seven republicans will take the stage at the presidential primary stage tonight. will any of them leave a winner? who will take on the front-runner most effectively and how do they do that when the front-runner is skipping the whole thing? released by north korea. a u.s. army soldier is back in

america after two months in north korean custody. new information about private travis harris and why he was expelled and turned over. happening now, senator bob menendez making his appearance in court on bribery charges and the legal reason why he may be reluctant to step down despite growing calls for his resignation. i'm john berman with kate bolduan and sara sidner. this is cnn news central. developing for you this morning, released by north korea, travis king, the u.s. army private who crossed into north korea two manages ago is now back in american custody. he had been held by north korea since july, but this morning they abruptly announced they were expelling him. orrin lieberman is at the pentagon for us this morning. can you give us a sense of how this all happened?

>> that's still one of the unanswered questions at this point because essentially the last update we had in terms of conversations we had with the u.s. and north korea is there wasn't substantive dialogue with the u.s. acting as an intermediary and there were acknowledgements by north ckore that there were u.s. interests in releasing travis king and not much more than that. north korean state media kcna saying travis king had been expelled after a north korean investigation into him had been concluded, although what the conclusion of that investigation is, that wasn't stated by the north koreans and shortly thereafter, two u.s. officials confirmed that travis king was in u.s. custody for the first time in 70 days. it was july 18th and he was supposed to leave the country after facing disciplinary measures and charges in south korea. he was supposed to come to fort bliss so he could be essentially removed and discharged from the military and he left the airport

from the flight that he was supposed to get on. went to the dmz between south korea and north korea and then ran into north korea at this point he was in north korean custody and from that point on there were updates and there are questions that have to be answered by the u.s. first, how did he come out of the country? we're not getting any indication that he crossed the way he came in which is through the dmz back through south korea and did he come through the air, on the ground and was there anything changed or given up to secure his release in that's another key question here because the north korea has used him as a propaganda chip and used him and used him in north korea. there are questions of how this process played out and how we got to this point. the priority is making sure king who is now in u.s. custody returns to the united states. presumably there will be a level of medical checks to see that

he's doing okay after more than two months, i should say, in north korean custody and then putting him in touch with his family. sara, all of that has to play out here before and we expect answers from the government on how this process worked. >> we heard from his mother when he first crossed over and there were a lot of tears. she was just hoping to get her son back. orrin lieberman and that seems to be able to happen quite soon. thank you very much. we appreciate your reporting. kate? democratic senator bob mend endes arriving to court this hour along with his wife nadine who is also facing bribery charges. despite facing a flood of fellow democrats calling him to resign from the senate since the details of his indictment, bob menendez remains defiant declaring that he is innocent. paula reid is outside the courthouse today. paula, what is going to happen today? >> kate, any moment senator

menendez, his wife, nadine and two of their co-defendants are expected to appear been a magistrate judge in federal court in new york. this is the first court hearing for them since these charges were filed last week and this hearing comes as more than half of senator menendez's democratic colleagues in the senate for calling on him to resign. now he remains defiant and points to the fact that he has previously faced federal corruption charges and he was not convicted and he points to the fact that the justice department has a pretty weak record of successfully prosecuting government officials in corruption cases and kate, all of that is accurate, but what makes this case different, different than menendez's previous case and different than those other corruption prosecutions is the fact that in this indictment, there is an allegation that he passed sensitive information to a foreign government. the allegation is that he passed along information about the u.s.

embassy to the government of egypt against u.s. interests. that is incredibly serious accusation against a sitting u.s. senator and likely why you are seeing so many of his colleagues calling on him to resign even though he has not yet gone through the judicial process. he is really putting his party here in a tough spot. they have, of course, criticized former president trump for facing criminal charges for mishandling the country's most sensitive secrets and foreign business dealings and now to have one of their own facing this legal jeopardy, it is also creating a political problem for his colleagues. >> we are standing by for that court appearance to begin and paula reid is outside the courthouse for us. >> joimore than half of the democratic senators have called on menendez now to resign.

