Transcripts For CNNW Erin 20240704

Out front next, trumps legal team just hours away from facing the judge in the January 6th Case in court for the first time. This is the special counsel jack smith wants to start trumps trial january 2nd. And the death toll rising in maui as Search And Rescue operations are frantically underway. Im going to speak to a woman who narrowly escaped a wall of flames. Her incredible story. Plus, all the republican president ial candidates heading to iowa, our john king just returned from there. Were talking to voters, and he will be at the magic wall tonight. For us, lets go out front. And good evening, im erin burnett. Outfacetoface, trumps team set to meet judge Tanya Chutkan. Chutkan is the judge overseeing the January 6th Case, and their meeting comes as the clock is ticking. Trump now on notice to reply to jack smiths formal request for the trial January 6th Case to begin,anuary 2nd, 2024. That would put the doj case to hold trump to account for trying to overturn the elec ahead of all but one case that trump currently faces. Only the civil case in new york alleging fraud is scheduled to start sooner. It is a bold move by the doj, and trump personally tonight responding moments ago referring again to, que, deranged jack smith adding only an out of Touch Lunatic would ask for such a date one day into the new year. Trump added the trial should only happen, if at all, all caps, after the election. It was part of a Vektive Trump lobbied today referring to fake indictments saying prosecutors are trying to rig and steal another election. Trumps lawyers no doubt dont want their client posting his usual screed of venomous accusations, they will almost certainly file a request for a later trial date after the election. Thats what they did in the maralago case where team trump, again, appeared to be dragging their feet. In florida trumps codefendants in the maralago case, walt nauta and Carlos De Oliveira appeared in court. Nauta pleading not guilty, de oliveira hasnt gotten a floridabased lawyer. The wheel s of justice are turning. In michigan tonight, all of the 16 people charged in the fake elecr scheme have now pleaded not guilty. They eh face eight Felony Charges including multiple counts of forgery, which are each punishable by 14 years in prison in michigan. And in atlanta, the courthouse tonight under tight security with blocked off streets as all eyes remain on District Attorney fani willis, bho is expected to issue more than a dozen indictments there including another set of criminal charges for the former President Trump. Lets start with Katelyn Polantz tonight in washington with all these developments. Prosecutors have come out and they filed, they want a january 2nd start date for trumps election interference case, as early as obviously the first day of the new year you could have a case begin. Trump railing against that on social media. When do you expect his attorneys, though, to officially respond . Theyre going to have to by next thursday, so one week from today, trumps lawyers will come into court and theyll lay out the schedule that they want. As you said, quite plausibly, they would be asking for after t election. Whether the judge would want to do that, that seems pretty unlikely. This judge has indicated she wants to move things along in this case. What the prosecutors are asking for here, its not just a january 2nd start date of the trial itself, they actually want Jury Selection to begin just four months from now in december before the holidays, so a jury can be seated and then the trial can kick off right after the new year. So thats a pretty aggressive time line, and the prosecutors say they want that because its of public importance that this deserves a prompt resolution. Hes running for president , and this is about a former president conspiring to overturn the legitimate results of the president ial election. Trumps team, they have their own arguments that theyll make, things about president ial immunity, first amendment, those will come later. Tomorrow there is a hearing in this case, erin. Its not going to be about this. Thats going to have to wait for the next hearing very likely. What tomorrow is going to be about whenever these parties do go before judge Tanya Chutkan in d. C. For the very first time, its going to be about evidence handling, how much donald trump can speak publicly about what hes learning that the Justice Department has in their evidence before trial. Were also watching to see how the drudge responds, not just to the legal arguments theyre making and what terms she sets there on the edge, but also if she responds to any of these social media posts trump has been making that are quite aggressive about both her and the Justice Department prosecutors and others in this case, mike pence, and also if she might be commenting on how many Tv Appearances that his lawyer has made, john lauro, hes been on tv multiple times, and the prosecutors have raised that as well. Thank you very much. Lets go now to ryan goodman, former special counsel at the department of defense, jocelyn benson, the democratic michigan Secretary Of State, she was interviewed by prosecutors in the federal election probe as well. And also with us, george conway, the conservative lawyer. So thanks very much