i am mj lee at the white house and this is cnn. donald trump he says he will not be a dictator except for day one, the former president is making it clear he's out for retribution against his political enemies. how are the other 2024 candidates reacting as they take the debate state tonight? >> seen an exclusive reporting on the georgia subversion case, prosecutors adding a big name to the witness list, mike pence. what can the former president reveal? israel said it has surrounded the house of hamas leader in gaza, benjamin netanyahu saying it's only a matter of time until we get him, we follow

these major development stories all coming in right here to cnn news central. in a few hours, four republicans will battle it out on the debate stage but once again, donald trump will not be there. we know how big of a lead trump has in his 24 primary field, a whopping 61% of republican voters favor the president in cnn's latest poll. this is a lead of over 40 points, trump is also dominating the discourse ahead of tonight's debate and that is because last night, he sidestepped a question or two really about whether he would abuse his power during his second term. trumps equivocating answer came after he suggested he use the presidency to go after his enemies. jessica dean is all over for us, we will say they are not going

to be a dictator, most candidates would say. trump is not most candidates, i think the question will be how as well do these other candidates handle this? >> that's a great point, how they talk about this on the debate stage if they talk about it at all. i do think chris christie will be willing to go there, we have seen him time and time again be the one willing to take on another -- and attack donald trump, last night during that town hall, sean hannity who we know as a tv personality is allies with donald trump gave trump an opening to be like hey, there's been a lot of scrutiny over reports and talk of using the presidency for political retribution in the government against your enemies, gave him an opportunity to deny that but donald trump did not do that, let's take a listen. >> to you in any way have any plans whatsoever if re-elected president to abuse power, to

break the law, to use the government to go after people? >> like they are using right now? >> under no circumstances you are promising america tonight that you would never abuse power against retribution against anyone. >> except for day one. >> i want to close the border and drill. you're not going to be a dictator are you? no, other than day one. >> that was a weird answer as you can see, he's joking. he was talking about being a dictator and joking about it, covering donald trump, he was saying on day one to drill into the border. he was given an opportunity to deny a lot of the criticism that he's been getting on the outside about second term plans and did not take it. i do want to point out he's said publicly himself that if he were elected, he would use the doj to go after his

enemies. he would use the government, i think that's very important context as part of this conversation. >> you try to make it more about policy issues he would use executive power, he was there holding the dustbin like sweep it in here. two chances did not take it, the caucuses, they are right around the corner, six weeks away, what are these candidates needing to do if they are really trying to close the gap. no one has voted yet. it is what it is, we are looking at national polling in state-by-state, it is a little bit different but far and away, the former president continues to lead and so many conventional wisdom is that these debates are race for second place. in a way, it is to be the alternative to the former president. if you ask those people on the state tonight, they are say --

saying we're running for the first lot. nikki haley has a lot of wind in her back and a lot of momentum, she's been able to capitalize on debate more effectively than anybody else to push yourself ahead, florida governor ron desantis is really zeroing in on iowa, all of them are focused on iowa but you can argue he's all in on iowa, those caucuses are pivotal to him and what will he do tonight? what will the dynamic be between the two of them, what will be the dynamic between chris christie who has an eye towards an new hampshire. we have not seen them go after each other with a smaller debate stage, you will have more time and you have to be more direct, there is no hiding. it's fewer opportunities to hide behind someone else, you have to go at each other. >> there will be interesting moments and we will talk about them tomorrow, jessica, alina, thank you to both of you. start mixing in an exclusive, we have learned fulton county georgia prosecutors have submitted a secret list of

trial witnesses in the election subversion case against donald trump. one of the 150+ names stands out, former private -- vice president mike pence, nick boyle and is outside the courthouse. pens could be a key witness, what are you hearing? >> the fulton county district attorney's office signaling he may well be a witness against his old boss, putting him on a list of of potential 150 names who testify in the remaining co- defendants, it's really interesting because up until one point, there is criminal proceedings. he was not part of the evidence gathering stage, not called to testify. infamously pressure to overturn and the insurrection. testify against his old boss, boris? >> the d.a.

is pushing back on claims from trump's attorney that her request to start the trial in august will interfere with the 2024 presidential election, she's reacting to this. she's calling it ridiculous, right? >> you remember last week, trump's attorney presented a myriad of arguments, one of them was the idea of political appearance, there's no question that he would be the presidential nominee. that amounts to political interference, we asked her what she thought about that claim. >> it is ridiculous, we have been conducting that investigation since 2021, january 1st on the investigation taking its normal course, we are at the point that that investigation took us to --

