Transcripts For KGO This 20240704

Its tangible Climate Change in front of us. We lose more americans to heat than most other disasters combined. Martha with no end in sight, how are communities handling the heat . Were live in the hot spots with ginger zee diving into the warming waters of florida. Palm springs mayor, and Washington State governor jay inslee. High alert. North korea fires off Ballistic Missiles after a u. S. Nuclear submarine enters the waters off of south korea. And we got exclusive access to the uss kentucky, a nuclear arm Ballistic Missile submarine here for the first time in 40 years in south korea. And the latest on the u. S. Soldier who fled across the border with House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael Mccaul. Trumps turmoil. If you Say Something about the election, they want to put you in jail for the rest of your life. Martha the republican frontrunner faces a third possible indictment as a federal judge sets his classified documents trial smack in the middle of the 2024 campaign season. All the fallout with our powerhouse round table. Martha good morning, and welcome to this week. Wherever you are joining us from this morning, the scorching summer heat wave unlike anything weve seen before is affecting your life. Its engulfed parts of the country for weeks, torching the southwestern and eastern United States with tripledigit temperatures, leaving tens of millions of people under heat alert this weekend. It is a lifethreatening emergency. The extreme heat is also searing europe and asia, putting the world on track once again for the hottest month ever recorded. Its a record that is not likely to stand for long as scientists warn that human activities contributing to an increasingly warming planet could lead to a future where weather like this will become more common, more deadly, and longer lasting. Its an urgent Global Challenge for people, their communities, their countries, and the planet we all share. Well cover the heat from all angles this morning beginning with zohreen shah just outside palm springs, california. Good morning, zohreen. Reporter good morning, martha. The palm springs area as you know, they are used to this heat, but theyve never seen anything like this before. This is incredibly dangerous, and this is just one of the many communities in this region facing this challenge of this long heat wave, and you get a sense of the strain on the Communities Just being out here. Yesterday, we were in downtown palm springs in the heart of that city. People finally came out in the evening, but it was practically a ghost town in the afternoon compared to a normal summer night. It is just too dangerous to be outside during the day. You could feel it, and the fear is that a prolonged stretch like this can impact businesses and just the entire ecosystem in a very big way. Palm springs reached a record ninth consecutive day of over 115 degrees. The alltime record high in palm springs is 123 degrees, and on friday, the area hit 120 inching very close to that record. Now we were here with firefighters yesterday too, and they tell me they have seen 26 pure heatrelated incidents and illnesses in the palm springs region since just friday. They actually predict the actual impact on emergency incidents is higher than too. Martha thank you so much to you. Lets go overseas now. Europe suffering through an intense heat wave with the highest temperatures ever recorded in some countries. Marcus moore is in greece where wildfires have raged for nearly a week outside athens. Good morning to you, marcus. Reporter well, good morning, martha. Whats been happening here particularly in Southern Europe is unprecedented. Not only have the records for daily high temperatures been broken in many places, but also for the duration of some of these heat waves. Spain right now seeing temperatures over 100 degrees, italy, the same story there, and here in greece, officials expect this current heat wave to extend to 17 days. That has never happened before. Its been so hot here that famous attractions like the acropolis have either curtailed their hours or they have shut down completely. Residents and tourists are being urged the hydrate and to stay indoors and as you know, the hot, dry, windy conditions have been fueling dozens of wildfires across parts of greece. Several European Countries have sent in reinforcements to help greece try to stay ahead of these fires that have been burning now for nearly an entire week, and right now we know that about 800 firefighters are involved in this fight. There have been Mass Evacuations in southeastern greece. Martha, they are hoping for a break in the weather to come on monday, but it wont last long because another heat wave is expected to last through the rest of next week. Martha thank you, marcus. As the planet records its hottest days, weeks, and months on record this summer, we want to look at how we got here and what can be done to slow this down both on land and at sea. Heres abcs chief meteorologist and climate unit managing editor, ginger zee. Reporter this july, the Desert Southwest to the florida keys have seen scorching temperatures obliterating records with no end in sight. Earths hottest 20 days ever recorded by human instruments have all been measured this month. We knew this would be a hot year, but humaninduced Climate Change is also amplifying the warming of our planet and were seeing the consequences. Both for us were about 20 up in our heatrelated emergencies for this month and also for this year. Reporter but also in the oceans. Were seeing Ocean Temperatures far