a surprise visit and a major show of support. secretary of state tony blinken on the ground in ukraine and meeting with president zelenskyy. blinken's message for ukraine and also for americans back home. we are burning up. this summer we're experiencing the hottest temperatures ever recorded in human history. is this the new normal? i'm sara sidner with the masterful kate bolduan and john berman. this is "cnn news central." ♪ later today a historic first in the various criminal cases against donald trump. cameras will be on in the courtroom. so we can all see the proceedings inside and that means voters can see. this will be in georgia where a judge will hear arguments about whether a trial should start as soon as next month, october 23rd, and whether trump's case should be severed from some or all of his 18 co-defendants. that's what trump wants, along with a much later trial as speculation swirls over whether any of his co-defendants might turn on him. with us now cnn's paula reid who has been following all this. paula, what are we going to see in just a few hours? >> reporter: well, it's significant. we're going to be able to see this entire hearing, and while it's about scheduling and logistics, not necessarily the most exciting topics, here in this case they take on a true significance because we know that the central tension in all of the trump-related criminal cases is timing. he wants to try to push all of these cases back until after the 2024 election, but prosecutors are keen to move these things along as quickly as possible. now, today they're focused not only on scheduling but also the possibility of breaking this case up into smaller cases. they've asked the district attorney to come with a good faith estimate of just how long it's going to take for her to put on a trial with 19 defendants. already several people charged in this case have asked to separate or sever their case from the rest of the group in hopes of getting a faster trial. the district attorney insists she wants to try everyone at once so the judge is going to have some questions about exactly how that's going to work, how long it's going to take and he's also said that he wants to hear what she thinks would be the consequence if they did maybe break this up into some smaller groups. so shout out to the state of georgia for the fact that there will be cameras in the court which will allow anyone who is curious about what's going on here, the process, to tune in and see how this is working. this is not an opportunity that taxpayers are afforded of course at the federal level where the former president faces two criminal cases. >> here, here for cameras. i don't know about you but i actually do find logistics and skelen thrilling. it will be very interesting to see it all play out before our eyes today. on a separate matter and one that we will not see because it has to do with federal court, we could hear soon, very soon, you know, hours, about whether mark meadows' case will be moved from this state court to federal court. >> reporter: that's right. any moment now we will get a decision on this and hear the former white house chief of staff is arguing that everything that he is alleged to have done here he did in his capacity as the white house chief of staff. he and his lawyers argue because of that this should be moved to federal court where there are laws that actually protect federal -- certain federal workers from state-level prosecutions. they are also confident if they can get it moved to federal court that they will be able to get the case against med keys dismissed. it's not clear he is going to be successful but whatever happens here will have ripple effects because i know when speaking with my sources other defendants and their attorneys in this case they are watching to see what happens with meadows because they believe meadows has the strongest shot of anyone besides maybe the former president of successfully moving his case to federal court. they are like, look, if it doesn't work for him we are not even going to try for our client. >> a decision on that could come at any moment. keep us posted. thank you very much. and joining us now to talk about much more about this is former federal prosecutor danya perry. today this hearing live in front of the cameras broadcast out. what will you be listening in for? >> well, in some ways it's just an everyday kind of a scheduling conference, but this one obviously has a lot of complexity and intricacies to it. the kind of everyday piece of it will be how long the government anticipates a trial to last with different configurations of defendants, how many exhibits they will have, how many witnesses and the like. i actually am quite curious to see what the district attorney has to say about that, given that her last rico trial lasted for, i believe, eight months and it was months long to even select a jury, but then of course there's all this what you could call infighting or conflict between the classes of defendants, some of whom are looking for speedy trial, others of whom are looking to push it back and so there will be questions of different trial dates, whether the judge will grant certain of them a speedy trial, it seems he will, and then whether or not he will sever those cases. so there's actually a lot in contest and that will be very telling for the rest of the trial this afternoon. >> can you give us a sense of what this is like for the prosecution when you have several people asking for a speedy trial? do they even have the numbers to try and deal with this? they could all be happening in a very similar time frame. >> it would be very complicated. da fani willis says that she does have the resources, she does have the man and women power, she could go forward on october 23rd against all 19 defendants. that is impossible. i cannot imagine a world -- i should say highly unlikely. it's hard to conceive of this judge ordering the other defendants who would like to push this off, it's hard to see him forcing them to go to trial next month. so she may have to do this trial very complicated trial, in stages. of course, that will be very taxing on her office's limited resources. it's hard to see that happening even though certain of the defendants, sidney powell and kenneth chesebro are asking for this early trial date, they could also change their mind once they have the full breadth of discovery which is set to be somewhere in the order of magnitude of 2 terabytes of information or some 150 million pages. maybe they think they want that now and might change their minds later. >> there's also, then, the