floating the idea of a third-party presidential run. new images of idf forces pushing further into southern gaza as u.s. officials are now raising new questions and alarm over why hamas is refusing to release more female hostages. a home in arlington, virginia, blows sky-high. the blast could be felt miles away in d.c. police were there when it happened, trying to serve a search warrant. what were they looking for? details on that investigation ahead. i'm sara sidner with john berman and kate bolduan. this is "cnn news central." major rumblings in and around the republican race for president this morning starting with a huge push to get chris christie out. according to "the new york times," republican donors, strategists, and pundits are publicly pressuring mr. christie to follow the lead of tim scott and mike pence and formally end his campaign. many would like to see him throw his support behind nikki haley. republican strategist kevin madden adds, "ideally, it would have been facing this reality yesterday, a month or two months ago." the other big rumbling is liz cheney in? the ardent trump critic and republican just told "the washington post" this morning that she is still considering a third-party run as she continues to warn of donald trump's, quote, grave threat. now, as for trump himself, tonight he's holding a solo town hall. tomorrow he is ditching the presidential debate. thursday, he is heading back to court, all while intensifying his rhetoric in spouting fringe january 6th theories. cnn's kristen holmes is following this. what's donald trump up to and saying now? >> reporter: donald trump is running the campaign the way he wants to run his campaign. as you noted, he is going to a fox town hall, skipping the debate for a fund raiser in florida. then he's going to sit through testimony in his civil hearing in new york. on monday he is expected to testify in that trial. this is coming at a time we are starting to hear alarm bells being raised. you mentioned his rhetoric intensifying. it's not so much that his rhetoric is intensifying. he's been saying the same thing since he announced back in november that he was going to be running for president. but people are really starting to pay attention, likely because we are just six weeks out from the iowa caucus, and he still holds a commanding lead in the polls, not just in iowa but also nationwide. that is causing many people, critics, republicans, and democrats, to wonder what a trump second term would look like. when you look through the rhetoric of what trump is saying, they believe it is a threat to democracy. one of his loudest critics, liz cheney, has been talking about this quite a bit, hitting both donald trump and the republican party. take a listen. >> i don't know if our party can be saved. it may be that we need to build a new party. but i think those issues have to come after this 2024 cycle, because the focus has to be just completely right now on making sure we don't return donald trump to the white house. >> as we are starting to hear more and more warnings from people on donald trump's potential second term, saying this would be a threat to democracy, it would threaten the constitution, we are also hearing that donald trump's lawyers have reached out to the department of justice in the january 6th case to get more information, including information on government conspiracies. obviously, we know that this is something that's been going on on right-wing conservative conspiracy, social media, essentially saying this was a government plot, january 6th. now we know that lawyers for donald trump have been asking the justice department to look into some of those theories. now, how exactly that's going to play into his defense, we don't know yet, but obviously that is one avenue this morning. >> a lot of analysts think that's more of a political play than a courtroom play, but we'll watch it. stand by for a minute. el elena, for chris christie, the good news is he made the debate stage tomorrow night. the bad news is a lot of republican insiders are saying maybe you should go. >> that's right, john. i think this is something we've been hearing for weeks. we know that many republicans want to consolidate around one republican candidate that could be seen as the alternative to donald trump. increasingly we've seen nikki haley have an excellent few weeks and people urging her -- urging the candidates, i should say, to drop out and support her. that's what they're trying to tell chris christie to do. on his part, he has no plans to do that. he wants to stay in the race through the republican convention. he recently told cnn he thinks he's doing really well in new hampshire. that's kind of the state where he's focused all of his attention. but he also thinks he'll do so well in that state that it could carry him through the rest of the primary season. we'll see if that's actually what happens, but that is k christie's goal. tomorrow is the smallest debate stage we've seen. christie, nikki haley, vivek ramaswamy taking the stage. you're just six weeks away from the iowa caucuses, and they're doing as much