exceeding bleaching thresholds that we normally only see in august and september. Reporter floridas reef has taken a beating over the last four decades, losing more than 90 of its live cover due to pollution, hurricanes and consistently warming water. The team came out to monitor this site a few weeks ago, and the corals were looking pretty good, but our water temperatures at that time were 91 degrees. Reporter we joined the team at the florida aquarium to check on floridas coral reef. Here we go. Reporter within seconds, we saw it. Its all white. Its dead. That means within the last two weeks, bleached, gone. Reporter this will likely be the worst bleaching event that the florida keys has ever seen. Immediately when we went in, you saw white. Yeah. Big patches. As soon as i put my face in the water, my heart dropped into my stomach. Reporter while this reef might not recover this year, researchers across southern florida say theyll keep working to protect coral reefs into the future. This is where we test coral reef viable intervention strategies. Reporter but they cant do it alone. Can our bandaids like this fix forever . Bandaids cant fix it forever. We need to take action to stop the warming of our planet. Reporter that observation station behind me is one of so many that have been recording those unprecedented hot water temperatures, but the scientists that we were diving with say you dont even need that data. The coral is telling us the story. All of this, both the marine scientists, the meteorologists and climatologists say they have a heavy fingerprint of humanamplified Climate Change. Thats why reducing emissions is so important. The Biden Administration also feeling the pressure to make meaningful climate goals a reality both at home and abroad. Every step forward depends not on one country acting alone, but acting all together, helping to push the rest of the world to do what we need to do to win this battle. Reporter but the 2024 president ial election raising questions about how big a priority climate will continue to be on the national stage. The oceans will rise over the next three years by oneeighth of an inch. It creates more beachfront property actually. Thats the way you have to view it. Reporter climate scientists agree that politics aside, business as usual will be a disaster for the climate. For this week, ginger zee, abc news, from virginia key, florida. Martha and our thanks to ginger. Joining us now is palm springs, california mayor grace elena garner. Good morning, mayor. Its great to have you with us this morning. We know palm springs is used to these very hot temperatures, but nothing like this. Not so extended, day after day after day. We heard from zohreen, but i want you to tell us the human toll youve seen. What impact this has had on your city. You know, for lifelong residents like me, this isnt unusual, but what is unusual is that duration as you said, and what we see is that we have workers who are outside every day doing gardening, working on ac repair, and then of course, are unhoused, and those populations are really getting the brunt of this impact. If theyre not able to be inside during our hottest hours, it really impacts their health. We do see our firefighters tending to more heatrelated incidents. We have robust education in our community, but it still is really important for people to stay inside. Martha you said even last year that your citys electric grid is at risk for rolling blackouts. So what has been done to secure that, and what plans are in place if it goes out . We have three cooling centers that are open seven days a week and theyre open throughout the summer. Any time anyone would experience a blackout, they have a place to go, but were also in very close communication with the Electric Company in our area to make sure that were addressing these concerns. They were just at a Council Meeting a couple of weeks ago, and were having a power talk with the Electric Company and our residents on august 1st to make sure were upgrading the infrastructure as often as possible so we dont have blackouts at all. Martha and mayor, you mentioned the unhoused. You have about 400 people experiencing homelessness there in palm springs, but were told you only have about 30 overnight shelter beds. That certainly wont help. Correct. We have 400 people who are experiencing homelessness in some way, but not all of those people are living outside at this time. They might be living in friends homes or with family members, but what were working on is opening up a Navigation Center that would have 80 beds for transitional housing as well as another 50 shelter spaces, and were working as hard as we can to get that open very quickly, but we also make sure to partner with other shelters within the area and with the Riverside County to get people into housing as quickly as possible. Martha and phoenixs mayor has called on the federal government to call extreme heat situations a Natural Disaster and increase the resources from the federal government. What would you like to see happen with the federal government . Do you agree with her . We absolutely need more support. We are seeing the impacts of Climate Change, and, you know, as i said for me, this temperature is something that im used to. Im a lifelong resident. What im concerned about is the rest of the country, the rest of the world who is experiencing this extreme heat for the very first time. When your body isnt used to these high temperatures, it can go into a shock. So if we dont act now, if we dont make sure that were putting in the actions that we need to reduce