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chief of staff takes the stand in hopes of moving his trial to federal government. we'll tell you what mark meadows said in court and why he wants the case moved out of the state's jurisdiction. and we are tracking tropical storm idalia, it is expected to strengthen into a major hurricane targeting the florida coast this week. we're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to "cnn news central". a trial date is set. today a federal judge chose march 4, 2024 as start date for the special counsel's election interference trial of donald trump. that the day right before super tuesday. of course pivotal day when voters in several states will have the chance to pull the lever possibly for trump or others in the republican primary and much sooner than the april 2026 date that trump's defense

lawyers had asked for. that is just one of two major developments today in one of two election subversion cases against donald trump. the other of course in the state of georgia, trump's former chief of staff mark meadows is on the stand today. he was there for three hours so far in the hearing to move his case to federal court, his actions after the 2020 election under the microscope in that georgia indictment. and in the spotlight during questions under oath on the stand today. justice correspondent jessica schneider is here. let's begin with that federal case, march 4, 2024, trump had wanted it more than two years after that, april 2026. how did the judge decide here? >> yeah, this was two months later than the special counsel wanted, but as you said, more than 2w0 two years earlier thant trump's team wanted. trump's attorney really pushed back on this, he kind of set the stage for a possible appeal. he said look, with this accelerated time line just about

six months away, i will not be able take provide effective counsel to the president. he said that it will deny president trump the opportunity to have effective assistance of counsel. and so they are already laying the ground work that this is not enough time here. the judge basically said i'm not taking anything else into consideration here. the quote was she is setting a trial date, it does not depend and should not depend on the defendant's personal or professional obligations. so she set that march 4 trial date without any real considerations on what else is going on for the former president. >> they can appeal where and how quickly that happened. >> down the road. they are basically saying this time line does not give us the proper ability to adequately prepare for this trial and adequately represent trump. so that is just setting the stage for far in the future. >> and their record even on appeal has not been great in a lot of these cases going back to the attempt to overturn the election. thanks very much. and now the georgia case. sara murray is with us. mark meadows on the stand about three hours now.

that is quite a long time. what has he been asked by the d.a.'s office, what has he been saying? >> reporter: well, it is sort of remarkable that he is taking the stand at all. he is a criminal defendant in this case. he has septembkept such a low p when it comes to the cases involving former president trump. but he is trying to get his case moved from state court to federal court and so he went under oath to make the argument that the activities he took part in were all related to his duties as the chief of staff for donald trump at the time. so prosecutors are asking him what is the federal duty of you being on a call with rudy giuliani, donald trump's personal attorney. and meadows is telling them that i was sort of a scheduler, i was a gatekeeper, and we have a federal interest in making sure elections are run properly. they have run through some of the specific things in the indictment against him and meadows has denied participating in some of the conduct included

in the indictment. and he also sort of opined on what it was like to have this job as the white house chief of staff saying that it was difficult to put it bluntly, that there was no way to really prepare for this kind of job and also pointing out that playing gatekeeper in the trump white house can be a difficult position to be in. >> certainly. how closely is team trump watching this hearing? >> well, they are certainly paying close attention to it. one of trump's attorneys in georgia was spotted i believe in an overflow courtroom or a team that was at court. and look, they have good reason to pay attention to this case. donald trump is expected to try to move the case to federal court, but he has not actually made that motion yet. and one of the questions as this mark meadows saga plays out, if the prosecutors will offer any kind of determination on whether they think that if mark meadows is successful here, does that mean that all of the other defendants in this case including donald trump should be moved to federal court. again, we're still deep in the

weeds of this evident area hearing. there could still be more witnesses over the course of the day to day. so we'll see what the judge may have to say on all of this. >> sara murray, thank you. let's talk more about the argument that trump may make here. he is expected to say that much of the conduct that he's been charged with was carried out in his capacity as an officer of the federal government because he was still president during the time when he and his allies tried to overturn the 2020 election results. remember trump has actually tried this move. he did it in new york in the hush money case. a federal judge there rejected the argument you may recall. however, that may not be the case in georgia where trump is facing 13 counts because for trump, taking the case federal could have several advantages. and also the charges very different than in the hush money case here. for one, jurors. a trial in the u.s. district court for the northern district of georgia would draw from a much wider jury pool than the