he has not done so, refuses to do so. one can understand why he wants to hang on to his job for political and personal reasons, but there might be a legal reason here, too. he might want to at least wait, harry. what is that? >> yeah, well, look, i think the normal playbook here. he is in the tightest of tight spots and vice grows tighter every day. we should note, presumed innocent until proven guilty, but gold bars with serial numbers on them, it's really kind of mind-boggling evidence, but i think people know from experience in these cases that if you can just survive and let the initial pressure kind of abate and his job is something of a tip here, john, if he gives it up right away he has much less leverage, negotiation both on the political side and the legal side. so for now, at least, i think he

wants to retain it and that involves continuing to protest his innocence not withstanding really a daunting set of allegations in the united states' charges against him. >> resignation could eventually be part of a plea deal potentially which is why one may want to wait there. harry, stand by for a moment if you will, because, of course, there is other news this morning. this on donald trump in a civil ruling against him. let's bring in cnn's brynn gingras for that. brynn? >> a huge ruling that happened, john. basically, trump's empire is shrinking just a little bit because of this rule. let me get into it, yesterday a new york judge saying trump and his two sons overinflated their assets in order to get loans. some of those assets, we know about the golf courses and his hotels, we know about his homes. let me give you a tangible example of what was in this

court ruling. if you think about his triplex in trump tower in new york city, trump said it's three times bigger in square footage than it actually is overvaluating the estimation of it by 114 to $207 million according to this judge who didn't mince words and said to that a discrepancy of magnified -- to the extent it is overvaluating $207 million according to this judge who didn't mince words and said to that a discrepancy of this order of magnified by a real estate developer sizing up his own living space can only be considered fraud. now what happens next? part of this ruling the judge basically canceled the business certificates of part of trump

organization in that the defendants in this case and there's commercial real estate here on wall street, also a family compound in western new york which will be dissolved according to this judge, there will be a receiver put in place who will work out the dissolving of those properties.

including commercial properties. when that holds up if it's affirmed, trump organization no longer exists, it may not do business in new york. there may be some kind of, you know, complicated to dissolve a

company, maybe there's different kinds of corporate little twists and turns and basically for him and his two sons, they are as -- out of business and the thing that matters most to them. it's a death penalty for the brand which, you know, next only to his liberty is about the worst thing that can happen. so arc peeppeals will run, but e finding it very strong $2.2 billion of inflation over this period. the attorney general wants 250 million, but many other people to the point could wind up getting it. the money is just gone and distributed to others with no oversight by trump as to where it goes. they have to appoint an independent person you say if it holds up. upon you've read through this. how much of a chance is there

that he could wiggle out of this? >> i don't see a lot. he's doing two things. he's personally sued the judge. i see that going nowhere, and then there's the actual fraud, but it will be based on the facts and the facts by the justice laid out time after time who says he lives in a fantasy world. this is not a subjective feet as brynn said, 30,000 square meters versus 10,000, that's just a lie. same thing with the valuations by factors of 200, i think this case is very strong and the only issue might be should the penalty be different, but that's standard new york law as i understand it. he is in a world of hurt on the business side, stronger so far than anything that's happened on the criminal side. >> it's so interesting. this was a bit of a sleeper case. not a lot of people watching it quite as closely. >> yes. >> in the end, it could hit him harder almost more than anything. harry littman, thank you very

much for your analysis. >> thank you, john. >> we did just learn that bob m menendez has entered the court for kate? >> also coming up for us, it is debate day.

