donald trump, refusing to say unequivocally that if he's reelected, he would not abuse power. so how will his republican rivals respond on the debate stage tonight. with weeks to go before iowa, will they finally go after the front runner, especially with trump skipping out again. while the former president looks ahead to 2024, prosecutors in fulton county, georgia are still looking to hold him accountable for the chaos that followed the 2020 election. a new key witness has been added to the list. his former vice president, mike pence, cnn's exclusive details are straightahead. new audio of freed israeli hostages confronting the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu in a private meeting. we will tell you why they are venting their frustration at the israeli government. following these major stories and many more all coming in right here to cnn news central.

tonight for republican presidential hopefuls will face off in another primary debate, florida governor desantis, former south carolina governor nikki haley, former new jersey governor chris christie and ramaswamy and for the fourth time the front runner will not be there to spar with them. trump and his allies are even hinting about how he would use his presidential powers to go after his perceived enemies and that has led to warnings from former officials and fellow republicans, about the dangers about another trump turn -- term. he was asked point blank last night if he would abuse his power. he did not give a simple, no. elena, most candidates would be pretty clear about not seeking to be a dictator but trump's

last answer, last night, it implied more than that. >> it did, boris, sean hannity last night asked donald trump, twice, and over the course of several minutes, whether he would try to abuse presidential power or use the government if reelected to go after his political opponents and donald trump did not take the opportunity to deny it. let's take a listen to what they said. >> do you in any way have any plans whatsoever if reelected president, to abuse power, to break the law, to use the government to go after people? >> you mean like they are using right now? >> you are promising america tonight, you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody pay >> except for day one. except for day one. i want to close the border and i want to drill.

>> that's not -- >> he said you are not going to be a dictator, are you, i said no, other than day one. >> you could hear boris, that donald trump was you know, joking about potentially being a dictator again like you said, not something a lot of other candidates would do. i think it's important to point out here that donald trump has said explicitly, and publicly, on the campaign trail and in interviews that if he were elected to the white house next year, he would use the justice department to go after his enemies. and so i think that's really important to keep in mind. and i also want to point out, you sought in the last clip, donald trump did what we've seen him do time and time again. he tried to flip the script, he tried to portray joe biden as someone who is abusing his

office. >> elena, instead of being at the debate, what is the former president going to be up to? >> as he's done with all the previous debate so far, he skipping this again. tonight he is instead going to attend a fundraiser hosted by one of the super pac that supporting his candidacy. and you know, what i find interesting is i talked about this with donald trump's team, his inner circle, repeatedly over the course of the last several months but also in the last 24 hours, and they argue that they think the strategy of not going is really effective. they want to pretrade donald trump as being in a different league than the other candidates. and try to portray it as if these debates are beneath them and they say the strategy is working but of course, you're going to have the other four candidates on stage, and they are very frustrated by his absence, they have not been

given an opportunity to attack him directly, in front of millions of viewers. but they are also not having an opportunity to try and learn a lot of the pro-trump viewers that they know that he brings when he participates. it's frustrating for the other contenders who are going to be on stage tonight. >> i want to bring in jessica dean. more on the debate that set to take place tonight. what will you be looking for? >> well remember, we've got just for candidates this time, so as these debates continue, the numbers get smaller and smaller. and elena make such a good point which is, former president trump is not going to be on that stage, he hasn't been on any of them and we've seen over the course of several debate that started back in august, that really, there hasn't been a real going after donald trump. there have been moments but we heard from tonight's moderators that they intend to try to

inject him into this as much as possible, so that's one thing we are going to look for but then when you look just within the dynamic of the four people on stage, you have nikki haley who has a lot of wind at her back right now and has really done well in part, because of her performances on the debate stage. she has taken these opportunities to gain momentum and there's been very pointed interactions between her and especially vivek ramaswamy. there will be more of that and for florida governor desantis, who's going all in on i and remember, we are just several weeks away from iowa, that's january 15th. he really wants to make a mark, and in a number of these debates he hasn't had one huge moment and it's nothing like we've seen from nikki haley in

terms of capturing the moment so can you do something like that tonight of course chris christie who is able to get a place on the stage at the very last moment. he has also had his message of going directly after trump more than anybody else on the stage time and time again. we can expect to see more of that tonight. >> potentially the last debate before voters start making decisions. thank you so much. >> let's talk more now about all those developments in the 2024 race. let's be joined now by former congressman charlie dent of pennsylvania and jackie, who is the washington bureau chief for the boston globe. what is at stake tonight considering the former president isn't there. what are you watching for? >> vivek ramaswamy is a grifter and then you've got -- i want to see if haley will go after trump. second place as last place in this business and trump is in first place by a long shot.

