we begin this hour with

breaking news in the january 6th investigation into former president donald trump. special counsel jack smith plans to present evidence at trump's trial next year that his continued support for capital rioters showed he intended to inspire violence on january six as part of a conspiracy he led to overturn the 2020 election. >> let's get more now on this with cnn's chief legal affairs correspondent, paula reid and former federal prosecutor, renato mary adi. tell us what we're hearing here and why dissociative again. >> this is fascinating because this is the first time the special counsel has really laid out exactly how they are going to present large parts of their case before a jury next march. they listed all the specific evidence that they intend to present. at a high-level, they are going to argue that, look, since january 6th, former president trump has continued to show public support for the capitol rioters. for example, he has suggested

that, if he is reelected, he could offer them pardons. he has called them, quote, hostages. prosecutors argue that this shows that he conspired to incite violence. they say that this shows motive and intent to commit federal crimes. they continue to go down a list of other specific pieces of evidence they want to present. for example, they take it way back before january 6th, in the 2020 presidential debate. you may remember than president trump was asked to denounce the extremist group the proud boys. instead of denouncing them, he instead appeared to call it to them publicly. saying, quote, stand back and stand by. according to this new filing, they argue that many members of the proud boys embraced that. we know, many of them were active participants in the attack on the capitol. they also, they note, refused to commit to the peaceful transition of power out of the 2020 presidential election. and then prosecutor say after the election, he was putting

pressure on state officials and attacking anyone who refused to agree that there was fraud in the election, including his then vice president, mike pence. they point to the fact that people he identified were subject to attacks and harassment. one last thing i thought was interesting was a taken all the way, back over a decade, to 2012. they say he is a long established pattern of claiming fraud whenever there is an election result he did not like. this plan, this is effectively putting the former president and his lawyers on notice about what they want to present their case. it does have to be approved by the judge overseeing this case, judge tanya check-in. >> renata, over to you. we have seen trump's team indifferent cases make the argument that trump was within his purview, acting legally on january 6th because of the first amendment. i imagine, when you are visualizing the defense from trump's team, they're likely going to repeat that type of defense. no? does that make sense? >> absolutely.

that is exactly why we are seeing the special counsel look at this evidence. the defense has to be, if you are on the trump team, that he just made a speech, constitutionally protected, first amendment protected speech and was shocked to learn that people were engaging in violence and attacking police officers and storming the capital and destroying property. that was surprising to him, he didn't intend for them to do those things. the evidence that the special counsel is going to present is going to show that, despite that, trump hasn't distanced himself from these people. he hasn't said, well, all these people attacked the capitol violently and her people and actually resulted in deaths, some deaths, i have nothing to do with those people. i am shocked and abhorred by their behavior. instead, he has embraced them, called them patriots, suggested pardoning many of them. he has, in many ways, lifted

them up. that is precisely why the special counsel can use this evidence, they want to undercut the defense -- >> do you expect that his lawyers at some point, if they were worth their salt, would have said to him, you are opening yourself up to liability here if you do not distance yourself? if you do not condemn this. rather than showing approval for this behavior. >> 100%. you have the nail on the head. if i was defending this case, i would absolutely be telling my client to keep his mouth shut. i will just say, as someone who defends white-collar cases across the country, one of the challenges is, what i will say, client management, so to speak. for a lot of clients, they understand that, oh my goodness, i'm under federal indictment, this is such a serious matter.

i'm going to keep my mouth shut, listen to you. others do, not donald trump of course infamously does not listen to lawyers. he is running the show and i think he is really, ultimately, hurting him self more than anything by his continued behavior. his behavior here and that he's had since january 6th is not consistent with somebody who is against the violence of the capital. it is more consistent with someone who encourages and embraces that violence. >> just given his track, record i mentioned there are few plans more difficult to manage than the former president. walk us through where this fits in the broader context of the case of the special counsel is building. >> it's interesting because, when we are covering these investigations over the past couple, years we weren't sure if former president trump would be charged related to january 6th. seemed like a much more obvious case down in mar-a-lago, the classified documents investigation. easier charge, easier to prove. but here, we are getting a

