Morning with Breaking News, Victor Blackwell by my side. Just a ton happening overnight. Lets get to five things to know this thursday. 36 People Arencome confirmed dead in hawaii. Black hawk helicopters have been deployed. And new reporting on Supreme CourtJustice Clarence thomas, his luxurious lifestyle and who was funding it. Propublica reports that rich benefactors funded the bill. And president ial candidate in w in ecuador was assassinated and the video is disturbing. Anticorruption candidate was killed just ten days before the election. New video of a deadly fbi raid, a man killed after making threats against President Biden and other elected officials. And new information in the atlanta area investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Sources tell cnn that the Prosecutor Fani Willis is seeking more than a dozen indictments as former President Trump releases a new ad attacking her. Cnn this morning starts right now. Good morning, it is 7 00 a. M. Here out east. 4 00 a. M. On the west coast. Victor blackwell is with us and we start with the Breaking News in hawaii. Catastrophic and unprecedented wildfires have now killed at least 36 people. The death toll in maui has soared overni nitovernight. This 4e8 cokcop Helicopter Vide shows the scale of the def devastation in lahaina. People were jumping in the ocean trying to escape the fast moving inferno. Take a look at this video obtained by our local affiliate. You can see the hurricaneforce winds asthma rein a and boats go up in flames. And this is what it looks like on the ground. Entire neighborhood here wiped out, the homes, businesses, they are gone. Listen to this survivor whose house burned to the ground. He described the situation. Just looking at dead bodies in the water floating and on the seawall. Weve been pulling people out since last night. Trying to save peoples lives. I feel like were not getting the help we need. This is a nationwide issue at this point. We need help. A lot of help. We need to get people down here. Veronica miracle is joining us live from make maui. Walk us through what you are hearing there as you wait for the sun to come up. Reporter those new Death Toll Numbers coming in overnight, so many people here will be waking up to the fact that 36 of their community members, loved ones, friends have died. Information has been slowly trickling in because there are still 11,000 people without power, their Communication Lines are down. So it has been very difficult. A lot of people over on this side of the island here experiencing a sense of helplessness as they wait to learn what else has happened. Oh, my gosh, look at the harbor. Reporter the view from above is of shock and heartbreak. We were not prepared for what we saw. It looked like an area that had been bombed in the war. Reporter wildfires rampaging across maui. Our entire street was burned to the ground. Reporter Decimating Homes and businesses. Local people have lost everything. They have lost their house, they have lost their animals, and it is devastating. Lahaina is on fire. Reporter Historic Town of lahaina, a popular tourist and economic hub on the islands west side particularly affected with hundreds of structures imp impacted. It happened so fast. People stuck in traffic trying to get out and flames on both sides of the road. Like something out of a horror movie. Reporter most of the fires fueled in part by winds caused by hurricane dora. Now subsiding as the storm pushes away. The primary focus is to save lives. And prevent human suffering. And mitigate property loss. Reporter state Department Crews assisting in efforts to restore communication across the islands and distribute water. With military helicopters aiding in extinguishing the fires. They flew 13 hours, did 58 drops, and about 150,000 gallons of water. Reporter recovery will be a long road ahead. According to hawaiis Lieutenant Governor sylvia luke. The damage to the infrastructure, it is not just buildings. I mean, these were Small Businesses that invested in maui, these were local residents. And we need to figure out a way to help a lot of people in the next several years. Reporter and that fire in lahaina, one of three burning on the island that firefighters are contending with. And at the airport, airlines are offering more flights and reduced fares to get people off of the island. Officials are asking people to leave and not come here so they can save resources for those who need it. Thank you for being on the ground and for that reporting. We are new this morning learning new details about Clarence Thomas life off the Supreme Court bench. This Morning Propublica broke a new report detailing lavish vacations, private jet trips and Vip Treatment at Sporting Events funded by several billionaire friends. Lets bring in tom foreman to explain. Good morning. Public support in the bombs for the Supreme Court has really been dropping. Faith in the court, people just are not convinced that it is operating the way it ought to. And this report wont help. Most complete accounting yet of the my life of Clarence Thomas shows much, much more than previously known. More private jets, more fancy vacations, more Sporting Events all gifts from Mega Rich Businessmen and documented through public and private records plus interviews by propublica. Justice thomas has been living a life of extreme luxury for 30 years underwritten by at least four different ultra wealthy benefactors. Reporter early reports have revealed lavish gifts to thomas including a house for his mother and a nine day vacation in indonesia from harlan crow. I come from regular stock. Reporter who also underwrote a film about thomas humble tastes. I prefer the rv parks. Reporter and now three more names have been added to the benefactors. The report says that the four moguls collectively treated thomas to 38 destination vacations, including a previously unreported voyage on a yacht around the bahamas, 26 private jet flights plus eight by helicopter. And a dozen vip passes to professional and College Sporting events, two stays at luxury resorts in florida and jamaica and one standing invitation to an exclusive golf club. The dollar value likely in the millions. Little of which appeared in required Financial Disclosures according to propublica. Thomas has previously said he didnt feel the need to disclose some gifts. And that worries jeremy fogel, an expert on judicial ethics. I couldnt have done this. Even if the people involved didnt have interests before the court, it is just the idea that you are receiving gifts of this magnitude. Reporter associate justices make about 285,000 a year. In 2001, when they made about 100,000 less, thomas spoke up. The job is not worth doing for what they pay. It is not worth doing for the grief. But it is worth doing for the principle. Reporter and now he bristles at questions about his principles. He calls crow merely a friend. Crow says they never talk about thomas work and the new report found none of these wealthy pals seem to have had cases before the court. Still which one of these new ben if he can tors like Farharlan Crow came into his life after he was appointed. That is why it is problematic. And