she's the one everybody is watching to see if she can break through and may be positioned herself as the alternative to donald trump. >> it does seem like it's the race for second place. >> i think you are right about haley. she has been the okay thank you trump but it's time to move on and chris christie has been really wanting to smack him in the teeth. i'm curious what their reaction to what trump said last night is, because we are past the point where they can be like oh, i don't want to talk about trump i want to talk about myself. you are running against trump. he's beating you by 30 points. time is very limited at this point and you have to know where these people stand, frankly, on democracy. >> the different approaches to how you deal with what donald trump said, you can ignore it, or i want to talk about something else, there's liz cheney, chris christie, the ringing the alarm, there someone like congressman tim burgett, and like you said to

phil mattingly this morning, let's listen in. >> he has a lot of bravado as a new yorker, and he will be surrounded with attorneys, he can't just say it and make it happen. there is a process that everything goes through, and you know, we have a judicial system and that's what we've got. we've got a justice department that i think is corrupted but you know, i don't know. i would assume that he would not be able to do any of that. it would have to go through the proper processes. and that's what you say during elections. >> it's like the third approach which is, downplaying some of what he said as if we didn't see the first movie in the series or enabling what he's done. >> if i work chris christie on the stage tonight, he's going to weaponized himself over this issue and basically say that trump is a threat to the

stability of the republic. the question right now is, is nikki haley going to channel her any her inner chris christie and sharpen those stilettos, she likes to talk about those as weapons. she's going to have to take off the gloves. and i think take trump head-on on this and other comments. they are all worried about antagonizing the trump base but at some point, you have to draw a sharp contrast and i don't think she has done that yet. she needs to do better than just a on the next generation, vote for me. >> it's so telling how congressman burchett dealt with that it was basically like fingers crossed that the system holds. >> there will be adults in the room, we've heard all of this, and so that sort of like, here's hoping, i mean how long is that going to hold, if this continues. he is being very clear about how he is sticking out this potential second term. >> donald trump is not being unclear about what a second

term might look like. what does it look like in your view? >> he's telling us what is going to do. it's going to be about retribution and grievance and he will go after his enemies. he will do radical things. i could see him pulling out of nato. he is going to disrupt and break the china. he will upset the international order and i think a lot of us are concerned that these institutions that held while he was president and after he was president, might not hold this time. i'm not to the point where i'm going to say it's all going to end but i'm deeply concerned where this is going. >> you are not with burchett, to be clear. >> no. but i'm not quite liz cheney yet. >> it seems like he is someone who knows how to leverage work. he came into office initially, he was a novice at this and really didn't know where he could push the limits and where he cut it. now, it seems like he knows where things are week, where the fences might not be able to hold and who stood in his way last time. so it seems like he's going to surround himself with people who aren't going to throw down a redline for him, like we saw in the last administration.

>> he's going to populate his administration with sycophants and grifters. last time at least we had th e masters and the teller sins, combs and others, who were strong personalities and institutionalist, those people are gone. the good news with grifters and sycophants, they're probably not that smart, many of them, but will they be able to figure out how to break all the china. >> they can break some of it. i think we've seen that. kevin mccarthy out at the end of his term, sayonara, he is saying to congress what is your reaction? >> don't feed the crocodiles. the lesson kevin mccarthy took from the john boehner and paul ryan experience was john boehner and ryan, they wanted to stiff arm the hardliners, mccarthy brought them in, hoping that they would somehow, he could pacify them, it didn't work. they took them down in the end.

that was the message, you know, the opposition was always personal, it really wasn't about the continuing resolution or the debt ceiling, he was always viewed as part of the establishment of the party. he wrote the book along with eric cantor, and paul ryan, the young guns, that was their thing. >> nostalgia. >> he was never seen as part of that whole movement wing. >> thank you so much to both of you, i appreciate it. ahead of a key vote, president biden is urging lawmakers to pass a crucial aid bill for israel and ukraine as senate republicans defend their plan to sink the package. a string of shootings in texas leaving six people dead and three injured, now police have charged one man with capital

murder.