better understanding of exactly how prosecutors intend to support their case. of, course this is going to be the first federal criminal case in a series of two. subsequently, he is scheduled to go to trial on the mar-a-lago documents case as well. here, they're laying out exactly how they're going to present this to a jury. as i, noted they are going to go all the way back over, decade back to 2012, and lay out how he has a pattern of claiming fraud when he doesn't like the outcome of an election. they're going to talk about the statements that he did and would not make ahead of the election, what he did following the election. they're going to lay out those pattern of behavior and they argue that particularly the support, continued, unrelenting support for the capitol attackers, that this all helps support their argument that he is engaged in multiple conspiracy counts. and of course, his efforts to obstruct official proceeding. this is a really interesting insight into what we are going to see you in this case goes to trial in march. >> as paula was saying, this is up to the judge, if she is

going to allow the prosecution to proceed with this. any indication to you of which direction she will go? >> i think she will absolutely present this evidence. this is core evidence of the defendants intent and motive. essentially, the argument that the defense will have is that this is irrelevant, going to prejudice him in some way. under the rules of evidence, the only prejudice that is considered his fair prejudice. i am imagine that judge chutkan is going to find that this is highly prohibitive, highly relevant evidence of trump's state of mind. it is very likely this evidence will be presented in trial. >> adding a very big new twist to all of this. renato, paula, thank you to vote, we appreciate it. we have breaking news now out of capitol hill. senator tommy tuberville,

republican from alabama, saying he is lifting most of his hold on hundreds of top military promotions. we have cnn's lauren fox with us on this. lauren, you are at a gaggle with the senator, a scrum of reporters, trying to get some information from him. what did he say? >> yeah, this was an announcement that senator tuberville made to his colleagues in the republican caucus lunch. the big news here is that he is releasing the majority of his holds that he has had now for more than ten months on hundreds of military promotions. specifically, he is dropping his holds on all three star military promotions and below. that means he's going to be holding up just about a dozen nominations on four star promotions and above. that, obviously, takes considerably less time to work its way through the united states senate within the hundreds of nominations that he was holding up. we pressed him on whether or not he had any regrets about

going through this process, given the fact that he did not get what he wanted in terms of the department of defenses policy that allowed them to reimburse servicemen and women who had to travel out of state to seek abortions if that services not offered in the state that they are living in. senator tuberville said he didn't have any regrets, he argued that this was primarily just a draw with democrats. here he was. >> senator tuberville, do you have any regrets that you didn't achieve exactly what you set out to do? that the policy is still in place? >> it was pretty much a draw, they didn't get what we, wanted we didn't get what we wanted. when they change the rules, it is hard to win. they change to the nba, rules we didn't get to fight for it in the senate. it's just unfortunate that the american people didn't get a voice.

>> reporter: [inaudible] >> what just happened? i'm releasing everybody. i still have a hold on 11 four star generals. everybody else is completely released from me. i think a few other people got holds, one or two or three people. but other than, that it is over. thank you. >> obviously, major news there from senator tommy tuberville. he was being pressed by many of his republican colleagues to back off of these holds after months because they argued that it was affecting military readiness. they argued they were on the brink of potentially changing the senate rules so that they could pass a large number of those nominations in block on the senate floor. all of those factors lead to senator tuberville backing off today. but again, he said he had no regrets. pressed specifically on what his message was to those military families who have been left in limbo over the last

several months, he said simply, thank you for your service. breonna? >> patients as well. frustration for many of them as well. very quickly, i wanted to clarify and something that he said there as your questioning him. he said he is holding 11 four star generals but he also said, is that right, that he may still hold a few others besides the four stars? >> what he is saying there is that other senators always have the ability to hold up individual nominees as they see fit. he didn't provide any answers about which senators might have specific concerns about specific nominees. but, again a senator can't ultimately stop anomaly for moving forward, breonna. just the reality, that because he was holding up so nominations, it was basically impossible for the senate to get through any other business if they were to move through those nominations one by one. if senators have holds on individual nominees, that would take much less time to work its way through the senate, breonna,

