Welcome to cnn this morning. Im amara walker. Thank you for sharing part of your morning with us. As the grim reality sets in for survivors in hawaii, some are questioning the states response beforehand and how much was done to try to warn residents to get out. Plus Hunter Bidens legal troubles heat pup the Justice Department elevates the attorney to Special Counsel after plea talks fall apart. And donald trump and his legal team get a stern warning from the judge. Well have the latest on the contentious hearing. New data Shows Americans are pulling out of their 401 k and relying on credit cards. Well have a financial expert to weigh in with her advice. We begin with really grim news from hawaii, where those devastating wildfires have claimed at least 80 lives so far. The death toll will likely rise in the coming days. Crews have not yet searched the inside of most of the buildings and its unclear how many people are unaccounted for. Video shows the horror of the fire as people tried to escape. This video youre seeing here is from the coast guard. It shows the view of the fire on wednesday. Coast guard crews were able to rescue 17 people, who escaped the fire by jumping into the ocean. Take a look at this tiktok video. It appears to show sol of those desperate people in the water after they were forced to jump in to try to save themselves from the flames. Cnn has not been able to determine the source of the video or independently verify the video, but dense smoke and high winds created an incredibly chaotic and terrifying situation. Take a listen to this next video. Its hard to listen to, but it captureses the terror as a resident tries to escape the flames in her car. We have to walk somewhere over there by the beach. No, not like this. Not like this, no. It is just terrifying to listen to those people scream and try to flee in just a few seconds notice. Cnns Gloria Pazmino is live with the latest. What do we know in terms of the rescue and Recovery Efforts . Reporter it is just absolutely terrifying to listen to those voices in you can literally feel the panic that they are in, the fear that they are feeling as they are fleeing from the flames. I want to talk about the Rescue Mission, the Search Mission we know is underway. We have learned that so far officials in maui, which is about 80 miles to the west of here from where we are, have been waiting for the arrival of Fema Teams Kwaped with cadaver dogs. Those teams are going to be searching the inside of structures, those buildings have not yet been searched. So far, the amount of people that have been recovered, about 80 people who lost their lives, have been found on the outside of structures. I do want the to talk about that public road that we know opened yesterday to give residents a chance to get back into the area. Residents are anxious to get back in to assess the damage. Unfortunately, soon after the road was opened, they had to close it back up because there was so much traffic and people trying to get into the area that officials decided it was better to keep them away for now. But that is creating a lot of frustration because there are people that are trying to get back in. Supporters and volunteers that are trying to bring supplies into the area. And that is really the biggest challenge right now in addition to the search and Rescue Mission that is underway. People are growing impatient, they are waiting for help and supplies to arrive. They desperately are in need. Gloria, thank you. I should say that we spoke to an official in the last hour and asked about that road. She wasnt able to say if it was open or closed, but theres still a lot of questions about the status behind it. Theres growing concern over how authorities handled the early moments of the wildfires as the flames began to spread across the island. The Hawaii Attorney general is now ordering a review of the states response leading up to the fires. There was lots of wind and some Power Outages because of that Hurricane Dora churning in the pacific. And some critics are saying that perhaps lives could have been saved. Had there been a Siren Warning sound outside. Earlier this morning, i spoke with a congresswoman who says the state underestimated how bad the fire would get. Its not like Hurricane Force winds are known or red flag conditions. We saw this before. We learned our lesson from lane that brush fires could erupt as a result of churning hurricanes. We underestimated the legality, the Quickness Of Fire and the situation. We have got to make sure that we do better. The congresswoman also called for the waters around lahaniina to be dredged. Shes referring to the many people that jumped into the choppy waters there. Joining us to talk more about the rescue and Recovery Efforts is brian stern, a former army and navy combat veteran. He is the ceo of Project Dynamo, that specializes in bringing help to Disaster Areas and conflict zones throughout the world. Brian and his team are on the ground in hawaii helping with Relief Efforts and also, as i understand it, rescue efforts. Is that correct . Are you helping with rescues . Yeah, were doing we have den a lot of both. We have done a lot of humanitarian droops and airborne res kus. Were going to start some ground rescues today, most likely assuming that the roads open up a little bit. Tell us more about the assets that youre deploying, the way youre trying to help. How are you reaching out and communicate ing with the folks o are having electrical and power issues . How are you communicate inging people there . You hit the nail on the head. The Communication Part is the problem. We need people to go to projectdynamo. Org and register families and friends with their addresses and where they are. Its incredibly difficult to go Walking Around and hope to find somebody. We need people to register on the website, that way we can be more targeted. Its also where people can go to donate. We are entirely donor funded. This costs money. Helicopters cost money, so we need your help. As far as Rescue Operations go, it is slow going. Theres a lot of we dont know who is trapped and who is not. It seems that nobody really does. The only good way to do this is to do targeted searches or Blanket Searches and go house to house, which requires a lot more people. Tell us more about your approach. Youre in maui right now. If so, where are you on the island and how are you and your teams what are your impressions of what youre seeing and how is that impacting your approach in terms of rescuing or trying to rescue more people . The affect ed area looks lik a war zone, which sadly Project Dynamo has a lot of experience with. We worked inn afghanistan, ukraine, this is fire and wind, water and wind, but its apocalyptic. Theres a lot of homes and buildings were