as they can to court these voters in the hopes of eating away at donald trump's support. now, of course, as you mentioned, donald trump will not be on the debate stage. he's skipping it, as he has done with the previous debates. that's led to a lot of frustration among his opponents. we heard ron desantis on monday in new hampshire attacking donald trump for not showing up. let's listen. >> donald trump is not willing to debate. i mean, you have to ask yourself why. why can't you stand up on the stage for two hours and articulate? what's going to be different this time than happened in 2020? how is he a better candidate? will he admit any mistakes? i don't think so. >> now, john, to that question from ron desantis saying why won't we show up, well, i've spoke on the many of donald trump's advisers and those in his inner circle about this, and their goal is really to make it look like donald trump is in a different league than his opponents, and they think that skipping these debates continues to help him. that's why he's continuing not to show up. and i just want to point out, the two big things that i think is most frustrating for donald trump's opponents is, one, they do not have an opportunity to attack the front-runner directly, but they're also not really getting the opportunity to try and continue to court and win over a lot of the pro-trump viewers that are not tuning in while donald trump isn't there. >> it is worth noting, except for chris christie, none seem to show a great interest in attacking donald trump directly. be that as it may. thanks to both of you. joining us, republican strategist michael singleton and alice stewart. alice, start with the debate, what has changed and by how much in the last debate. we can show everyone kind of the then and now roughly of the polling of the republican field from november between the two debates, if you will. donald trump is still up by 50-plus points. so, what has changed? >> well, for one, the size of the debate stage has significantly decreased, which i think will be good during this debate. but, look, donald trump's numbers are not going anywhere. he continues to dominate the field, and his supporters are essentially growing. but i think, and many republicans i speak with say the best option for the gop is to find a trump alternative. so, that is to look at these other candidates and see who is in the best position to make the case to voters. and, look, at this stage of the game, we understand what these debates are all about. they need to contrast with each other on the policies, which in many cases, kate, are similar, when it comes to foreign policy, immigration, as well as -- there is some contrast on abortion, but the most important argument to make on this debate stage is their electability, to make the case to voters they cannot only beat donald trump but joe biden if he is the democratic nominee. they also need to show it's time for a new generation of optimistic leadership that is forward thinking and not past -- looking at past grievances. those are the important issues i'll be looking for on the debate stage, and hopefully we can winnow this field even more to have a more viable candidate to take on donald trump as wes head into the important iowa caucuses. >> the concept of winnowing the field, schermichael. don't giggle. now seeing reporting of pressure on, as john was talking about, chris christie to also drop out of the race. "the new york times" wanted him to drop out and throw his support behind nikki haley. but consider this fact, this argument, may be counterintuitive to what the conventional wisdom is. mark short has taken a different view on how to take on trump and fight against him and keep him from the nomination. he's told me this more than once. listen. >> i think some of the conventional wisdom that is out there would suggest, hey, we need to narrow it down to one-on-one. i don't think that applies here. i think the reality is that as candidates drop out, it will build more of an inevitability if donald trump is the nominee. so i think it's a different dynamic. >> schermichael, agree or disagree? >> i think that's a fair point, kate. i'm not exactly certain i would agree, though. a really clear politics average has chris christie at 2 hpt 2%. he barely made the debate stage this time around. nikki haley has continued to see her numbers rise. chris christie also, i would argue, has some personality issues. not a lot of voters like chris christie. he comes off as bully to some individuals. i think nikki haley is someone who comes off as forward thinking, as alice spoke about. she was a former governor. she had to deal with a sensitive racial crisis in her state. the country still has many racial issues to deal with. she's been the only republican on that stage to, i would argue, really arctic arctic you late - about positivity. you want someone with foreign policy experience and someone who can sort of parse through some of those social issues that trump frankly doesn't do very well with. >> alice, let's talk about liz cheney. she told "the washington post" yesterday that she's