we just heard from president biden who is urging congress to pass billions of dollars in critical military aid for ukraine warning of dire consequences if congress continues to wait. >> if putin takes ukraine, he won't stop there. it's important to see the long run here. he will keep going. he's made that pretty clear. putin attacked a nato ally and he keeps going, we defend every inch of nato territory and then we will have something that we don't seek and that we don't have today. american troops fighting russian troops. >> the senate will be voting on this funding package. that's expected later today.

it does appear doomed to fail because republicans are digging in on adding border security measures to this. mj is live with the latest. tell us more about what the president said here. >> well we are seeing a top national security priority for the white house, clashing with domestic policy, a fight that's happening on capitol hill right now. it's running for ukraine and order policy. the remarks we heard are clearly meant to be a ring the alarm bell kind of remark. you look at some of the language that he used. he said it stunning that the aid hasn't gotten through yet. a failure to do so would give them the greatest gift that russian forces are committing war crimes and he said if russia does encroach on nato countries and we are seeing a situation where american troops ultimately end up getting involved. but what i asked the president

in the room after his remarks, was whether he believes democrats should consider you know, giving more on border policy in this package to try to get it through and he seemed to say that negotiations were going well for a while but republicans ended up walking away. here is that exchange with the president just a minute ago. >> would you be okay with democrats willing to put more on border policy to get this current package through? >> yes. >> what would you be okay with democrats agreeing to -- >> of already laid out the negotiations with langford and others, what we are willing to do. significantly more, particularly equipping the border capacity that we need on the border from judges to border security. in addition to making substantive changes. but they are unwilling to do it. i really thought, i felt good for a while. i thought we were making some real progress. langford is a decent guy and it

look like he was prepared to move in a direction where we could come up with a compromise changing the substance and policy on the border as well as security at the border. but they walked away. it's, take everything we have here, in there one proposal, which is extreme, or nothing. and in the meantime, nothing means, we don't get any support for our friends and the innocent people of ukraine. anyway, i will talk to you more after. >> the administration is expected to announce another $175 million for a security package for ukraine, this is the presidential drawdown authority that we provide ammunition and other kinds of

equipment for ukraine but the administration has been warning for days that they can't keep doing this, they keep using the language, there's not a magic pot of money that it's really imperative that congress approved new funding and of course the big concern right now on timeline, is that members are going to leave town for the holidays before the -- this goes down. >> thank you, we also have melanie who is on capitol hill. how much of an impasse is this? is there a way for congress to deal with this before leaving for the holidays? >> it's unlikely that biden's message is going to change that fundamental dynamics on capitol hill which is that republicans are insisting that order security be attached to any additional funding for ukraine. and so, we will see what sort of response we get from republicans here. so far the white house has been issuing these dire warnings all week, and it has fallen on deaf ears but one thing biden did say which ice think some republicans will take notice of is he is willing to compromise on the border. for democrats and biden, this is a political issue where they could be vulnerable in 2024.

so that is incentive for them as well to do something that they are saying will involve the border. they want a complete crackdown on laws. that's been a key sticking point. even if they are able to agree on something in the senate, there's no guarantee it's going to be able to pass the gop controlled house. over there, speaker johnson has been insisting on a hard-line partisan border security bill, that something that's been a nonstarter with democrats and he's also insisted that ukraine aid be separated from israel. they don't want to do this in one package, so the gop is even divided over both strategy and policy. so the senate will take a vote later today on a package, just for israel and ukraine. we are expecting it to fail because republicans are planning to vote against it.

so that could either solidify the stalemate or reinvigorate the talks but at this moment, ukraine aid looking increasingly -- >> historic charges were announced for brutal offenses against american's caught in the middle of russia's war on ukraine. for the first time, the justice department using the u.s. war crimes statute, charging these for russian soldiers, for the alleged abduction, beating and days long torture of an american man living in ukraine. the attorney general said russians have interrogated the victim in april of last year. let's listen. >> they stripped off his close and took pictures, one of the conspirators threatened to sexually assault him. and during the interrogation when the victims answers did not satisfy the defendants, they alleged that, who was also a commanding officer threatened the victim with death and ask for his last words. >> let's get the latest from evan perez. the attorney general stressed

that this wasn't someone aligned with the military, this was just a civilian. >> this is somebody who happened to be living in this small village in ukraine. what the justice department alleges in these charges is that this man was taken away by these russian military office, two of them commanding officers and they were taken and for 10 days, he was subjected to multiple question things. he was taken outside and put through a mock execution, they fired a gun right next to his head, missing his skull just by mere inches. and again, trying to terrorize this person because he wasn't providing the answers that they believed he had, and so, that is where these charges come from and this is something obviously the justice department, they have an entire team that's been working on this, since the russian

invasion, you know, those stories emerged of the torture that people were subjected to there in this region and for the united states, they've also been trying to help them gather evidence for possible international war crimes tribunals. one of the things that we heard from the attorney general, is that we are probably going to want to see more cases like this, if they have additional investigations that they've been doing. we know some have emerged over the past couple of years, so they are doing that, and one of the other interesting things is these teams are also working on gathering evidence of war crimes by hamas which is of course something we are all paying attention to. >>

the former vice president is on the list. why mike pence could be a critical witness for prosecutors in the election subversion case.

