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hiding, and this as the hostage negotiations broke down, because what hamas are fearing that released women might say happened to them in captivity. and now, why penn, harvard and m.i.t. are on the hot seat in tough questions in response to the israel-hamas war and big questions of why big donors are calling it quits to these big institutions. i'm kate bolduan with sara sidner and john berman and this is cnn "news central." >> we ask again, will chris christie drop out or will this primary sway any voters' minds? this is part of the questions with the key dates fast

approaching. chris christie is now feeling the public pressure to drop out of the race. this is from his donors, gop strategists and pundits who instead want him to support nikki haley. as for liz cheney, the fiery trump critic and long-time conservative tells the washington post that she has not ruled out a third-party run. tomorrow's debate stage will have the fewest podiums so far, and four candidates qualify as trump prepares to ditch the formality again. and here are the key dates, tomorrow's debate and then 42 days from now, the fourth major 2024 test as iowa is going to hold the presidential caucuses in iowa on january 15th, and then january 23rd, new hampshire is going to hold its primary election. kristen holmes is joining with us the rumblings happening right now surrounding the debate. trump is of course going to skip it again, what do you know?

>> well, that is right. donald trump is running a campaign unlike anything that we have ever seen not only under four indictments, but he is not playing by any of the rules, and what i mean by that, we are six week out from the iowa caucuses, and other candidates and what normally the candidates do is to barnstorming state of iowa and meeting with the voters and prepping for that debate this week to make a lasting impression on those voters in the early states, and donald trump is doing none of that. he is attending a town hall in iowa tonight with shawn hannity a fox town hall friendly environment, and he is then going to florida to a fund-raiser and then going to sit through a civil fraud trial where he is expected to testify himself where he is going to be called to the stand by his own attorneys. and he is not only leading the polls not only in iowa, but across the country, and this is

leading to critics republicans and democrats calling out what a second term would look like with a particular focus on what it would mean for democracy and one of the loudest critics is liz cheney and she has been on television promoting her book and saying that she is going to do anything, and whatever it takes to stop donald trump from getting back into the white house even if it means a potential third party runp this is what she said today on how the beat donald trump. >> what we have to do to beat trump is to be unified. we cannot get into the situation to think there are more issues that matter more than this one. we have plenty of time to debate and to argue about all of those issues that we care deeply about, but that is not where we are now. where we are now, we have to be focused on defeating him. >> part of the reasoning is the headlines that you saw when she was talking, that she has warned if he is winning the presidency,

he is going to never leave office, and it will be the last election ever held, and there are many who do not want her to enter as a third-party candidate and like ti same group talking to chris christie who is saying that she will take votes away from trump, and this is coming from the time when we are seeing the amplified fringe rhetoric from the president on the campaign trail bleed over into his legal problems and the lawyers are going to ask the justice department for more information on the fringe conspiracy theories of january 6th. >> there is a lot going on there, kristen holmes. thank you. john? >> and now for a second or new trump term, the "chorus" magazine released the newest cover says if trump wins, and the writers are looking at what a new term would entail, and david frum, the former bush

speechwriter said, that the new existing constitutional system has no maneuvers for a criminal in chief, and he could pardon himself for federal crimes which he could likely do, and pardon himself in advance and for that, he could murder the vice president, and then immediately pardon himself. and david frum is joining us now, and this whole magazine, and this whole issue "if trump wins" and why now? >> the human imagination is not structured to be big enough for really big and bad events. we look at the future and think it is going to be looking like the past, but when we are looking at the past, there are catastrophic events in it, but looking forward, we can't imagine those things happening to ourselves. so this is a look at imagination. when donald trump run for the second time, as he does, and if he should win, and sworn in, he is under four sets of criminal indictments, two federal and two

state, and the company is under dissolution and maybe on criminal trial already, and maybe convicted already, and he is the chief law enforcement officer of the united states and proven criminal or on the way the being one, and the first priority is to rip apart the criminal system of the united states, and that is for self-preservation, and he has to or it could send him to prison for the rest of his life. >> is this more likely today than it was more likely last week than it was more likely than a month ago? >> no, this reality is always been there and there throughout, and we have been writing and talkin ing about it, but this is people are concentrating on politics to take the things that for those of us who are worrying about democracy for those of us who to worry about it for those who don't from those of us who do. donald trump's defeat does not solve any important problem for