considering a third-party run for president now. here's what she said. she said, "several years ago, i would not have considered it. but we need a candidate who will be able to deal with and address and confront all of those challenges. that will all be part of my calculation as we go into the early months of 2024." she says she'll make a final decision on this in the next few months. is it clear what this could, would look like, depending on what she decides? >> look, kate. i'm here for people that the likelihood of a third-party candidate is very likely, whether liz cheney or someone else. that shows people are not satisfied with the choices at hand, whether that is donald trump or joe biden. now we have an independent candidate in robert f. kennedy junior. people are frustrated with the status quo of politics, but at the end of the day, i happen to be a firm believer in the two-party process, maybe v may the best republican win or the best democrat win, and it's incumbent on people in the two parties to get behind the person that not only represents the views and values of the party but also does so with a tone and tenor that is representative of what this country should go for, and that is a less toxic tone and representing the views of the american people look, donald trump, what he's doing right now, we're hearing him blast joe biden about him being anti-democratic. this is what donald trump does, is he finds his weakness and project bs it on his opponent. and unfortunately, his base runs with that with reckless abandon. hopefully, voerpts will see through that and find a republican candidate that represents the tone and ten norp of this country. >> schermichael, you wrote an interesting column on this question of third-party challenges today. tell me what you think. >> i think if you look at the dynamics here on the democratic side with kennedy and mary ann williamson both around 30% combined, you think about jill stein in 2016 between 2% and 5%, that absolutely made a difference in states like wisconsin, pennsylvania, and michigan. if hillary clinton would have won those three states, she would be president today. democrats have to strongly consider that. on the republican side, we also have to consider what votes kennedy may take away from the likely nominee, which at this point is donald trump. and could liz cheney or someone else decide to jump in under the no-lab ems moniker, could they also pull volts away from the republican nominee. these are dynamics both parties have to deal with. >> in a real way. in a real way, the polls are showing. good to see you guys. thank you so much. >> thank you u kate. coming up, new satellite images show the expansion of israeli troops in southern gaza and the devastation left behind. and in israel, air raid sirens have been going off the last hour. a report from our crews on the ground there. and police in virginia were serving a warrant at a home when the suspect fired several rounds at them just before the entire house exploded. and fresh off his expulsion from congress, george santos is turning to recording cameos for dough. how john fetterman used it to troll another member of the senate. this morning, israel is intensifying air strikes in southern gaza and expanding its ground offensive that now includes tanks in the south. new satellite imagery obtained by cnn shows dozens of israeli tanks gathered in southern gaza. these images were taken just west of gaza's main north/south route and only a few miles from the center of khan yunis. the u.n. chief describes it as an apocalyptic situation as civilians have nowhere to go. a spokesperson for the idf told cnn a ratio of two palestinians killed for every hamas militant is tremendously positive given the challenges of combat. in northern gaza, israeli troops have surrounded the massive refugee camp following days of israeli air strikes. the israeli military described the camp as a hamas stronghold. cnn's chief national security correspondent alex marquardt is in tel aviv for us. i understand sirens have been going off where you are in the past hour. what's happening there now? >> reporter: yeah, sara. the military wing of hamas has claimed responsibility for a barrage of rocketss that was just fired at tel aviv in the past hour. we heard those sirens go off as well as those loud booms in the sky of the iron dome interceptor rockets taking them down. but, most notably, sara, we did see an impact just to the north of where we are in northern tel aviv, a large plume of black smoke that landed just near a power station, from what we understand. here's a little bit of what we saw and heard. [ sirens ] >> reporter: it is quite rare for a rocket to get through the iron dome, but it can happen if the barrage is big enough or the iron dome determines that the rocket is not going to land near a populated area. it did land near a populated area. the police are checking to see if anybody has been injured. we've got an report of at least one 4-year-old ho has been injured. and of course when those rockets are taken down, shrapnel falls to the ground, so they can certainly hurt people