Good morning, everyone. Lets get things started with five things to know for this tuesday, september 5th. And we start with exclusive, new cnn reporting this hour, Special Counsel jack smith is not done investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Now, hes got his sights set on a connection between fundraising and the push to breach voter equipment. Also this morning, First Lady Jill BidenTesting Positive for covid19. Shes doing all right. She is fighting mild symptoms, were told. Shes at home in delaware. The president has tested negative so far. This, of course, is ahead of his trip to the g20. Also this morning, new signs that an alliance between russia and north korea is strengthening. Kim jongun expected to meet with Vladimir Putin in russia to further the Arms Negotiations. Urgent message from the mother of the escaped mother in pennsylvania. There have been four separate sightings of the fugitive. Max exodus from the desert in nevada. Thousands of people finally made it out of burning man after days stuck in the money, literally. Cnn this morning starts right now. Happy tuesday, everyone. Hope you had a restful labor day. And if you worked, thank you for that. Exclusive new reporting this hour that shows the widening scope of the federal probe into attempts to overturn the 2020 election, even though former President Trump was charged a month ago with four criminal accounts. The Special Counsel leading that probe, jack smith, is still digging. Thats according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation. And it raises the possibility that others could still face legal peril. So jack smith is following the money. Sources tell us smiths team of prosecutors has asked two recent witnesses about how money that was raised off baseless claims of voter fraud was spent to fund attempts to breach Voting Systems in several key states that joe biden won. So we know prosecutors have focussed their questions on the role specifically of former trump lawyer Sidney Powell, who entered the public consciousness with unsubstantiated claims, like this one. We have mathematical evidence in a number of states of massive quantities of trump votes being trashed, just simply put in the trash, like you would on your computer with any file. And biden votes being injected. Poppy noted, unsubstantiate and outright lie. Powell was indicted in the Georgia Election subversion case. Cnn obtained invoices that show powells nonprofit defending the republic hired forensic firms that accessed Voting Equipment in four swing states, georgia, pennsylvania, michigan and arizona. In georgia that access looked like this. The Coffee County gop Chair Standing by as others inspect the county Election Office the day after the attack on the capitol. Well bring in Zachary Cohen who helped break this story. Theres a ton in here. I think thats important to note the full context of things. But lay out what the Special Counsel has been investigating since the indictment. Yeah, good morning, guys. Jack smith is doing exactly what he said he was going to do about a month ago when he indicted former President Trump. Hes still digging. Sources are telling me and paula reed, he is focussing on a few key areas is following the number and looking into Sidney Powell. She raised a lot of money, were not sure how much, but it was a lot. A lot of money based on these lies that the election was stolen. She then said that this defending the Republic Group was something that could help fund the legal challenge that she and other Trump Lawyers were putting forward in key swing states trying to dispute the outcome there. Jack smith has been asking at least two witnesses about Sidney Powell and whether she was able to back up these claims of election fraud. They wanted to know how the money from defending the republic went to fund these efforts to find any evidence of voter fraud or widespread fraud which they did not. Sidney powell, as you mentioned, these invoices do connect defending the republic directly to these breaches we have seen investigated at a state level but not really from a federal level. Jack smith does seem to still be investigating those two elements of this. Its really interesting reporting from you and paula. This is really focussed on people outside of former President Trumps act. But how does it all connect to the former president . Yeah, poppy. Jack smith made clear in his indictment that donald trump sits atop a vast conspiracy to overturn the election. And Sidney Powell, unindicted conspirator. Sidney powell has legal jeopardy here. Prosecutors asking questions. Remains to be seen whether or not she will its worth noting that in georgia the charges that she faces there are all tied to a Voting System breach in Coffee County in south georgia. They have come up in some of these witness interviews that have been connected by jack smiths team cently as well as some breaches in michigan and pennsylvania. Zach, thats something i wanted to follow up on. You, our colleagues and sara murray broken a ton of elements on the breaches in Coffee County. How does this tie together . What else have you learned . Three years past january 6th and still learning about how different people played significant roles in this effort to overturn the election. And i learned just recently that another witness came forward in april, sat down with the Special Counsels office and said, look, his former boss, a wealthy gop donor in pennsylvania by the name of Bill Backenberg fund a multistate effort in pennsylvania, michigan and arizona and georgia. People coming forward and really fake elector, so people have been coming forward and reporting thins they think the feds need to investigate. Remains to be seen how that might play into a federal investigation or potentially criminal charges down the line. Zachary cohen, thanks again for the reporting. New overnight, First Lady Jill Biden tested positive for covid and is experiencing mild symptoms according to the first ladys office. Were told President Biden tested negative and is still planning to go to india to the g20. Arlette saenz is live for us. The first Ladies Health and very busy and consequential week for the president. Reporter a busy week for First Lady Jill Biden. She was set to begin teaching at the Community College here near washington, d. C. , just this week. But now she will remain at their home in rehoboth beach, delaware, after receiving that Positive Covid test on monday evening. Now she spent the weekend there with her husband after they had traveled down to florida to survey the damage after hurricane