to all of you. Ryan, youre with me. January 2nd, is that just sort of a Starting Point on the negotiation . I think its a Starting Point, and that the judge will probably accommodate the defendant in this case in terms of trying to set a time thats probably a bit later. It does look like President Trump is his lawyers will ask for it to be after the election. Certainly he asked tonight, not formally, but he put it out there. Thats what they did in florida, they said the same thing, so you would assume theyd say the same thing here. Maybe it gets pushed back a month or two but it seems that it will start at the beginning of the year. Secretary benson, you were interviewed by federal prosecutors in this case. Theres actually a whole section in the indictment about trumps attempts to subvert the election in michigan, right . It details an entire scheme in detroit. Obviously Secretary Of State there, and youre also an attorney yourself. Do you think that this case, that the January 6th Case for the doj can get to trial this quickly . I do. I mean, what ive seen and experienced over the last several years in working both with the january 6th Congressional Committee and speaking with the prosecutors is that this has been a very meticulous, in some cases slow moving process to ensure all eye is are dotted, all ts are crossed, every person who has been spoken to is interviewed. So in my sense, the work is done and its long past time really to see justice for what occurred and what will have occurred, you know, three years prior, four years prior in some circumstances with the lead up to 2020. So i think that were all ready to go, and certainly the defense should be as well by january, which is, you know, by the way, still five or six months five months from now. Its a fair point, and also what you say, another fair point about the frustration that many shares. This is years in the past. Why did it take so long putting us in the middle of an election season and giving us a narrative, george, that it could interfere with an election season, right . When you look at this, trump is saying looking at january 2nd, that would be two weeks before the iowa caucuses. So hes on social media tonight saying only an out of Touch Lunatic would ask for such a date one day into the new year, and maximum election interference in iowa. Now, again, putting aside the petty invekt attitude, does he have a point about iowa and new hampshire, this would take him off the campaign trail. Thats his problem and not the courts and not the Justice Departments and not the publics. The fact of the matter is if hes so confident that hes so far ahead and i think he is far ahead i dont see why he needs to campaign so much. He can save his money, save his energy and work on defending himself. If he truly believed he were innocent, hed want this trial as soon as possible. In fact, its a standard rule in litigation that the party who thinks its going to win that thinks its going to win wants a faster trial, and the party that thinks its going to lose wants a slower trial, and Donald Trumps going to ask for something in 2025, and i dont think the courts going to buy that. I agree with ryan that january 2024 is aggressive. Its like bidding for a house. You come in with a low bid. The other sides going to come in with a sky high bid, and shell probably do something in between, earlier next year. Those times are very different in terms of the electoral cycle, the primary process as all know. Lets turn to michigan, Secretary Benson is with us and the fake elector scheme there. You obviously got them all pleads not guilty at this point. These are serious Felony Charges, right . Forgery is 14 years. And theres multiple counts of forgery in each case. But all the defendants there are locals, many of them older, 60s, 70s, 80s. The are older individuals. These would possibly be Life Sentences if they were to get them. Theres no Trump Campaign officials. The Trump Lawyers who are so visible in the indictment as the coconspirators, who are obviously going to very likely be part of what we end up seeing out of georgia, theyre not charged as well. Should they be . They definitely could be under the law. It looks like from all the evidence that we have, its maybe an issue of prosecutorial discretion, whether or not they want it go forward. Just on the face of it, the indictment out of jack smith definitely puts giuliani and President Trump in the drivers seat, says that all of these false electors occurred under their direction including in michigan. Theres a whole section. Thats very laid out, several pages devoted to michigan. Several pages devoted to michigan, especially giuliani directing his attention towards michigan to try to flip the electors and try to put these folks in place, they could be named. If they were dieted in michigan, it could also put serious pressure on them that they might not feel like they face in the federal case because trump might be elected again and be able to pardon pardon them. It could dovetail with the federal case were they to be indicted. Secretary benson, do you want to see charges for the bigger fish up the chain even in michigan . I want to see charges for everyone and anyone who is part of a scheme to overturn a president ial election and nullify the votes of