current case in fulton county where trump is not popular to say the least. case in point, former president trump earned 26% of the vote there, just 26% of the vote back in 2020. and there is as well another benefit for trump. and that is judges. he has appointed four of the 15 judges on the northern district of georgia district court bench that would give him a decent chance of getting one of his own picks for the trial. we should note that trump drew one his own you additional appointees in the classified documents case, that of course being judge canon ejudge aileen. and if it moves to federal court, there is a chance that he could pardon himself if elected president again. key have th he would have that authority. and let's break it down with andrew mccabe and ben ginsberg.

trump's lawyers say this is an accelerated time line and they can't be prepared. is that actually an accelerated time line? >> not particularly for a one defendant case in which you basically have three violations of law alleged. it is a big case, a case with a significant amount of discovery, but that sort of stuff is cut through every day in federal courts around the country. >> understood. okay. ben, mark meadows, his essential argument here, i should say his defense lawyer's argument, is that his duties as a member of the executive branch included what he was up to here including joining that phone call which -- in which the former president or the president at the time asked georgia top laebs oelection off to find those votes. but also speeding up the signature matching process by having the trump campaign pay for it. you're a lawyer here. does his argument that these fell under his duties as a

federal official, does it stand? >> i think it will be pretty difficult to have that argument stand. in the law, there are clear cut distinctions between political activity and the scope of the official duties. but let's remember, jim, that the trump administration had a rather unique view of that separation. this was the administration that found it was okay to have the republican national convention on white house grounds. so that the scope that mark med he meadows may bring to this is different where certainly the norms have been and also i believe the law. >> jumps ahead a bit to trump's case, making the same afrgument that these were my federal duties, you made the point off camera, why would the law and constitution open a question about whether these were under trump's federal duties? >> it is a novel argument but

one that may stick here. and that is that the first prong of that test is acting within the -- you must be a federal official, right? and there are some who argue that the president may not qualify as an officer of the federal government simply because the constitution specifies that the president is responsible for appointing all federal officers. so that in and of itself would suggest that he may not be considered one. >> and a lot of folks out there who are originalists who say we have to go exactly how it was written in the constitution. ben, as we follow events with mark meadows' attempt here to move his georgia state case to federal court, there are particular aspects to each of these defendants here that might relate to a decision to do so or not to do so. but how his case goes, is that an indicator as to how the other defendants' cases and arguments to move to federal court including trump's might go or are they different things? >> it could be, but if some

cases more than others. there are a number of defendants who had no nexus to the federal government. they were purely acting in a political capacity in their roles as state campaign people for the former president. and so while the mark meadows trial may be an indicator for some of the defendants, it is not for all of them on the same grounds. now, you then have the issue sort of efficient judicial management that will come into play for all the defendants. so this is one that is going to be born out, but interesting the sort of linchpin of the whole thing is whether what mark meadows did in those phone calls, part of his official duties or acting as a political supporter to the president. >> and i ask this question a lot of lawyers on this program and we talk to a lot of them as we analyze these cases as to what is the likelihood that one or more than one of the four

criminal cases the former president is now involved in happens before election day november 2024? are you confident that one or more of them does happen? >> i think the likelihood got better today with the recent scheduling order in the january 6 case here in d.c. i think that there is a real chance now that that case could go to trial and come to conclusion before the election. however, even that trial date as motions come up and things are won and lost and appealed and delayed, that date could slip but we have a fair amount of time to get it in. >> understood. andrew, ben, thank you both. state of emergency has been declared in florida ahead of idalia's expected landfall as a major hurricane. we'll have the looitatest on th storm. and also in jacksonville, the sheriff says he believes the gunman accused of killing several people at a dollar general store hated anyone who wasn't white. we're live on the scene. and then later, nascar

driver ryan prees is recovering after a terrifying crash. we'll have the latest on his condition.

