publicly. so what does this mean for the minority leader s future? and idalia s destruction. we re going to take you to some of the hardest hit areas in florida as we check in with a woman who told us on tuesday she was not going to evacuate. so what happened? let s go out front. good evening, thanks for joining us. i m erica hill in for erin burnett. out front tonight, not guilty. former president trump entering that plea in georgia today for all 13 counts he s facing there and opting not to appear in court for his arraignment. this marks a shift for trump. for almost five months now he has seized on previous court appearances and last week s arist in atlanta to galvanize supporters and of course raise money. tonight we re learning the judge in georgia will allow all arraignments next week to be shown live on camera. and that s a big deal because keep in mind trump s federal cases in florida and d.c., they don t allow cameras. so could that have been a factor in his deci
poppy is off this week. sara sidner is with us after a brief tour in florida to cover the hurricane yesterday. we are going to be covering that again today. neighborhoods have been changed forever by hurricane idalia. it is now a tropical storm off the carolina shores. but officials are already assessing the damage in florida and georgia. we will be talking with fema administrator about the latest on the ground in a moment. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell freezes up in front of reporters again. it is the second time in disturbing scene played out this summer. new reporting now about what mcconnell s been doing behind the scenes. and the department of health and human services is recommending that the d.e.a. significantly ease restrictions on marijuana. it is currently a schedule 1 drug the same as lsd and heroin. it wouldn t legalize marijuana federally, could it be a step in that direction? we will explore. this hour of cnn this morning starts right now. we ar
claiming that they tampered with ballots in 2020 after he refused to turn over required documents in the defamation case by the workers. the mother and daughter saying this confirms there was never any truth to giuliani s claims. he will face a trial to determine how much he will pay them in damages. he will talk to an attorney representing the women. first responders assessing the destruction in northern florida. most roads are cleared. some schools reopened today. senate republican leader mitch mcconnell appears to freeze for the second time in a month, this time more than 30 seconds before aides stepped in. a spokesperson later saying he felt light-headed. i will be joined by gina raimondo from china. good day. i m andrea mitchell in washington. we have breaking news this hour as donald trump entered that not guilty plea to the 13 charges in the georgia election interference indictment. the former president also voluntarily waiving his right to show up for his arra
everything happens that way. it s how everybody was buying power utilizes they re buying power so there s a little bit of sense coming into this conversation, thank you for your coverage of this. thank, you. elie thanks to at-home for joining us tonight. it is official, donald trump s legal battles and republican parties primary or on a collision course, headed for impact. take a look at the counter. the first nominating contests, the iowa caucus, is currently scheduled to take place on january the 15th. the same day donald trump is scheduled to be in court for his second civil defamation trial. versus author, e. jean carroll. the first one didn t go so well. if you recall. on march 4th, trump is due back in court for the start of his criminal trial over alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election. the very next, day march, fifth super tuesday, 15 states are gonna hold their primaries and caucuses for the republican nomination, which means, the majority of the delega
we are in tallahassee. derek van dam is in tampa. bill weir is in steinhatchee where landfall happened 20 miles away. that storm has been picking up there. the effects have been rapidly intensifying there as well. we will get to everybody throughout the course of the hour. i want to start, sara, with you. looking at your live shots throughout the course of this morning, talking to you, the intensity, the up and down, bands as they have gone through, it s something to see. we experienced landfall about 15 minutes ago? reporter: yeah, we have vacillated from beautiful to terrible. beautiful to terrible. back and forth. that s just the way hurricanes work. but this is a very dangerous storm no matter how beautiful it is where you are on the west coast of florida. it has made landfall in the most dangerous position for people in that area, the big bend area. they need to shelter in place according to authorities. they need not to try to evacuate if they haven t at this point in