mark meadows factor in all of this. he's still waiting to hear as paula reid was laying out to hear from a federal judge if his case is going to be moved out of fulton county and into federal court. if that happens does that upend all of this that we're talking about here? does the fulton county superior court judge need to head back into court and figure something else out? >> it could be. i happen not to think -- and i've written about this, i don't think that mr. meadows has the better of that argument, although, as you said in the introduction, he has a better argument than some of his co-defendants because in some ways, of course, everything that a chief of staff does could be said to be under color of his office or federal law, but i think here when you're talking about intruding into the counting and tabulation of ballots, that is not something that is typically within the executive branch, so i think that's a long shot argument. but if he does win, it could upend very much of what's happening in state court. it could well be that some or all of the defendants are then removed as well to federal court so that will introduce a whole other layer of complexity yet to be told. >> for sure. which means stand by to stand by. good to see you, danya. cnn is going to be carrying this hearing that we're talking about at 1:00 p.m. this hearing we will be carrying it live. special coverage this afternoon begins at 1:00 p.m. eastern. john? >> you can see it with your own eyes. new this morning secretary of state antony blinken making an unannounced visit to kyiv, the first cabinet secretary to visit since the ukrainian counteroffensive began. the secretary will meet with president volodymyr zelenskyy and deliver remarks at a press conference this afternoon. the visit comes as a cnn poll shows that a majority of americans do not support increased u.s. aid for ukraine. overnight russia launched a barrage of missiles at the capital city, a reminder that blinken is in the middle of a war zone. cnn national security correspondent kylie atwood is at the state department and melissa bell is in kyiv. kylie, first to you. what does the secretary want to get out of this trip? >> reporter: well, listen, he said it in his own words today as he has been talking throughout his events in kyiv, saying this is all about reaffirming u.s. commitment to ukraine, continued commitment to ukraine militarily, to make sure that they succeed on the battlefield, but also to building up a strong democracy, building up a resilient economy as they have to face this barrage of attacks from russia over the course of the last year and a half or so. the timing of this trip is critical to look at for a few reasons, john. first of all, senior state department officials think that this trip will help them make the case to americans about the need for continued support. not just making the commitment to ukrainians but to the american public because there has been some softening in the american public support in some polls, including cnn's poll and it comes after a few weeks after president biden put forth a new proposal for $24 billion in additional funding for the war. we will see how that plays out in congress. and later this month there's the u.n. general assembly and so senior state department officials say that blinken is looking to meet with the ukrainians and align with them about what their message is going to be on that world stage, when world leaders gather in new york later this month, what are the ukrainians asking for and, of course, it comes at this critical moment as ukraine is heading into the fourth month of its counteroffensive and we know that blinken feels that he will be able to learn more about how that counteroffensive is going by being there on the ground. what he wants to hear from the ukrainians is how they plan to continue carrying out that counteroffensive in the weeks to come. >> melissa, what is the situation on the ground as we sit here this morning and what does president zelenskyy want out of this? >> reporter: well, if ever a reminder were needed, john, of what is happening in this country, it came overnight, as you mentioned a moment ago here in kyiv, fresh ballistic and cruise missile strikes on the ukrainian capital that were intercepted by ukrainian anti-air defense systems even though some of the debris caused some damage here in the capital. but what we've been hearing just in the last few moments is of a deadly attack on civilians, once again, it's just a village that is not very far from the front line from bakhmut within striking distance certainly, 16 civilians, including one child have just died, john, in an attack on a market in a town that is not very far from there in russian shelling. an important reminder, i think, even as the secretary of state is here of exactly what is happening to civilians all along the front line that is, remember, more than 1,000 kilometers long. a lot of civilians on that front line, many more have just today paid the price and i think that is the important context in which secretary blinken is coming. he's going to be meeting with president zelenskyy and it is, of course, all about selling this, again, to the american people when he gets back, but it is going to be also about seeking some of the reassurances that his administration is looking for about the fight against corruption, the ability of this country to meet its -- the obligations it seeks to join nato, the european union and to move on from the past. so an important visit that comes at a critical time of course as ever amid more destruction at the hands of the russians, john. >> melissa bell, kylie atwood, thank you both very much. 16 dead in that attack according to melissa bell right there. a reminder that civilians very much the victims here. >> the war still very much ongoing. all right. a new warning from the hard right flank to house speaker kevin mccarthy this morning, impeach president biden or lose your job. we will talk about that fight coming up. and convicted murderer alex murdaugh's attorneys leveling new allegations against the court clerk in the case, claiming something she did means murdaugh should get a brand-new trial. all the twists and turns on that case is also coming up. and republican presidential candidates are making their pitch in new hampshire we're there and asking if voters are in search for something new or a 2020 repeat. >> they were attacking him constantly. how can anybody do a good job? i mean, he did, but he was constantly attacked and it was all fake. [clock alarm] ♪ morng. ♪ ♪ life after student debt is within reach. refi at sofi.com. you could save thousands and get to your goals faster. sofi. get your money right. being middle class right now, it's tough making ends meet for sure. republicans in congress say if we just cut taxes even more for the biggest corporations the money will eventually someday trickle trickle down to you. right. joe biden would rather just stop those corporations from charging so damn much. capping the cost of drugs like insulin. cracking down on surprise medical bills and all those crazy junk fees. there's more work to do. tell the president to keep lowering costs for middle class families. 