proceedings. it will also be live streamed on the court s you tube channel, and it s not just the trial. next week s arraignment is not viewable to the public, donald trump plus nine codefendants and counting have already waived their appearances for next wednesday and pleaded not guilty, so when could the public actually see them? and does the judge s ruling on camera still apply if some defendants manage to get their cases transferred to federal court? mark meadows still has not gotten an answer from the judge overseeing his attempt to toss the charges from state court. right now, he has yet to enter a plea or waive his arraignment. now, in the meantime, some of those hoping for a speedier trial are now trying to separate themselves from each other. why kenneth chesebro filed his second severance motion of the week. lots to get to. we re going to start with the reporting. joining me from the fulton county courthouse is nbc news correspondent, blayne alexander, and former fe
now, and it could be upgraded to an extremely dangerous category 4 storm. residents now bracing for strong winds and a life threatening storm surge. officials are warning folks to get out, stressing that the high waters could prove deadly. we have team coverage at this hour. meteorologist angie lassman is tracking the storm s path plus live reports from tampa and gainesville where evacuations are underway. plus, special counsel jack smith s team is looking into rudy giuliani s drinking. we ll explain how that issue could play a role in one of donald trump s key legal defenses. plus a new fund-raising goal for the former president. a very specific number he wants to earn by the end of the month that looks eerily familiar. good morning and welcome to way too early on this wednesday, august 30th. i m jonathan lemire. thanks for starting your day with us. and we, of course, begin rng this morning with hurricane idalia which is now a category 4 storm and is forecasted to make
be stronger gusts and it s expected to intensify to a potentially category 3 hurricane before making land fall in florida tomorrow, where millions are already under hurricane and storm surge warnings. right now, western cuba is feeling the brunt of the storm. then the track, idalia in florida s big bend. but, this is a very important reminder a small shift in the track could put that population center more at risk. sara arrived in florida a few hours ago. some parts of florida will see and feel the impact soon. what are you seeing on the ground now? reporter: look, like every other hurricane, it is calm before the storm, but this is when people are being told to evacuate in ten counties. and preparations are under way as idalia, who started out as a tropical storm and is now a hurricane, it is expected to grow and grow and grow to a major hurricane, a category 3 hurricane. right now listen to what people are doing as they try to get out of the way of a high storm surge and
intensify into a major hurricane. it s 10:00 a.m. eastern. i m lindsey reiser in new york in for ana cabrera. it s going to be a busy hour with not just one, but two court hearings getting under way in legal cases against former president trump. in atlanta we re watching the first major hearing in the elections interference case brought by d.a. fani willis. mark meadows, one of the co-defendants, is trying to get his case moved to federal court. willis has called on multiple witnesses to testify in this morning s hearing including georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger who we know was on the line for that infamous phone call in which former president donald trump wanted to find around 11,000 votes. in washington lawyers have arrived for the federal case into trump s election interference case. prosecutors want to get started in january. trump s team wants it to begin in april, april of 2026. joining us right now is nbc s justice correspondent ken dilanian, blayne a
we ll have much more on the heartbreaking deadly attack in just a moment. also ahead, the mugshot that s worth millions of dollars. we ll have the latest from the trump fund-raising campaign. and the latest out of the suspected death of a meshsnary group leader who was once a close ally to vladimir putin. good morning and welcome to way too early on this monday, august 28th. i m jonathan lemire. nice to be back. thanks to you for starting your day and week with us. we begin this morning with a shooting in jacksonville, florida, where three people were killed and what police are calling a racially motivated attack. on saturday, a shoppers and an employee were shot at a dollar general store near a historically black college. all victims were black. authorities say the 21-year-old gunman who was white died of a self-inflicted gun schott wound there at the scene. they described him as a, quote, maniac who wanted to kill black people. they say they found more than 20 pages