even if they are intercepted. this comes as israel is expanding its ground operation in gaza. that has been officially announced. they are, they say, finishing up their operation in the north and then will move to focus more on the south. we've seen both satellite imagery and new video showing dozens of armored veengs in southern gaza. you mentioned a satellite image just to the west of that road which goes from north to south towards khan yunis. israel had told more than a million gazans to move south during the first phase of their operation. now they continue to tell gazans in the south to evacuate to other areas. we understand that khan yunis, the city in the south, will become a particular focus for israeli operations because officials do believe that hamas leadership is in khan yunis, at least part of it. this adds to an already catastrophic and chaotic situation where you have the vast majority of the 2.2 million population of gaza now displaced. the u.n. believes that it is 1.9 million gazans who are displaced, some in shelters, but many are camped out wherever they can find safety, whether that's in the streets or other open areas. >> alex marquardt, thank you to you and your team for explaining all of this. i do want to ask you, though, about what we heard from an idf spokesperson where he commented about the tremendous casualties, civilian casualties, saying that it was actually tremendously positive compared to other wars. it's a 2 to 1 ratio, two civilians for every hamas militant they have killed. has there been any reaction to this from the palestinians or elsewhere? >> reporter: not that we've heard from any official position or not that i know of, but it certainly has raised eyebrows, sara, because when you hear the words "tremendously positive" associated with this conflict that has kills do many civilians, that really is quite extraordinary. jonathan henriquez, the spokesperson for the ild i'd, was making the point that several thousand hamas militants have been kills do far in this conflict. it is estimated, according to the hamas-controlled ministry of health in gaza, that some 16,000 people overall have been killed. and israel is saying that, within that, there are several thousand of these hamas militants who have died as well. now, he was arguing that for every hamas militant they do estimate that around two civilians have also been killed, and he was saying that that is tremendously positive given the fact that hamas is hiding behind the civilian population. so, he was essentially confirming a report that is out there that 5,000 militants have been killed, and that would mean, however, that 10,000, at least, 10,000, sara, innocent civilians have been caught up in this, have been killed. >> that's part of the reason they're calling it a catastrophic situation. alex marquardt, thank you to you and your crew. ukraine's president zelenskyy is set to make a new direct appeal to u.s. senators over the stalled effort to approve more aid for ukraine's fight against russia. he's going to do that today just as president biden's national security adviser is also offering a stark new warning about the dwindling funds. >> running out of money, and we are nearly out of time. a vote against supplemental funding for ukraine will hurt ukraine and help russia. it will hurt democracy and help dictators. >> the fight on capitol hill over all of this, however, isn't specifically about dictators, it seems. it's about the u.s. southern border and policy changes that house republicans are demanding to push this money forward, policy changes that democrats say are a nonstarter, and even senate republicans are starting to question. the supplemental funding, as it's called in washington, is a request from president biden for about $106 billion that will go to support ukraine, israel, taiwan, and the u.s. border with mexico. lauren fox is on the hill with the latest. lauren, quotes from some senate republicans like james langford, who's been important in these negotiations, they're pretty interesting this morning, kind of questioning the strategy of the house speaker now. where does it leave this mess? >> yeah. the reality, which langford and others have acknowledged, is that the house passed immigration bill, which many skefshs are pushing for as part of this supplemental request, it didn't get democratic votes in the house of representatives. and therefore the lift of getting democratic votes on that proposal in the senate is just too high a bar to clear. right now, immigration talks have stalled. that doesn't mean that they can't resume, doesn't mean they can't get back to the negotiating table. but right now, things are not in a good place. and that has complicated the effort to get this funding to ukraine despite the administration making it very clear to lawmakers on capitol hill that they are at the bottom of what money they have left to give ukraine. they're arguing this is an urgent matter, that this money needs to go out before the end of the year. meanwhile, lawmakers on capitol hill have just this week and next week to figure this out. given the fact that