>> she calls it ridiculous, that is being echoed by steve telling cnn here quote saying what is utterly ridiculous is the d.a. campaigning for substantial money handouts from left-wing democrats in washington, d.c., and in new york city. her prosecution is not political, claiming that things are starting to warm up in this case. the judge has given the defense attorneys until december 15th two brought in arguments and the state has until january 2nd to respond. boris? >> nick valencia, thank you for the update. >> this is about congressman matt gates, the republican-led house exit -- ethics committee has reached out to one witness as part of its investigation into the florida lawmaker, we have paul reed here. this was once a dormant investigation but there seems to be movement. >> as we reported over the summer, the investigational once again active. they

informed the congressman he would not be charged in the pre- criminal probe. the timing of this interview request is significant, this request went out last thursday just the day before the house voted to expel now former congressman george santos. that investigation was such a success for the ethics committee, they did an incredibly detailed investigation then of course that vote to expel him. the fact that a day before that vote, they were sending out a request for an interview for a witness related suggesting that they are not turning their attention once again to the florida congressman but also know that representative gates was one of the most vocal defenders of santos ahead of that boat, he wants to take a listen of what he said that day. >> since the beginning of this congress, there's only two ways you get expelled, you get convicted of a crime or you participated in the civil war. neither apply to george santos,

so i rise not to defend george santos, who ever he has but to defend the very precedent that my colleagues are willing to shatter. of course, george santos was investigated by the justice department and charged, congressman gates was investigated for possible trafficking, obstruction, ultimately you is not charged but this ethics probe continues . what's interesting is we are trying to figure out exactly what they are focused on, they asked questions about lobbying activities. it does not appear this investigation at this point is really paralleling what the justice department did. we reached out to key witnesses from the federal investigation for example, gates longtime friend, jill greenberg certainly -- currently serving a prison term for trafficking, he cooperated against the congressman provided information, i have not reach out to him or ask girlfriend of

the congressman who was a key witness for the government testifying before the grand jury, also the women who was only 17 at the time of an alleged sexual encounter. they have not reached out to her, at this point we are trying to figure out what exactly the ethics investigation is focused on because it does not seem that they are reaching out yet to some of the people that the justice department's investigation really relied heavily on, the congressman has denied any wrongdoing, they point to the timing, it appears that not only are they moving towards us, but it is a priority. >> thank you, boris? >> we have breaking news out of nevada on the state investigation into fake electors , we want to go straight to cnn , what you learning about this? >> we are getting news from nevada's attorney general that he has through a grand jerry

has indeed indicted six nevadans of six individuals who post is fake electors. on december 14, 2020 they broadcast this ceremony on livestream video, what we have seen years after they signed a fake document where they declare that the six electoral votes would be going to donald trump when it was joe biden that won the state of nevada and the state attorney general of the six nevadans, very important to note that these are felony charges, a category c felony for offering a farce -- false instrument for filing, category d category for a forced instrument that is the document signed for offering a false instrument title certificate of votes of 2020 electors from nevada, this in

essence is now the penalty for that sham ceremony that they broadcast in 2020 trying to divert and undermine voters of nevada, the attorney general of following through on what began as an investigation earlier, he said it was not enough. something changed in the investigation, now we are seeing indictments being announced. >> is there any guidance on what might have changed in the investigation and potentially what kind of penalties these pro-trump's fake electors are facing? >> what we don't know is it is not specified here in this news release that the attorney general sent out, but we do know is that there has been a series of events. earlier, when the attorney general said there was not enough to have an investigation, what happened is that kenneth chas burrow, the architect of fake electors plot in multiple states became a cooperating witness essentially

to the state of georgia, he put a filing in the said he would travel to nevada, arizona perhaps and cooperate with investigations. that is not spelled out in the information. he's expected to have a news conference at 5:30 what he will talk about this and taking questions. >> the timing with kenneth chas burrow, potentially critical as you pointed out. a significant development, we know you will stay on top of it. much more news to come on cnn news central, stay with us.

we are back with breaking news out of nevada on the state investigation into the a collectors, we have cnn with us

now. tell us what you are learning. >> we are hearing from the attorney general, the state attorney general that a grand jury has indicted six people known as fake electors. these are fake electors from 2020, you may not know their specific names but these are people who on december 14th, 2020 essentially staged a fraud in front of cameras, a livestream to video were six people gathered, five men, one woman and they gathered to say they were signing a document declaring donald trump is the winner. it became the a collector, document the reason why it's fake because donald trump did not win the six electoral votes. it was biden who won 2020, the fake document became part of this entire scheme, a multistate scheme that we saw repeated over and over in

