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♪ a stinging setback for donald trump in a civil case just moments ago and very shortly there will be cameras in the courtroom in one of the criminal cases against him. for the first time, we will see inside. >> next hour we will hear from secretary of state antony blinken just hours after he showed up for a surprise visit to kyiv in a major show of support for ukraine. the hottest summer on record. that is what the new data shows as scientists are tracking the temperatures around the globe and now they're warning of what this means could come next. i'm kate bolduan with sara sidner and john berman. this is cnn "news central." ♪ ♪ breaking just moments ago, a judge made a ruling in e. jean carroll's second civil case

against donald trump. the judge ruled essentially that it is already settled that trump defamed and sexually assaulted carroll. the trial in january will be used to only determine damages. also, very soon an historic first in one of donald trump's criminal cases. cameras are about to be rolling inside an atlanta area courtroom in georgia. we will see and hear the judge overseeing the election sub version case and we will get our first look at these proceedings. let's get right to cnn's nick valencia who is outside the court. give us a preview of what we will, for the first time, see with our own eyes. >> good morning, john. today will be a big task for district attorney fani willis. will she be able to charge these 19 co-defendants together or will this case be divided and adding to the drama of today, as you mentioned, john, these will be broadcast live unlike the

federal hearings and new york charges this will be broadcast. initially, wednesday was expected to be a really busy day with several hours of arraignment hearings, but as of 1:30 yesterday all of these 19 co-defendant his waived arraignment and pleaded not guilty. today's main, vent will go down at 1:00 p.m. with scott mcafee considering motions from ken chesebro and sydney powell and their efforts to sever not only their case from the other co-defendants, but from each other. it was last week that chesebro's attorneys filed a motion saying he should not have to be tried alongside sydney powell. both are asking for a speedy trial, by the way, that he should not be tried next to sydney powell because they're not accused of operating the same scheme. powell's attorneys are arguing that powell, the only way for her to receive a fair trial is for her to be charged alone. both of these individuals asking for speedy trials. you know the former president along with ray smith and john eastman, former trump attorneys,

they're asking for a delay in their trial. the judge also today will consider and will be expected to ask, i should say, fani willis how long it will take prosecutors to try all of these defendants together or if their cases are divided. so a big test today for fulton county's district attorney, fani willis. >> just to emphasize it for the first time, we will see it for ourselves and there will be cameras in the courtroom. nick valencia, thank you so much. sara? >> joining us now is clark cunningham, law professor and thank you both for joining us. clark, let me start with you. when you look at the fact that there will be cameras inside of the court, this will really be our first look at how this case is going to play out. we are just getting the normal scheduling times, but tell me how significant it is that cameras are in the courtroom for the public at large see all of this happen. >> well, it's great. georgia has a strong policy that

the public have full information about what goes on in the court. so we have, in georgia, a very strong policy in favor among other things, cameras in the courtroom and very different from federal court and that is one or more if the defendants have their case tried in federal court we won't see what's going on, but this is a great thing and it is a first step, but i think it is very important for the american public to see what's going on. >> a lot of people are arguing for misinformation and disinformation playing out in the public sphere there is not a way to make up fodder. now to you, amy lee cokeland, defendants get a speedy trial. it is part of the law. it is their right, but do you think they can go forward with so much evidence that they have to go through in these cases, a terabyte of evidence? >> sa

>> sara, i believe they said it was going to be two terabytes of evidence. mr. chesebro have exercised their right to a speedy trial and acquitted. and october 23rd at least for mr. chesebro. whether the defendants will be ready to go and have time to analyze the two terabytes of evidence and there will be a different story. i know that the d.a. filed a motion a week or two ago saying that she really had no obligation to give it to them until ten days before trial, but judge mcafee has entered a scheduling order at least for mr. chesebro within a couple of weeks on september 20th. so they'll have some time to analyze it, but two defendants think they'll have averagel time and go to trial before the november 3rd deadline. >> mr. cunningham, when you look at this case as a law professor, what stands out to you? there are 19 defendants and you have a couple of people saying

we want this speedy trial, if those speedy trial goes forward, what does this do for the other defendants? >> let me just add a footnote to what amy said. so yes, district attorney willis filed something that asked judge mcafee that helped defendants have a speedy trial to have limited rights. he denied that request and said that his scheduling order will take precedent, so that's an important point. i actually think, and i understand what amy has said, but i don't think it's beyond the realm of possibility that judge mcafee will start with the premise that all 19 defendants go to trial on october 23rd. >> wow, if that does happen, the prosecution has a heck of a job to do, is it possible that she can try, that fani willis and her team can try all of these people all at once?