the impacts of Climate Change, we are just going to see this get worse and worse. Martha and what do you think has to happen . What would you like to see happen nationally, locally . In the shortterm . In the shortterm, i would love to see us put more funding towards electric vehicles, towards walking and biking paths, toward more shade. Were doing that in palm springs. Were adding shade to our playgrounds and working on shaded paths, walking paths in our city. We want people to be able to be protected even when they are outside, and those are really quick shortterm solution, but we need more money for housing. If people are living outside because they have no place to go, thats a huge problem and we dont have enough money to build housing as rapidly as we need to, and theres a lot of roadblocks even when we do have the funds. So anything that we can do to make sure that people are having safe places to live is of vital importance. Martha thanks very much for joining us this morning, mayor. We appreciate it. Were joined now by Washington State governor jay inslee, a leading advocate for climate action. Governor, thanks for joining us. How much do you think Climate Change is to blame here . Well, look. The Climate Change problem, the fuse has been burning for decades, and now the Climate Change bomb has gone off. The scientists are telling us that this is the new age. This is the age of consequences because whatever we thought of Climate Change last year, we now understand that the beast is at the door. We knew this beast of Climate Change was coming for us, but now its pounding on the door and i think its interesting, the most sort of summary of this situation with the Scientific Community is telling us now, is that the earth is screaming at us, and that is the situation. I talked to a leading International Scientist the other day who told me that we knew this was going to happen to us, but its happening to us maybe two des we really thought could be in the realm of the possible. So we have to dramatically increase our efforts. That is necessary. Now the good news theres good news here. We can do this. Look. Were electrifying our transportation fleet. Were electrifying our homes. This is a solvable problem, but we need to stop using fossil fuels. That is the only solution to this massive assault on humanity. Martha what at this point, you know, we heard ginger zee talk about this. What are meaningful climate goals . In one year, in five years, in ten years that can be achieved . Well, we can take shortterm action. Look. Weve said were not going to be selling internal combustion cars after 2035. Were electrifying our ferries here in Washington State. We have a law that demands 100 clean energy in a couple of decades. I want to note that this is not just something for the federal government. States can act. Our state is acting. We have 23 states in the u. S. Climate alliance, and this is necessary. We have had tremendous action under president bidens leadership with the Inflation Reduction Act and unfortunately the republicans are trying to repeal that now, but we need to go further and faster and states can go further and faster, and we are doing that, and again, the good news is all around my state, i cant turn over a rock without seeing new Jobs Associated with clean aviation fuel, with new types of battery. Its very exciting whats going on right now in inventing a new economy, and were doing that right in Washington State and people are getting great jobs because of this. Theres two parts to the story. This thing is the age of consequences. The bomb has gone off, but we do have the ability to restrain fossil fuels if we make the commitments we need to, and im glad that im in a state thats doing that. Martha on that point, lets broaden the lens here. You heard john kerry, the climate czar say that every step forward depends not on one country acting alone, but acting all together helping to push together the rest of the world to do what we need to do to win this battle. That really isnt happening. Just look at china. Not yet. Martha but time is running out. The bomb is already here as you said. Exactly. Martha so what do you do . How do you bring others together . Its one thing what your state is doing, what the nation is trying to do, but this is a worldwide problem. You lead. You tell your kids to lead when you send them to summer camp. You say, lead. The United States should be, and is the leader in this effort, and people are coming along. We need to lead, and we need to lead not just from a moral standpoint, but from our selfinterest standpoint. We need to build these jobs here and build these economies here, these Battery Companies that are throughout the midwest. Were rebuilding the rust belt in the midwest United States into the silicon belt, and the belt of new innovation. So this is a selfinterest for us to take action, and were certainly committed to it, and again, if you want to be an economic leader, follow Washington State in what were doing. Were building the, you know, the largest fuel cell in the world, powering the largest truck in the world. Martha governor . You bet. Martha governor, you have just quickly if you can, you have candidates out there like donald trump who mock the idea of Climate Change, and there are a vast number of americans who ignore it, dont care about it, or dont believe it. How do you convince those people its time to care . Well, we cant wait for donald trump to figure this out. We dont have time to mess around to wait for this knucklehead to figure this out. We just have to make sure hes not in office, and