s is it is saturday. i hope you are just waking up and starting your morning off calmly and slowly. the death toll in hawaii rises to at least 80 people after a devastating wildfire. and as a grim reality sets in for survivors, some are question ing the state s response before and how much was done to warn residents to get out. plus hunter biden s legal troubles heat up. the justice department elevates the u.s. attorney investigating his case to special counsel after plea talks fall apart. republican presidential candidates descend on iowa. today all eyes will be on the ah state fair as donald trump and ron desantis go head to head. we ll have the latest as the candidates make their pitch to voters ahead of the crucial and critical iowa caucuses and the first presidential debate. and get ready for an out of this world show in the sky as a meteor shower is about to rain down. we ll tell you when to look up. good morning, everyone. good to see you. good to be here.
we are awaiting any new developments to come out of delaware where moments ago the president s son, hunter biden told a federal judge that he intends to plead guilty to tax charges. what we are told will happen next. new this morning rudy giuliani concedes he made statements about election workers that were not true when he falsely accused them of committing fraud in 2020. plus terrifying moments in new york. look at this, as a crane collapses and then crashes into a building before falling on to the sidewalk below. several people were hurt. i m rahel solomon with john berman. a new hour of cnn news central starts right now. all right. we are getting new information from inside the federal courthouse in wilmington delaware where huntered bien and his team along with federal prosecutors are before a federal judge working out this plea agreement. where hunter biden has agreed to plead guilty to two federal misdemeanor tax charges and there s also a deal to re
bergdahl is thrown out, the just citing scathing comments about bergdahl made by donald trump. and a terrifying scene right outside our office window, a huge crane collapse set off by a five-alarm fire. look at that. this happened just a short time ago. we have new developments coming in, including on how many injuries or whether anyone was hurt. sara and kate are off today, i m john berman with rahel solomon. this is cnn news central. well, happening next hour, hunter biden will be in federal court in delaware. he is expected to plead guilty to two misdemeanors for not paying taxes on time. pit roaden s son also struck a deal with federal prosecutors to resolve a felony gun charge. the plea agreement is a major step toward the conclusion of the justice department s investigation into hunter biden s finances. a probe that began in 2018. now, over the course of the probe investigators examined allegations of money laundering, foreign lobbying and other potential charge
and harris faulkner. also joining us, fox weather meteorologist amy freeze, and retired nypd inspector paul moreau. closed door testimony released yesterday, two irs whistle-blowers say officials at the justice department, fbi, and irs interfered with the tax fraud investigation against hunter biden. the whistle-blower said that the decisions in the case seemed to be, quote, influenced by politics. the shocking testimony also included a laundry list of tips, leaks and possible coverups that prevented hunter from facing more serious charges, along with evidence indicating that president biden was involved in his son s foreign business dealings. white house correspondent jackie hien rick has more details. the white house hasn t responded to the whistle-blower s allegation about a 2017 whatsapp message allegedly sent by hunter biden that would directly challenge president biden s continued statement that he s never spoken to his son about his overseas business dealings, but we
i m harris faulkner. jason smith sum it s up this way. delays, republicans reacted to the white house dinner. these whistle-blowers brought to light that in biden s federal government, all americans are not treated equally. in this united states we have a tier of justice for the biden family and for those they like, and we have a tier of justice for everybody else. you don t have to be a conspiracy theorist to see the two-tier level of justice that is protecting the politically connected. the doj with a sweet heart deal said they were keeping the investigation open and ongoing. we ll get to more of that in a moment. the transcript from the whistle-blower claims that president biden did not know and was not involved. if the president did not tell truth, it is on tape a lot. i have never spoken to my son about his overseas business. i don t know what he was doing. i did not know he was on the board of that company. i have never discussed my business, their business, m