>> sara, she says that she can. the d.a. has 160 attorneys and that is my best guess and she has been investigating this case for two and a half years and ail of her ducks will be in a row and she tells the judge she can try it. i have no doubt that she can try all of these defendants at once. in terms of the size, within a few years ago she did try 11 or 12 atlanta school teachers and principals in the cheating scandal in the rico case all at once. in term of rico, this is a small indictment and the fulton county returned a 61 rico indictment that will be handled by the a.g. office. >> i think one of the big things, the questions people have is the jury. now to you, mr. cunningham, to find a jury in this case, obviously, everyone's heard of donald trump and they might not have heard of the other defendants in the case. how difficult do you see it being to actually get a jury of their peers in this case in

georgia? >> well -- doesn't know who donald trump is, but it's going to be a question when judges ask potential jurors can you set aside what you know? can you set aside your feelings and render a fair and impartial verdict and if -- if a potential juror says yes they're likely to be seated unless they're struck by one side or the other for cause. so it's going to be a challenge, but i think a jury will be seated. >> amy, do you have any sense of how long that process might take? because in some of the other cases it's taken quite a long time to get a jury. >> there is a case and i think this is what you're talking about that is in its eighth month of jury selection. >> yeah.

>> i don't know how long it will take and it will take longer than anyone can make and the tools in the judge -- the party will come up with jury questionnaires that are sent out in writing where they can do a selection of jurors and they can automatically bounce out people or do some investigation, social media posts if they're public and see if they've come out on one side or the other. that can be a pretty effective tool to weed out people that are just automatically disqualified because they have strong feelings for them one way or the other. the goal is to find a fair and impartial jury and not a jury that knows nothing about the case. >> that is the point. amy lee copeland, clark cunningham, and maybe i should try and take a class with you as this is all going down. we appreciate you both. kate? >> more than welcome. moments ago, secretary of state tony blinken meeting with ukraine's president zelenskyy, and he just spoke.

let's listen in. >> as you mentioned this is my fourth visit after the russian aggression in 2022, and i, as always, am so struck by the courage, the strength, the resilience of the ukrainian soldiers, the ukrainian people and the ukrainian leaders. we are determined in the united states to continue to walk side by side with you and president biden asked me to come to reaffirm strongly by supporting and to ensure that we are maximizing the efforts that we're making and other countries are making for the immediate challenge of the counteroffensive as well as the

longer term efforts to help ukraine build a force in the future to defend against any future action, but also to work with you and support you as you are doing the critical work to strengthen the democracy ask rebuilding your economy. i know you were just on the front lines and we are all ready to hear your assessment. certainly, we see the important progress being made in the counteroffensive and that's very, very encouraging. >> important progress being made in the counteroffensive, the secretary says. the secretary arrived overnight for this unannounced visit to ukraine. he's also expected to take questions from the press coming in the next hour. blinken's visit is the first for a u.s. cabinet secretary since ukraine kicked off the counter offensive and there's been growing concern kwie thely among american officials and beyond that the counteroffensive is not going as well as hoped, as quickly as hoped. >> and we also got new video in

of a deadly attack in ukraine. this morning at least 16 ukrainian civilians were killed in a russian strike in the eastern donetsk region. joining me now is cnn contributor and former cnn moscow bureau chief, jill doherty and she's an adjunct professor at georgetown university. good to see you, jill. we heard from tony blinken there, americans determined to walk side by side with you, he says. what are you going to be listening for when blinken speaks at this press conference at the top of the hour? >> you know, i think he pointed out the main things, military support and he will be bringing money again for the ukrainians to beef up their forces. he's bringing obviously with his presence, political support, but he also had that phrase that we just heard, strengthen your democracy, and i think that is going to be pretty close to the top because we just had a

