attorne attorney general merrick garland announcing he will give david weiss special counsel status to investigate the president s son. hello and welcome everyone, i m sandra smith. gillian, great to have you back. gillian: this is america reports. garland says weiss told him he wanted to be given special counsel status to continue his probe into hunter biden. this after insisting for months that step was not necessary. sandra: the timing of this announcement is certainly being highlighted at this hour, and raising big questions about how the probe will intersect with a separate congressional investigation. and a draft plea deal between hunter s attorneys and weiss that s currently being reworked. gillian: lindsey graham as well as house ways and means committee chair jason smith are both here to react. sandra: mark meredith, live at the justice department at this hour for us. why did the attorney yes decide to do this and decide to do this now, mark? sandra, good
family. we ve been waiting for these for a while. they show how those who contributed to hunter s ventures were seemingly reward evidence with access to his father. bill: it all flies in the face of what the president and his staff have been saying on repeat. have you ever spoken to your son about his overseas business dealings? president biden: i ve never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings. do they stand behind the comment he has never been involved or spoken to his son about his business? i ve been asked this question a million times. the answer won t change. the answer remains the same. the president was never in business with his son. dana: chad pergram is live on capitol hill. she has been asked that question a lot. her answer did change slightly and we have noticed that. what did you find out this morning from the new records? good morning. the question is what was hunter biden doing to earn access to this money? republicans on the house
morning with breaking news, victor blackwell by my side. just a ton happening overnight. let s get to five things to know this thursday. 36 people arencome confirmed dead in hawaii. black hawk helicopters have been deployed. and new reporting on supreme court justice clarence thomas, his luxurious lifestyle and who was funding it. propublica reports that rich benefactors funded the bill. and presidential candidate in w in ecuador was assassinated and the video is disturbing. anti-corruption candidate was killed just ten days before the election. new video of a deadly fbi raid, a man killed after making threats against president biden and other elected officials. and new information in the atlanta area investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. sources tell cnn that the prosecutor fani willis is seeking more than a dozen indictments as former president trump releases a new ad attacking her. cnn this morning starts right now. good morning, it is 7:00
investigation of hunter biden, a special counsel has been announced, signaling that a trial is now likely to fall into legal and political implications. plus blunt words from a judge to donald trump s legal team, reminding the former president he can t intimidate witnesses and warning more inflammatory statements lieutenants require a quicker start to a trial. in hawaii, at least 55 killed, thousands displaced, as fires devastate maui. one official says the historic town of lahaina is all gone. this hour, a look at what some has lost to the hawaiians, and what they need most. all of this is coming in right to cnn news central. it is happening again. another high-profile special counsel has now been appointed, this time it s in the hunter biden investigation. today attorney garland announced he elevated david weiss to special counsel status. he s been leading the years-long investigation, and he recently requested he be given special counsel designation. the reaction i
deadline in the 2020 election interference case. he s got until 5:00 p.m. this afternoon to respond to special counsel jack smith s request for a protective order. smith is trying to block trump from disclosing evidence and making public comments that could intimidate witnesses or undermine the case. smith asked the judge to step in after trump issued a vague threat on social media on friday. he wrote in all caps, quote f you go after me, i m coming after you. this morning, we re also keeping a close watch on fulton county, georgia, where trump is facing another potential indictment for trying to overturn the election. the streets around the courthouse are being shut down as the grand jury considers charges. trump s lawyer went on a media blitz and appeared on all five networks sunday morning. he floated a new defense for trump, alleged will pressuring mike pence and georgia officials to overturn the election results. you re saying that asking is action. no, asking is asp