millions of michiganders and millions of citizens across our country. The charges were seeing in michigan and even at the federal level and perhaps in other states are part of an ongoing effort not just to seek justice for the wrongs of the past, but also to ensure they dont happen again, which is why a broad net must be cast, and i think its important to note that, you know, none of the scheme would have come to fruition had there not been people on the ground willing to carry out the direction of those at the top of the nationally coordinated effort. So it is important to see justice at every level because whether you, you know, signed a document knowingly, knowing that it was false or directed someone else to do so, all of it was about overturning a president ial election. When you look at the defendants in michigan that there are and the two trump coconspirators in florida who appeared in court today, one of whom pleaded not guilty, the other obviously delaying by saying still doesnt have a lawyer in florida, are you surprised, george, given the point that ryans making about some of the pressure here, are you surprised that all these vi individuals have stayed loyal to trump, despite facing charges now themselves . No, i think the important thing to remember is that both of these cases, the maralago documents case and the January 6th Case here in washington, both of those are dependent upon numerous trump witnesses, trump witnesses meaning people who worked for trump or people, other republicans. And theyre just i mean, theres going to be dozens of them in the January 6th Case, and there are quite a number of them including former lawyers in the maralago case, and basically most of those people it appears are cooperating, including perhaps mark meadows. And so its not surprising its actually its actually heartening that most of those people are putting the law, putting their own skins above the need to defend donald trump, and its sad that these two relatively unsophisticated lower level people who were manipulated and abused by donald trump into committing crimes, nauta and de oliveira are Stuck Holding the bag. Secretary benson, i just want to ask you about the former president tonight in these posts, fake indictments, prosecutors are trying to, quote, rig and steal another election. Sitting as a Secretary Of State of michigan, right, where youre seeing the details of what happened last time, how worried are you that such a thing could happen again . We are i mean, one of the lessons from january 6th and the tragedy of that day in 2021 was the knowledge that it could happen again, and it certainly you know, we need to prepare for anything like that or worse to happen again, if theres no accountability and justice for those who are part of this plan in the past. But our work as Election Officials across the country is to prepare for any and all threats, domestic and foreign against our elections and our democracy. Weve been doing that. We will continue to do that greatfu gratefully to folks on both sides of the aisle, lawmakers who have passed laws to protect poll workers. Well be ready for whatever comes in 24, but we are certainly anticipating more tactics and pressure as we approach that president ial cycle. Secretary benson, thank you very much. Ryan and george, as always, thanks to both of you. And next, flames shooting 40 feet into the air, winds strong enough, just the wind, to knock people flat. Thats what one woman whos lived in maui for 20 years saw, as her home was destroyed and she rushed to evacuate feeling the heat of the flames. Shes my guest. Private plane, helicopter rides, a trip around the bahamas on a private yacht, new reporting of what Justice Clarence thomas has received are from wealthy friends. And rare protests in china caught on camera, these after the Chinese Government redirected flood waters to some homes to protect beijing. Erin burnett out front, brought to you by sleep number. Save 50 on the sleep Number Limited Edition smart bed, only at a sleep number store or at sleepnumber. Com. Am i . Ya save 50 othe sleep Number Limited Edition smart bed. Plus36 month financing on select smart beds. Op now only at sleep number. Theyre off from school, but not really home. Images and videos. Social media, finetuned to suck them in. And steal them away. Alone you cant stop it. Together we will. We have a plan. 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The governor of hawaii warning they will be announcing a very significant increase to the current death toll, which is already 36 lives lost. And he said that would be a very significant increase. Said hes going to be giving another Press Conference in just a few hours. Rescue crews are urgently working around the clock, searching homes that have been burned to the ground. Once it is all said and done, the governor says he believes this tragedy will claim more than 60 lives. Veronica miracle is out front. If anybodys still out here, its time to go. Reporter chaos and panic as the relentless wildfires continue to ravage the Paradise Island of maui leaving loss and destruction in its wake. Oh, my god. Reporter some residents escaping by boat, watching the flames engulf their town as they sailed away. Historic lahaina essentially gone as the fire torched hundreds of