than the holds that tuberville had. >> still would be extraordinary to go one by one, through them even if it's just a small number. lauren fox live for us on the hill, great hustling there to catch up with the senator. thank you for that. let's bring in now retired lieutenant general mark hertling, cnn military analyst. how are you reacting to this lifting of most of the holds? actually, general, hold on a second, let's go to the pentagon for the briefing there. >> -- he has suggested he would continue to hold for star nominations, what problems does that create? >> certainly we are encouraged by the news and we will continue to stay engaged with senator tuberville and the senate directly to urge that all the holds on all general flag officer nominations be lifted, to include those nominated for four star. as you know, there been a part of 455 nominations concerning

451 general and flag officers at the senate for consideration. in terms of the number of four stars, there would be at least 11 four stars that would be impacted by those continue to hold. and all of those positions, obviously, our key senior leadership positions to include the vice chief of the various services. the commander of u.s. specific fleet, the commander of pacific air forces, commander of air combat command as well as the commander of united states northern command, cyber command and space command. clearly vital and critical organizations, all of which require experienced senior leaders in those positions. >> reporter: does this create any complications as some of the people move up into the three star jobs and some move into other positions?

this is create complications for people in the same post? what happens with those who are nominated? >> for, that is something we will continue to work through. this is obviously developing. but clearly, something that the department has experience in in terms of managing general and flag officers. but to your point, it is not just flicking a switch and suddenly everyone moves into these new positions. you have to consider things like when people can move, where the people that are moving out of the positions are going. all of that has to be carefully orchestrated and done in a way that enables us to continue to conduct the operations without having significant impact. not only on the mission but also on the individual family members. that will be something, clearly, that will continue to work through and have more information on in the coming days. jennifer? >> reporter: what was accomplished by senator tuberville's hold? >> i would have to refer you to

senator tuberville the talk about that. clearly, from a department of defense standpoint, we have a mission to do and we require senior leaders in key positions to help lead and conduct the operations of the department of defense. so, i'll just leave it at that. >> can you be more specific about the impact it actually had in terms of the officers and their families? what impact it have? >> clearly, again, as evidenced by everything that is going on in the world right now, we have a very important mission in terms of defending this nation. anytime you add a level of uncertainty into the chain of command, it creates an unnecessary friction and has an impact on readiness as we try to stay focused on the mission, which we are going to do. this department is very focused on a daily basis on getting that mission done.

when it is unclear whether or not your senior leaders are going to be in place at the time and place they are needed, that of course creates unnecessary friction and does have impact on readiness. >> reporter: was any agreement made with senator tuberville? what changed? >> i would have to refer you to senator tuberville for that. matt? >> i've a question about racketeering. we know about the 1:30 that struck ran back militants interior after -- >> reporter: all right, you are listening there to the pentagon briefing, where we are hearing a reaction to this news that senator tommy tuberville is going to be lifting his holds on almost all of these promotions of general and flag officers. with the exception of four, pardon me, at least 11 four star generals. i want to bring back in retired general mark hertling to talk about this. what is your reaction to this news? because almost all of these

holes now going away, but he is holding on to almost a dozen and arguably very important roles here. >> yeah, breonna, it is interesting. i give the general path writer kudos because he was extremely professional and basically said what an acting, serving officer would say. that, is they are still working with senator tuberville and we don't know what he meant to do. i'll tell, you from a retired perspective, this was almost a year's worth of performative politics on the part of the senator. that restricted the capability of the united states military to do its job. that harm national security. that was cruel to the families of these officers and which, really, generated a lack of faith and a lack of trust between the civilian authorities and the military that they oversee.