the way we do this is vote against climate deniers, vote against people who refuse to assist this moral and economic crisis that we have. You cant wait for these folks. You just got to make sure theyre not in office where they can do damage. Let them go off and play golf. Well solve this problem. Its a solvable problem if we work together, and people are coming around to this very, very rapidly because their homes are burning down. Theyre choking on smoke from the canadian fires. When ron desantis wants to go swimming, he cant because the water is like a sauna, like a hot tub off his beaches. We have to make sure those folks are not in office. We dont have the luxury of allowing these people to destroy the planet. Martha okay. Thanks very much for joining us this morning, governor. We appreciate it. You bet. Martha coming up, all eyes are on the Korean Peninsula this weekend after the historic port call in south korea. We were there with an exclusive report. Plus, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael Mccaul joins us next. Affairs Committee Chair Michael Mccaul joins us next. Fisher Investments its easy to think that all Money Managers are pretty much the same, but at Fisher Investments were clearly different. other money manager different how . You sell High Commission investment products, right . Fisher Investments nope. Fisher avoids them. other money manager well, you must earn commissions on trades. 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Its presence meant to reassure allies and send a strong message of deterrence to north korea. They are the mos destructive warships in the world, and the u. S. Has more than a dozen in its arsenal, secretly, silently spanning the globe, but this week, a very public display of power. The uss kentucky docked in the southern port of busan, the First Nuclear armed submarine to enter south korean waters in four decades. The navy will not say officially that there are Nuclear Weapons on board this submarine, but make no mistake. I am standing on top of hundreds of Nuclear Warheads. The ships Commanding Officer takes us below deck where you can see the orange missile tubes lining the ship, 20 of them with Ballistic Missiles. Each of them armed with more than a dozen Nuclear Warheads. They conduct routine training as well as test launches like this one from the submarine to make certain they are always prepared. Whats it like . Its very sobering, you know. We do these training simulations all the time, but nothing can really replicate the feeling that happens when 100,000 pounds of the missile leaves the submarine. Reporter its the deterrence thats the focus of the submarines visit letting korea know what would happen if they launched a weapon. Rear admiral Chris Cavanaugh is commander of group seven. They deter that type of conflict. Martha are you worried about the possibility it could backfire . I am very confident in our own nuclear deterrence. Martha but this weeks show of force was complicated by an unexpected and disturbing incident. That american soldier, travis king, who bolted into north korea at the Demilitarized Zone that divides the north and south. He was then taken away in a van by north korean military. The army private had just been released after serving 47 days in a south korean jail on Assault Charges and was supposed to be on a flight back to the u. S. To face discharge from the army. While officials acknowledge attempts to establish communication with north korea remain unanswered, retired u. S. General Robert Abrams who led u. S. Forces in korea until 2021 says this could be a long process. Im fairly confident that north koreas going to take their times. Theyre going to consider every possible angle on how they will, you know, deal with this travis king problem that they have, that we have, and how they will proceed. Martha the Biden Administration saying kings wellbeing is a top concern, including says secretary blinken, the possibility he could be tortured. There are certainly concerns based on what weve seen in the past in the way that north koreas treated those its detained. Martha and joining us now is the chair of the House Foreign Affairs committee, Michael Mccaul. Good morning. Martha lets start with travis king. You heard secretary blinken saying there are concerns he could be tortured. Im sure hes been interrogated in some way already. What more do you know . He was facing disciplinary charges and was going to fly back to the United States, but instead he did not board the plane, went with a tour group to the dmz and ran across the line. You and i have been there. Thats something you just dont do, and now he was taken captive by north koreans, and im sure hes not being treated very well. I think it was a serious mistake on his part, and i hope we can get him back. Martha but getting him back, we all want him returned safely and unharmed, but as you said, he went over there on his own. He decided to cross the border. Thats got to complicate any sort of negotiations that might take place. Correct. I mean, the question is, is he defecting . I think it was more running from his problems. That was the wrong place to go, but we see this with russia, china, iran. When they take an american, particularly a soldier captive, they exact a price for that, and thats what i worry about. Martha and of course, this comes at a time as we were just saying as that Nuclear Ballistic submarine was in dock there in south korea which i saw. Is that a good idea . Why now . I think it is, and, you know, we were with, you know, admiral aquillino, and i think projecting