of this. the victimology is important, making sure she gets the proper care immediately, the psychological first-aid she and her family are going to need. but all this has to happen in tandem. >> have you spoken with anyone in her family? >> briefly. one of my colleagues spoke to one of the parents early on during the search. the mother didn't have much to say at that point. they were so distraught and overwhelmed with the disappearance of their daughter. and on to his point, on the whether this was a targeted kidnapping or not, i think that right now they have been able to pinpoint the suspect being in that park, in that area on the day of the kidnapping due to probably cellphone records, possibly license plate readers. but those cellphone records can go back in time and figure out how long he was in that park and whether he had been monitoring that family either overnight or through the day, or only for minutes. it could have been that lightning struck when he drove in and saw an opportunity. >> john, brendan makes the point they didn't have any suspects prior to the ransom note. was that an extraordinarily lucky break for law enforcement given the time window these investigations usually operate in? >> you start off with zero suspects and then you have to make your own work. so that means going through all of the registered sex offenders in the area. that means going through any arrests that might have had to do with luring a child or unlawful imprisonment. that means looking at people on probation and parole. that means comparing those to the records of people who bought tickets for entry to the park. all of those wheels were turning. i know brendan knows this as well. but then when you get this envelope dropped off by a car that disappears into the night, that was opportunity. i remember in the case of caesar, he was the individual sending pipe bombs all around new york city, we had zero as far as a suspect. i went to bed at 1:30 this morning. by 4:35 a.m. the lab developed a print, got dna from a hair, matched that to a record, was pinging a phone of a car moving down a highway. so these things can turn around on a dime. thank god this one did when it did. >> thank goodness she is home safe with her parents. thank you. when your phone goes off tomorrow afternoon, don't be alarmed. the government is going to be testing its emergency alert system and wireless emergency alerts. this means all radios, tvs and cellphones will be sent an alert at 2:20 p.m. eastern time. fema is trying to prevent any mistakes in the system like it has in the past. an alert sent the state of hawaii in a panic. >> happening today democrats will meet to decide on fate of kevin mccarthy's leadership. how's the chicken? the prawns are delicious. oh, i have a shellfish allergy. one prawn. very good. did i say chicken wrong? tired of people not listening to what you want? it's truffle season! ah that's okay... never enough truffles. how much are they? it's a lot. oh okay - i'm good, that - it's like a priceless piece of art. enjoy. or when they sell you what they want? yeah. the more we understand you, the better we can help you. that's what u.s. bank is for. huge relief. yeah... ♪ ♪ you are looking live at capitol hill where just moments from now republicans and democrats are set to meet with their respective caucus and conferences to determine potentially the fate of speaker kevin mccarthy. now, this comes as republican congressman matt gaetz has followed through on his threat to move to oust the speaker of the house. >> i have enough republicans where at this point next week one of two things will happen. kevin mccarthy won't be the speaker of the house or he will be working at the pleasure of the democrats. i am at peace with either result because the american people deserve to know who gochbts them. >> mccarthy will not be required to put a resolution on the schedule, setting up a potential showdown on the house floor. it would take a majority vote for the motion to succeed. mccarthy is expected to take procedural steps to sill kill the measure. joins us congressman justdy johnson from south dakota. somebody who whether on the spending agreements or this issue has been in the room at the table trying to figure out a path forward to some degree. appreciate your time this morning. i want to start with kind of where things stand right now. there are clearly enough republicans that are willing to join congressman gaetz. you are a member who has relationships across the aisle. do you have any sense whether or not democrats will help speaker mccarthy here? >> first off, let's be clear about the math. there are ten times more republicans backing kevin mccarthy than matt gaetz. at least ten times more. maybe 15 or 20 times more. yeah, matt gaetz is going to try an unauthorized coup. he is trying to get some of the most liberal voices on the democratic side to help. i know alexandria ocasio-cortez has been a vocal supporter of his efforts. to answer the question, i do think there will be a number of democrats who understand that this kind of chaos does not serve our country well. we got a southern border in crisis and only have the government funded 40 more days. maybe we should actually focus on solving a few problems than these d.c. parlor games. >> you are also a member of the problem solvers caucus. oftentimes in moments like this the problem solvers caucus can serve as middlemen. have you been trying to work to mediate a relationship that isn't exactly a great place right now? >> there aren't a lot of things that unify democrats and republicans in congress, listen, we are a deeply divided time. one thing that does bring the