this was just something that a senator decided to do and it hurt the military. it hurt individuals and their families. >> reporter: one of the things i noticed was that it seems to reveal, on senator tuberville's part, a lack of understanding of how the military works. he would, say these are the generals who are running the military and, obviously, he had an issue at least initially. it seems like it, evolved whatever's issue was, overtime. but his issue initially was the abortion travel policy. that is the purview of the civilian leaders of the military. i've talked with people who were in committee with him who say he gets confused over pretty basic things about the military, the difference between space force and space command. as we, know one of the hold still is going to be on space command. why is it so important that someone in his role has a better understanding of how

these things work? >> he is a civilian in a civilian authority role above the military. the military is controlled by our civilian authorities. that's why you don't see a lot of the active serving general speaking up against him. they're his bosses, they represent the people who are truly our bosses. not individual senators put those they represent. breonna, from the very beginning, senator tuberville has been insulting and condescending to the military. he has, shown even though he said on several occasions, i know more about the military than anybody. if he did, he would understand how promotion levels are determined in the executive branch for three and four star generals and all flag officers. and he doesn't understand that. he's an irresponsible position. even after he was condemned by his fellow senators for doing the things he was doing, he

still continued on. and as you saw with lauren, approaching him at the car just now, he still wasn't understanding what he has not accomplished by doing this and being cruel to active duty flag officers. it is just unfortunate that we have this lack of understanding by the civilian authorities on what the military's, with the military does and how you affect them by these arbitrary moves, which senator tuberville has been doing. and as you say, his beef is with the policy. his beef isn't with the members who are serving in the military. but unfortunately, they're the ones who have had to suffer that degradation. breonna, i'll tell you, i have personal issues with this. i was once on a list with about ten other officers that was held up by a senate staffer.

the senator didn't even know that it was being held up. it required one individual on that list who was probably one of the best officers i've ever worked with after literally retire because he went over his retirement age while he was waiting for the list to be published. these are the kinds of things that are harmful and hurtful, not only to the officers but to their families as well who are traveling around and trying to support the military members. as you well know. >> reporter: he said it was a draw, i think it is pretty clear he's being generous to himself. we should be, clear some of his republican colleagues, also very much opposed this policy he was opposing. that's not surprising. but they took major issues as well with the way that he was handling his opposition. general, great to have your perspective, here thank you so much for joining us. >> thanks, breonna.

>> reporter: according to the washington post, there have been more deadly mass shootings this year than any years that leads 2006. two senators sponsoring a new bill to tackle gun violence will join us next.

the nation reached a grim milestone over the weekend. according to the washington post, the united states set a new record for deadly mass shootings. so far in 2020, three there been 38 shootings in the u.s. for four more people have been killed. one of the deadliest shootings took place in lewiston, maine, where a gunman killed 18 people using an assault style weapon that he purchased legally just by law enforcement knowing about disturbing threats he made months earlier to carry out a similar attack. we want to bring in maine senator angus king, alongside new mexico senator mark heinrich to discuss the go say, fact a new build a sponsor that tackles gun violence in an unprecedented way. senator heinrich, one of the ways this bill is unique is it tackles the internal mechanisms of these weapons. you argue that this focuses on eliminating mass shootings and it also allows second amendment advocates to ensure they have

protections in trying by the constitution. >> this bill draws a bright line between the traditional kinds of firearms like used for self-defense and hunting and sporting, between those firearms and these assault style rifles. and the things that make those assault weapons so dangerous. >> reporter: senator, king you opposed an all-out assault weapons ban back in 2013, after sandy hook. after uvalde, you expressed skepticism that that kind of law would be effective. this bill is obviously deferred that comes after what happened in lewiston. i'm wondering how much that shooting lead to you introducing this now. >> first, i should say that my reluctance to support the prior bill was because it was based on what the gun looked like rather than how it worked. subsequent to that, martin and i have been working on this bill for three or four years, to focus on the functionality and the lethality, rather than the cosmetics. that's the focus of this bill.