strength right now is important for deterrence. As you note its the first time in four decades we have had this deployment of submarines, and i think its a projection of strength that we need right now to deter aggression. Were seeing a very aggressive not only north korea in the rockets they fired in the sea of japan, you know, but also the aggression we see from china. When i just came back from taiwan, they encircled the island with ten battleships and armada, to threaten and intimidate us, and then i was sanctioned just to illustrate owe aggressive their posture is now. Martha but the reaction already from the north koreans and weve seen this again and again, is to say, look. Now we can use Nuclear Weapons, and this was outrageous behavior, and were going to respond. So based on their reaction, just again, is deterrence going to work . North korea needs to know that were there, and we have superiority with the submarines and nuclear subs. We need to get in their head that if they do anything thats aggressive militarily, we will there will be consequences to that, and i think its not by accident. Its by design that youre seeing the Pacific Command deploy these nuclear subs now for the first time in 40 years because the tension has been provocative not by the United States, but rather by our adversaries. Martha you have followed this for years and years. I have followed this for years and years. It really does seem to the cycle just repeats itself. So many president s have trade to solve the problem of a nuclear north korea. They have been unable to do this. Is there another approach . Should the United States just say were going to accept that and join the Nuclear Nations because we keep doing this over and over and over . And it never seems to work, you know, youre right. Martha exactly. Are we going to work with kim jongun . Can we persuade him . He puts his own people at risk to build these Nuclear Weapons. They dont have the Nuclear Warheads to put on it. Martha theyre trying. Theyre trying. We have to stay ahead of the curve. China has a lot of influence, but china isnt our best friend right now. So its very complicated. Martha is there another approach . Can you imagine another approach besides exactly what were doing over and over . Very creative diplomacy, and i think the reason why youre seeing the Pacific Command fleet there is to deter and bottleneck up north korea in the event of a conflict with taiwan. We need to be able to have south korea to bottleneck up north korea and take them off the table while we have to deal with china and russia and iran. Martha and i want to switch to climate. You saw our first segment there, so much on climate. The scorching, scorching heat. Do you consider it a National Security threat, Climate Change . I think its happening, right . Its hot outside, and the climate is changing, and when you have africa for instance thats becoming more and more arid, things break out of those conditions. Kerry testified before my committee. My big objection is this. China should be held to the same standards. They are a developing nation under the u. N. Charter. Selfdesignated, and that enables them to they can defer compliance with the paris agreements until 2060 while we have to be carbonneutral by 2030. I said that to secretary kerry. My constituents agree with fairness. Martha the climate czar. This is not fair to treat them theyre the second largest economic superpower and the number one polluter on the planet. If were going to do this at all, martha, do it right and make them comply to our terms. Martha which we keep trying to do, i know. Thank you so much. Thank you. Martha up next, the third indictment looks imminent for former president donald trump. The round table weighs in after the break. Stay with us. Stay with us. Detect this living with hiv, i learned i can stay undetectable with fewer medicines. Thats why i switched to dovato. Dovato is a complete hiv treatment for some adults. No other complete hiv pill uses fewer medicines to help keep you undetectable than dovato. Detect this most hiv pills contain 3 or 4 medicines. Dovato is as effective with just 2. If you have hepatitis b, dont stop dovato without talking to your doctor. Dont take dovato if youre allergic to its ingredients or taking dofetilide. This can cause serious or lifethreatening side effects. If you have a rash or allergic reaction symptoms, stop dovato and get medical help right away. Serious or lifethreatening lactic acid buildup and liver problems can occur. 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Im not convinced that the president acting on the bad advice of a group of crank lawyers that came into the white house in the days before january 6th is actually criminal. I hope he doesnt get charged. I dont think it will be good for the country. I can only hold responsible the very people who threaten my life and the former president did not threaten my life. He sat in the white house for hours while the attack was going on in the capitol and did absolutely nothing. Martha Donald Trumps 2024 rivals reacting to the news he received a target letter from special counsel jack smith strongly indicating he will be indicted again. This time for efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Lets bring in our round table, Washington Post live anchor leigh ann caldwell, abc news political director rick klein, usa today editor in chief terence samuel, and politico director heidi pryzbyla. I want to start with you, heidi. Lets stay on this january 6th criminal investigations that special counsel sending the target letter to donald