houses, cars, and businesses. We caught up with volunteers today while they were loading up supplies. Weve had the fire bombs were so big, they were sucking oxygen out of the air. People didnt have oxygen to breathe. I think this is an absolutely top Level National disaster. Weve never seen anything like it. Ive been here 32 years. Reporter the before and after images show the horrific scene left behind and fears of a rising death toll. What were seeing is just this widespread devastation across many different neighborhoods in maui. Reporter for some who escaped like Florian Doyle who was able to get out with his kids and dog, a feeling of guilt that he couldnt do more to help others. Theres a lot of people, more than 36 people that didnt make it. I tried to warn as many people as i could. We tried. There was a lot of people like i think it was just like so chaotic that nobody knew, there was no phone connections, and as much as i was trying to save and let people know, there was no options. I just had to go. I went and got my kids, and now i got the news that theres like so many friends that the coast guard pulled more than 50 people from the ocean who had jumped in to escape the flames. Still got dead bodies in the water floating and on the seawall z seawall. Reporter nearly 11,000 customers remain without power, 2,000 residents are in shelters, and thousands of travelers are still stranded on the island. The National Guard reports they dropped 150,000 gallons of water over the fires wednesday to help suppress the flames, and while the fires still rage on, the Search And Rescue efforts continue. The primary focus is to save lives, and to prevent Human Suffering and mitigate great property loss. Reporter Lieutenant Governor sylvia lake toured the damage by helicopter wednesday and was shocked by what she witnessed. It looked as if just the whole town was devastated. Reporter the one road in to lahaina remains closed. People can come out, but they cannot go in, which is why you see a line of cars that goes on for miles behind us here, residents waiting on the side of the road hoping that the moment it opens they can go back to their homes or at least what is left of their community. The governor of hawaii estimating that 80 of lahaina has been decimated. There is a glimmer of good news. The fire that ravaged lahaina has now been 80 contained. Firefighters able to make forward progress despite these strong winds. Even. Veronica, thank you very much. And out front now, may who lives in lahaina who lost her home in the wildfire. I am so very sorry for what youre going through. It is truly impossible for anyone to truly comprehend the loss and what youve seen, and i know watching even hearing that piece and your neighbors, its very emotional for you. How are you even managing through this . I dont know. Its kind of a everybody says just take day by day, you know. At this point its really minute by minute honestly. Its a roller coaster. Its like denial, i think, is a lot of it and disbelief and just shock, its just shock. I mean, you did share some photos with us before you evacuated, and i know that when you took some of these you were standing outside. You were watching the flames, and then the winds just suddenly shifted. You could feel the heat. How close did the flames come . Can you tell us about that just how fast this all happened . So my little neighborhood, i live about a block away from the heart of la zhaina, the Famous Banyan tree. We didnt have power all day, nobody was at work. We were all home. So my neighbors and i were kind of an alert, and we were standing and watching the fire in the middle of the town that kind of started, i dont even know what time it was. Maybe around noon, maybe 1 00, Something Like that. And we were just watching it, and we were thinking, the smoke, the wind is making it worse than it is, you know, this looks more dramatic, but the smoke was getting darker and darker and thicker and thicker, and then we were saying like should we leave, and then we said, unless the winds shift, we dont need to and it was like the wind said, well, are you testing me . Because then that second the wind shifted and came towards us. It didnt take long. It took from when the wind shifted until we were like we need to go, it was maybe 5, 10 minutes. Wow. And then go ahead. Sorry. Theres the street i live on, we were standing looking at the street, and then on the other side of the street theres a big empty like field, and when that street caught on fire, and we saw a house across the field explode, and then we saw the flames jump into the big field, and its completely dry. We have had such a drought because its summer. Its lahaina, its hot. We havent had rain, you know, so once the palm trees that are 40 feet up in the air, once the flames hit that and the heat came and hit us in the face, it was like maybe like 50 to 100 yards away, you know, we were like we got to go. So we just ran in like panic mode. Lets stay together, lets stay together. There was no time to wait for anybody. I just jumped in my truck. It was 4 00 or 5 00 in the afternoon, it was pitch black. It was like it was nighttime because the smoke was so thick and so dark. It was just panic. People were crying on the side of the road and begging and there was a man, im