wayne died about five years ago. There is no evidence that these rich friends broke any rules or laws in giving these gifts. And it is not entirely clear technically if thomas broke any rules by accepting them. But what has happened here, the early revelations really raise a public feuror over the idea tha there should be strict and clear rules about what the Supreme Court justices can and cant accept. And no doubt that drumbeat will get a lot louder now. Tom foreman, thank you. Joining us at the table now is wochbtdone the Propublica Re behind the investigation and also with us elie honig and also a national reporter. Of course this is more than what we learned earlier this year, this relationship with far lon c harlan crow. I guess some could he said uncomftable relationship with one person. But 38 vacations and private jets and this seems like a lifestyle. About 30 years now, this has been consistent steady access to things most people will never know. Private jet flights, yacht vacations, luxury suites at Sporting Events, year in and year out time and again. And you wrote for propublica that this is almost certainly an undercount. Thats right. Yeah, were still reporting. There is evidence that there may be many more. So were being conservative with our figures but still reporting on it. More than 100 people you interviewed for just this. Tell people how i found all of this out. Yeah, so this is kind of a Classic Daisy Chain where you talk to one source who knows three others. But we were reaching out to anyone we could. Flight attendants, pilots, drivers, chauffeurs, security guards. Anyone who might be in the inner circles and people in the Supreme Court world and thomas world trying to get the fullest picture we could. And one thing that i was struck by and people should understand is that Justice Thomas has often talked about living not a lavish life, whether it is in a documentary done on him or things that hes said about, you know, basically i dont do this job for the money. So he has put forward to the public, has he not, a much more humble lifestyle. He has. He has kind of created had image and said multiple times even in his relationship with wayne are he said we just like to sit on the front porch and talk and drink iced tea. But that is not what has happened. He has been flown around, taken to Sporting Events, taken to his luxury golf club. And so he says one thing but reporting shows other things. So Propublica Reports and tom covered that three benefactors had no legal cases during the documented relationship. How should that inform, if at all, how people consume what is being reported . It shouldnt matter at all. Because the point here is the appearance of impropriety. The fact that we wouldnt know about any of this if not for your publication. But how does Clarence Thomas think the world actually works . We all have friends. Do any of your friends pay for your private vacations . It is unheard of. And the reason is this undermines public confidence. We all ask i think logically why on earth are these guys spending millions, why is he accepting this, why isnt he reporting it. And when you see the polls that show that the americans confidence is at an alltime low in the Supreme Court, i dont think it is because of the judicial outcomes. People will always disagree on that. But i think it is because were learning about all the money flowing through and the lack of transparency. I think that that type of Supreme Court existed where there wasnt really scrutiny applied to some of the justices and i think that matters for the public perception. Were increasingly seeing a public dealing with the reality that these Supreme Court justices are experiencing this influx of money, are so close to these kind of billionaires. And i think that appearance of impropriety has released that in. And so the lack of trust building up, and i think it is a buildup of some of these types of things. It goes along with Judicial O Outcomes also, but just the feeling that the Supreme Court has existed in a place that was outside of scrutiny and more importantly cant really do anything about it. It is not leading to an outcome that i think a lot of folks would expect when there has been such clear reporting. And if i could build on that. Whenever there has been an effort to enforce some sort of accountability, the response from the Supreme Court has been gone. The senate invited Chief Roberts to come testify and we want to know what your ethical rules were. And Chief Roberts responded with a condescending letter that said allow me to correct m misperceptions. They like to blame the media for fostering misperceptions. And he says we consult with, were not bound by, but we consult with various sources. And it was just this blowoff. And you wonder why people have no faith in them. You mentioned that the late justice bes have also taken tri but they were disclosed. But the other question, yes, they may not have had cases before the court, but they ran Huge Companies in huge industries that had interests in the outcome of other court cases that would set the law that would affect their industry. That is a really important point. These are massive industries. They worked in oil, energy, international shipping. Mergers and acquisitions kind of define a lot of their empires. So the idea that they d be totally separated from what is happening in the Supreme Court is not true. Just because they didnt have a direct case. And david sokol used to work for warren buffett, he was seen as the heir a parent before he left. In act he gave a speech where he criticized President Bidens Student Loan Forgiveness Program and said it would be overturned by the court. He was talking about ongoing cases that Clarence Thomas would decide on. And that was one of the first times we had seen one of the benefactors speaking directly to an ongoing Supreme Court case before there had been a decision. He was pontificating on the outcome. It was common legal commentary at the time, but we found that interesting. And neither the court nor Justice Thomasesnded to the latestorting, but i do want to rat he said in april. He said early in my tenure, i ught guidance from my lleagues and others and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality there close personal friends who did not have business before the court was not reportable. That was after the reporting by harlan crow. Again, no response to this reporting. But that was his word. And gentlemen, thank you very much. Man accused of threatening to assassinate President Biden is killed by fbi agents. We have new details this morning about who he was and what led to this deadly standoff. Plus president ial candidate in ecuador assassinated at a rally. Well show you how it happened and what we know about the assassin. Wait, wait, hold on. That neighbor is hot thats my husband. What . Its the inspire implant he got. Hes not struggling with cpap anymore. And for me. Gotta go. Naughty girl. Hi sweetie ah cream here comes the choochoo train ofove inspire. Sleep apnea innovation. Learn more and view Important Safety Information at inspiresleep. Com. 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