situation where zelenskyy changed his defense minister precisely, it appears because of the corruption that is ongoing in the defense ministry and that is eating away among average ukrainians as well as the world in support for zelenskyy and his government and that would be -- blinken would say it diplomatically as you might expect and strengthening democracy, cutting down and ending corruption if there's any way, is really crucial. >> the reason we know for the blinken visit is one to show support as we continue as we have just heard, but also it has been mentioned a need to coordinate ahead of the u.n. general assembly later this month. we heard that ahead of the visit and on the way over from u.s. officials, why is that coordination needed? why is that so important right now? >> you know, there are two thing at play and we have obviously

what's happening with the military and that is a counteroffensive and going more slowly than some western countries might want, and then we have the political side, and that is keeping allies together and even countries that are not specifically allies, but from the developing world who have in several votes at the united nations stuck up for ukraine, but they're not really coming out fully. you have to keep everybody or at least the west, the united states has to keep everybody fully onboard because if you look at what putin's strategy is, certainly it's military. he doesn't need a lot of sophisticated weapons. he's throwing everything he can. we just heard about north korean weapons and ammunition and then putin believes that he can just kind of outlast the other side, that alliances will fall apart, that inside the united states support the ukraine will weaken

and putin's idea is just continue as long as you can and wait for that to happen and that's what the united states is trying to avoid. jill, let me ask you, you get into it which could present itself as a split screen. tony blinken in ukraine standing side by side, if you will with president zelenskyy meeting with the foreign minister, just as you're alluding to, we have these reports and this new intelligence suggesting that north korean leader kim jong-un could be headed to russia over vladimir putin over a possible arms deal. what do you see in that? what does it say about russia's status with this war? >> i think, you know, the fact that russia just on a diplomatic level is dealing with 14sfriend like north korea and iran i would think is galling for the foreign ministry of russia which

prided itself on having foreign relations and now the best buddies are north korea and iran. putin needs iran for drones and he needs north korea for anything he can get his hands on in terms of military equipment and especially these arms and ammunition. so it's just another indication of where putin has to grab whatever he can at this point to keep the war going. jill doherty, great to see you, jill. john? >> all right. top military leaders lashed out against the republican senator for his hold on senior military nominations. they say he's aiding communist and autocratic regimes. alex murdaugh's lawyers are leveraging wild accusations against an official who they say tainted the jury even before the first vote was cast. now they are demanding a new trial and vice president kamala harris asked about the various trials about donald trump. her answers, notably different

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>> there's breaking news just in to cnn. the united states is expected to announce a military aid package that for the first time will include depleted uranium munitions. it will have depleted uranium

munitions. joining me is sabrina fink. good to see you. these depleted uranium rounds can -- metal plates and they are mildly radioactive. what do you suggest to the type of weapons being sent to ukraine and b, what about the environmental concerns? >> thanks, john, for having me. it's great to be with you. again, i'm not going to get ahead of announcements that the pentagon has made today and these rounds are standard use in the tanks that not only the u.s. uses, but that we will be providing the ukrainians and if they are included in the packages that are coming forward today or in the coming weeks we have absolute confidence that the ukrainians will use them responsibly as they fight to take back their sovereign territory in the east and the north, as well. >> let me ask you about the situation with senator tommy tuberville who has blocked

hundreds of routine military nominations and promotions. these are not political appointments. these are routine military promotions and nominations and our jake tapper had interviews with three heads of military services yesterday and they said that tuberville's actions are aiding communist and autocratic regimes. how? >> well, these actions by holding up our nominees that are, as you said, standard and apolitical, we're sending a message not only to our allies, but our adversaries, as well in a place like the u.s. military where orderly transitions are how we thrive and transfer from one position to another, it is important to have our senate-confirmed leaders in these positions and right now because of senator tuberville's hold, you have three services that are going without senate-confirmed leaders and that's the army, the navy and the marine corps, and at a time, again, when you were just talking about ukraine, at a time

when we have the growing threat of russia in europe and our pacing challenge in the east with china, we need our senate-confirmed leaders in these positions to not only lead, but to work with our allies and partners around the world to protect u.s. interests at home here and abroad. >> senator tuberville is blocking all of this because he objects to the pentagon policy of reimbursing service members and their families who need to travel for reproductive care and when confronted with the words from the secretary, tuberville says he's want letting up. >> i'm not budging. i told them that. if i thought i was really harming our military i wouldn't be doing this. >> how does this end and is there any utility that you see in having the senate maybe try to confirm one or two or a handful of these nominations through regular order which can be done, but it takes more time.