right now there is still no deal on capitol hill and there is also now just three days left until the government shuts down leaving millions of federal workers and so many members of the military in the lurch, and so much more. the new approach from house

speaker kevin mccarthy today not to work with democrats saying that he will need to pass through anything in the end. rather, point fingers at democrats and the white house. cnn's manu raju is on the hill. manu, what are you hearing now? >> yeah. there is just a lot of tension in the republican party about how to move forward here, an expectation that has shut down will happen by this weekend because of those divisions within the gop, not just senate gop, but within the house republican conference themselves. there are a number of members who align themselves with speaker mccarthy who want to pass a republican-only bill to keep the government open for a short period of time including some border security measures in particular, and there are other hard liners who say that they will not move forward on any short-term spending plan at all, and wanting to deal with spending in a more traditional way, passing year-long spending bills and not deal with this on

a short-term basis and that means kevin mccarthy doesn't have the votes and moving on a bipartisan track to keep the government open which includes aid to ukraine and aid for disaster relief, it does not support the security measures and a number of house republicans are spouting off and critical of the republican leader for cutting the deal with chuck schumer. >> it's a very dangerous tactic to take, to say, hey, i want to shut the damn thing down because it literally ben -- it especially doesn't benefit the conservative platform. this is not paralleling or supporting a conservative platform by any stretch. >> do you have confidence in senator mcconnell? >> no. not at this moment. there's zero confidence in his ability in the deal he's cut with senator shumeaum senator s representative of the house of representatives. >> behind closed doors he told

him he would not get behind the senate plan and told reporters there is no support for moving forward from the sen at that time bipartisan support, and the republican-only plan and that is expected to fail. the senate will approve its plan and it will drag out into the weekend because of opposition in the senate republican's right flank for the ukraine aid in protest. they plan to take out those proceedings and it is expected to pass the -- [ no audio ]

raising the expectations that have shut down and it seems imminent here as divisions within the gop persist. he seems to be left with no good options. good to see you, manu, thank you. sara? laura baron lopez and thank you both for being here. i want to talk to you about what we're seeing play out here. the speaker of the house just this past hour or so is literally blaming everyone but himself and house republicans for the looming shutdown. he was blaming the senate and blaming the president, and it is republicans who cannot agree on a bill. >> the white house says look, they had the meeting back in may and they agreed to spending levels which is what the senate republicans and senate democrats are working with, and the white house, senate republicans and

senate democrats are all in a line right now and in an agreement with what they think should be passed and in a divided government, the two parties have to come together, but it appears that speaker mccarthy is trying to simply appease to his right flank to those hard line members and is more concerned about his speakership than potentially avoiding a government shutdown. >> it's a really good point that there was that meeting back in may. the senate, as you just heard, they've agreed on a bipartisan bill. is there time for the house to vote on this bill before a shutdown? we only have three days left. >> and it's unclear whether or not the speaker even has the votes. it actually seems like he doesn't. what the senate deal did do is it ratcheted up pressure on speaker mccarthy who really is in one of the tougher spots in washington right now. you have far-right members of house republicans that have said openly that the strategy is to

shutdown the government which would undermine any strategy to reach a deal here. now, he seems to be saying that he wants to move forward with his own deal that would focus on the border, but again, it is inclear whether or not he has the votes yet. we know that in the senate deal that had to do with ukraine funding and the takeaway for house republicans that remains an issue that at this point is still polarizing, but he's hoping that for something like the border that they have really seized on to criticize biden that he can get the support to pass that bill, but again, you have members of his own party that have said that the strategy at this point is to shut down the government. it just doesn't seem feasible that you can reach a deal when you have that dynamic. >> laura, i'm curious. this really does cause real hardship for member of the military and nearly 4 million americans who are federal employees. some of them have to work because their jobs are mandatory. others of them will be furloughed, but who will pay the

price for this? who does the public punish for this true failure of government and specifically congress? it is their job. >> in the past, sara, look, shutdowns are not good for the party that appears to drive congress into a shutdown. voters don't reward lawmakers for it and right now, you know, based on voters that i've talked to, they are pointing a finger at house republicans. i mean, right now house republicans can't even agree to pass basic appropriations bills and that's a sign that they don't have an agreement in terms of their ability to fund the government for a short amount of time, but the impact is important, sara. active service members will not get paychecks and food and housing assistance won't go out the longer a shutdown last. so there's real world impacts for everyday americans.

