just entered a not guilty plea in the georgia election interference case. we are following a busy day of new legal filings and awaiting a critical ruling that could come at any time. also tonight, one of the longest prison sentences yet connected to the january 6 riot. a proud boy who led members of that far right group to the capitol was just ordered to serve 18 years. and we re tracking a huge manhunt for a convicted murderer on the loose after escaping from a pennsylvania prison. authorities now warning he is extremely dangerous and likely heading toward mexico right now. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. wolf blitzer is off today. i mal i m alex marquardt and you re in the situation room. first this hour, rudy giuliani is now the most prominent trump co-defendant to enter a not guilty plea in georgia. besides the former president himself. let s get straight to jessica schneider. so jess, we have seen a series of new not g
leader mitch mcconnell while he was answering questions from reporters. how his team is responding to growing concerns about the republican s health, including from some leading republicans. also ahead, rudy giuliani s lies about the 2020 election are catching up with him legally and financially. we ll explain yesterday s ruling by a judge. meanwhile, two of donald trump s co-defendants in the georgia election interference case now are requesting separate trials. we ll have the latest on a possible timeline in that case. good morning. welcome to morning joe. it is thursday, august 31st. i m willie geist. with us this morning, the host of way too early, white house bureau chief at politico, jonathan lemire. we do begin again this morning with tropical storm now idalia. it weakened overnight but still making its way through the carolinas, dropping massive amounts of rain, flooding streets, causing widespread power outages. charleston, south carolina, recorded its fi
this is what that actually looks like or looked like in keaton beach, florida. and gabe showed us the aftermath there. some boats are being sent in to check for survivors. the water thankfully seems to be receding here after all of the storm surge. but i just wanted to show you the national guard here. with response to your question where we could see the wind, we saw a lot of tree damage. a lot of tree damage. downed power lines. you can kind of tell where the worst of it was. as it blows through. and in some places it looks like a tornado came through. it is remarkable when you see the intensity of this storm. the power of a hurricane as it comes on shore. that is our colleague gabe gutierrez. he spent his morning in perry, florida, about a half an hour north. where roaring winds blow over this gas station awning before knocking out a billboard right where gabe was doing some of his reporting. a few minutes later, gusts nearly lifted him and his crew and their equipment
the events leading up to january 6th are complex and require years of preparation, and they were saying that about one federal coup case . trump faces two related coup cases in these jurisdictions of course, and two other additional cases. two other trials. now, this is a fact that also came up in court. so many pending criminal trials that these judges are not independently discussing scheduling a cascade of trials. so, this was in that federal courtroom as special counsel smith looked on, the federal judge said she already had conferred with the new york judge saying, quote, i realize that mr. trump s criminal case in new york is scheduled for trial on march 25th. i did speak briefly with judge merchan, the new york judge that is, to let him know i was considering a date that would overlap with his trial. the judge said march 4th, before the new york trial. you can see what s coming down with the trials, the primary calendar. there are many, many things facing this candida
which is good, because we ve got a lot of news. it is. and we like news. and we ll start with district attorney fannie willis who is set to lay out the details of her case against president trump. it s part of his former chief of staff mark meadows ed by to get his own case move to federal court. at the same time, trump s legal team will appear in washington, d.c. as part of his federal election interference case. the judge could set a trial date for that case as soon as today. well, that as the justice department is now investigating a deadly shooting in jacksonville, florida, over the weekend, as a hate crime. the sheriff there says a white gunman targeted and killed three black people at a store after first going to a predominantly black university and being turned away. that sheriff will join us live just ahead. this hour of cnn this morning starts right now. and we are just two hours away from two crucial court hearings, involving two of the four cases against