arizona, michigan, georgia. there have been independent state investigations and today, nevada announcing there are not as of six people. they are facing serious charges, class c and class c felonies signing a false document and lying to voters, trying to undermine the vote of the american people in 2020. the impact of which we are still seeing in today's electorate. these are very serious charges, some people you may not specifically know the name michael mcdowell. he was one of the people named today, he's very close to donald trump in the list. he's as recently as a few months ago announced trump at his nevada rally, these are people who know the president and the former president also knows them. >> this idea of fake electors goes over the heads of people like you said, the names may not be memorable but this is so key to the scheme to invalidate

the election results, not just in nevada that several other states and now you add this to the list of where you are saying fake electors charged also in georgia, also in michigan. this was part of a grand strategy to offer this alternate slate of electors and really change the game for donald trump as these election results were certified. >> it became a part of a lie, a visual element of allied, a multistate live. what we are seeing are attorney general's in arizona, michigan. just investigating and in some cases like we are seeing from the state of nevada, going through an announcing indictment . this is a way of trying to chip away the lie that continues to persist today when you talk to people who wonder. did that election in 2020, was that real, it was real but there was this alternate universe that millions of people

watched, believed in and they thought that was the truth, here is the intent to try to correct the record. >> thank you for the latest on that breaking news. grand jury indicting six pro champ fake -- pro-trump's fake electors. this is from las vegas, police are responding to reports of an active shooter of a u.n. l campus, the university of nevada. let's go to stephanie elam who's been following this with live pictures. what are you learning? >> this is all just happening right now so we have very few details. what i can tell you is according to the metropolitan police department, they are saying they reports shots fired on the campus of university of nevada, i want to read this tweet coming in from lv mpd,

responding to preliminary reports of an active shooter near beam hall, there appears we need to avoid this at the time, of course we are now getting into ground shots where you can see -- what we understand, the police are sweeping through the area, looking to clear the area but obviously this is a terrifying incident happening in las vegas right now, as the police are working through this. we're working to get more information and to clear more of this with you, we are watching what is developing in las vegas. >> please standby, we want to bring in former boston commissioner, commissioner davis. this is what appears to be a sizable response at the campus of you lv. what is the response of the shooting in a setting like a college campus specifically one in a city like las vegas.

>> this is a terrible situation, one of the most complex responses police have to deal with. this is right in the center of the camp is surrounded by students and faculty, the job of the police responding is to go to the sound of gunfire to identify where that threat is coming from, and to make that thread safe. the secondary responses to identify victims and try to get them the assistance they need, the initial few minutes is critical with gunshot wounds to stem the flow of bleeding. there's a lot happening, securing the scene starts with setting up a perimeter that's far enough away from where the shooting is, is that the people on the perimeter are safe and then slowly collapsing the perimeter and getting the rooms and witnesses away from the threat and hopefully finding

the shooter. >> it is a complex process and notably back in 2017, there was a massive shooting in las vegas at a concert, this is an area in the police force, law enforcement force that is sadly familiar with this kind of response. >> i was there that evening when the shooting happened underway, it was a horrible experience. it gave the loss vegas police, the metropolitan police a significant amount of experience, they studied and worked really hard and responding properly, they did a good job and this will be even better. this is not far from the let's listen in from our affiliate, abv.

>> all right, okay. just look at me -- first of all, what is your name? >> jessica. i am a student, you know me. we are on the same floor, we heard at the business building on the second floor there was an active shooter, we found out cops were on site and sheltered in place. it evacuated and took many -- maybe 30 minutes to evacuate. they had guns and we all had a building hands up here it the glass, everywhere. we are going to have -- i have been in an active lockdown. about 200 kids in one space.

we are glad we are out here. >> did they give you any kind of -- giving us updates on the situation, i will commend the school for giving us updates that were great. we have just been listening to several witnesses. the reported shooting at the campus of university of nevada. a cartographer from the affiliate to move back, the scene there. that is want to repeat what i've heard from some of the witnesses. they were in a study hall. they got a message from the university telling them to shelter in place, they waited for a half hour before law was made officials came to them and escorted them holding weapons

and asking them to keep their hands up, i want to bring back commissioner eddie davis, former boston police commissioner from what you heard from those witnesses, does anything stand out? >> the fact that they are expanding the perimeter is an indication that they are looking for the suspect every minute that goes by, the suspect can be further away from where the incident happened so it is a very tense time right now, there is hundreds of tips coming in from people who think they saw something from people who are panicked and afraid, police are trying to sort through all of this fog of war when the incident first happens to try to get a beat on where this guy , this person may be that committed this shooting. that's really what is happening right now, they are talking to people like you just had on