>> it is, and people often see long lines, for example, at the airports. they can't go into public parks, for example, that are national parks. there is pain to be had. lara barron-lopez and young, thank you both so much. john? >> former president trump, he will not be on the debate stage tonight and the newest poll numbers might explain why. a manhunt for an extremely dangerous murder suspect. police say he killed the ceo of a tech company and they warn he could kill again .

donald trump is skipping tonight's debate in california. instead he is going to speak with autoworkers. new this morning the biden campaign launched its new anti-trump campaign ad to greet trump in michigan. >> he says he stands with autoworkers, but as president donald trump passed tax breaks for his rich friends while automakers shuttered their plants and michigan lost manufacturing jobs. joe biden said he'd stand up for workers and he's delivering, passing laws that are increasing wages and creating good paying jobs. manufacturing is coming back to michigan. >> cnn's kristen holmes is in clinton township, michigan, a state which promises to be a battleground once again, kristen.

>> that's right, john. you'd think we were already in a general election. we haven't even started our republican primaries and this is the clearest signal from trump's team that they are looking ahead to that general election. when he lands on the ground here he's not expecting as warm of a welcome from union leaders as president biden got yesterday, but he is expected to be well received here where we are in mccomb county. this is a county that went for him in 2016 and in 2020 and not by small margins. when we talk to the trump advisors we asked for the pushback from the union leaders who have gone out against former president trump saying that he is only pro-business. his administration was anti-union, anti-worker. they say that they believe that it's possible to drive a wedge between the union leaders and the rank and file and that's what we will be watching for tonight. who actually comes out here tonight. we are told that it will be union members both past and current and that includes auto union workers -- it includes

auto union workers and their families, as well. a big question why exactly are they coming out. what is driving them to support donald trump and the other thing to note here is that he is appearing at a non-union shop. one of the things he's going to be talking about and he started to talk about this recently is that he goes after joe biden. he hits him for electric vehicles. biden's push to have an electric vehicle fleet and that's what we are hearing tonight as part of why this location was chosen because as president of drake enterprises where he'll be speaking said in an interview if cars were to go electric that he would be put out of business, to give you insight there. the other thing, john, he'll be focusing a lot on the economy and one of the point that his advisers hit hard this morning and had the idea that the strike wouldn't even be happening if this was trump's economy and this was all about the inflation and the economy under biden. >> all right, kristen holmes waiting there in clinton township for donald trump's

arrival. thank you so much for being with us. kate? >> so why is donald trump skipping the debate. set other dynamics aside look no further than the polls. it shows that donald trump maintains a huge lead. 58% support among likely republican primary voters in this polling average. the candidate closest to trump isn't really close at all, as you can see. ron desantis is a distant second with 15% support and all the rest still in single digits. joining me now from simi valley, california, where tonight's debate will take place cnn director david chalian. the polls enforce the reality that we have been seeing in this primary that donald trump has a big lead. what does that mean, though, for a second trumpless stage? >> yeah. you noted why is donald trump not showing up? yes, because of the polls and also because his lead has gone

up since not showing up in that first debate. that is evidence that the trump campaign has received that they don't feel they need to be here, but as you note, there is still a real opportunity for candidates not named trump in this battle, yes, they are in a battle for second place to try any consolidate support and emerge here as a trump alternative even one that is far behind trump at this moment in the polls and that's what this opportunity presents an opportunity for millions of voters to tune in and hear from those candidates. as you know, kate, donald trump dominates not just the polls, but the national narrative, the headlines and this is an opportunity for the other candidates to get into the flow for voters. >> the candidates still hope they can beat donald trump, but does polling or anything else, quite frankly, david, offer any glimmers of hope that that is still possible?