as i, say we've been working on it for a long time. lewiston sort of cemented and said, this is something we have got to do. it is strengthened my resolve. but we had started working on it long before and the whole point of the bill is, this guy in lewiston had two high capacity magazines duct taped together. when he started shooting people and ran out of bullets, he could just flip them around and reload in a second. that's what our bill would prevent. >> reporter: i'm wondering what your responses to folks who say they were laws on the books in maine that could've prevented that shooting, given that one force meant was aware of the threats the shooter made their. but the laws didn't work the way they were intended and, therefore, other gun control measures likely won't be as effective. what would you say? >> that is like saying, if people speed, we shouldn't have speeding laws. that's ridiculous. there were gaps and the point of the commission was to examine what happened and where

the dots weren't connected. that is a very legitimate part of this but i don't think that undermines the case for restricting the manufacture of these weapons so that they are not inherently dangerous. you mentioned the second amendment. that is consistent with the history. sought off shotguns and machine guns have essentially been illegal for 100 years. these weapons, when they have a high capacity magazines, fit into that category. that is what we are focused on. >> reporter: senator heinrich, what has the response been from republicans? i know the bill was cosponsored with an independent and some democrats. no republicans that far. >> not, yet but we are having conversations with republicans and will continue to do that. there has been more interest in this legislation than there was in previous efforts. we haven't landed anyone yet but the sad reality is practically every senator has had one of these mass shootings in their state. this conversation is only

growing more urgent overtime. >> reporter: by the way the numbers you presented at the beginning are actually worse. that 37's four people killed. if it's four people killed and wounded, it is 627. >> to a day. >> two aday, that's what we're talking about here. again, i come from a state with a very strong second member, traditional hunting tradition, second highest rate of gun ownership in the country, responsible gun ownership. but these weapons are outside of what people use for hunting or sporting. >> reporter: i imagine, senator, you presented those numbers and the bill and your argument to fellow senator susan collins, a very influential republican, someone that i imagine would be key in getting something like this advanced. what if the conversations with her been? like >> she is reviewing, it i think she's taking it seriously. she's never supported a bill like this, she has joined bill we are both on about bump stocks, which convert a semi

automatic to essentially a machine gun. she is right there on that one. i think she is taking this very seriously. >> reporter: senator, i'm glad you mentioned bump stocks. because we have seen previous legislation to eliminate things like bump stocks get reviewed by federal courts and get overturned. we know the supreme court is going to take a look at bump stocks next year. if this winds of passing, are you concerned that the supreme court, one that has undone president before, when that leans conservative, may just undo it? >> if they stay consistent to the rulings they've done in the, past including rulings like, or where scalia was the primary author, we have crafted this in a way that is well within the line of those rulings. we have been very careful to put something together that we thought could withstand the president as it stands today. there is nothing i can do if the supreme court deviates from,

that but we have written this in a way that is very much consistent with existing court rulings. >> on page 54 of the heller decision which justice goglia wrote, no one accusers him of being a liberal or anti gun, he says a second amendment is limited, there's no right to carry a gun wherever for whatever purpose. he recognize there is a category that could be regulated by the government in order to protect public safety. >> reporter: they called it inherently dangerous and unusual. it applies to things like fully automatic weapons. we would argue that these weapons, as we have to find them in this bill, would fall into the same category. >> given the number and the intensity of the shootings that we've, seen it sure was certainly apply. i want to pivot to ukraine the. i know you had a briefing that was scheduled later this afternoon with president zelenskyy of ukraine. it appears those plants

might've changed. >> the briefing is still on, he was going to have a five minute zoom. i heard there were technical issues. we'll still have the secretary of defense and the secretary of state and really hear about how catastrophic it would be to not support ukraine. >> on that point, many of your republican colleagues are concerned bus anymore to ukraine because they argue that there is corruption and not much accountability for where that money goes. here on the intelligence committee. the scene ample evidence that ukraine is misusing american funds? >> zero. >> yeah, i'm on the intelligence committee as well and i think they have done an amazing job with what they have had. the real beneficiary if we are not able to move towards this package will be russia and china will be watching. >> i met with president zelenskyy last winter that was my first question. i, said if there is corruption or waste, you're going to lose support. i don't know what he was going to say and he said, i know that very well, i spent the rest of the afternoon learning how their accounting for every thing that goes in.