the united states, and there are a lot of issues that argue about and that is what liz cheney and i have different messages for politics as do those around joe biden, but the possibility of choice to make the constitution work, there we are united. >> and so most of the people who say that we should staff a second trump term would be servile tools to defend democracy and forfeit your career, and who are you talk about specifically? >> donald trump has been amassing this group of internet trolls and general weirdos, and he took office for the first time, there are reputable people who said, i will try to preserve my own reputation and do some good for the country, and those spat out often with terrible damage and they have gone on the record to talk about how

wreckless he was, and rex tillerson and others, and they admit they have largely failed, and this second time, should there be a second time, it is going to be the creeps and the weirdos he has been amassing through the campaign are quite clear they want to help him to wreck the democratic structure of the united states. >> and first trump told them that the united states should withdraw from nato and then second term aides who would not talk him out of it, and then use the insurrection act to use the military to a tool of military project, and it is an astonishing possibility. >> yes, the insurrection act was passed in the 1790s in the george washington administration and long since taken over by legislation to governing the use of the military which says that the military is not a police force, and the 1790s, there was not a police force, and there

was only a militia, and there is police forces that keep force, but donald trump contemplated how he would seize power in 2021, he could fantasize how he could use the military. but that means that there is going to be flooded in the military with illegal orders and every general is going to have to say, is this legal or not legal. he believes they take an order to him, but they take an oath to the constitution, and they check the orders against the constitution, so it is going to be crisis upon crisis upon crisis and civilian and military crisis. >> and how do you make sure that you are not like cassandra from the greek mythology and predicting the future correctly, but not getting people to believe you. how do you get people to believe you. >> thank you for citing cassandra because she was write, and she was pessimistic, but

doomed to be right. so people do recognize the truth. look, donald trump has never gotten much about 46% of the vote in the united states. you are looking at the six elections from 2000 to 2020 and the major candidates and stack them, and he was ranked 12th and 11th, and john kerry did better, and al gore did better, and so there is an antitrump majority in the country and it has to be activated and inspired and when it is, and in 2018, it came out to stop him in the house, and boot him from the presidency and in 2021 to deny a majority in the senate, and in 2022, the trump deniers were present and it just needs to be awoken. >> thank you, david frum. >> right now, chris wray is on capitol hill to testify, and cnn

has learned that what he is going to testify about is a steady drum beat of calls for attacks of terrorist organizations, and that agencies are working around the clock to identify and deflect potential attacks from hamas. evan, what are you learning about what the fbi director is going to report when he begins to testify? >> well, kate, obviously, the problem with international terrorism is a lot more complex and a lot more worrisome for the fbi after the hamas attack in israel on october 7th. one of the things that the fbi director is going to talk about is about 4,000 investigations of international terrorism, and there is also another 2,700 investigations related to domestic terrorism, and some of the people are people who might be inspired by hamas and other

groups who have been calling for attacks in the united states in the wake of those attacks in southern israel on october 7th. the fbi director of course, he is concerned about not only the terrorism threat, but also the threats from iran which is carried out or tried to carry out assassination plots in the united states as well as the economic and other harm from or threat from china and one of the things that he is very, very concerned about is the potential expiration in the next few weeks of the global electronic surveillance law known as 702. that is one of the things that he wants to focus on with the senate committee, because he wants them to renew this fbi authority, and i will read a part of what he says. the generational threat that is posed by china and iran, and he says that stripping the 702 authority of the fbi is a unilateral disarmament, and 702

is referring to the electronics surveillance tool that expires in a few weeks. a lot of people are concerned about that because of the american privacy concerns which is causing this legislation to potentially expire. of course, kate, you know this is a senate hearing and congressional hearing and you will hear the questions from the republicans about the hunter biden investigation and donald trump, and a lot of fireworks we will be hearing from some members later in this hour. >> we have found in the recent, i would say since october 7th, the testimony from chris wray has been quite important, and in what in term owhat they are picking up, so we will be listening in closely to that. sara? >> come up, israeli defense forces are ramping up the fighting in southern gaza, and we have brand-new satellite images of what you are looking at there, and the clusters of the gray vehicles there, and those are tanks. and we will explain what is

happening there. and plus, moments from now, university presidents will be testifying on capitol hill about the growing anti-semitism on u.s. college campuses. many parents with new hopes of the vaccine to prevent rsv, but they will have a hard time trying to find it. we will explain next.