>> well, here's the reality. if you're a candidate not named trump -- not named trump, you have a theory of the case which is if you can draw blood in some fashion in the early states of iowa and new hampshire you can change the dynamic of the race. i don't know if that's true. we'll see if that's true, but i do know, there aren't really other theories in the race available for candidates running 30 or 40 points back. if you look at the early cnn poll in iowa and new hampshire you can see why these other candidates believe there is a path which is that you see, yes, there's a quarter of the republican electorate in those two early states that were locked into trump, only trump and that's all they'll consider and then there's a third that say they don't want to consider trump and the plurality that you see in the 40s in both iowa and new hampshire in the cbs poll you see, yes, they'll consider trump, but they are also considering other options. so if you take the trump and others category and the not trump category, that's a

significant swath of republican voters that are at least available or at least potentially open to these other candidates. >> nikki haley is one candidate that we have seen and are seeing real movement around. she saw a bump after the first debate and has seen gains since. what is it that she's doing differently, david, that you see? what does that mean that she can do tonight to push that path forward? >> well, one thing we do see nikki haley doing is sort of keeping an eye on a general election peel while she's battling for the heart and soul of the conservative movement in the republican nomination race and that sort of broader approach whether it is on issues of abortion or other issues where she tries to present something that doesn't lock her into a position that would be hard to get away from if she is the republican nominee and she's

the only woman on the stage and obviously differentiator and she has skills and is a good communicator. yes, you see traction from nikki haley from the last debate, but traction to where? traction to be in this hunt for second place. >> yeah. after tonight, do you think there is one question that republican voters will have answered after a second debate? >> that's a good question, kate. i don't imagine that tonight will change the dynamic and all of a sudden donald trump won't be as dominant a front-runner tomorrow as he is today, but i think these are not definitive moments. i think these are parts of a conversation that these candidates are continuing to have with these republican primary voters specifically in the early states. so some questions will get answered for some voters. i don't think they'll stop shopping and lock into a choice after tonight's debate. >> not decisive, but learning

more about these candidates because these candidates need it just as much as republican voters need to learn more, as well. good to see you, david. glad you're there. sara. >> police are on the hunt for a suspect that is extremely dangerous and accused of killing pava lapere. the alarming evidence in that case. that's ahead.

all right. we have breaking news. senator bob menendez, we learned, just pleaded not guilty to all three of the counts he faces. this is part of the federal bribery charges that came against him last week. his co-defendants also pleaded

not guilty. we are just getting new details about his bail agreement. so let's get to paula reid outside the courthouse. paula? >> that's right, john. we are getting live update from our colleague lauren del valle in the courtroom. the senator will be released on $100,000 personal recking onnis innance bond. he has to surrender his personal passport and travel documents and the can keep his passport ad travel as u.s. senator. his wife is being released on a $250,000 bond. she has far more strict limitations on her ability to travel. she can travel to certain parts of new jersey, new york, washington, d.c. and florida, but if she wants to do any other traveling, she may be able to

get permission to do that, but she has to ask the government. as you noted both the senator and his wife through their attorneys and their pleas of not guilty during today's arraignment. we expect they will come out and it is unclear if he will speak when he comes out of federal court in just a few minutes here. >> so has to surrender his personal passport, but not an official one. he had to step down as chair of the senate foreign relations committee. i mean, is it conceivable that he still does foreign travel as a sitting u.s. senator while he's facing a federal indictment? >> it's certainly possible. it's something that the court says would be allowed if he had some sort of trip just in terms of optics it is unlikely that we would see him, for example, go to egypt because part of the accusation is that he was passing sensitive information along to the egyptian government. yes, there is, of course, sometimes foreign travel involved in their work as u.s. senators and the court is

saying, look, that is something we'll allow. his personal travel, and he has to hand over his passport and the terms of his release as the trial goes forward. >> what about discovery? the next big step would be when bob menendez and his legal team can actually see the evidence compiled against them? that might be a moment that spurs some kind of consideration or decision, paula? >> look, it's possible. so far he remains defiant even as more than half of his senate colleagues, democrats, are calling for him to resign. he pointed to the fact that he previously faced a corruption case from the justice department. he was not convicted, and he insists that prosecutors have gotten out over their skis here, but if you look at the allegations laid out in this indictment and the evidence that has been already made public it is damning, particularly those accusations about sharing sensitive information with a foreign government, perhaps against u.s. interests for someone that is a sitting u.s.