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parts of florida's west coast are under a hurricane warning as now tropical storm idalia spins towards the gulf coast. the storm is expected to make landfall as a major category 3 storm by wednesday morning. that means dangerous storm surge. of course high winds, heavy flooding. governor ron desantis is urging residents do all they can to prepare for what is coming warning this storm will be a major impact. crews from fema have already been on the ground since last week setting up staging areas, several school districts have already closed down and a state of emergency has been declared for most of the state. evacuation orders also put in place. chad myers is in the cnn weather

center. and i think for folks at home, they are watching this thinking is this going to hit me. you can can you tell us where the evacuation orders stem from now? i know that they could change, but where do they stand now. >> and i believe that they will even if the course of the storm doesn't change. right now zone a, you need to leave. and you know if you are in zone a. you know if youuyou are 3 to 5 above sea level and your house will get wet. you need to be out of there before that happens. and then there is the voluntary, the zone b and c. if you are in a mobile home, if you live in an rv, if you have problems if you will not have power, you need to be out of there because there will likely be hundreds of thousands if not millions of people without power. there will be hundreds of thousands of pine trees that will fall on roads that will make evacuation impossible after tomorrow night. so today is the day to go. tomorrow is not too late. but wednesday certainly will be.

hurricane warnings in effect, winds will be 115. there will also be land falling waterspouts and tornadoes with this storm along the florida coast. even inland possibly as far inland as ocala, orlando. this is kind of the right side of the eye here toward tampa and inland. so, yes, so many things are going to go wrong. not will. the things that could go right, the water could be cold. it is not. there could be a lot of shear. right now there is but that will end tonight. there could be some land interaction. there won't be. there could be some dry air. there is not. so those are the four things that could cool the storm down, and we have none of it. we have nothing other than things to make the storm get stronger. and up toward the big bend of florida here, this is the area here cedar key, highway 19, i-10 will likely be shut down at some point in time with these trees falling on the interstate,

falling on the roadways. you need to evacuate before that happens. the water is 85, 90 degrees out here. we've never seen a hurricane in this type of water in the gulf before. the gulf hasn't been this warm before. so that makes sense. 7 to 11 foot storm surge in towns here, cedar key, that don't even have 11 foot of elevation. so you need to go now. there are some shelters in those towns that are between 11 and 14, but okay, let's not go between 11 and 14 if the surge is going to be up to 11. we can't really make that distinction here. there is the rainfall, there will, fresh water flooding without a doubt. the wind, all those tree, all those power lines coming down. people will be without power, jim, for weeks. without a doubt some people will not have power that long. it will take that long to get power back up when you have 110 miles per hour here in cedar key and all the way to jacksonville, hurricane force maybe even cat 2

force because it won't slow down that much. the other hingthing going on, f we're watching the beaches for rip currents. higher waves in cocoa beach and such. but because of franklin, you need to be out of the water for a different reason because the crashing waves and the dragging you out to sea risk will be extremely high starting tonight. >> something to watch. you and i always talk about how does climate change make a difference in storms like this? makes it warmer, the storms more powerful and affecting conditions today. chad myers, thanks so much. experts say that florida's active hurricane seasons are being impacted by climate change in those ways you will heard jim talk about. the warmer ocean waters, easier for storms to intensify more rapidly, higher sea levels can also feed storm surge in coastal flooding. it all works together in a bad way. and we have bill weir here to

discuss. bill, florida's no stranger to hurricanes, right? this is just part and parcel for being in florida. but tell us how climate change is making it even tougher for the state. >> well, you know, climate change doesn't really more hurricanes, it just creates more deadly or more expensive or more damaging hurricanes depending on where it hits landfall. warmer water as we just heard is the fuel. we got a lot of that. triple digits near the florida keys this summer. hot tub hot there. so it was not a matter of if but when and now it is a matter of where this comes to shore. remember less than a year ago, i was down there actually started hurricane ian watch in tampa, but it ended up hitting further south, and that one ended up being the third costliest ever behind katrina and harvey, $115 billion storm, took 150 lives in florida, over 160 elsewhere. and so, yes, it is a one-two punch season after season it