>> well, i just want to take a step back and just acknowledge that the senator said that if he doesn't think this was harming our military he wouldn't be doing it. the fact of the matter is it is harming our military. you had our three service secretaries out yesterday in an op ed, and as you mentioned on with jake tapper talking about how these holds impact our readiness and how they impact military families at home, here across the world and even in tuberville's home state. while i can't predict how the senate will proceed on how they plan to move forward with our nominees, what i can tell you is every day that these holds go on, every day it is impacting our readiness all around the world. we are incredibly focused and determined to work with our senate colleagues to make sure that they understand the impact this is having and it is unfortunate that someone that sits on the senate arms services committee doesn't understand that and there are other senators that do, bipartisan

support for confirming our nominees and we're hoping that senator tuberville will lift his hold soon. >> sabrina singh, we appreciate you, with us. thanks so much. >> thanks, john. >> kate? >> coming up for us, alex murdaugh wants a new trial and his legal team is accusing the county clerk of tampering with the jury throughout his double murder trial. what does this now mean for his life sentence and what kind of trouble could the clerk of court now face? wake up, achievers.

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disgraced south carolina lawyer and now convicted killer alec murdaugh is asking the judge for a brand-new trial and jury tampering that his legal team says they've uncovered since his conviction. ? murdaugh's team write this in this new feeling that the county clerk, rebecca hill tampered with the jury by advising them not to believe murdaugh's testimony and other evidence presented by the defense, pressuring them to reach a quick guilty verdict and even misrepresenting critical and material information to the trial judge in her campaign to remove a juror she believed to be favorable to the defense, and here is how murdaugh reacted to this information when he first learned of it according to his attorney. >> when i shared with him the

affidavits, he's a lawyer and he was astonished. he was shaking. he was in disbelief. >> joining us now for more on this, defense and trial attorney misty maris. we saw this was coming yesterday and now that you have had the chance to read through it, what's your reaction to these allegations? >> when we heard yesterday that something was a bombshell it is true. this is a bombshell if true. of course, these are just allegations and they're supported by affidavits and that depends on what comes out when somebody is actually being questioned, but the information in this filing is really, really egregious if it is actually true and it is certainly enough for the defense to get that evidentiary hearing that they've requested before the judge in order to dig into this to see exactly what happened because whatever you think about alex murdaugh, guilty ore not guilt whatever your personal opinion

is he has the right to a fair trial. >> how much access would she have to the jury. >> the court clerk is responsible for many of the logistics related to the jury and the logistics of the courtroom in general, but what are the court rules? the court rules say and the judge repeats it every single day of trial, you cannot talk to a third party as a juror about this case. you cannot even speak to each other about this case until deliberations. so it is absolutely crossing a line for a court clerk, somebody who knows these rules to go in? speak to any juror about any aspect of the case. so again, the fact that she's having these one-on-one conversations with the foreperson to the extent that she did say something directly about the veracity of the evidence, that is at the heart of the case and therefore, a very strong basis for this motion. >> rebecca hill, becky hill has not responded to cnn's request for comment and she is the clerk

at the center of all of these allegations, obviously, but what happens now? what could this mean for murdaugh's life sentence that he's currently in? >> there are a bunch of steps that have to go forward before we get any clarity on where this is going to go. first, the evidentiary hearing we spoke about, the judge would be able -- there would be questions to the jurors and cross-examinations and it would be like a mini trial in order to dig into the allegations and if it is confirmed that these statements were made or any aspect of this relating to communications with the jury or god forbid actually circumventing the process by getting a juror removed and if that ends up being true then the next step is to overturn the verdict. if it is overturned, there is a new drill and it's called de novo, and from scratch. >> that would be a lot for the prosecutors and the defense to

go back over this again never mind the community and the family. if this turns out to be true that this clerk had some kind of contact, would other cases possibly be impacted if they learned this about one case, will they go back and look at other cases? >> as a defense lawyer that light bulb would go off in my head and there was a case that was in that courtroom and she's an elected official, and i would be looking into whether or not there was any tainting of the jury because this conduct truly is so egregious and to your point, there's also in addition to thinking about the consequences for alex murdaugh and what this means for his case, there's also got to be an inquiry into her conduct, not only by the courtroom, the state, the county, but also we've heard the u.s. attorney's office may be involved. there will be an inquiry because if true, this conduct, could actually rise to the level of criminality and that's a whole separate issue. >> exactly right. it's good to see you, misty.