idalia. And the white house says that after the first lady received that positive diagnosis, the president went ahead and tested and he tested negative. Now White House Press secretary Karine Jeanpierre says the president will continue to maintain a regular testing cadence throughout the week and monitor for symptoms. But there are questions about what this will mean for the 80yearold president and his incredibly hectic schedule. If you look at what hes planning for this week, a bit later today, she is set to host a Medal Of Honor Ceremony at the white house on thursday. On monday, hell over the weekend he will also travel on to vietnam. The white house will be closely monitoring how the president is doing in the wake of his wife First Lady Jill Biden receiving that Positive Covid diagnosis. Now this is the second time the first lady has tested positive for covid. Her husband had tested positive last summer in july. She tested positive in august. Both of them had undergone paxlovid and then experienced a rebound case. Were waiting to hear whether they might go down that route and use the paxlovid treatment. For the time being, she remains in rehoboth beach, delaware and the president will continue to test throughout the week as he has that busy events on his schedule. Arlette saenz for us at the white house, thank you very much. Coming up for us, u. S. Officials say kim jongun is planning to meet with Vladimir Putin in russia. This is a big deal. Theyre going to talk about supplying weapons in the war against ukraine. And the senate is coming back to work today with several major issues looming over capitol hill, including a potential Government Shutdown and concerns over Senate Minority leader Mitch Mcconnells health. Well break down a huge month ahead. Stay with us. 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Am i . Ya the queen sleep number c2 smart bed is now only 999. Plus free Home Delivery when you add an adjustable base. Shop now only at sleep number. Is really significant zwomt. North Korean Leader kim jong moon may meet with russian president Vladimir Putin pretty soon to advanced on going Arms Negotiations. The potential deal could see pyongyang providing significant ammunition for different kinds of weapons to support russias war on ukraine. The kremlin has just declined to comment, but u. S. Intelligence is indicating this. And the timing of any Putin Kim Jung unmeeting is not confirmed. The New York Times says it is expected to take place mid this month. Kylie atwood joins us live at the State Department with more. If this happens, its a huge deal, especially the fact that kim jongun would travel out of country to go do this. Reporter thats right. U. S. Officials are actively telling north korea to cease these conversations with russia at this time. Weve heard that from u. S. Officials quite frequently over the last week or so. But this is significant news that they think its actually getting to a leader level engagement. A leaderlevel potential decision with Nsc SpokespersonAdrian Watson tells us its kim jongun who is expecting to meet with President Putin to engage with President Putin in russia. Now, as you said, we dont know the exact timing of this actual, potential engagement. The New York Times is saying it could happen as soon as this month in the far east in a area in russia where kim jongun travelled in the past, by train. But the backdrop here is that north korea has sold Infinity Weapons to russia throughout the course of this war dating back to last year. And what the u. S. Is looking for now is the potential for a new Arms Agreement between the two countries with the Nsc Spokesperson top official john kirby saying last week that the expectation is that this would include a significant amount of ammunition from north korea to russia to be used in multiple different types of Weapon Systems that russia has and also the possibility of Raw Materials for russias defense sector. We know thats a key area as well just because of how many sanctions are on russia right now as a result of their invasion of ukraine. We have seen a flurry of activity between the two countries in recent months with the Russian Defense minister visiting north korea in july. A followup meeting by additional russian officials to north korea. And we also know, according to nsc that kim jongun and putin talked about deepening the relationship between the two countries. Poppy. So many steps leading up to what appears to be this meeting in a matter of weeks. Thanks very much. Lets bring in New York Times white house and National Security correspondent david sanger. David, i want to start with white house officials have been warning about the possibility of this, have been signaling this was a potential likelihood over the course of several months. Obviously as poppy and kylie just laid out, the progression that we have seen on a bilateral basis between russia and north korea. Why now, though, in terms of actually moving forward on these weapon sales and deliveries . Well, phil, its really fascinating question. And i think the answer is that the russians are probably running low on ammunition, just as ukraine did. Youll remember that when the United States needed to find Artillery Shells for ukraine, it got them from south korea. And thats because the Korean Peninsula has basically armed up with the kind of artillery on both sides that the russians need, that the ukrainians need. So i think from the russian perspective, theres a little bit of youre going to go to the south. Well go to the north. But theres Something Else thats going on here as well. While i think the russians have a fair bit o gain, as kylie described, not only weapons but Raw Materials, the north koreans have a huge amount to gain, phil. What can they get from this . They can get oil, something thats hard to come by for north korea. They can get help on their icbms which have been impressively tested over the past few months, including some that can probably reach the United States. Obviously an area that russia knows a lot about. And finally, phil, they get legitimacy. Theres a super power that actually needs them. David, youve termed this the access of the aggrieved pointing to north korea, iran, russia and china. That begs the question of is this a onetime meeting to serve a onetime purpose . Or is this the beginning of something that should be much more concerning to the west. Oh, i think its concerning. This access of the aggrieved is something that we have really seen come up as a reaction to the United States, nato, the rest of the west, rallying behind ukraine. We