76% of 23andme health customers surveyed reported taking healthier actions. because they know health isn't just a future state. health happens now. start your dna-powered health journey today with personalized insights from 23andme. automatically responds to snoring. so, no more hiding under your pillow. because this system actually detects snoring then adjusts to help reduce it. for a limited time, save up to $700 on select tempur-pedic adjustable mattress sets. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell is expected to address his health during a closed-door conference meeting with colleagues today. this comes after a pair of recent incidents where mcconnell froze for several seconds while speaking to reporters. it's sparking serious concerns from some within the gop about his future. let's bring in cnn capitol hill reporter melanie zanona. today's meeting comes as the capitol's attending physician clarified that there is no evidence that he had some sort of a stroke or a seizure. what more can you tell us about what we might hear or some members of the gop might hear today. >> reporter: that health update was part of a letter that mcconnell's office released as part of this bid to tamp down speculation about his health and political future. most republicans we talked to yesterday said they are satisfied with that assessment and that they have no concerns about his fitness to serve, but there were several republicans who are openly expressing concern about his ability to lead. they say they're not sure if they can support him again for leader the next time he runs and they're also casting doubt on what the capitol physician said. let's take a listen. >> but since he fell now he has struggled and i hope he can continue. >> i think it's an inadequate explanation to say this is dehydration. >> the reality is that we may expect that mitch mcconnell will check out for 20 seconds a day. >> reporter: now, mcconnell is expected to address the topic of his health at a closed-door lunch with his republicans later today and after that he is going to be delivering his weekly press conference in front of cameras, in front of reporters, a similar setting to where he experienced those last freezing episodes. his performance no doubt going to be closely watched. >> i would be remiss if i didn't ask you about those issues. house speaker kevin mccarthy is facing some threats from matt gaetz about whether or not he is going to go forward and impeach president biden. what do you know about that? >> reporter: yeah, so kevin mccarthy facing his own unique set of challenges and headaches as they return to washington next week. speaker kevin mccarthy not only has to figure out how to fund the government without angering conservatives but has to figure out how to deal with growing calls from members on the right to start impeaching president biden and congressman matt gaetz one of those members on the hard right said he's done waiting around and he is going to try to force a floor vote on impeaching president biden and he also threatened mccarthy's speakership if kevin mccarthy stands in the way. it puts mccarthy in a difficult spot. even though he has said he is willing to eventually go that route he also has a number of moderate members who say they are skeptical or down right opposed to impeachment. he has a lot to figure out in the weeks ahead, sara. >> he has been between a rock and a hard place and he finds himself there again. thank you so much melanie zanona, live on capitol hill. >> i want to read the tweet from matt gaetz that has caused this stir in the house. he wrote, quote, we've got to seize the initiative, that means forcing votes on impeachment and if speaker mccarthy stands in our way he may not have the job long. so not really a veiled threat at all. with us nowtime national threat cal correspondent molly ball. i want to talk about matt gaetz and other threatening kevin mccarthy. are they the boys who cried vacate, the formal phrase, vacate the chair. do you think they would really do this, force mccarthy out? >> i think you've put your finger on the issue which is that this is a nuclear option and can only be used once. if they trigger the motion to vacate, you know, with this extremely narrow majority kevin mccarthy can't take anything for granted and we have seen, you know, since that first series of late night votes that eventually delivered him the speakership he has been engaged in a real high wire act and he's managed to do it successfully, but for his detractors on the right, they have to know that if you come at the king you best not miss as a wise man once said, right? if they trigger this option and it doesn't work out it looks like a paper tiger going forward. it works better as a threat than an actual practice. if it were succeed obviously it would throw the entire house into chaos with really unpredictable consequences. so they're wielding this threat hoping that they will get mccarthy to go along with it and it's not clear how he will get himself out of this not just one jam but several jams as mel laid out. >> several jams. how tight is that needle that he has to thread or maybe the head of the needle that has to be threaded if i'm going to use the metaphor correctly. there's the impeachment issue for president biden but also this government shutdown looming in just a few weeks here. does mccarthy really have any flexibility? >> he doesn't have a lot, right? he has just a couple of votes to spare. when he was able to get that deal to raise the debt ceiling earlier this year it passed with more democratic than republican votes. if he goes that route again it's going to increase the complaints on his right wing who don't like to see him doing deals that way. but so far he's managed to sort of outrun the problem. he's been able to push off until another day all of these difficulties and we may see him pull a rabbit out of a hat again. but as you said there's this september 30th government fund