there's a lot that needs to happen now, to unfold in court in front of the judge. thank you so much. john? after mainly silence from the white house on donald trump's long list of legal troubles, we are hearing from vice president kamala harris. what she is saying this morning about accountability. conquer 2000-word esessays. conquer a 6 coururse menu. rule over what you write with the smooth writing, longest lasting gel ink pen in america. do you g2? right now get a free footlong at subway. like the subway series menu. buy one footlong in the app, geone free. for freeee. that's what i'm talking about. order in the subway app today.

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and mine's unlisted. try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health versus 16 grams in ensure® high protein. boost® high protein. now available in cinnabon® bakery-inspired flavor. learn more at boost.com/tv - [announcer] do you have an invention idea but don't know what to do next? call invent help today. they can help you get started with your idea. call now 800-710-0020. mike pence with a new warning for the republican party today. the republican presidential hopeful is set to give a speech later titled populism versus conservatism, and ahead of that, he says this, populism is, quote, a pathway for defeat for the republican party. do you wonder who he's trying to drag under that? joining us now, cnn political

director david chalian. who is this contrast that he is trying to draw? >> he doesn't say it in the presentation, but he has no qualms when you ask him. he said yeah, i'm talking about the former president. i'm talking about the candidates in the race who are copying, mimicking the former president like vivek ram swami in mike pence's estimation. this is the vision thing and a real contrast in vision for the republican party, this populism versus conservatism, and the problem is the party he's pitching it to has largely moved to the more populous win under trump's dominance, and when you talk about traditional republican issues, donald trump is leading in all of them. >> john, look, in our poll that was just out yesterday we asked folks about who would handle the issues best? that's the horse race. 52%, you see donald trump's dominance in the race, but when you look at the issue list and you look at things like who can best handle the economy, and 65%

of republicans say donald trump. 63% on ukraine. 59% on government overreach. i can argue, you can say populism works its way into each one of those categories and mike pence is in the mid-single digits on these issues. so he has a tall task ahead of him. >> so a tall task, i mean, put up the horse race again. we can ask the question that john berman has been posing that has been an important one. >> which is even better. the better part of john berman is his sons. >> add all of the republicans together and you don't even reach donald trump. so where will they get their support if they don't get trump supporters? >> you will have to consolidate everyone that doesn't want donald trump, which is a small minority of the republican party and you have to actually convert trump voters to your side and that is the mission ahead to these candidates not named trump and when you see just beyond the horse race number, guys.

donald trump supporters are so sticky, 83% of them say they're not willing to move off the dime. they're sticking with trump no matter what. >> and the majority also say they don't care about a conviction and they don't think it affects his electability and his criminal cases. >> let's talk about donald trump. the white house has been notably silent and chosen not to answer direct questions about the criminal cases about donald trump. what did president biden himself say nice picture? >> handsome guy and he injected sarcasm about the mug shot. >> vice president kamala harris sat down for an interview and she was asked a question about it and i want you to listen to how she answered. listen. >> you mentioned about holding people accountable and the indictments of indictments of president trump. >> i believe that people should be held accountable under the law and when they break the law there should be accountability

and i support it when it happens. >> does that extend to the former president. >> everyone has their right to their day in court, but absolutely, people should be held accountable. >> what she's saying there, guys is rather benign, right? you would expect any elected official in the country to say exactly that. everyone has their presumption of innocence and their right to a day in court and that we are a nation of laws and that facts should lead the way when there are criminal charges at stake here. so it's not like the contrast with the intentional silence that we've seen from the president. he's been so reluctant, probably on advice from counsel, to not comment on trump's case, and you saw there the vice president didn't want to wade specifically into the trump case because they don't want to become injected into the cases themselves, but if democracy is at the heart of these cases, this is joe biden's predecessor and potential successor for the oval office again, and we saw the appeal it