camera. asking them what they saw and heard, trying to piece together a description and direction of travel of the suspect. >> that can be a very complicated process from my understanding, the scene is only about 3 miles away from the las vegas strip which is always bustling with tourists and entertainers. that is a significant problem for investigators, no? >> there is no question, the more people, the more conflict this becomes. there's a lot of people on campus if the suspect is able to jump out of the confines of the campus and get to the strip, this is a very difficult process of trying to locate the person. >> please standby, we want to go back to stephanie elam tracking the latest details on this. stephanie, walk us through everything we have learned, what we are hearing from witnesses on the scene in the latest from law enforcement on their effort to locate this

reported shooter. >> what we are learning now is there still working through finding out what is going on in these buildings, working through that and we also see there's another tree coming out from unlv. they are responding to additional response -- reports to shots fired. it says run, hide, fight. looking at the map, this is right next to beam hall, the other building i was telling you about so not clear as you were hearing right now, it is not clear if this is a different incident happening in two buildings with the same incident, we are trying to work through that and looking through how they are expanding the perimeter and how that may be affecting the entire city of las vegas if you keep in mind that it is pretty contained at the part where like taurus would normally be, still all of this can have an impact around the area, still watching this and seeing that all this started, just about 30 minutes

ago, still a very new situation we are learning about whether or not they found somebody, the original tweet did say that it looked and does appear to be multiple victims. pretty indicative right now, it is unclear how large it can be but it does seem to be a very large response here as they are looking to contain this and also to secure these areas, these buildings to find any perpetrator or perpetrators. thank you so much for the update, please standby, we have much more on breaking news, i want to point out we got word from the white house seconds ago that they are closely monitoring the situation, press secretary said she was just

told about the shooting as the press briefing was going on, multiple victims reported at the unlv campus in las vegas, more details ahead on cnn news central returns.

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wireless that works for you. it's not just possible, it's happening. we are looking at pictures from moments ago, the campus of unlv in las vegas, nevada were we are following breaking news. readies have reported there

were additional shots fired. from metro police, the suspect in this mass shooting has been contained, there is no answer. >> it appears the immediate danger is over however, we are piecing together exactly what happened, we have stephanie elam learning about the shooting, very significant that the las vegas metropolitan police are tweeting out the suspect has been contained. >> that's obviously a massive development and it will allow people to calm down a little bit, obviously so many questions out there, we don't know a lot of information, this started at around noon local time, that's -- metropolitan copley -- police department. reports of an active shooter.

of beam hall, there appears to be multiple victims and they also said to please avoid the area, they just tweeted about the suspect being contained, less than 10 minutes ago. this is an active investigation, avoid the area and watch for responding emergency units. we did see tweets coming in from unlv, the school itself asking for people to run, fight because they are saying there's still reports of an active shooter and reports of an active shooter at the student center, looking at a map, they look like they are very close to being hauled, not sure if those are two separate incidents but calling on people to shelter in place and protect themselves, we have seen -- students hearing at least four shots while they were there sheltering. they expanded the perimeter,

the suspects, they do say suspect is contained at this point, we also have -- >> stephanie, sorry to interrupt you. we just got word from las vegas police that the suspect has been killed, the suspect is deceased, obviously we don't know the specifics of how that happened, you said that is going to obviously allow people to breathe a sigh of relief again, we are still try to get arms around just how big of a situation this is here. >> you are looking at a very massive response, just these images we can see, you see that this is a large response they are taking. the suspect being contained and deceased, that does mean the immediate threat is over. it's unclear how many people have been injured, sadly if any people lost their lives, that's what we are still unsure about, very many people who are still sheltering in place looking at

the tweets. we figure out what to do, nerves will be rattle trying to make sure they contain the area and get the medical response they need to get in there but obviously the way that this looks, it does not look like a good situation right now especially with the police actually saying. there will be multiple victims. one of the deadliest mass shootings in american history at the concert outside. i understand we now have some witness sound. we are listening to people there with their experience. we have the student unit, all text messages at the same time, they shut down on the curtains.

we heard a lot of yelling, we would say calm, beyond the officers and we hold hands up, that's how it is all the way out here. >> i did not hear anything, i did see one glass shattered it looks like by gunshots. >> was there any worry or concern? >> there was nervousness but for some reason i did feel safe , i did not hear anything which kinda helped me, they said i did not hear anything, they're supposed to be multiple shots but i heard helicopters. >> i felt the same exact way, i definitely heard screaming from next door, i thought it was something but it was just the cops coming into student union.