never going to forget him as long as i live. He laid in the Middle Of The Road and cried and pleaded to jesus that we were going to be safe, you know, it was. May, as you and i are speaking, just, you know, these are your friends and your neighbors. Theyre now saying 53 people have died in the fire, so its gone up from 36, and i know that the governors indicated it will probably go higher, but you know, these are its going to ogo a lot higher. S. These are people you know. Youre talking about fleeing in your truck. And you had thrown a bike in the back, but when people are trying to flee in the gridlock, my understanding from what youve said is that some people may have literally died there in their cars . Yeah, going the direction i went south because i live in the southern part of lahaina, people who go north, i dont know if youve seen all the pictures, but theres a picture of front street with a bunch of cars burned, they didnt get out, you know, it happened so quick. The way i was going, people jumped so people had bicycles. People ran, people had skateboards. People had cats under their arms. They had, you know, a baby in tow and just sprinting down the street. So i dont know. I know its going to be a lot more theres going to be more fatalities than they think because it was it was apoca apocalyptic. Thats the only word i can use. It was the apocalypse was happening. Imagine the worse you can picture and it was a thousand times worse than that. May, i know amidst all this and trying to even understand what happened as you said, obviously youre not thinking about the future in some ways. Youre a chef, so your restaurants gone. Yeah. Youve lost your job. What do you even how do you even process what to do next . I dont think i dont think any of us have. I think right now the most important thing, were just trying to get ahold of our sfr friends and loved ones, you know, theres so many unaccounted for. So thinking about tomorrow is not even an issue right now. Its just finding our friends, finding our families, finding our loved ones, finding, you know, were just trying to find each other really. Well, may and then i think the future will be the next step. Right now we just need to know that the people we love are safe. Thats really the only focus right now. I hope you hear good news on that front, even as i know you are going to, you know, have great loss, and im sorry for that, for the people that you will know and of course for just the horrible trauma of what youve just endured and lost. So thank you very much for even tak taking the time to try to talk about it for everyone else around the country to know. Yeah, we just wanted to make sure that people understand that its not just, ooh, its a fire in maui. Its a devastation in maui, and thousands and thousands have lost their homes, so we just need we need help. Thats why i decided to go on here because if i can help out in any way, you know, then, if i can be the voice of us, then i would love to be that, you know. We need help, we need money, we need resources. We need everything. May, i hope i hope you get that and that that plea is heard, and again, i thank you. Thank you so much. God bless. And next, the voters in iowa not so sure about trumps chances if the election were today. If it were today, do you have any doubt that donald trump would win iowa . I have some doubt. You do . I do. John king is next. Plus, shocking new reporting on how billionaires are heaping lavish gifts on Supreme Court Justice Clarence thomas. New details on private jets, boxes at sporting events, luluxy trips and more. Find the perfect Vacation Rental for you booking. Com, booking. Yeah. The minute you drive off the lot. Or more. Thats why farmers new Car Replacement pays to replace it th a new one of the same make andodel. Get a whole lot of something witharmers policy perks. Farmers mnemonic having triplets is. Amazing expensive. So, we switched to the bargain detergent, but we ended up using three times as much and the clothes still werent as clean as with tide. So were back with tide, and the clothes are clean again. Do 3x the laundry and get a tide clean. Its got to be tide. Tonight ron desantis defending his decision to support donald trump if hes the republican nominee. Desantis said today he was, quote, proud to sign the rnc loyalty pledge. Its something donald trump has said he will not do, and desantis took a dig at him about it. Theres no way that i would ever just take my ball and go home and pout. You got to continue to fight. Desantis is in iowa ahead of his visit to the Iowa State Fair where mike pence made an appearance today, and trump is expected there this weekend as well. Our john king has been spending a lot of time traveling all across iowa, obviously over many election cycles, but in these past months here, and he joins me now. So john, youve had a chance this cycle to speak with voters across the state, and youve heard a lot of different opinions, and youve been to a lot of different places. I have, erin, and you find a lot of different views about trump. This is the 2016 map. Im using this map as an example. Last time you had a contested Republican Caucus in iowa. The last time you had a very crowded republican field. Remember all those republicans. One place we visited was out