problem solvers together is this idea that the stone throwers, the people who only love to knock things down, should not be running the house. it is hard to build anything in this really toxic political environment. so when you have dedicated people actually wanting to find legislative accomplishments, i think it's frustrating to them that you have somebody who just, their only purpose in seven years has been going around and kicking everybody else's sandcastle. listen, the time for the chaos agents like matt gaetz to be getting publically needs to be in the rearview mirror. we got to focus on work. yes, i think there will be plenty of folks both sides of the aisle who acknowledge that. >> i was struck that you referred to in the lead-up to the potential government shutdown as stupid, which was blunt and accurate and to give an opinion if i can. if that was stupid, what is this? >> this is -- this is insanity. i don't know how matt gaetz can go to his constituents, who are concerned about the government shutting down in 40 days, concerned about the southern border, a $33 trillion debt, concerned about urban crime on the rise. last night we had congressman carjacked in this town. that's not the big problem. the problem is that kind of thing happens to everyday americans thousands of times a day. and yet, today, instead of doing interviews about how to tackle fentanyl and meth, we are doing interviews on why does matt gaetz hate kevin mccarthy so much and why hasn't he been able to check his middle school grudges at the door and do his job. this is insanity. >> you were -- you mentioned what you would like to be doing now. there are 44, 43 days until the next government funding dead lionel. you were integral to the debt ceiling agreement that i think people hoped would clear a pathway to full-year spending bills. do you think it's remotely possible to get all appropriations done in 43 days, assuming you aren't having a battle for the speaker for the next several weeks? >> if we don't have a battle for the speakership, yes. we passed out three bills last week. we have made progress. the house has passed ten bills out of committee, two others out of the subcommittee. that's 12 appropriations bills. the house is very close to having its work done. now, it's going to take some time to bring amendments up on the floor and vote on those. we are not at the 1 yard line. we have made good progress. the senate needs to pick up their pace if they are going to get this done in 42 or 43 days. if we roll up our sleeves, if we are big boys and big girls, we can get our work done. if we are going to be involved instead in a battle for the speakership, everything else, everything else is pushed by the wayside and instead we fight about the leadership of kevin mccarthy. >> i want to ask you, ukraine funding was not in the continuing resolution. the administration has continued to push for it. there is a bipartisan level of support on capitol hill for additional funding. there has been a lot of question whether the spoo ecker and president have a deal or agreement related to the pathway for that going forward. do you or -- are you aware of that? do you know what the pathway is for more ukraine emergency funding? >> there is no deal between the speaker and president. they didn't talk that day. they didn't talk the day before. those are allegations entirely made up out of whole cloth. that being said, the fact that ukraine aid was stripped out should not indicate that there isn't a bipartisan level of support for ukraine. instead, most members don't want to drib and drab billion dollars package after billion dollars package. they want to make sure there is a strategic plan that there is accountability and want to have a comprehensive sense of what kind of investment would actually make a difference towards pushing back against putin's illegal and reprehensible invasion. >> congressman dusty johnson of south dakota, thank you. we have gone from stupid to insane. see if we can move on from that. appreciate your time, sir. thank you. >> thank you. with the optimistic outlook there, great conversation. all right. this is ahead and it's fascinating and important. a drought in louisiana bringing salt walter into the mississippi where it should not be. bill weir here with impact on new orleans straight ahead. good morning. from nola, the mighty mississippi not so mighty. it set up a new modern battle of new orleans. the army corpse versus time and salt. we will tell you about it coming up next. ♪ louisiana is facing a new problem. too little fresh water, too much salt water. a drought creeping into the mississippi river now threatening to contaminate the supply of drinking water. only a matter of time in this impacts new orleans. our chief correspondent joining us live from nola. you've been worried about this, now, we're seeing this realtime. >> reporter: yeah, louisiana is really a canary in the coal mine sadly these days. they lose about a football field and a half to rising and sinking lands. you can almost smell the beignets here, but old man river, lapping up on the bottom steps right now, it's woefully lower and about 50 miles downriver is an invisible threat creeping this way at walking speed. but the stakes are huge. it's south louisiana, folks are plenty familiar with salt water that moves at the speed of a hurricane. but now, they must also worry about salt water that creeps steady, and invisible, towards the crops, machines and drinking water systems of almost 1 million people. >> i happen to be one who believes in the power of prayer. i'm going to ask the people to pray for rain. >> reporter: after a second straight year