seems. >> and that is really the name of the game when we talk about all kinds of natural disasters, costliness of it. and when we talk about whether it is sustainable, just business-wise, tell us what you are seeing with insurance policies. because these numbers do not lie when you have one major carrier like farmers entirely leaving florida. >> farmers is just one of the sort of -- there is a stampede of insurers leaving florida right now. over the last 18 months, 15 home insurers have stopped adding new business, four carriers announced plans to withdraw entirely, seven companies declared insolvent. another 18 insurers which are on the regulatory watch list to make sure that they are solvent. and just last week citizens united, sort of the last resort insurer in the state publicly owned, suggested almost 20% rate increase for everybody. so even if you live in orlando or somewhere nowhere near the beach these day, you're

subsidizing the cost of living in just a place being increasingly ravaged by these hurricanes that insurance companies can't keep up with. >> they used to make their money insuring these folks in these places and now they are going bankrupt doing it. so certainly very telling. bill weir, th thank you so much. still to come, march madness of a different kind. donald trump's campaign calendar will now conflict with his legal calendar after a federal judge sets the start of his election interference trial for the day before super tuesday. we'll have more on the effects of that next. it's easy to get lost in investment research. introducing j.p. morgan personal advisors. hey david. coect with an advisor to create your personalizeplan. let's find the right investments for your goals okay, great.

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former president trump's trial date in his federal election interference case is new set. that trial will begin on march 4th of next year before setting the date, judge tanya chutkan said that she would not consider trump's personal and professional obligations and she most definitely did not. the trial will be starting one day before the super tuesday primaries. joining me now to discuss, we have national correspondent kristen holmes and also national politics correspondent eva mckend. i think of what you are doing the day before super tuesday and for all of these candidates, it is not like they are kicking back, right? what does team trump think of how this time line is shaping up? >> well, a couple things. they actually don't believe that this is going to be set in stone. i have talked to a number of trump advisors, they think it moves. they think with legal maneuvers and motions being filed, that he won't go on trial while running for president.

that has been told to me time and time again. but that doesn't mean that they are talking about what if. they know it is a possibility and they started having conversations as to what exactly it will look like if he is running for president in 2024 and having to sit through these trials. and a lot of that is really what we have seen him do time and time again, which is try to take control of the media narrative. that is how they want to deal with this. but of course they say this is discouraging to see will date right before super tuesday but they don't believe that this stands. >> that is interesting. and trump i will say is a master at utilizing, eva, every tool at his disposal to delay things legally. he's done it practically his whole adult life. but if the trial date does stand, what does that do to trump? >> given the unprecedented nature of the circumstances, i think that it is impossible to know for sure. what i'm looking at though is the response of the other candidates. what we have already seen is

that trump's legal battles has taken up so much of the oxygen in this contest. just over the weekend senator scott was in new hampshire and he was confronted by a voter and had a tense moment with this voter who asked him why he didn't do more to challenge trump. these candidates want this race to be a referendum on joe biden. they want to be about the economy. but so much of the conversation is dominated by trump's legal battles and of course that only is amplified if it is on super tuesday. >> and let me ask you about that because he was challenged, tim scott was, really only chris christie andtenders going after trump over his legal issues. is that it? >> time will tell. i think the reason we're seeing many of the candidates shy away from the fulsome criticism of the former president is because they get pushback from voters.

but even former ambassador haley on the debate stage last week she told voters, listen, he is the most unpopular politician in the country right now and we can't win a general election if he is the nominee. so some of them are sort of finding some spine on this issue. but i think that because of the pushback that they are receiving from what we have seen is a really intense base of the party, there seems to be little appetite for that. >> can't win if he is the nominee, but maybe can't win if you criticize him, these things both can be true which is so tricky for this field. to point out that this date before super tuesday was put in place today, we also just have to mention that there were developments in two cases. you have that one that is a trial date for a federal case, and then today you had mark meadows testifying for hours trying to get the georgia election interference case at least his moved to federal court. so it is this sort of confluence

of the cases. is team trump understanding this is sort of what this looks like, how do they feel about it? >> i think when you look being and you talk to the trump advisers and you look at the calendar overall and what is going on, they are always going to focus on what is best for them, which is these fundraising numbers. they will talk about how after trump's mug shot came out they raised $7.1 million. that on friday after the georgia arrest, after he surrendered, that they had their highest grossing day, $4.81 million. what they will focus on is making this political. and that there is no trump legal strategy and trump political strategy. they are one. >> but how annoyed are they that some of the money being raised, whether it is from groups aligned with trump, now have to be spent on the legal part of it instead of on the political part of it? >> i think the former president is very annoyed by that. he is very annoyed that he's had to pay all of these legal bills