made out of wood, so they went up like match sticks. So it is unbelievable to see right now, im about ten minutes from the affected area. Remarkable to hear you say having the experience that you have that it looks like a war zone. The photos are just heartbreaking to see. Help me understand for folks who have been able to escape the flames, for those with medical conditions, the direness of time in terms of getting people the help they need. Yeah, that is the issue. The access to the area is tough. Fires started again last night. Two areas the brave firemen and Police Officers that are here are completely overwhelmed. They need backup. They need resources, which have been slow going. Part of that is just because its slow. So with respect to people who have medical conditions, they are on a clock. Were seeing that on the island eas well are running out of foo. So anything refrigerated is a problem. The bottom line is we need time is ticking. The weather is okay, but its very warm. We need to get them out of the affected area to at least another zone. Did you say you were able to find some survivors . Is that the goal or priority right now . Yeah, of course, the number one priority is the safety of life. You can rebuild a house. You cant rebuild a son or a daughter or mother or father. So Rescue Operations remain the priority. At pom som point, it goes from rescue to recovery. Were flirting with that line right now of recovering the dead or rescuing the living. Were flirting with that line. We have another day probably until that transition happens. Time is our enemy right now. Brian stern, we appreciate all your efforts. Thank you very much. Best of luck. For more information about how you can help hawaii wildfire vic you can use your phone to scan the qr code on the screen. Turning to other news, despite being a republicanawe pointed prosecutor, Cricare Blasting attorney general merrick garlands appointment at david wies as Special Counsel in the hunter bnvestigation. Kevin mccarthy tweeted if Wies Negotiate D the deal that couldnt get approved, how can he be trusted as a Special Counsel. He has been investigating hunter biden since 2019. Paula reid explains why a Special Counsel was needed in this case. Good morning. According to the Justice Department, on tuesday, david wies asked the Justice Department to change his designation to Special Counsel for the purposes of the hunter biden investigation. Hes been investigating biden for five years. But the Justice Department has not put forth any official e explanation for why he suddenly wanted to change his status and become a fullblown Special Counsel. There are some clues in the court documents, in Court Filings. On friday Court Filings revealed that the Plea Agreement that had been reached between the u. S. Attorney and hunter biden has fallen apart. They have reached an impasse after a judge expressed some concerns and had some questions about this plea deal. After reaching this impasse, according to Court Filings, it appears thats case related to some tax charges and one charge related to Gun Possession could now go to trial. Now one of the big differences once youre a Special Counsel, not only can you bring a case in any jurisdiction, you also have to write a full report, detailing your findings. The Justice Department emphasizes that will help with the transparency around this investigation, but its not clear that republicans reon the hill are going to see it that way. They wanted him to come and talk to him, testify and answer questions. Its unclear how it could impact his willingness to testify before him. The previous Special Counsels have testified but only after their investigations and after they submitted they reports. The source tells cnn that the white house was not notified before the Special Counsel announcement nor for Hunter Bidens lawyers. Thank you. Donald trump now has some limits on what he can and cannot talk about when it comes to the 2020 election interference case. Yesterday a federal judge issued a protective order barring the former president from disclosing any Sensitive Information about the case. Cnns Jessica Snooizer explains exactly what that means and what the judge said she will be w watching for as trump hits the campaign trail. The case against donald trump in washington, d. C. Is moving rapidly. The judge in this case is really being firm on what trump and his legal team can and cannot disclose about the case to the public. So the judge issued a protective order, and it lays out that trump cannot disclose any Sensitive Information thats given to him and his team during discovery. That includes material about the grand jury process or information from it or search warrants. She also issued several warnings to trump. She noted that even though hes running a political campaign, he still has to yield to the administration of justice. She said that means his political speech has to be somewhat limited, then thats the way its going to be. She said shes carefully scrutinizing any statements trump makes. Anything they say that can be interpreted to be intimidating to witnesses or prejudice to jurors could threaten this whole process. So under all of these terms, prosecutors are saying they are prepared to begin handing over material immediately. This includes 11. 6 million pages of documents. It includes hundreds of recordings of witness interviews, which trump will be prohibited from disclosing publicly. Well see how quickly this case goes to trial. The prosecution wants to start january 2nd. Trumps team has to propose their date next week, but the rate that the judge is moving fa here, she will likely want to gear closer to the prosecutions january date. Well see. After five years of still ahead, we are hours away from seeing some republican primary voters. Ron desantis and donald trump are going head to head. Not on the daebl stage, but at the all important Iowa State Fair. Mother nature delivering a onetwo punch. Severe storms in some areas, dangerous heat in others and millions of people are at risk. Well be right back. But he was gettiting picky, and we started noticing some allergy symptoms. We heard about the farmers dog and it was a complete transfoformation. His allergies were going away and he just had amazing energy. Its a nobrainer that remi should have the best nutritious and Delicious Food possible. Im investing in my dogs health and happiness. 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We talked with some voters who say their minds are already made up, and others are concerned ant the latest indictment of donald trump. Cnns Senior National correspondent kim law is joining us from des moines. What more are you hearing from voters there . Reporter good morning, the state fair is just starting to open up. This is