republican senators are arguing that they will not vote to advance ukraine aid without border policy changes, that puts this all in the context of it's one big mess. you have senator chris murphy, the leading democratic negotiator, saying that he believes that it's possible they might get to the end of the year without this funding. obviously, zelenskyy talking to senators today is a strategic move to try to imperil members and remind them how important this money is. but the issue for zelenskyy is, no matter what he says about the situation on the ground in ukraine, you have republican senators, including minority leader mitch mcconnell, who's been a strong advocate of ukraine funding, who are arguing that this doesn't have to do with not supporting ukraine. it just has to do with the fact they want those policy changes on the southern border. >> yeah. it's a "yes, but" but a hard one for president zelenskyy to handle when he's making this plea yet again to u.s. lawmakers today. great to see you, lauren. thank you. john? a house blown sky-high. this could be felt for miles and miles. so, new reporting on what caused the explosion with police right there standing by. donald trump's legal team is back in court. new reporting on what they are asking for as trump prepares for a new round of testimony. first time i connected with kim, she told me that her husband had passed. and that he took care of all of the internet connected devices in the home. i told her, “i'm here to take care of you.” connecting with kim... made me reconnect with my mom. it's very important to keep loved ones close. we know that creating memories with loved ones brings so much joy to your life. a family trip to the team usa training facility. i don't know how to thank you. i'm here to thank you. overnight, a huge explosion levelled a home in arlington, virginia, where police were serving a search warrant. virginia police were investigating a man who fired a flare gun dozens of times from the home. a short time after they arrived at the house, they heard shots fired from inside, and then things took a turn. wow. cnn's gabe cohen is in arlington, virginia. what's the latest from there? >> reporter: i spoke with arlington police a little while ago. they still are not confirming whether or not this man who was inside that home, believed to be inside the home when it exploded, survived. but of course you can tell from the video just how extreme that blast was. if you look behind me, that's what's left of the house right there across this park. you can see the debris still smoldering this morning. there is debris up in the trees, a burnt-out car it looks like right outside of the house. miraculously, there were several police officers and police vehicles right outside the home when this blast happened just after 8:00 p.m. local time last night. none of them were serious hurt, and it was a massive explosion as you can tell from that video. the home wasn't just leveled. windows across the neighborhood were blown out. the entire neighborhood was shaking. people five miles down the road in d.c. could feel and hear the blast and see that smoke rising from the area. as i mentioned, that dramatic scene had started hours earlier, four hours earlier, when police came to the area. they say they were dealing with the man who lives inside that home who was barricaded in the house, firing flares into the neigh neighborhood, a flare gun, shooting 30, 40 flares across the neighborhood. eventually, police got a search warrant. they said they tried to enter the home. that a's when witnesses in the neighborhood say they could hear the man opening fire with a gun toward police, police retreating, and shortly after that is when the home exploded, john. now at the scene here, we have seen a lot of law enforcement vehicles. the fbi is here, atf working with local law enforcement. we are hoping to get an update later this morning as to what pieces they can put together of who this man was inside the house, why all of this unfolded, and hopefully we can get an update on whether or not he did survive the blast, john. but it's obviously grim looking at that video. >> yeah. it seems unlikely, gabe, but please keep us posted. i have to say, debris being found in the trees, gabe. >> i mean, can a flare gun blow up like that? >> i don't know. it could have ignited a gas -- some combustible things. >> so creepy. coming up next hour, donald trump's legal team is back in court, a key witness being called back to the stand this week, donald trump's son, eric. he's set to testify again tomorrow. donald trump himself also preparing to take the stand once again, this time in his own defense. kara scannell is outside the courthouse in new york for us. what's going to happen today? and what is it all building up to as this case is coming to a close? >> reporter: yeah, kate. we were in week ten of this trial, and it is beginning to wind down. donald trump's team has been putting on their defense, calling a number of witnesses to count erp these claims by the new york attorney general's office that they inflated the value of the properties