and how expensive the lawyers are. he's made that clear to many of his advisers. when you look at the money that they are raising, about 90% of it goes to the campaign. but 10% goes to that save america pac and we know that that pac is bleeding out money. to the point where they gave money to maga inc. and then asked for $60 million back. because they needed that money for these legal fees. but the former president himself is outraged that he is spending this kind of money. but i will say that, you know, when it comes to where the campaign's head is at, they keep saying that this will help them. and i want to be clear, they think that it will help them in the primary. no one has any idea what it looks like in a general election and particularly they think it could actually hurt him in a general. >> hard to see how it doesn't. and that will be certainly the next phase. thank you both so much. and officials are now investigating the deadly shoots at a dollar general store in fed florida as a federal hate crime.

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in the last hour, we've learned that before this racist shooter gunned down three black americans in florida, there is a picture there entering the store, he ran from a black security officer that is according to officials at edward waters university. they just confirmed the white shooter visited the campus of the historically black college about 20 minutes before he opened fire inside a dollar general store. jacksonville police say at the store the killer gunned down

angela carr oig in the car, the went in and killed joseph laguerre and then also killed jerrald galion. and i understand the university just finished a press conference with updates on the shooter and also the officer who confronted the shooter when he first attempted to enter the university. what have we learned? >> reporter: right, it is incredible that in the minutes before that shooter ended up at the dollar general, he was here at florida's first black institution, first historically black college, and we just had a press conference where we heard from lieutenant bailey. and come over, sir, if you can. thank you so much for speaking to us. this is the man who turned away this would-be shooter when he

was on property here at this university. sir, can you run me through what happened yesterday from what i'm understanding, there were some students who summoned you. what happened? >> yes, there were students that stopped me in the parking lot and advised that there were gunman -- or that there was an individual that were putting on tactical vest, putting on glove, putting on a of courmask, hats. and at that time, just wanted to approach the vehicle and figure out what he was doing on the university property. >> so these students saw this man on campus putting on a tactical vest, a mask, gloves. obviously this is a suspicious situation so they summon you. and what do you do, talk to me about that encounter with this person. >> at that time i went to approach the vehicle. he then backed out and fled off

campus. went down, you know, to kings road, made a right. so i jumped in my patrol vehicle at that time, just wanted to get as much information as possible, tag number or something, in case anything was to happen that it could get to the proper -- >> so you knew this was somebody that did not belong on campus, especially that tactical vest, that is something that is not right. what was your worst fear that could happen in that moment? >> at that moment, just i knew he wasn't supposed to be on campus. we just want to end sure the safety of the campus. and make sure that everyone was safe at that time.sure the safety of the campus. and make sure that everyone was safe at that time. >> and you ended up following him, that is how alarmed you were by what you saw. and you also told a sheriff's deputy about him only to find out later on just minutes later that he would go on to carry out this attack at the dollar general. when you found out what happened there, the blood shed, what was

your reaction? >> definitely sad. i was definitely saddened. that is indeed a tragedy. and my heart goes out to the families of that tragedy. and we'll be praying for them here and i'll keep them in the prayers as well. >> real quick, the president here of the university calls you a hero. what is your reaction? >> i'm no hero. to me the students that informed me are the heros. we preach all the time you see something, you say something. they saw, they said. and i was able to ensure their safety. >> lieutenant bailey, thank you so much for your time. i appreciate it. back to you guys. >> goodness, what a moment there. he certainly made a difference. and we're thankful for that. joining us now is state senator tracy davis. good to have you on, senator.