trump. This is coinciding with a lot of investigations coming to a head. Right, martha, and i did speak with a doj official recently who said that part of the goal here was to get ahead of some of those, to get ahead of the georgia charges and we should expect this to happen absolutely that the former president will be indicted within a week or two. We already know a little bit about this based on what the protesters and the rioters were charged with, with obstruction of justice or witness tampering. We know a little bit about what a previous judge has already said. Donald trump and his lawyer, john eastman were guilty of with conspiracy to defraud the american people, martha. The one thing to watch here for new information really is about how all of this was the culmination of a broader scheme that really started with the same team of in his words, crank lawyers, who filed the lawsuits, who then arranged for the fake electors and drawing this all back to the white house as well, martha. Ive spoken with people in michigan who said, those fake electors, that happened in multiple states and they were doing it at the direction of the trump campaign. So youre bringing this all back to washington as well. If you recall, there was actually a draft executive order to seize voting machines, and again, this all happened and was discussed in meetings with the former president. Martha and terence as heidi mentioned, the january 6th committee had recommended charges of conspiracy to defraud the government and obstruction of an official proceeding, but this target letter has a third that it talks about, and thats an old civil rights voter fraud . The target letter that we that we saw this week that would suggest clearly that the former president is about to be indicted is really a culmination, yes, but it seems in some ways very much an escalation of what has been happening to the president. Surely theres certainly theres been new york and certainly there was the previous indictment on the on the classified documents cases, but this feels different. This is its a federal case because its a federal case, and i think that what we see with the former president is that he has framed it, of course, as this political witch hunt and a political problem to solve, but i think the further we go, based on everything that we know about the case and kind of how the doj approaches this, hes going to be a criminal defendant while he is a candidate for president , and i think thats going to be a huge deal for him to deal with. Martha and leeann, do you feel like this ones different . That, you know, you had the and i think thats going to be a huge deal for him to deal with. Martha and leigh ann, do you feel like this ones different . That, you know, you had the classified documents case. You had these other cases theyre looking at. Does this feel weightier . Heidi, you said you might have new information they might have new information. Do you sense that as well . Were going to have to wait and see. In a normal world with regular people, yes, it would absolutely be different, but were talking about donald trump who has been able to defy any sort of thing that anyone with normal expectations. I was talking to a lot of republicans, and they are also holding their breath waiting to see. There are two things here. They think that on one hand its going to continue hes going to continue this victim moniker and thats what his supporters are going to continue to do. Its a twotiered system of justice, and hes just a victim, but on the other hand, some republicans are cautiously worried that perhaps january 6th is going to hit a little bit different more to the American Public and to voters. Martha do you agree with that, rick . It really does seem that donald trump tries to make it sound like, this again, this again, this again. This is a visceral moment that people have memories of. This is not about hush money to porn stars. This is not about classified documents. This is very easy to comprehend. By the same token, to leigh anns point, the rival campaigns are almost to the point of resignation around this. Theyre not expecting that this is the thing that brings him down. Ive talked to a number of campaigns that kind of have the same theory of the case, that Donald Trumps the frontrunner. Hes going to be the frontrunner all the way through. The question is who else can emerge . How else do you position because most of the republicans kind of like donald trump, and theyre inclined to believe what he says and his spin on this despite the fact were talking about multiple court dates, multiple investigations, multiple indictments that are happening on the political calendar. That might make him stronger, but who emerges as the rival . The frontrunner is set. Martha i want to get to the politics of that in just a minute, but heidi, i want to go back to you. These are very serious allegations hes facing. Is it possible he could end up in prison . What would that do to the country . These charges according to what i have read could include prison time just independent of talking about a former president , just talking about anyone, the type of charges that hes facing could include prison time. Now what were also learning here just by watching, martha, is what his strategy seems to be here which is not to win these overwhelming charges against him, not to have that eradicated in court, but to win reelection, and to win in the court of Public Opinion so that then he could potentially pardon himself or use other levers of government, and you see that with his lawyers pushing, pushing, pushing, to