to get better rates on loans and insurance. we've been hearing over the past weeks various witnesses to support trump's defense that there are many different ways to value assets and that they didn't violate accounting rules. so, on that theme this week, we are expected to hear today from some more real lsz tate experts, people who have an expertise in valuation. one of the experts expected to take the stand today is a person who has said that mar-a-lago could be valued anywhere from $1 billion to $1.5 billion. so, the judge has already found that trump had inflated the value of mar-a-lago on his financial statements. bup this person is going to testify based on the various factors and potential buy yerps saying it could be anyone from a head of state or royalty who could pay that much for mar-a-lago. so, this is all part of trump's defense that they didn't inflate the value of assets, that there are different ways to value properties. so, this will be a day we'll hear from several witnesses, including the valuation experts. then eric trump will be on the stand. we think donald trump will come to court on thursday, and he will take the stand to testify again in his defense. >> good to see you. thank you. expelled congressman george santos' latest role -- cameo troll. why a democratic senator bought his services on cameo. next hour, fbi director corpus chri christopher wray will testify, topping the agenda, oversight of the fbi. evan perez is following this story for us from washington. these days, when the fbi testifies, there are usually fireworks. back in july, we saw republicans calling for defunding of the fbi. what are we expecting to hear this time? >> sara, this is before the senate judiciary committee, so we're probably going to see a little less of that, but there are still some members who have tough questions for the fbi director, a lot of it related to the fact that the fbi investigated former president donald trump, and a lot of them don't like what the fbi has done. but a lot of what the fbi director wray is going to focus on today is trying to usual members of congress, members to have senate, to renew this authority called 702. it's a law that allows the collection for surveillance, international surveillance, by the fbi, collection of data from people around the world, including sometimes pieces -- data that belongs to americans. so, that's part of the controversy that's been hanging over this law that is due to expire and that wray says needs to be renewed or else it's going to cause some problems. i'll read you a part of his prepared testimony, where he says that, given that the whole host of threats that have grown more brazen from iran trying to assassinate former officials in the u.s. government and the people's republic of china, which poses a generational threat to our economic and national security, stripping the fbi of 702 authorities would be a form of unilateral disarmament. that is his very, very strong urge, really, trying to implore members of congress to renew this authority that is due to expire just in the next few weeks. of course, because this is an oversight hearing, you can expect the republicans are going to ask questions about lot of things, including, of course, the hunter biden investigation and the ongoing investigations of the former president, the prosecutionings of the former president, and whether the fbi overstepped some of its authority. there's a lot of fireworks to be expected to ensue in the next hour when the fbi takes a seat before this senate hearing. >> evan perez, thank you so much for your reporting. this morning, serious political shade. pennsylvania senator john fetterman trolling his indicted colleague, bob menendez, with the unwitting help of recently expelled from congress george santos. fetterman bought a cameo video of santos offering support for someone named bobby from new jersey. >> hey, bobby. look, i don't think i need to tell you, but these people that want to make you get in trouble and want to kick you out and make you run away, you make them put up or shut up. >> so, santos has been charging $200 for cameos. the you're wondering who else charges that much? well, ted lang, better nonas isaac the bartender from "the love boat." 200 bucks. ian from beverly hills, 200 bucks. then something named valentines turkey. not sure what that is, but it definitely sounds naughty. 