this morning, the idf says that its troops are in khan younis, largest city in southern gaza, and one commander

describing it as the most intense day since the beginning of the ground operation, and new satellite imagery shows dozens of israeli tanks gathered near the city. we go to ben wedeman who is in jerusalem for us. what more are you learning or hearing about the israeli operations now? >> yeah, the israeli military is saying that they are now quote in the heart of khan younis which is the biggest city in southern gaza, and the city in which many people had fled from the north and have taken shelter, and so it is not surprising that they are saying that the action is some of the most fighting is the most intense they have seen in this war. many believe that hamas commanders, leaders and command and control centers, if you can call them that may be in khan younis. and we know that as a result of

the fighting, the u.n. says they cannot get aid to the city. the residents have been seeing the leaflets dropped from the sky by the israelis telling them to stay where they are or if they are in a dangerous place to move to hospitals and other areas where they might be safer. but, this is certainly does represent a major escalation in terms of the operation south of what is known as wadi gaza, which is the line south of which the gazans were told they were safe, and now there are massive parts of southern gaza that are not safe. tens of thousands of people are moving away from the fighting, but what we understand is that they are moving to areas where there is nothing in the way of infrastructure in terms of sanitation, shelter, food, clean water and as a result, things are only getting worse.

a variety of international aid organizations and u.n. aid organizations have been ringing the alarm bells that the humanitarian situations that were bad already are now going to be dramatically worse. >> ben, thank you as always for your reporting. sara? >> now, the latest of the developments. we are joined by david sanger who is a cnn political and security analyst and white house national security correspondent for "the new york times." and thank you, david, so much for being here. and first, i want to go to what you make of israel saying that it is going to investigate the potential failings in the october 7th attack while simultaneously fighting this war. how does that happen? >> sara, it is a really great question, because the assumption until now is that the investigation would wait until the war was over. this is going to be a really complicated investigation. on the facts and on the politics

of it. when you are thinking about it, there have to be three different parts to it. one is on the intelligence failure, and how is the most vaunted intelligence system that we have known in the past few decades, and one that is presumably had the gaza completely wired up managed to miss an attack like this in the planning for so long. the second big question is if they did get parts of it, and we know from my colleagues at the new york times reporting that there was a full plan from the hamas that israelis had that looked very much like what ultimately happened on october 7th, and why was it is not communicated up the chain or taken seriously, if it was. and then the third part is why did they not respond more quickly, and all of these are going to require a really independent investigation.

>> all right. i want you to listen to this, and israel, and obviously telling us, and you can see the ed of them expanding the military operations in gaza, and there are some serious pressure coming from many fronts including united states to protect the civilian population, the palestinians who live in gaza, and the civilians are in dire straits, and the israeli military have said they have killed two civilians for every hamas militant, and let's listen to what the spokesman jonathan korikas responded to the question from erin burnett on "out front" last night. >> if you are comparing that to a military terrorist organization using human civilians as a shield, you will find out that is tremendously

positive and unique in the world. >> what do you think of talking about human life in stark human term, and do statistics play out in war, and does that ring true to you? >> well, we don't have a real sense of the statistics yet or at least i don't, because as we are looking at the rough estimate of the civilians who have died and we have not looked at the range of the 15,000, that would suggest if you believe his numbers that they have killed 7500 of the hamas leaders and soldiers. we don't know that for a fact yet. the second is that the standard here is not what is the ratio. the standard is have you done everything that you can to protect civilian life. and that's going to be the really hard question. it was a hard question in the north, and it is a much harder

now in the south, because israel's first message to people in the north was to move to south, so they moved there, and without homes, and most of the population has been displaced, and now they are in areas that are out in the open, and the question is can israel with more surgical attacks manage lower the civilian count dramatically. there is some early evidence that perhaps they are, but it is way too early to know. >> right. israel is arguing that hamas has moved into the areas where all of the civilians have gone. >> and they are right about that. yes. >> and to khan younis, and so you have people on top of people that israel is trying to get to. and so let me ask you about the statement from the state department spokesman matt miller offered why he thinks and apparently why the u.s. government thinks that hamas is refusing to release the remaining female hostages held

