sandbags, school closures and a race to get out of its way. hurricane idalia proms millions to prepare for a life-the threatening storm surge that s hours from the florida coast. plus, doing his job or aiding and abetting a scheme. mark meadows spends three hours on stand trying to show his actions were just normal chief of staff things and not part of a conspiracy to subvert the 2020 election. and a campaign claush over foreign policy turns ugly. vivek ramaswamy calls nikki haley a liar. some see it as a dog whistle. i m dana bash. let s go behind the headlines and inside politics. up first, florida eyes a monster. a major hurricane is swirling off the shoreses. forecasters warn that hurricane idalia could be a once in a lifetime storm that will gain strength as it barrels towards the panhandle. already officials have ordered evacuates across much of the gulf coast. they told residents to expect widespread power outages for days and they warn storm surges as tall as
will get to threats. hurricane idalia is strengthening. 80-mile-an-hour winds with this particular storm, and then looking briefly at the satellite composure, and this thing is becoming more organized as the minutes wear on, and it is a concern, because it is tapping into the warm ocean waters there. is the forecast track from the national hurricane center strengthening to the category 2 by 2:00 p.m. today, and then to category 3 which is the consistent message before landfall with the rapid strengthening and intensification. i wanted to show you this, because we have been showing you how warm the waters have been in the gulf of mexico, because they are running from 2 to upwards to 4 degrees fahrenheit to where they should be above where that he were. this is beyond bathtub water, and more like hot tub water. this is what we are anticipating with the storm making major impacts across the florida big bend region, and you not rul e out areas near here. i will show you near this
storm. idalia was packing 125 mile per hour winds as florida s vulnerable big bend coast took a direct hit, we are now seeing catastrophic storm surge and flooding, conditions have been called apocalyptic and are life-threatening. major bridges in tampa are closing as they get lashed with waves. and this, this is what winds of 125 miles per hour look like. you can see the gusts driving the rain and at one point sending debris flying across this parking lot. this is happening in perry, florida. water still rising with storm surges up to 16 feet possible in some areas. just about one hour ago white caps were starting to hit the front yard of this orange home in steinhatchee, water nearing the roofline. the images are simply unprecedented. this is historic because idalia is now the strongest storm to make landfall in the big bend region in 125 years. we want to take you to the region now. cnn news central anchors john berman and sara sidner are kicking off our live team co
special prosecutor jack smith s investigators asked gradually witnesses in washington d. c. how drunk rudolph giuliani was when he was advising donald trump? it is a crucial, legal question for the trump defense team who have already said they intend to use and advice of counsel defense blaming everything donald trump did on the advice he got from lawyers including the one who, to me, looked and sounded drunk every time he spoke publicly about the presidential election in 2020, and on january 6th. we will discuss the finer legal points of drunk legal advice later in this hour, after we begin with a sober assessment of the breaking legal news of the day in georgia. at 2 pm today, federal judge steve c. jones issued an order to both sides of the case after hearing a full day of testimony yesterday, and defended mark meadows motion to move his criminal trial from fulton county courthouse, in georgia, to the federal district court, in georgia. judge jones ordered fulton county di
fight night. no donald trump, but plenty of fireworks at the first republican debate? i m the only person on the stage who isn t bought and paid for. now is not the time for on the job training. we don t need to bring in a rookie. with the front-runner s legal peril, vivek ramaswamy is here. plus, burning down the house. with president biden s poll number numbers stagnant, his one-time competitor heads with a warning. i ll speak to senator bernie sanders in moments. still dreaming, 60 years later martin luther king s jr. s vision for america is still very much a work in progress. let s not give up. let s not give in. dr. king s son and family join me to discuss what still needs to be done to make his dream a reality. hello. i m dana bash in washington where the state of our union is waking up to tragedy again. authorities say three black americans and the white shooter are dead after a racially motivated attack in jacksonville, florida. the fbi is investigatin