200 bucks is less than the going rate for some disgraced former politicians. rudy giuliani was charging $375. for that much money, though, you got something like this -- >> i'm a little teapot, short and stout. this is my handle. here's my spout. when i get all steamed up, hear me shout. tip me over and powerur me out. >> with us now is john avlon. my first question is, is it e-an or i-an? >> ian. >> for 300, you get to choose, though. either way. what's going on here? >> what you're seeing is trolling politics, politics of shade elevating. you're seeing senator fetterman trying to make a serious point beneath the troll, which is that, look, he's been calling for senator menendez to resign pretty steadily. as we saw with santos, politics involves standing up to the extremes of their own side. he's doing it through cameo, mocking santos and menendez, and he knows he'll get a pickup in pop culture. serious point beneath the trolling, and that's the point i think we're focusing on. >> i have a colleague whose name rhymes with sara scmmeider wondering if santos should be rewarded. >> there's no law that makes grifters not to be able to griffith or accept the mocking that comes with, i guess, a cameo. you played rudy's clip. that's just tragic. but, hey, there's 300 bucks. >> for john fetterman, he has a serious point. he has been suggesting or urging bob menendez to resign or get thrown out of the u.s. senate. how much of this is a distraction from what congress or members of congress can or should be doing? >> important point. we spend a lot of time covering the car crashes of the american politics, the absurdities and extremes. we don't spend as much time on covering folks trying to find solutions to problems. we heard earlier there's a desperate attempt to try to create funding for ukraine and israel. these are two countries facing existential threats. yet, this funding is being derailed in a larger negotiation involving the border wall and possibly taiwan, the biden administration trying to link them all to create bipartisan win-wins. you have senators like langford and murphy really trying to lead this effort, tillis and sinema, to come up with some kind of compromise. you have other senators like john corbin saying give republicans what they want at the border. this is happening in real time. the consequences are real. they are real in terms of wab and peace in ukraine and the middle east, and they're real in terms of our border and the need to strengthen those defenses as well. putting a focus on the people working towards solutions, that's the other piece of democracy, the most important piece, and that should get at least as much attention as people who troll. >> ted lang, isaac the bar tend erp. he was my favorite character. >> of course. obviously. >> john avlon, thank you. coming up, gaby is, quote, gone. that's what gabby petito's say was confessed days before she was missing. what we're learning from a new court filing from the petito family ahead. . this is new this morning. a lawsuit filed by gabby petito's parents alleged that brian laundry had called her parents to say that gabby was gone and claimed that the call was three weeks before her remains were found. they are suing brian's parents to say they had purposely withheld information about their daughter's death. we were talking about this lawsuit that had been in play for quite some time, but this is brand-new, correct? >> absolutely. this is the third amended complaint, and this is information and detail alleged. we have never known this before. one thing that is fact is that we know that gabby petito was the victim of homicide and committed by brian la laundrie d so in his journal in his own hand. and this is what is alleged in the complaint is that august 27th is the date that gabby was the victim of homicide. two days later, august 29th, it is alleged in this complaint that brian laundrie called his parents and said, gabby is gone, i need a lawyer. he goes on to say that on that date, the parents contacted steve bertolino who is a co-defendant now in this case, and then on september 1st, laundrie, brian, arrived back in florida, and then according to the new complaint, september 2nd, important date, steve, the attorney, got a retainer from the laundries, and then he contacted a law firm in laramie, wyoming, but additionally contacted even before that, the public defender, and they only take on criminal cases, in the county where her remain were found, and as you said, sara, september 17th, her remains were found by campers, and this is brought zilly by intentional distress saying that we were panicked and you said to our daughter, we hope that she is found through a letter from our attorney, and this is outrageous behavior under the law in florida, and they are asking for civil damages because of all of that, but this is very interesting. we have reached out to attorney steve bertolina and the laundries themselves, but this is the investigation to going on of a civil nature, and they have their own attorney, because this is information that you have to have a sworn belief when you file a complaint, and you can't throw anything out there that you want to, so this has to be taken seriously here, and now we have to wait for the response. >> and there are ways to prof some of this, and they have to do this and wow, what a revelation if all of it turns out to be true, and this lawsuit is going to be continuing, and you will continue to follow it, jean. thank you. john. >> and the republican debate stage is set, and who made the debate stage that some republicans are now pleading with to get out. in order for small businesses to thrive, they need to be smart, efficient, savvy. making the most of every opportunity. that's why comcast business is introducing the small business bonus. for a limited time you can get up to a