here in sioux city, this is w woodbury county. The former president is still quite popular there. Even among his supporters, a defense attorney, a former democrat came over to trump in 2016. She says she likes him. She finds him to be charismatic. She doesnt really believe all the legal channel challenges against him even though shes an attorney. She says theres so much dustup against trump, she and other conservatives are thinking maybe we should move on. If it were today, do you have any doubt that donald trump would win iowa . I have some doubt. You do . I do. Because i know so many people who are upset about it, about whats happening to him. They feel like i do that its somebodys trying to take him down, and theyll do whatever they have to. Theres a lot of people looking for someone else. They dont know who it is. Dont get me wrong, erin, she says she still doesnt completely rule out supporting trump, but when you spend a week out there and talk to people, is trump heavily favored . Yes, make no mistake about that. Is there a narrow path of possibility to beat him . I would argue yes. And im also curious, and people think of iowa as a rural state, but there are, you know, there are places that are more rural than others, right . Truly more rural. And what do you find when you go there . So look at this map here from 2016, the light color here, thats ted cruz. Hes not in the race of course. The dark is donald trump. Donald trump is now most popular in many of these smaller rural counties, and not just rural counties, places like, here you go to blackhawk county, it has cedar falls, waterloo, small cities, small communities like this. One of the people we met here, chris mud, hes a businessman. His family has an advertising business. He runs a solar installation company. He is all for trump. Even he concedes all this talk of legal cases does create some doubt. I think hes the best guy for the job. I think he can come in and get the job done. Now whether or not hes going to make it to the election or not, i dont know. I mean, you hear people talk about putting him in jail before he even has an opportunity to run. And i wonder why are they attacking him so hard . Why are they going after this guy so hard . Does everything really believe that everything that happened is exactly the way that the governments laying it out today . I dont. That trust part, Distrust Part at the end, erin, is important. Now lets move from that area of the state. If trump is to be beat, and thats a long shot, it will be because of the math here in des moines and the suburbs around it. Just a quick note on the Population Growth just since 2016, nearly 60,000 new people in des moines and the suburbs, most importantly afternoon it, and erin, we know the suburbs are toxic. They dont like donald trump. Here you find a lot of people who say, yes, i voted for trump twice but no more. Betsy be betsy sardone, right before the january vote we better pick one candidate. I was chatting with some women in a beauty salon, and everybody had the same viewpoint, and all of us said that we voted for trump last time, but that hes run his course and we dont want to do it again. So i think theres also a silent, whether or not its a majority. It might not be a majority, but there is a silent part of the party who is just hoping for a different solution this time. So thats something well watch, erin, as we go back to these voters over the next five months. You hear that aspiration, everybody gets together, all the antitrump people unite around one candidate. I just want to remind people, some people talked about that in 2016 too when you had all these candidates and donald trump went on to win. So well see if its different this time. The crowded field helped him last time. It appears to be helping this time. Well see. I know one thing thats interesting, in the conversations you had with people, theyre talking about some of the beliefs people have, whether it be about the election or other issues, and i know you were struck by how disconnected some of the people you spoke with are from the truth. You know this dynamic to be true, but when you spend a week there and experience it so often with so many really good, hardworking decent people, it does strike you, erin. Weve talked before about how theres two americas economically the last 20 years, those who have and those who dont. Communities that are struggling, those that are thriving. I think we have two americas when it comes to truth, where do you get your information, what are your views of trump . In the maga trumped media silo, theres a lot of coverage about joe bidens challenger robert f. Kennedy jr. Who Scientists Say his views on vaccines are way out there, conspiracy theories, robert f. Kennedy jr. Thinks the government killed his father and his uncle. President kennedy. When you talk to some of the voters out there, they those views. Robert kennedy, i think hes a really good guy, they killed his father, and its terrible. So i hope the truth comes out. You think the government did that . I really do. Sadly to say that, yes, based on what ive researched. Hes the first democrat i think ive ever listened to and admired what he had to say. There might have been another one that im overlooking, but this guy, kennedy, he sounds like real