of extraordinary drought, the not so mighty mississippi is too weak to hold back the gulf of mexico. so, the heavier salt water is running downhill, towards new orleans. in the shape of a wedge, with the total about 15 miles in front. the kind of inunation that could threaten the vulnerable and threaten everything from lead pipes to appliances. so the army corps of engineers is urgently racing against time and salt. 1.5 million gallons of fresh water at a time, downstream as it dilutes the brackish stuff in plaquemines parish. they can move 300,000 gallons a day. not enough to save the new orleans supply. they have pipelines to prop up that system. meantime, the corps is building a big underwater spill to slow the wedge as it moves inland, but these are all temporary fixes. and the leader of this parish says if this is the new normal, parts of louisiana will need the same desalination as they have in other rivers. >> one would be the osmosis and the other filtration system there. >> reporter: keith hinkley is the president of plaquemines parish, a community of 25,000. now spending a fortune on desalination. >> if we didn't have the help of state and federal government, it could bankrupt the parish here. we are about $33 million in on this situation. like i said, we're a small parish? >> just this? >> yeah, just because of this wedge. >> wow. >> yeah. >> this is land that's familiar with hurricanes and flooding not droughts and wildfires. >> rights right. >> how do you reconcile that? >> when you look this way and that way, we're in the middle of water, but rome county with that water. >> reporter: there's open el nino will bring rare october rain but this battle could last months with the latest forecast putting the wedge close to new orleans in the next three weeks. >> it's now been two years in a row because this is considered to be a pattern. >> reporter: lieutenant general russel honore led the military recovery efforts after hurricane katrina and said that was the first drafter that made him consider the cost of climate change. now retired, it is the focus of his work as an environmental activist in native la. >> the first point in my life, a couple weeks ago, the governor declared a wildfire emergency. i've never heard of that in louisiana before. this time of the year, we're normally going to church on sunday, the priests are praying for no hurricanes. we need to turn that pray into thunderstorms. yesterday, we had floods in new york. who would have thought. this time of year, the floods are not in new york. and so the climate is changing quicker than we're adapting. >> reporter: salt water intrusion also becoming an annoyance in south florida, in miami, they have king tides where the salt watter just bubbles up out of the man holes there. farmland in the mid-atlantic, they've seen encroachment there, salty patches spreading. this is the praise, because of the history, so much salt watter, petrochemical, energy systems here, this is a vital place. pressure water is vital to the place. we're watching keen interests hoping that water arrives. >> of course, we will, bill. thank you for your reporting from louisiana for us. former president trump says he'll be back in court today after attacking the attorney general prosecuting him and sounding off on the judge who will determine the fate of his business empire. his new york civil case is just the latest legal challenge. he also faces 91 criminal charges in four criminal cases. but have all of these legal setbacks have any impact on the momentum. harrienten took a look at those numbers. harry, we dot check-ins often. where do things stand in the polls? >> often, we look at the primary, i want to look at the general election. in the primary, trump is gaining. how about in the general election against joe biden. definitely or probably will vote for him in 2024 election. back in july, it was biden by 7. look where we are now, well within the margin of error. trump, 43%, he's gained biden drop by 5 points to 42%. look how closer. of course, this is one poll, let's expand out and look at other surveys, change in trump's margin versus biden. abc news post, trump gains four, nbc news, trump gains four on the margin, fox news, trump gains five. pretty much what poll you're looking at, trump's actually gaining not just in the primary but the general election as well. >> do we have a sense why? trump has long said, i'm going to hurt him, help helping in the polls, what's happening? >> i think there's two things going on. one trump carried out the response of the 2021 outcome. 46% of voters believe that, compare that to biden too old to serve. the vast majority of voters are, look at that, 76%. these back and forges going on in the voters' minds, which way am i going to go? all of these discussions whether trump carried out a crime. look at this, april, '22, 46%. and despite the press around this, the same percentage believe that trump carried out a crime in response to the 2020 outcome. >> what's fascinating, everybody says, all right, we knows who going to do well in the primary. general is where it's going to have a huge impact. still may. right now, harry's numbers are saying not so much? >> not so much. not at this point, trump is actually gaining in the general election, according it these posts. >> harry, appreciate it. democrats and republicans on chicago about to caucus to decide the fate of speaker kevin mccarthy. the president's son, hunter biden and former president trump expected in court shortly. needless to say, it's a business say day here. we have it all covered here on "cnn news central." 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