this has been a tough series of days for your community and i understand that you've been in touch with some of the loved ones of the victims of the shooting at the dollar general. i wonder how they're doing. >> it is hard to say how they are doing i think. the best description would be speechless and still processing at this point. just still processing. >> as you know the justice department is now investigating this shooting as a hate crime. of course the shooter is dead, he took his own life after the three murders here. is that an important designation for you for investigators to investigate this as a hate crime, perhaps find out if there were others connected to him? >> absolutely. with the information that we found out, we do know that this gentleman had a planned method of execution. he knew exactly what he was goingin letters to media, law

enforcement, his parents. so his mind was made up. and what i don't want to be confused is that we talk about the mental side of what he was going through and get it confused with the planned execution that he carried out. >> early this morning the mayor of jacksonville said she doesn't know legally the way the laws are written right now that there was anything that could have been done. okay. and yet someone who actually as we were looking into this had a history, had a psychiatric hold when he was a minor, was still able to bideuy his weapons lega. should the laws be as they are in florida, do they need to be tighter to help prevent more

shootings like this? >> absolutely the laws should be tighter. and being elected in 2016, my colleagues have been putting forth legislation about gun violence spreprevention, intervention methods that we can put in place in law here in the state of florida. and those pieces of legislation have gone unheard, no meetings, no committees by my colleagues. and we have to get to a point where we start listening to each other. because we've been yelling. and we've been screaming for years that the laws here need to be tighter. and we've been offering legislation up. >> as you know, you and i are going to hear the same arguments and reactions to this shooting sadly that we've heard dozens, hundreds of times before. right? that the constitution is such that you can't write laws to

restrict the ability to buy guns like this, that it is really a mental health issue, that we're doing all we can, that you need better armed security guards, et cetera. when you undoubtedly hear those arguments, what is your response going to be? >> listen, we've changed laws already. we changed lawyers after parkland, that mass shooting. we've changed laws. we raised the age limit to 21. we put some other things in place. but we've changed laws. the florida legislature changed laws surrounding gun violence to help situations like this never happen. but we're here because they are not listening to everything that we can do. we need more stringent background checks. there are plenty, a plethora of things that we can do to tighten our laws. but the legislature, the florida legislature, has to listen to the democrats as we continue to

scream and yell. and that is what we've been doing. and we'll continue do to do tha because we know we can tighten laws and change what happened. the florida legislature did this and the florida legislature can undo this. >> state senator davis, we wish you and your community the best of luck in these coming days as they mourn through this. thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. and we are following the latest out of unc chapel hill as well where a shelter-in-place order continues after report there of an armed and dangerous person on campus. we continue to follow that situation. please stay with "cnn news central." when bucket lists need checking... points need redeeming... work trips need crushing... or anniversaries need... cecelebrating? no matter who you are,e, where you're going, or why.

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. we continue to follow breaking news out of the university of north carolina chapel hill where police at the school are responding to what they are calling an armed and dangerous person on or near campus. that is according to an alert from the university. nick valencia is joining me now on this story. we checked in with you a short time ago. what can you tell us now? >> reporter: yeah, troubling situation and this continues to be an active situation. police saying that the suspect is still at large. the emergency notification going out from university to the staff, faculty and students in the area. everyone in the area telling them to shelter in place. that alert telling people to go inside immediately, close their windows and doors, stay inside until further notice and to follow directions from emergency responders at the university.

there was initially reports of shots fired around the 1:00 p.m. eastern hour. we have not really gotten an update. anxiety we understand is high because information is just so scarce, but the last indication from university police is that the suspect in this active assailant that he are calling him, or them, is still at large. you are looking at pictures from wtvd, and this has been the scene the last hour. several police vehicles with their sirens on, we've seen ambulances in the area, but we haven't seen them leave. and no reports of any injuries. of course this is still very much so active. wral and wtvd are local affiliates in the area, they were reporting that will was concentrated around the bell tower part of campus which is a central part of campus. there are other reports that a lab right across the way from the bell tower was the focus of the investigation. and we've been looking at video. you are seeing a local news

reporter there jump into the camera. we've been looking at video and seeing students it seems as though being he isescorted from building, coming out with hands up, scenes we've seen countless times at this point as americans. students received word again around 1:00 p.m. eastern hour. cops are still on campus telling people go inside. we're hearing that from eyewitnesses and police indicated that the science labs, they are clearing out the rooms. and this is a very open campus and this is the start of second week of classes. so no indication that this suspect in the active shooting situation is still at large. we're getting new details and hopefully more information from police here in the coming minutes. >> all right. we'll be looking for that. and we'll check back in with you near the top of the hour here on cnc. appreciate it. we'll keep following this story. "cnn news central" continues after this shorts break.

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