have all of this delayed. Theyre citing his poll numbers. Theyre not saying he didnt do these things. Theyre saying his poll numbers are going up, and again, martha, a couple of weeks ago Jeffrey Clark who is of course, one of the lawyers, one of the attorneys who is at the Justice Department advising President Trump at the time, drew up a memo and the title of it is the u. S. Justice department is not independent. That is an indication of what the plan is to then take control of parts of the Justice Department and have a lot of this eradicated. It is weightier. It is different. The case is going to be captioned the United States of america versus donald j. Trump. He is facing jail time, and, you know, federal indictments particularly at this level suggest that they have a really, really strong case to the extent that President Trump can frame this as a political argument. I think he wins on some level, but at some point during this process, he is a criminal defendant facing a lot of jail time, and a very onerous process to get either two trial or past trial, and its going to be hard to see how he manages the legal calendar and the political calendar without some kind of damaging consequences. Martha i want to talk about that legal calendar versus the Campaign Strategy, rick. Back to you. Lets take a look at that calendar. Youve got october 2023, civil fraud trial begins. In january, the e. Eacarroll defamation trial, the same time as the iowa president ial caucus, the tuesday primaries. That is a collision course to say the least, rick. Yeah, and look. The political strategy is the legal strategy, the legal strategy is the political strategy. Theyre all merging and theyre going to have to merge if donald trump is going to be successful, and look. Were going to see the first debate about a month from now. How do the other candidates frame this . The voters seem to be pretty consistent on this so far in backing him up. Does this look different . Is this just kind of trump fatigue that sets in for many voters . If you look at how other candidates are framing it, theyre not even saying theyre not seeing dereliction of duty or this was awful other than chris christie. Martha that was a long string of people not most of them are saying, all the noise, the distraction. Take a look at how nikki haley and ron desantis are framing this, we need a fresh start. We need to look forward because that is a lot of looking back. If you are out there having to show up in court and having to explain past actions and trying to explain what you are doing and why you behaved appropriately in your view, thats a lot of relitigating the past when the country wants to look forward. Martha hes embracing this as a Campaign Strategy as you said, the victim. When you look at that calendar hes going to have a very busy winter and spring to say the least, but he is. There was a story that my colleagues wrote in the Washington Post earlier this week that was really informative that one of his pacs raised 35 million in the last quarter, but half of it half of that money is going to his legal bills, and so this is part of intertwined with his Campaign Strategy. Is he though going to run out of money in order to campaign because he is too busy doing this other part, the legal strategy . The legal thing. Whats so interesting about this campaign is that you have this frontrunner who is sucking up all the air in the room, and you have all these challengers minus one or two who are unwilling to challenge the frontrunner. Thats what politics is all about, is trying to separate, draw contrasts and challenge other people, and you have an entire swath of candidates who arent willing to do that because he has such trump has such strong support among his voters. Martha and speaking of those others who are running, rick, desantis is trying to reboot. That hit a big snag. Hes trying to distance himself and go national instead of whats happening in florida, but this week, the states board of education implemented these new standards for teaching black history that suggests slaves benefitted from certain skills they developed as slaves. Vice president Kamala Harris went straight down there to talk about that. Lets listen. How is it that anyone could suggest that in the midst of these atrocities that there was any benefit to being subjected to this level of dehumanization . Martha harris did not mention desantis by name, but he pushed back saying he had nothing to do with this. Ask those involved, though he said the reality is all of that is rooted in whatever is factual and said her visit was ridiculous. Your reaction . Its incomprehensible how we could be having this conversation about the benefits of slavery. I understand the politics, but on some level, it is that the conversation itself is completely ridiculous, and we shouldnt be having it, but i think it goes to kind of the desantis strategy how he basically converts the his successes in florida to something national, and he is a culture warrior. Its worked for him. The question is can that work beyond florida on this particular thing . Its hard to imagine that this is the way he wants to go. Martha heidi, when you look at this with desantis, with the others . Look. The Desantis Campaign realizes that they need to make a change. Theyre reaching out to donors and telling donors, were going to have this pivot. Were going to stop talking about florida so much and more about what his agenda for the future is, you know, more earned media, et cetera, et cetera. Its hard to see how anyone else emerges. Desantis, christie, anyone at this point