now, you're talking billions of dollars, i can't sit here and say there isn't a nickel going astray but i'm convinced that the argument that somehow it is being wasted just isn't valid. we are on the front line, they're on the front lines of defending democracy. we are spending money and arms and they're spending their lives. >> senators angus king and morton heinrich, we have to leave the conversation, there we appreciate you joining us and sharing your perspective. we'll send you straight to arlington, virginia, where officials are giving an update on that house explosion last night. let's listen in. thank you for joining us for this briefing. the arlington county police department and our partner agencies continue to investigate a home explosion at 8:40 for north burlington street. yesterday, at approximately 4:45 in the afternoon, the orange county police department was dispatched to the 800th block of north barely tons to each for the report of a possible shots fired incident. on scene investigation revealed

that a male suspect this charged a flare type gun from the residents more than 30 times. upstairs attempted to engage with the suspect without success. a search warrant was ultimately obtained to allow our officers to secure any weapons, to ensure there would be no ongoing threat to the community. members of the emergency response team initially attempted to execute the warrant through various forms of communications with the suspect. however, this was not successful. and an effort to establish communications, he artie per each the front door to allow for communications and possibly surrender. at this point, officers experienced what is believed to be multiple gunshots from a firearm coming from within the dwelling. despite the ongoing threat to themselves, acp de staff continue to try to engage with the suspect to safely bring him

into custody. as the suspect began discharging several rounds from a suspected firearm inside the house, officers could not locate the source of the suspected gunfire or its intended target. officers began to deploy nonflammable, less lethal chemical munitions to multiple areas within the residents where the suspect was believed to be hiding. the purpose of this type of deployment is to cause irritation in hopes of compelling the suspect to surrender. based on the preliminary investigation of this incident, we believe that the resident of the home, james you, 56, of arlington, is the involved suspect. the orange county police department does not have prior documented interactions with the suspect at this address other than to calls for service for loud noise over the past couple of years. we are aware of concerning social media posts allegedly

made by the suspect, these will be reviewed as part of the ongoing criminal investigation. the suspect was inside the residence at the time of the explosion and he is presumed at this point to be deceased. human remains have been located at the scene and the office of the chief medical examiner will work to positively identify the individual and determine the cause and manner of death. our investigation has now transferred into a recovery operation, as we work to collect all available evidence. there is no ongoing threat to the community related to this incident and no outstanding suspects. this i specks residents was a duplex, the other residents were evacuated prior to the explosion occurring. thankfully, there were no serious injuries to any officers, other public safety officials or community members. i can assure you that this incident will be thoroughly

investigated. at this point, the primary investigating agencies are the northern virginia critical incident response team and the arlington county fire departments fire marshals office. the investigative team also includes members of the federal bureau of investigations and the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms. we will continue to work this incident in collaboration and coordination with our federal partners. i would like to thank the arlington community for their support during this time and patience as we complete what will be an extensive and time consuming investigation. i also want to express how proud i am of the members of the police department and all of our public safety partners for their courageous and professional actions to ensure the safety of our community. thank you for being here. >> good afternoon, everyone. i would like to add a few additional remarks on behalf of the fire department.

the key point, this investigation is ongoing. there is no timeline as to when that investigation will conclude. the early to county fire department, the office of the fire marshal, working with our federal partners, local partners on calls and origin, that will take time. i would also like to share appreciation to the arlington county fire department personnel. their efforts last evening saved lives. period. they minimized damaged property and i thank them for their efforts. the suppression efforts were ongoing through most of last evening and into the early morning hours. this, point the fire is completely extinguished. but, again i say, the investigation is ongoing with

no timeline for the conclusion. thank you. >> good afternoon, aaron miller, deputy county manager for public safety for earlington county. i want to echo what chief pen and jenkins mentioned. appreciation for the entire public safety family, from our 9-1-1 team all the way through to the police officers, paramedics, firefighters, i'm urgency management staff and all those within the community that have landed a hand to respond to this critical incident. i particularly want to say thank you to our federal partners, as they continue to walk hand-in-hand with us and provide resources where necessary. there are about ten households that were impacted by this incident. those ten households, we have been providing direct support to them. we have been in contact with all of them. that ranges from helping to provide them some housing and sheltering and also providing basic needs, toiletries, other necessitates. we're going to continue to do that and we've had a reception center. we reached at individually to all of those households that have been affected.