now to acn and exclusive in the election subversion case

against donald trump. fulton county prosecutors have submitted a secret list of witnesses for trial and one name among the roughly 150 stands out. former vice president, mike pence. let's get some analysis now. caroline, thanks for sharing part of your afternoon. he has a witness before a federal grand jury, part of the federal election subversion case. how could his testimony impact the case in fulton county georgia, specifically? >> that's right, boris. we've known for a while that he was called by jack smith's special grand jury in d.c. for the federal case, as it pertains specifically to georgia, i think funny willis could use mike pence to her advantage. it's not surprising that fani

willis would like his testimony in her state rico case. >> another hotly contested thing has been claims by trump's team of them scheduling the start date for august, you know, election interference, they've called that ridiculous. how do you see it and also, whether trump's team, has any potential mechanism to try to delay beyond august? >> yeah, i mean i think that they will try to delay beyond august and they've got good arguments. what's not a good legal argument is to say they prefer to be tried later because he's running for president, it's kind of like saying, you would prefer to be tried later because you got some job interviews coming up. it doesn't work that way. on the other side of the coin,

he should be treated like any other defendant, and wanting to get the trial in quickly, before the election cycle also it's really not a viable argument from the stateside. so i really doubted that this case will actually go to trial in august. i think that's a long shot by funny willis and her team. they believe that this case would be stayed meaning it would not go to trial until 2029 if he were to be elected president. we will see if they can get it in before the election. >> the question is whether or not trump could even be on the ballot in colorado is actually, in today, there's no appeals court looking at a decision recently made by a judge that essentially said that trump did commit insurrection but the way that section 3 of the 14th amendment as written, it doesn't specify that a president wouldn't be able to run for office having been found to commit insurrection. i'm wondering how you see that case stacking up?

>> this was a shocking decision, to be sure. this was a sleeper case on the sidelines. it's a wonky argument that basically says, you know, section 3 of the 14th amendment which was ratified post civil war, it says any person that has taken an oath of office and commits in insurrection cannot thereafter hold office and what is surprising that the coral judge did is, she held that while trump did engage in insurrection, it doesn't apply to the office of the presidency, which is odd because it sort of put the harder hurdle is the insurrection portion and today, it's going to this colorado supreme court. both sides have appealed on a number of issues but, i don't think boris, ultimately, that this is going to be the same argument, the case that wins the day for keeping trump off the ballot. >> i think it is longish.

, is there any doubt that it lines up before the federal supreme court? >> there are several other states with this specific issue and certainly either side is bound to appeal this ruling. i think it is rife for a supreme court review. but you never know what the supreme court will take, they can opt to hear the case and they could also declined to. >> always appreciate the perspective. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. still ahead, fury after freedom. former hostages confronting israel's prime minister at his war cabinet, accusing them of failing the men, women and children captured by hamas. all of this, caught on tape. we will bring it to you, next.

major development to report in the israel hamas war, the home of hamas is ranking leader in gaza, now surrounded by israeli defense forces, according to benjamin netanyahu. he said that israeli military forces have encircled the house of -- the prime minister say that he cannot escape, it's only a matter of time before we get him, give us the latest of what is happening in the encirclement of the hamas leader's home. >> this is all we know, the

prime minister benjamin netanyahu put out this statement, give -- keep in mind that he's from khan yunis. the last place he would be is home, it was widely anticipated that israel will focus after the collapse of the truce of southern gaza and particularly khan yunis where it's believed many of the leaders are hiding out, they are most likely hiding out somewhere else perhaps in the tunnels, perhaps elsewhere in gaza. symbolically, it might be important but real tactical strategic terms, it isn't. rihanna? >> for sure, then, we are getting a listen to some audio released of a meeting that benjamin netanyahu had with family members of hostages who are still being held there in

