Deadly u. S. Wildfire in a century. New questions are emerging about the Emergency Response there. A chaotic smashandgrab caught on camera but was anybody caught by police . Im john berman with kate baldwin and sarah sidner, we are the anchors of cnnCnn News Central which starts now. Welcome to unchartered territory once again. Right now a grand jury is meeting in georgia. And moments ago, we have now learned that former Georgia State senator is inside the courthouse right now to offer her grand jury testimony. Things are happening right now. Tomorrow, willis is expected to call two more witnesses to testify as shes laying out her case to charge a dozen people. Overnight reporting into cnn, willis has Text Messages and emails directly linking trumps inner circle to the breach of the Voting System in georgia which is part of this overall investigation right now. Paula reid is outside of the courthouse. What is the latest were learning about the State Senator who is now testifying and what this means in terms of timing here . Reporter well, kate, today we expect that the District Attorney will begin laying out her case before the grand jury. This is expected to take about two days and shes expected to present evidence that will detail an alleged conspiracy to overturn the results of the election here in the state of georgia. We expect the District Attorney is going to pursue charges like racketeering and shes alleging this is a conspiracy. It suggests more than one person would be charged. Our Latest Reporting is that over a dozen people are expected to be charged. Former President Trumps own attorneys have said they do expect that he will be facing charges here in georgia. Now today as you just detailed, theyve already begun calling one witness, but we know tomorrow, at least two more witnesses are scheduled to testify. So the soonest any indictment is expected to happen would be tomorrow. And while there are some similarities between the georgia case and the Special Counsels january 6th prosecution, kate, there is one significant difference and that is that this is a state case. Not only are they focused just on the alleged actions here in the state of georgia, but this is also a state prosecution. If former President Trump is reelected, this case would fall outside his ability to pardon himself, pardon others, or fire the prosecutors involved. So for years now, the former president s attorneys have said this is the case that they are most concerned about. Theyve also raised questions about the idea of a democratic prosecutor or any elected prosecutor being able to pursue former president s in a criminal case. I think thats a theme that youre going to see over the next few days if and when charges are filed here in Fulton County. Absolutely. Great to see you. Thank you so much. Sarah . With us now is former federal prosecutor daniel perry. Thank you so much for being here. Can you explain from the perspective of a prosecutor, how significant are these Text Messages linking Trumps Campaign to the breach of Voting Systems in coffman county, georgia . Its significant. Its certainly significant at least with respect to certain punitive defendants, likely defendants, including elected officials out of the county who issued these unlawful invitations. Theres no question that they were aware that this was outside the boundaries of the law and that various statutes were implicated, including computer trespass, violation of privacy, and so those people i think theres never been any question, are certainly going to be under investigation and potential prosecution. What is interesting now from these latest reports is that there actually appears to have been some close collaboration with members of trumps team, including Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani in that it appears that the former president himself, or the president at the time, trump, was aware as well. And so now it seems that the circle widens and certainly the das net has widened as well. Initially, it was thought that this was from the ground up to the campaign. And now there are questions about whether or not this was planned by the campaign and then trickled down. I do want to talk about giulianis legal team. Theyre saying he had nothing to do with the breach and you cannot attach him to Sidney Powells Crack Pot Idea saying that he just admit this breach was a plan . And a crack pot one at that. Yeah, its never great for any defendant when other defendants start Pointing Fingers. When theres infighting amongst potential defendants, that typically means that one of them could very well cooperate against another or at least that they could have inconsistent defenses which is never good for, you know, any member of the defendant class on that side of the aisle, as it were. So that defense also appears to be rather weak sauce given the reporting, you know, with emails and messages from members of giulianis team that certainly seem to indicate that the, quote unquote, mayor was heavily involved. Its hard to see who else that could refer to. So it does seem like, you know, some of the lines of defense are crumbling. But it really does remain to see who knew what and also whether they knew what they were doing was unlawful. On other occasions, they sought judicial orders in order to look at the results of certain in certain Voting Districts and machines. In this case, it sounds like they were considering trying to get mr. Trump to seize some of these machines. And those efforts or attempts or thoughts were rejected. And so it does seem theyre going to have a hard time defending against this iteration of the scheme to simply take them upon invitation. It does seem its not surprising to me that defendants are Pointing Fingers at one another when the evidence seems this damning. Could you give me the since of what kind of charges could be brought in light of the Text Messages that we know about in this particular part of what were expecting to be an indictment in the next couple of days . In virginia im sorry, i dont know where that came come, georgia statutes on the book, there are Trespassing Statutes that go way back from common law and there are more, you know, recent statutes that relate to interference with Computer Systems and trespassing via electronic means. So theres a number of potential statutes that are Fulton County da has access to and can decide which facts best fit the legal framework. Thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate you. John . So what are the politics here . With us now, cnn political director and sometime Cnn News Central anchor david chalian. One of the other economic terms that i remember from college is the marginal rate of return which is that extra little bit of return you get from one more action. If were talking about a fourth indictment here, whats the marginal rate of complications for donald trump with this fourth indictment politically . Yeah, well, as you know, john, donald trump thinks the fourth indictment ensures his election to another term as president. We have seen the playbook that will be put into place this week as well. Obviously, theyll juice grassroots donations, fortify that base of support. Hell continue to go after the