unless theres some huge, tectonic shift. Unless someone takes out trump in a debate, or more likely it will happen the other way around. Theres a chance that the gop nominee in 2024 could be a convicted felon. What does the gop do about that because thats going to happen most likely in between the end of the primary schedule, and before the convention. This is going to be one heck of a convention. Martha ive got seven seconds about here, rick. Is he going to debate donald trump . I think donald trump is not going to be able to avoid the spotlight. Its a big moment, and, you know, even if hes up 30 or 40 points, it might not be the smart political thing to do, i dont see him skipping the debate. Martha very good seven seconds. Coming up, rachel scott takes a look at why millions of americans could be at risk of getting kicked off medicaid. Well be right back. Of americans could be at risk of getting kicked off medicaid. Well be right back. My a1c was up here; now, its down with rybelsus®. His a1c . Its down with rybelsus®. My doctor told me rybelsus® lowered a1c better than a leading branded pill and that people taking rybelsus® lost more weight. I got to my a1c goal and lost some weight too. Rybelsus® isnt for people with type 1 diabetes. Dont take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. 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Past the pain, and past your limits. No matter what, we go on. Biofreeze ambience of room, crickets, scrolling content on phone theyre off from school, but not really home. Images and videos. Social media, finetuned to suck them in. And steal them away. Alone you cant stop it. Together we will. Join us. deliciously flavored at the turn of a dial, with zero sugar and zero calories. And cirkul has over 40 flavors, so your water can be as unique as you are. Try cirkul, available now at walmart. Martha when the covid19 pan democrat pandemic hit, congress blocked states from kicking people off medicaid, who provides care to people who are disabled or have little to no income. Now that the Public Health emergency has been declared over, states can once again deny care to those making too much money to qualify, moving to different states, or receiving health care from their employer, but millions of americans have been kicked off by mistake as abcs senior Congressional Correspondent rachel scott reports in the latest installment of through the cracks. Reporter for 5yearold penelope, appointments like these have become all too familiar. Shes had more visits to the hospital than birthdays. Her mother jillian by her side every step of the way. She was diagnosed with a rare metabolic disorder that can cause Lifelong Health complications. I would spend every dollar if i had to make sure she was okay, you know, because shes just shes just such a fighter. Reporter for this florida family, medicaid is their lifeline, reducing the costs of penelopes medications. Im so grateful for medicaid because of we couldnt do it. We couldnt do it. It would be impossible. Reporter jillian and her husband say her daughter had unexpectedly lost her coverage. What was going through your mind . I was crying all day. Its so overwhelming and defeating. Im her caretaker and i felt like a bad mom. Do you know why penelope was kicked off of her coverage . I dont. I didnt even know she was dropped. Reporter the process started up again in april with at least 33 states in the district of columbia starting disenrollments. Since then, at least 3 million americans have lost coverage. Daniel oversees the program in washington for medicare and medicaid services. 7 Million People who were eligible to receive medicaid could still actually lose their coverage. Why is that happening . We know and have estimated that roughly half of that 15 million will be people that are still eligible, and lose coverage not because their income has changed, but because of red tape of not getting a piece of paper in the mail or knowing that they were up for renewal and needing to submit and return a form to the state. Reporter experts are concerned that potentially thousands, including children, are slipping through the cracks. This is a really heavy lift. We see mistakes are made, families dont get the letter. They dont understand the letter. They have a hard time getting help. Reporter floridas department of children and families says it has developed a robust outreach campaign, including up to 13 direct contact attempts to recipients who do not submit a timely application. While the state declined to comment on penelopes case, a spokesperson says everyone receives a final notice informing them the reason for termination. After several weeks of calls and working with an advocacy group, they were finally able to get their daughter penelope back on medicaid at least until the end of the review process. Is that temporary relief . Do you feel she could lose her coverage in a year . You are waiting for the other shoe to drop. I dont trust trust it because this can happen. It can happen again. Martha thanks to rachel scott. Well be right back. Again. Martha thanks to rachel scott. Well be right back. Martha thats all for us today. Thanks for sharing part of your sunday with us. Check out world news tonight and have a great day. Haring parr sunday with us. Check out world news tonight and have a great day. Up next, a last shot at saving anchor brewing. How employees of the fading brewery are trying to keep the company alive. Plus, a cooling trend begins today. Inland cities will still was, a cooling trend begins today. Really from the dribble digits. Abc 7 mornings