in the blast. we begin with the extreme weather threat across the central and southwestern u.s. more than 12 million people under flood watches, heavy rains pummeled phoenix, leaving streets and walkways flooded. meanwhile, a storm warning has been lifted for far southern texas, but rain from that system could spread into oklahoma and louisiana through midweek. so let s talk more about this with cnn meteorologist derek van dam. so much going on. what is catching your eye right now? well, some of the new flood watches that have been issued by the national weather service encompass some large metropolitans across north-central texas including dallas, fort worth, 12 million americans under flood watches as we speak. lots going on here. we re trying to get to all of it. i want you to see what s kind of the broader scope of what s happening. there s this low pressure system that s part of the monsoon that s brought the heavier rain and flooding you saw a moment ago across phoe
20 dead. security forces are still trying to take control of the situation at this hour. also tonight, new data on long term covid and the increased risk of brain disorders. dr. leana wen is here to discuss. and actor gary busey in trouble with the law again. you re in the cnn newsroom. it is 2:00 a.m. in the capital of somalia and a terrorist attack is still playing out, more than 24 hours later. [ screaming ] harrowing images. at least 20 people are confirmed dead in the attack on the upscale hotel. dozens more injured. and an unknown number of people are being held hostage. [ sound of gunfire ] the al qaeda linked terrorist group al shabaab is claiming responsibility for the siege. cnn has not been able to verify that claim. police say the attackers and their hostages are now trapped in the middle two floors of the hotel. and they warn the death toll is likely to rise. a short time ago, this statement from the u.s. embassy there. the united states strongly condemns t
he embraced the called and said it was perfect. that is where we landed of unprecedented revelations since the fbi agents executed a lawful search warrant at mar-a-lago and came away with 11 celsets of documents the former president was not allowed to have. rudy giuliani has made the perfect phone call excuse. now they want to make him responsible for having taken classified documents and preserved them. really if you look at the espionage act, it s not really about taking the documents, it s about destroying them or hiding them or giving them to the enemy. right. it s not about taking them and putting them in a places that roughly as safe as they were in in the first place. taking classified documented, some marked classified sci is as unsafe as keeping them in the national a rrchives and west wi. the espionage act actually does refer specifically to willfully retaining documents and failing to deliver them on demand to the federal employee or officer entitled to rec
attorney rudy giuliani has made the perfect phone call excuse. now they want to make him responsible for having taken classified documents and preserved them. really if you look at the espionage act, it s not really about taking the documents, it s about destroying them or hiding them or giving them to the enemy. right. it s not about taking them and putting them in a places that roughly as safe as they were in in the first place. taking classified documented, some marked classified sci is as unsafe as keeping them in the national archives and west wing. the espionage act actually does refer specifically to willfully retaining documents and failing to deliver them on demand to the federal employee or officer entitled to receive them. as we said, this perfect phone call excuse has come after an evolution of excuses made by the former president s supporters for having the files stashed at a country club. here s his youngest song the evening after the search. my father
closed captioning brought to you by feel away optimum, enhanced calming for cats. bad news for lindsey graham and his attempts to dodge a subpoena to appear before the fulton county special grand jury. the one investigating republican efforts to overturn the election results in georgia. a federal judge refusing to put a hold on her ruling at the senator has got to appear. we are getting new information about concerns from inside the biden white house and the intelligence community about classified information taken to mar-a-lago. legal analyst and former federal prosecutor elliot williams, visiting professor of american law university, the author of how to think like a lawyer. and joining us, palm beach county state attorney dave ehrenberg. nice to see you here, we ve got a law firm spread happening right now. who are we billing for this hour? we don t know, but look, it s just a week ago today that we learned from the court that trump was keeping top-secret, highly clas