prosecutors in this case and the others. And try and portray himself a victim here in a way of bonding with his supporters that hes the victim, but that they are coming for them as well. This will just be rinse and repeat as donald trump deals with the very real world implications of the fact that his legal woes, his trial calendar, this is his Campaign Trail of 2023, 2024. It is his Campaign Trail which may or may not include a debate stage with his fellow republicans. Some of whom, david, are trying to bait him to join in the debates. Listen to this. People ask me sometimes what i think about maybe debating donald trump, i tell people, ive debated donald trump 1,000 times. Just never with the cameras on. First of all, i think President Trump, its his decision whether he wants to get on the debate stage or not. You have to earn the support of the american people. Its hard to earn their support if youre absent. You have to earn this nomination and you have to show up. You have to debate. But does he, david . Were talking about a debate thats really just a week away. Yeah, were about to get to one of the very first big moments of this campaign season. These campaigns have been moving around these early states, john, as you know, these candidates have been out there. But Republican Voters are going to get a chance to see all of them on the stage. As you know, perhaps not the frontrunner if donald trump says, as he believes, theres no reason for him to show up and take pot shots from his competitors when hes running so far ahead in the polls. Its not uncommon Hearing Pence and nikki haley and ron desantis there, for those who are running behind the frontrunner, to try and debate frontrunners into a debate. Thats tested and tried and true practice in american politics. Even if donald trump doesnt show up on this debate stage, its going to be an informative debate for republicans. When i was in iowa this weekend and going through the state fair, there are two parallel campaigns going on right now. There is this trump show and his star turn and the rallying of support around him as hes facing these legal woes, no doubt about that. But theres other this Traditional Campaign going on in the early state of getting out, the candidates meeting and greeting voters. Desantis announced a county chair in every county this weekend. He got the endorsement of a popular conservative radio host, steve deace. Just doing that hard work on the Campaign Trail, that is happening also and we know that more than half the party, john, especially in iowa, is looking for someone other than trump. The collision of these two campaigns may not happen on this first debate stage, but i think there will be value for Republican Voters to see what the alternatives for trump are, especially for those eager to see a turning of the page from trump. The next bit of sound is so good that kate baldwin snuck out early to try to see it here. This has to do with vivek who is running well in this campaign. Hes trying to get attention right now. And as far as i can tell, hes the only one who raps. Let me tell you, moms spaghetti makes me nervous. What was that that we just saw. What that was his generational argument, very much on display, right . You have a president ial candidate in his late 30s giving an eminem performance. Kim reynolds was on stage and acknowledged this was beyond her knowledge base. I dont think the campaign is going to turn on this. But i think its an important image that ramaswamy is trying to get out there. Hes trying to be the next generation embodiment of donald trump inside this republican party. We also saw it on display with desantis and his young kids all around the state fair. Its an instant visual generational contrast from the frontrunner in the republican race, donald trump. If ramaswamy can get all of the republican candidates to rap at the first debate, then well have something there. Great to see you, my friend. All the best. You have to leave it all on the field. And i think thats what were seeing with ramaswamy. And i am very supportive of leaving it all on the field. Coming up for us, Police Raid A Small Town newspaper in kansas. They raid the publishers home confiscating cell phones, computers and documents. Why the publisher thinks that the paper is being targeted for the stories theyre reporting. Why does hunter biden say that the plea deal that theyve struck should remain valid and legally binding. And back live to hawaii where First Responders have searched about 3 , only, of the area burned by the wildfires. So much more to go and its already clear how great the need for help and aid is going to be. Its i went back to get two generators and 25 gallons of gas to come back over and i waited in line for 4 1 2 hours thinking that i could get through. And a fight started when i was there. By this football pro. And proferred by This Footbalall pro who actually uses her feet. And if we profer it, we know youll prefer itit too. I use my feet. Hahave you seen me scramble . Woman whwhy did we choose safelite . We were loading our suv when. 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Officials believe it could be in the hundreds if not higher and with communication still down for much of the island, some families are waiting to see if theyre loved ones survived. But there are some stories of hope. Last week, we told you about tim williams, his granddaughter last heard from him when he sent them this photo of the raging fire you see there right next to his picture. This weekend, he was finally able to get Cell Phone Service to tell them he had made it out alive. For residents still on maui, frustration, though, is mounting. Many people spent the weekend trying to get back to lahaina to see how their homes faired. The one highway in and out of lahaina was opened and closed repeatedly leading to long lines. Today, residents will receive placards to help expedite travel into lahaina. Heres the latest. Reporter good morning from the checkpoint to get into the Disaster Zone of lahaina. And just a few miles behind us, firefighters are still working on this blaze. It isnt over nearly a week after the first flames broke out after midnight on tuesday. And according to the latest upset from maui officials, they say the fire stands at 85 contained and there are still hot spots that they are working to put out. But meantime, sarah, we are still hearing stories of incredible heroism, how difficult at the crescendo of this crisis it was to fight this blaze. Listen to the latest story that we just heard. Seemed like an apocalypse and everything seemed to be on fire. Yeah, im not going to lie, it was hard to focus at times. But we had a job to do and stood by people that watched their houses burn and they kept wanting you to fight. Yeah, its its still surreal. No matter how many times we see it, every day doing back to help clean up, help put spot fires out or it still seems like a nightmare that were trying to wake up from. In terms of whats next in the week ahead, i would say the top two priorities from people who we sepeak to all the time, the search for human remains. An incredibly delicate operation because as we listen to these press conferences, officials, veterans of disasters, t