gaza, so much emotion, you can hear some of the outrage even as some of them release, they still have loved ones back in gaza. they had airstrikes going on, let's listen to one former hostage who was freed with her children though her husband is still being held. >> you will return the mall, they will not wait 50 days, they will not wait another year because you claim they are strong enough, you have no information. you have no information. the fact that we were shelled and no one knew anything about where we were. >> how did the prime minister respond? >> me know that he's hesitant to meet with people in the communities around gaza, they were the focus of the seventh of october attacks and very hesitant to meet with the

family of the hostages because there is so much anger, basically, he said because one of the things that they are demanding is in exchange for the release of the hostages in gaza, that all the palestinian prisoners be released. he said it is something we cannot do, he said because hamas does not just want the release of all the palestinian prisoners and detainees, he said that they want more. the assumption being perhaps perhaps -- hamas wants to stay in power, what we have heard time and time again from benjamin netanyahu is that his first priority is the destruction of hamas. it was the release of the hostages. many of them, the families of the hostages have been very unhappy with this second priority being the release of the hostages. i think that is coming across

very clearly in this fiery meeting. rihanna? >> they feel like they were not protected in the first place, they are not the priority. then we determine live for us. >> a rampage across two cities killing six people in texas, the grisly and violent killings of five different crime scenes, we have the latest on the search of a motive next on cnn, the central.

first time i connected with kim, she told me that her husband had passed. and that he took care of all of the internet connected devices in the home. i told her, “i'm here to take care of you.” connecting with kim... made me reconnect with my mom. it's very important to keep loved ones close. we know that creating memories with loved ones brings so much joy to your life. a family trip to the team usa training facility. i don't know how to thank you. i'm here to thank you.

>> police in central texas are trying to figure out what had a shooting spree in two cities, a capital murder charge for killing six people in austin and san antonio. it all started there in san antonio where police discovered two bodies and a quote grisly crime scene, then about 80 miles away in austin people responded to four more crime scenes that ended with multiple people dead. we have been following the story closely, we understand that several police officers were also injured responding to these scenes. >> right, the timeline of these events is rather troubling. just moments ago, police in austin, texas confirm the identity of the suspect and he is 34-year-old shane james.

investigators say they believe this killing spree started tuesday morning in the san antonio area where women were discovered murdered as you described, a grisly scene. that's what you described there, that issue continued, four other shootings across austin over several hours yesterday afternoon. there was another man and woman killed in their home, a shooting at a school where a school police officer was wounded in the leg. a man riding a bike was shot, the last shooting scene was in a neighborhood and not -- with a reported burglary. they discovered the suspect in the backyard and exchanged gunfire, it's a short chase and all of these events were pieced together. according to investigators in austin and san antonio links together the motivation.

34-year-old shane james is now facing capital murder charges here in texas. boris? >> details live from dallas, thanks. >> justice -- this justin to cnn, threatening to hold hunter biden in contempt of congress if he does not appear for a closed-door deposition next week. we are joined with the latest, that is not the format that hunter biden had requested in this case. >> this will be a dramatic escalation, holding hunter biden in contempt of congress as it comes with a showdown of whether or not and how he would reappear as a reminder. appearing for a closed-door deposition on december 13th, hunter biden and his legal team said they would be willing to

make them available for public interview saying they were concerned about selectively leaking. both sides doubled down oppositions with republicans insisting that he appear behind closed doors, hunters team saying he will only appear for a public hearing testimony. we are seeing them holding them in contempt, this is a real showdown, democrat responding, jamie raskin, the top republican saying this is a joke and also reminding people that jim jordan, a republican member had a subpoena last year to testify. we will see whether they follow up with this move, it's unclear what legal standing may have as republicans have said, they are worried about their legal standing because they have not yet voted to formally authorize their impeachment inquiry. republican leaders try to push ahead with the bow potentially as early as next week to try to

formally authorize this impeachment inquiry. it is unclear if it would have the votes at this point, they can only refuse republicans. that majority gets slimmer with kevin mccarthy at the end of this year. just another sign that house republicans are really wrapping up efforts to impeach president joe biden. >> melanie with the latest from capitol hill, thank you. stomach debate night with republican front runner not joining in again, how will these four candidates on state handled the contest? will they address former president trumps incendiary words at town hall last night? this is cnn.

donald trump side stepping a question about whether he would abuse his power or seek retribution if he is re-elected, he will only be a dictator on day one, this is a republican rivals hitting the debate stage in the race to be the trump alternative, plus there is nowhere safe to go, a dire warning from the u.n. agency on the deteriorating condio