we'll have that reception center open for them today as well as tomorrow to continue to provide those services. included with that is mental health counseling services that we are making available. some mental health counseling. we're also providing referrals to some of our nonprofit community based partners including the red cross, salvation army and others as necessary. i do want to say that, as the chiefs both mentioned, this is going to be a prolonged and i think a little contracted incident. we received resources requests from the emergency management department to assist with debris cleanup, to assist in the investigation, things like that. as we continue to gather those resources, we will ask for the communities patients as the surrounding area will remain closed for the foreseeable future. we appreciate everybody is consideration of that. >> good afternoon, i'm dave thunberg, us interact are in charge of the washington field office of the federal bureau of investigation. i would like to thank chief pan

and the arlington county police department in earlington county fire department for the opportunity to be here for the opportunity to collaborate alongside our other federal partners in this very important investigation. the fbi is assisting in coordinating with our lead county and our fellow partners on this investigation into how this house explosion occurred. the individual who caused it. we continue to provide resources to help confirmed that this was an isolated incident or that there is no ongoing threat to this community or to other communities. when the incident occurred last night, the fbi sent special agent bomb technicians along with other federal partners as well as investigative agents to help support our law enforcement partners here in the local community and to assess the scene and provide technical support. the individual chief pen reference had previously communicated with the fbi via phone calls, online tips and letters over a number of years. i would characterize these communications as primarily complaints about alleged frauds he believed were perpetrated against him. the information contained

therein and the nature of those communications did not lead to opening any fbi investigations. again, i'd like to think all of our law enforcement and public safety partners and appreciate the opportunity to contribute to this investigation. thank you. we've been listening to officials in arlington, virginia, where last night there is a major house explosion. officials saying they had been called to the home of 56-year-old james you multiple, times at least 30 times. they were trying to serve a warrant after complaints from neighbors that he had been setting off layers repeatedly. when they arrived, officials say that there was gunfire inside of the house. they could not detect exactly where it was coming from. so, than, officials, deployed this was important, they said they deployed nonflammable irritants of multiple parts of the home. i also heard from fire department officials saying they turn off the gas at the home before the explosion. and then, you saw on fold this

giant fireball sending debris flying into the neighborhood. officials believe that the 56-year-old was killed in the explosion. in, fact they found human remains inside the home. now, they're working to confirm the identity of those remains. there are other people in the duplex in which he apparently lived. fortunately, they were evacuated before the explosion took place. officials insist the investigation is still ongoing. we will, of course, bring you the very latest as we get it. in the meantime, more breaking news on the trump legal front. cnn has just learned that eric trump is not going to be testifying in the new york civil fraud trial. we'll take you live outside the courthouse, next.

in order for small businesses to thrive, they need to be smart, efficient, savvy. making the most of every opportunity.

that's why comcast business is introducing the small business bonus. for a limited time you can get up to a $1000 prepaid card with qualifying internet. yep, $1000. so switch to business internet from the company with the largest fastest reliable network and that powers more businesses than anyone else. learn how you can get $1000 back for your business today. comcast business. powering possibilities.