had and the success it had politically for democrats in the midterms. joe biden will have to start making these arguments, and i think you've seen kamala harris answer that question quite intentionally? you can't stay silent about it. you can't run for re-election, president or anything, and you cannot stay silent on it forever. i mean, look, it's sometimes the role of the running mate of the vice president to dip the toe in the water or be more aggressive in the attack. >> that's like the -- that's not a truly aggressive good cop/bad cop. >> i just don't see a possibility that he can continue a strategy of staying silent on this. >> what he's going to need to find is the balance. how does he make the case for democracy or of donald trump is a threat to democracy without giving trump a legal team with the opening that the president has injected himself into the case. >> the more interesting question is when. when does he do that? does he wait until after there's a verdict in one of the cases.

does he wait until after there is a republican nomination. >> i don't know that he can wait that long. he's going to be in the midst of a campaign against him and maybe come the spring if this nomination doesn't last into the convention season and he'll be in the heart of battle. >> the timing of that is an interesting question. >> david chalian, great to see you at the anchor desk where you belong. >> sara? >> next time you guys can invite me to the party some time this year. appreciate it guys. i see how you are. tropical storm lee, churning across the atlantic. it is expected to become a hurricane later today. if it's a big one, we know john berman will be there. we will tell you what the forecast is next.. ( ♪ ♪ ) (camera shutters) ( ♪ ♪ ) ( ♪ ♪ )

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we are still in the midst of hurricane season, and boy, it shows. this is a storm brewing offshore. this is the tropical storm lee is intensifying in the atlantic. the national hurricane center expects it will reach hurricane strength later on today. derek van dam is watch ing the storm very closely. give us a sense of the forecast now. we see that typical churn right there. >> that's right. we're this close to referencing this as hurricane lee. so it's becoming more and more organized. every minute we see the satellite update, currently 70 miles per hour. it needs to be 74 miles per hour to reach hurricane status. so what have we got in the future? this is not a problem, but leeward islands, we need to keep

a close eye on the storm. the official track shows an intensifying hurricane becoming a major hurricane by this weekend. and then notice what we call the path or cone of uncenterty. remember, the actual deviation of this, if it was to travel a little further to the southwest, the typical average error at day four and five is roughly 150 to 200 miles. if the center of the storm creeps to the south and west, the leeward islands will be impacted by this. it will traverse very warm water with low shear. that means it's favorable for a strengthening hurricane. explicit language from the hurricane center. all of our mod els in tight consensus. but the big question on everyone's mind, not only will it have impacts into puerto rico, the leeward islands, indirectly at the moment, but will it impact the east coast of the u.s. that's all to do with the level current high pressure to the north and the potential of a trough off the east coast for

the middle half of next week. those two could work in conjunction to potentially bring impacts to the east coast. a long ways away, but something the meteorologists are monitoring closely. >> when you look at that, we were just at hurricane idalia, which hit the other side of florida. that's not looking great. we'll wait to see what happens. let's talk about something else. you taub the warm water and that helps to strengthen a hurricane. we have been seeing the hottest temperatures ever recorded in human history. give us a sense of how many people are -- there's a real damage here. >> yeah, 90 million americans under heat alerts today alone. it has been well over four decades that washington, d.c., our nation's capitol, has seen a temperature of 100 degrees. they are going to flirt with that today. they have had had three consecutive days of record high temperatures. here's a look at the alerts, but also the south texas will see temperatures in all cities above

100 degrees tomorrow and into the weekend. early parts of the weekend. here's a look at the high temperature for today. we're running anywhere from 15 to 25 degrees above average for this time of year. that's why we have red alerts. >> derek, thank you. remember that time i need the mitts to cool you off? christmas is coming. >> it's probably going to be 90 degrees in december any way. this is "cnn news central." "inside politics" is up next. all learning to save and spend their money with chase. the chef's cooking up firsts with her n new debit card. hungry? -uhuh. the designer's eyeing sequins. uh no plaid. while mom is eyeing his spending. nice. and the engineer? she's taking control with her own account for college. three futures, all with chase. freedom for kids. control for parents. one bank for both. chase. make more of what's yours.

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