captive there in gaza. >> the fact is that one of the reasons they don't want to turn the women over as hostages is because they don't want the women to talk about their time in custody. >> the report is that we have seen horrific accusations that hamas raped the women and then killed them. what do you make of hearing that from the the u.s. official? >> you know, i think that the reports have to be taken quite seriously, and that both the forensic evidence that the israelis have gathered from the bodies that they have recovered and the evidence that they have heard from witnesses suggest that there were pretty horrific crimes committed here. and that many of them were rapes and so forth. and that is going to have to be part of the overall

investigation. i would not be surprised if mr. miller is exactly right that hamas is holding back those who could testify on this issue. because hamas' position has been of course that for real jous reasons that these kinds of attacks wouldn't have happened and that is running contrary to almost all of the evidence that we have seen so far. >> david sanger, thank you so much for all of that analysis. we appreciate you for come on. >> sure. and a spike of a virus among children has parents and doctors scrambling for a new solution, and solution right now that is in short supply.

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through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. this morning, a resolution is in the works, a statement, a declaration from the house of representatives to condemn hamas' use of sexual violence and rape against israeli women on october 7th. two house democrats are leading push working to craft the resolution which comes after a couple of things. the silence from many of the international organizations on the atrocities committed by hamas in the terror attack, and also these comments from the head of the progressive caucus pramila jayapal. >> rape is horrific, and sexual

assault is horrific, and it happens in war situations and terrorist organizations like hamas are using them as tools, however, we have to be balanced about bringing in the outrages against palestinians. >> and joining me now is one of the lawmakers drafting the resolution to unequivocally condemn the rape by hamas is congressman lewis frankel, and thank you for coming on. and you told congress that you have been internally raging over this violence and what made you conclude that you needed this resolution, and this declarative statement made by the house? >> well, first, thank you for having me here today. listen, i think it is, and i want to make this clear. rape and sexual assault is not an acceptable weapon of war.

this needs to be said from every level of government and it has to be sent from every person on earth, because this is a political and cultural and legal issue. i really -- this is really timed with the hearing that was held at the u.n. yesterday and something that we have been talking about in one of my subcommittees which is the foreign ops foreign appropriations committee which deals with the funding of israel and other foreign issues. in fact, we have heard over the years tales, and i shouldn't say tales, but accusations and brutality of the rape as a weapon of war, and now we hear it about hamas, and we have heard it about ukraine, and we have heard it about afghanistan, haiti. it is unacceptable wherever it is. >> it does seem in talking to

focusing in on the israel-hamas war, and what hamas did, and it does seem, congresswoman, that people, some people think that by condemning rape of jews by hamas, that there is some howe siding with the policies is of benjamin netanyahu, and they have nothing to do with one another, and so why is it do you think so hard for some to confront this hateful and hurtful reality? >> kate, i don't believe there is anybody i know who does believe that rape is a acceptable tool of war, and whether that is in some artful discussion of this is their problem. but i believe this is a bipartisan resolution, and it is going to have overwhelming support.

>> as it should. pramila jayapal and how she answered the questions from my colleague dana bash, and did that play any part in your push to draft the resolution? >> well, this has been in the works really since been in the works for many months when we started to hearing the stories from the women in ukraine and then of course this now with hamas and atrocities. i try not to have my actions here be dictated by inartful comments by others, because this is a much more serious issue than one member, and it has to be said by all -- rape and sexual assault as a weapon of war is not acceptable. it needs to be criminalized in every country, and in every territory, and it has to be prosecuted as a crime. i mean, if one of our soldiers, an american soldier or even an

israeli soldier used rape as a tool of war, they would be prosecuted in their own country, and it has to be, as i said, legally, politically and culturally unacceptable, and i would like to see everybody at the rallies around the world, and i have no problem with people being sympathetic, and i'm sympathetic to the inhumanity and the need for humanitarian support both in israel and gaza, but everybody should be saying enough is enough. sexual assault is not acceptable. >> in your core, in your gut, it is not hard for you to say this very eloquently and very clearly, and why is it for others? >> now you are asking me to be a psychiatrist or psychologist, and you know what, they have to answer for themselves, and i will answer for myself, but i