this just into cnn eric trump will no longer testify in the civil fraud trial against him, his father and brother. cnn's kara scannell outside of the courthouse. tell us why the change here. >> trump's attorney just came into the court after the lunch break, saying they are streamlining the case and would no longer call eric trump to testify in his defense. as a reminder, he was called to testify the new york attorney general when they're putting on their case. he was going to be one of their final witnesses. now you think they are not calling him because they're moving to shorten the case. what that means there will be no court tomorrow. on thursday, there will be an accounting professor at nyu professor will be testifying. we also understand that former president donald trump will be

in attendance on thursday, that was the plan as of yesterday, tell us into the testimony. he then will testify as the final witness and the defense. that will be on monday and that is expected to go all day. trump's attorney did ask the judge to postpone trump's testimony until the appeals court could hear argue and rule on their efforts to lift this gag order. the judge shut that down and saying, absolutely not, no way, no how. he will testify monday. right now, court has resumed with one of the expert witnesses to talk about valuations of these properties. that is expected to wrap up this afternoon and then we are going into the shortened schedule. as this case nears the finish, line we are in the tenth week of this fraud trial, next, week after trump's testimony, the attorney general's team says they will have one rebuttal witness will be very short and then the case will be over. the judge said he will rule on this, so, not until early next, year breonna?

>> kara scannell with the very latest from outside the courthouse. thank you. now, to the latest chapter in a solid about cnn covered very closely, a lawsuit filed by gabby petito's parents argues that brian laundrie made a frantic phone call to his parents telling them that gabby was gone. you might remember, the couple was on a cross-country road trip documenting their adventures on social media. petito's parents are now amended their civil lawsuits against laundrie's parents, claiming they knew their son killed gabby three weeks before her beaten body was discovered in grand teton national park. let's discuss with cnn's jeanne casarez. jean, you've been following this case from the very beginning. what do we know about why this was filed now? >> reporter: the third amended complaint, because this case was originally filed last year in march of 2022. no reason is given. on his, face you could say there are more detailed factual accusations here from the petito's against the laundries

because they are suing them for intentional infliction of emotional distress. but one thing i didn't know it, that a month ago, on the case summary online from the courthouse, because i always look at that to see with the latest is. there was a notice of possible and proposed plea offer from the laundrie's to the petito's. that has gone nowhere, there's nothing about that. we have really serious accusations here. let's look at the timeline, the timeline as focused, first of all on august 27th, that's when it is believed brian laundrie killed gabby petito. that was the date, august 27th in the complete. two days later is, when according to the amended complaint, a phone call from prime audrey to his parents that, says quote, this is from the complaint, on august 29th, brian laundrie advised his parents, christopher laundrie and roberta laundrie in a frantic telephone call that

gabby was gone and he needed a lawyer. now, the complaint also says that they immediately contacted steve brutally, know their family lawyer and even gave him a retainer. two days later, the lawyer, september 2nd at this point, contacted other attorneys in wyoming to represent brand laundry in the public defenders office, where gabby petito's body was discovered. public defender, they only defended criminal cases and we know that two weeks after that is when her body, her remains were discovered. it was not because of the laundries, it was because of campers, people in the area, social media, everyone who was trying to find out what happened to gabby petito. this suit, for intentional infliction of emotional distress, is because the petito's allege that the

laundrie's cut them off. they wouldn't respond to, them they blocked them on facebook, they wouldn't say anything except a letter that went out to the media saying we hope you are reunited with your daughter, gabby. they say you knew fully well what had happened to her head you say this? this civil suit continues. but eye-opening, things that are alleged in this, we've reached out to the laundrie's and their attorney, stephen bertolino, who's a codefendant. there is no response from them at this point but they will have to respond in a legal answer to this amended complaint. >> jean, the petito's already received a 3 million dollar judgment against the laundrie's for gabby's wrongful death. that was last year. what is their objective? what are they looking for, the outcome of this new filing? >> reporter: i think they want the truth. i think they want to know exactly what they knew and with the facts are. because the laundrie's have never spoken to them. and in court, we heard that

they will not be responding to them and that they have no duty, the laundrie's have no duty to say anything to the petito's. that is one reason that i think this was filed. they want to understand the truth. >> jean casarez, thank you so much for bringing us this latest eye-opening update. much appreciated. we'll be right back, stay tuned to cnn.

we are beginning with breaking news coming up with q -- capitol hill, lifting most of the holds