senator chairing the foreign relations committee, that is a grave accusation. so i think going forward, there will be a lot more questionses about particularly that aspect of the case. he may learn more about the evidence the government has during that process of discovery and his constituents and certainly his colleagues are curious to know more about that. was he targeted by foreign intelligence and was he vulnerable and counterintelligence here? all questions that we're looking at since these charges were filed. >> to be clear, we have no reason to expect that bob menendez would enter any kind of plea deal, but when there are plea deals they are often after discovery when a defense team has a chance to dig through all of that evidence. paula reid outside the court in manhattan there. thank you so much. kate? coming up for us, a new space record. the nasa astronaut who is now back on earth after spending more than a year in space. we have that awesome return for you.

welcome back, everyone. we have learned that has adjourned in terms of the arraign the for bob menendez facing a slew of bribery charges. this his first court appearance. we are looking at lye picture outside the court. you can see the cameras trained on the door. the microphones are set up. we're waiting to see if the senator comes out with his legal team and what he could say when that happens. paula reid is outside there with us. what more are we learning?

>> reporter: just a few moments ago, attorneys for the senator and his wife entered not guilty pleas on behalf of both of them. then the judge has laid out the rules in terms of their release. the senator has been released on a $100,000 personal recognizance bond. he has been asked to surrender his personal passport and other travel documents, but notably, he can keep his official passport and conduct any travel related to his official role as a u.s. senator. now his wife has been released on a $250,000 personal recognizance bond that's been secured by her residence in new jersey, but she's going to be more limited in her ability to travel. she has some permission to travel in specific areas in new york, new jersey, washington, d.c. and florida. if shes to travel anywhere else, she maybe able to do, that but she is going to have to get

permission from the court. now the big question is whether the senator will address the assembled media outside federal court in new york. he has been quite outspoke over the past few days remaining defiant as more than half of his democrat you can colleagues in the senate are calling for him to resign. so he should be leaving court any time and we're watching to see if he's going to answer more questions about these accusations. >> there are other defendants in this case as well as we wait for him to potentially come and speak to the public. he's already said many things about this case. he talked a lot to the public about the money that was found in his jacket pockets and elsewhere. he's not talked about some of things like the gold bars and the car that is in the indictment. do you have any sense of what happened to the other defendants who were in court right now, as we wait for him to potentially talk with us? >> so yesterday one of his co-defendants had their hearing today. he was joined by two defendants.

they are working out details for release for them. we're getting notes from our colleagues that they are going to have a far more restricted terms of their release. details are just coming out. but it will be really interesting to see if the senator wants to address cameras or if he's going to not aps questions. most good lawyers with a client in this particular situation would certainly prefer that they not take questions after a federal arraignment, not talk to the press, but the senator has been talking quite a bit over the past few days. so there's a lot of reporters atemptabled here. one or two protesters, but that's what we're going to be waiting to see if he'll take questions as he exits the court hearing. >> there's a political reason why he may want to say something, if not a legal reason. lawyers may say nothing. since we really last heard from him some 27 democratic senators have come out and called for him

to step down. he has said he won't. but really, the totality of what is facing him among his own colleagues has presented itself in the last 24 hours. so he may choose this moment right here to address that issue. it has to be daunting to be a member of the u.s. senate when you know that a majority of members in your own party in your chamber do want you there. >> we're looking at live pictures outside the courthouse. i'm sorry, paula. i think we're going. we're looking at live pictures outside the federal courthouse. we're going to take a quick break. our coverage continues next on "inside politics."