genuine individual to me. Hes smart, and hes even minded. Hes open minded i should say. So erin on these questions where we think maybe thats not the truth as we see it, the part im fascinated by and were going to keep going back to this community and build voter groups and other communities in the general election is sfrt people who have conversations like that, howd you get there . Where did you get that information . These are good, decent hardworking people, and im going to get back and were going to keep talking. Thank you very much, john king. And next, a massive new investigation into Clarence Thomas revealing the Supreme Court justice is benefitting from billionaires and the reporter who broke the story joins me next. And defiant, rare protests in china after catastrophic flooding displaced millions, the disaster, though, was not entirely natural. [baby crying] wherever you go. Wherever you stay. All you need is one key. Earn and use rewards across expedia, hotels. Com, and vrbo. Were reinventing our network. With smarter, more efficient routes. So you can deliver more value to your customers. Fast. Reliable. Perfectly orchestrated. The United States postal service. Tonight trips to luxury resorts, a tour around the bahamas and a 126 foot yacht with a full bar and a baby grand piano, and 26 private jet flights, including at least two and a full on 737. Those are just some of the lavish gifts that justice by wealthy benefactors, given according to a new investigative report by propubly ka. All of the gifts which in many cases thomas did not disclose coming from these four billionaires on your screen. Propublica estimated that the value of these gifts is likely millions of dollars. Justin elliott is out front now. Hes a reporter who worked on this investigation, and you and your team have done, i mean, just incredible work on all of this, so i mean, you have a lot of detail about what is a very opulent lifestyle, right . Its not as if it was just a vacation here and there. This was essentially from your reporting a lifestyle. Tell us more of what you found. Yeah, you know, look, Supreme Court justices make around 300,000 a year, which is the salary most people would be happy with. What we found is that Justice Thomas, through this set of billionaires has really been living the lifestyle essentially of a billionaire. We originally found out about these trips and gifts he was getting from a dallas billionaire harlan crow, and after we published a stories on that we hear there are other billionaires helping pay for his life. We started looking and found that with very striking regularity when he has off time, hes being flown on private jets to around the world really to mansions, on cruises, internationally, to sporting events, apparently not paying for any of it. As far as we can tell, hes a massive outlier on the Supreme Court in terms of taking these kinds of gicfts. 26 private jet flights, this wasnt just an occasional vacation, which im not even saying that would be okay. Youre saying this is an entire lifestyle. So tell us about these men. They are all men, these billionaires that helped finance thomass lifesle, and obviously theyre billionaires very, very big in an iusy. I mean, how is the Supreme Court relevant and play a role in their lives . Yeah, so the first is harlan crow who made his fortune in dallas and actually inherited his fortune in dallas. And then we have an oil company founder, a private equity executive, the late wayne hize in nga who owned Blockbuster Video and the miami dolphins. Some of these men he met through a charity called the Horatio Society that gives scholarships to students. Thats how some of the relationships began. They sort of escalated to where these men are just showering him with vacations and other gifts. You know, as we have not found any cases where theyve had where any of these men have actually had cases heard by the Supreme Court. Like specific, right. The Supreme Court actually hears very few cases so its unusual to be a litigant, but they all have Business Interests that are affected massively by the court, and theyre also all republican political donors who have ideological interests. I think one of the questions raised by this, is if somebodys paying noryour Luxury Vacations repeatedly, i certainly would feel some sense of obligation to that person. Theres a question of influence there. Sure you would feel that way, thats the point. Yeah. I should also say all of these relationships started after Clarence Thomas became a Supreme Court justice, so these were not like his college roommates. These are not longstanding relationships. So, you know, very unusual to be getting these kinds of gifts. One of the things we dont have a full answer to, what are being discussed on these yachts and private jets, a lot of the people havent commented, Justice Thomas didnt comment for this story, so you know, were still reporting. All right, and were still following it because it has been some really impressive and incredible work. Thanks very much for coming on and sharing it with us. Thank you. Next, outrage in china as the government deliberately sends flood waters into some peoples homes. And Five Americans imprisoned in iran now possibly a huge step closer to coming home. Should i be selling right now . Let me take a look at the numbers for you. You tried. Limiting when it was okay. No tech behind closed doors. But social medias algorithms of addiction always won out. Its not your fault. Alone you cant stop it. Together, we will. We have a plan. Join us. gives you access to every game. But terry doesnt have directv. Come on. Work for dad here. Now, you can find the game easy. My barbecue is saved get in the redzone with sports pack. Call 1800directv my barbecue is ruined. cheery music they get it. They know how it works. And more importantly. It works for them. I dont have any anxiety about money anymore. 