speak for the overwhelming majority, and the republicans and the democrats here, and people with good hearts, sexual assault should not be a tool of war and it is not acceptable, and it has to be criminalized, and it has to be called out. >> congresswoman, you left the progressive caucus that p congresswoman jayapal is, and i have not heard from you specifically, why did you leave the caucus? >> well, first of all, i have been around a long time in politic, and my values and my political record is pretty clear. i chaired the women's caucus, and it has all of the women of the democrats in it, and it is very diverse in terms of the political spectrum of the democrats. i consider myself that i am a

mainstream democrat. i'm a strong democrat, and like to be a free agent and really not to be accountable for one caucus or another's position. and that is how i feel about it. >> democratic congresswoman lois frankel, thank you for coming on. john. >> good to be with you. the race to protect children from a dangerous virus is causing a wave of frustration now among some parents.

parents are trying to shield their children from rsv, the virus that can be particularly dangerous for children and babies. the respiratory virus leads to more than 2 million outpatient visits by children under 5. the new vaccine for toddlers and babies is gaining traction, but getting swunone is being problec for parents. and our medical expert meg tirrell is here, and tell us about it. >> it stands for respiratory su superztitial virus. and it is the antibodies to protect you about it.

it is a new vaccine that has come out, and it is about $500 before insurance, and so a ton of excitement in the public that it can make a dent in the infectious world to protect against rsv. >> and we have been talking about vaccines since the covid world, and now, how difficult to get your hands on it? >> well, it was applied in july for babies and the issues to get it were cost and pediatricians and offices were not sure they would be paid for it, and then as the fall started, one of the makers said essentially the demand for the vaccine was higher than anticipate and the cdc said it should be prioritized for the most vulnerable and those under

6-month-olds, and now it is a shortage. >> and it is so frustrating for those who cannot get it. and now, everybody is sniffling and sneezing, and so it is frustrating. >> yes, and the hospitals are full of little babies sniffling and sneezing, and we profiled a baby who could not get it, and then her baby was hospitalized for rsv, and we are hearing of that happening. >> thank you, meg tirrell for your reporting. >> thank you. and now, gabby petito's parents say that brian laundrie and what he confessed to days before she was declared missing. it is time to vote for cnn hero of the year. support the people who are makingng a d difference e in ou worlrld. castst your r vote everyryday f heheroes.

new this morning, a lawsuit filed by gabby petito's parents says that brian laundrie's parents called them to say that gabby was gone, anded that i claim that was made three weeks before gabby's body was found. and so gabby's parents are suing brian's parents and their attorney saying that they withheld information about their daughter's death. cnn's jean casarez is here with the latest on this. jean, what is going on here? >> well, this is the third amended complaint in this civil action, and these are brand-new allegations with more spes sif

ti than we have heard. on august 29th is when allegation of this complaint states that brian laundrie called his parents from wyoming or on his way back to say that gabby is gone, and i need a lawyer. so then it is alleged that the parents called the attorney steven bertolino on that date, and then on the september 1st, he returns to florida. but then on the september 2nd, it is alleged that the attorney for the laundries called a firm in laramie, wyoming, and even giving them a retainer and previous to that, he had contacted public defender's office, right, and they defend those who are charged with crimes in wyoming, in this specific county where her remains were found, but her remains, as you say, john, they were not found until two weeks

later, and not because of anything that the laundries did, but because of campers in the area, when everybody was trying to find out what happened to gabby. >> so, jean, it is a civil suit at this point, but do brian laundrie's parents have any criminal liability here? >> well, interesting question, because first of all, they would not respond to the petito's, and that is the basis of this whole suit when the petito's were panicked about this, and they sent a letter saying "we hope that gabby can be found", and "we hope you can be reunited" but at the same time, john, law enforcement had to be asking brian laundrie's family, do you know anything? what happened? and that can be the basis of lying to the law enforcement officer, and that can be the basis of something extremely serious. >> jean casarez, thank you for the reporting. >> thank you. kate? >> still coming up for us, i

don't know if the party can be saved. that is what liz cheney is saying this morning as she appears to be opening up the door to a third-party presidential run.

former congresswoman liz cheney says that she doesn't know if her party can be saved, so will she toss her hat into the ring as a third-party presidential candidate? we have new details. >> the war is revving up, and new video show