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Thats just what we know about after extreme flooding near beijing. The death toll is almost three times, a figure given by chinese officials just last week. Ivan watson is outfront. Reporter a rare moment of defiance in china. Angry residents on the steps of a municipal government building in the city of baxo. The sign says give me back my home. The flood was caused by water discharge, not by heavy rainfall. At some point, men with Police Shields disperse the crowd. The incident took place after deadly floods caused by the heaviest rains to hit Northeastern China in 140 years. A typhoon that killed dozens of people in and around the chinese beijing forcing the evacuation of more than a Million People from their homes. Over the last two weeks, these three provinces all saw dramatic flooding, but were learning that some communities werent just damaged by a natural disaster. The small city of bajo, where the protest took place was deliberately flooded by authorities following a Government Disaster Plan aimed at protecting bigger cities like beijing and tianjin. At 2 00 a. M. On august 1, authorities activated a Flood Control plan, releasing water from Dams Into Flood Storage and detention zones. They then had to evacuate more than 800,000 People Living in those zones, which quickly flooded. State tv showed the Communist Party chief of Hubei Province touring the disaster area, Instructing Subordinates to reduce Flooding Pressure on beijing, and vowing to resolutely be the capitals moat. In the event of a crisis, experts say countries often plan to redirect rising water, but usually towards flood zones that are unpopulated. Seems like a planning problem. Somebody allowed development or overdevelopment in an area that was designated to be a Flood Control zone. Reporter provincial governments thanked evacuees for their sacrifice, adding history will record your contribution. Thats cold comfort to people who have seen their homes and livelihoods destroyed for the greater good. Translator nearly all the factories in our area were seriously damaged. 99 of the factories have little hope of salvaging the losses. Reporter under chinese rules, people are entitled to compensation of 70 of the value of property submerged in Flood Control areas. Experts say planning for the next extreme weather disaster will only get harder. I think the entire world is scrambling to get prepared for the problems Climate Change is unfolding on to us. Reporter which seems like an almost impossible challenge. Now erin, there is some good news for beijing. There is a Tropical Storm that our colleagues at cnn weather say is losing power, but there is a separate storm system approaching beijing from the west that the meteorologists say is carrying a lot of water and could dump 2 to 4 inches of rain on this already floodstruck area as early as friday night and saturday. While these areas are still trying to recover from floods that killed dozens of people. The controversy over the deliberate flooding of these communities has been heavily censored on chinese social media and on the internet, and i might add on cnn. We have a live camera up showing our live feed inside china, and that went to bars, as you can see here as soon as our report began. You know, its really interesting there. At the very end, when you started talking as if it was a weather report, it came back. But and now it just cut out again. And perhaps because of what were talking about. All right. Ivan, thank you very much. Theyre very busy. Thank you. 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Its the mobile made free eventhappening now. Get started for just 49. 99 a month. Plus, ask how to get one free line of unlimited mobile. Comcast business, powering possibilities. Tonight, the white house confirming that Five Americans who have been imprisoned in iran are out of prison and now under house arrest. Four of them, only three of whom we actually know the names of, were moved out of tehrans notorious evin prison today. The fifth not publicly identified yet was already under house arrest. But the americans have been imprisoned for years and declared wrongfully detained by the state department. A source familiar with the negotiations tells cnn the move is an encouraging step but is obviously not a done deal. It is notable that the negotiation here is are being conducted primarily through intermediaries, qatar, and switzerland among them because the United States does not have diplomatic relations with iran. Thank you so much for joining us. Anderson starts now. Tonight on 360, trying times. Fast and slow today with jack smith pitching aggressively quick elec