this is where it all went down, but it it is just super scary hearing that. in the ballroom, we are so scared. we win the corner, evacuated and wanted more because we just got these alerts and we were kind of scared. you know, it all happened so quick then we see the window as we are leaving. >> what's going through your mind? >> i was like i need to get out of here, everyone should just -- i don't want to stay in this classroom, i want to run from it all. i was so scared, something about it, my heart was pounding. everything. when i saw the window, that's all that's happening. i was scared. >> what are your thoughts, how

crazy is his situation? >> came out of nowhere, i thought we were in the worst situation possible because it was surrounded by glass. i'm waiting for updates. >> i did not get your name. >> cassidy, barton. >> anything else you want to add? >> everyone stay safe, wherever you guys are at. >> two witnesses on the scene describing with shattered glass as well, those folks were apparently in a building on the campus and were escorted out by police as we have multiple victims. as we learned, moments ago the shooter has been neutralized. he's deceased from what we have seen, officials have published online that it appears that there's only one suspect. of

course, the situations are fluid and may change. it appears the immediate danger on the campus is over, officials are now trying to assess the extent of damage and piece together what happened. >> you see a lot of law enforcement resources deployed to unlv. we were hearing the students say they saw shattered glass, they saw the results of shooting inside of the student union or at the student union, they heard screaming but they were not sure if that was people scared evacuating, a scene of obvious tragedy, horror on unlv as we are trying to get a extent of how this is. we will get a quick break and be back with new details.

we are following breaking news out of las vegas. police say the suspect in the shooting on the campus of the university has been located and is deceased. >> we are joined now with congresswoman. she represents the district where the shooting occurred. she also used to be a professor decades. thank you so much for being with us. first-come a what have you learned about what is happening at unlv? >> we have been in touch with

metro. but we don't know any more than you do. >> obviously come by your community is unfortunately very familiar with gun violence. the 2017 shooting that ultimately killed 60 people. it just horrific. and now you are seeing this as we are certainly awaiting details. but this is something that you know all too well. >> welcome in that right. they are well equipped to deal with the situation. they responded rapidly. and taking care of the shooter which is a relief to a lot of people who were there around the campus. i taught there for 35 years and my husband taught there. there is a building right next

to big hall. use the right hall and then the student union. there are a lot of people in that one area ahead of the quad. of course it was the lunch hour. i'm sure there were a lot of people there. >> congresswoman given what your community went through back in october of 2017, a this must be close to home for you. also notable that you were an instructor at that school for some 35 years. that your husband taught there come as you said. was going through your mind when you see this kind of violence? >> i just never would have imagined that it happened the first time right there in my district. and for it to happen again it's just devastating.

it reinforces the reason why i have on the gun violence task force in supporting so many of the anti-god, anti-ammunition clips, anti-machine guns, it tight bucks. all of those things that puts weapons of wars on our campus. >> was woman, we have to step aside for a moment. we do appreciate your time. we look forward to learning more as you do. >> i absolutely will. ththank you. we are back k in j just a f miminutes.

>> reporter: what did you see, what did you hear? >> i was having breakfast and then i heard three loud booms.

everyone was like, what is that? and then two more. and please shut up. it was okay for a second but then after two minutes, boom. more shots. i ran into the basement and we were in the basement for 20 minutes. we started hearing shots outside and seeing belize. and then the police just evacuated me out. i had my hands over my head. i was just hearing a lot of shots. i didn't know how the shooters there were. i didn't know anything. >> reporter: where were you exactly when this was happening? >> i was just sitting on the steps out in the open. there was an event going on. there was a lego party. everyone was concerned and looking around. and i didn't know what was happening. i guess we were all running. >> reporter: we are at harbin and maryland. how far away from that seed are we right now? approximately. >> like a block and then you go into campus. it's directly across from the student union. i guess a block away. it's super close. >> reporter: did you see anyone running at that point ? what

did you see besides that? >> i saw people running. i was like, i'm going to run. for a second, people were going outside. i was like, stop. no one believed me. everyone was just going everywhere. it was cleared out in a second. i had the windows to the outside and everything was just gone. i saw them get a guy and put him on the floor and i thought it was okay. then i heard more shots after that and went into the basement. >> reporter: what did you say about the person on the floor? >> at first i heard the shots and i was waiting inside the building before i went in the basement. i saw them grab a guy and take a big gun. and then i saw them put a guy in the car. i was like, okay, it's over. and then we heard more rounds after that. that what i was riding because i didn't know where that was coming from. >> reporter: i certainly wonder if that was the shooter. explain that scene. explained from the moment that you saw this person . >> i was looking outside. i was seeing police cars

surround the other building. the other police officer holding a big gun which i'm assuming was the shooter. and then i saw them throw a guy in the car who i'm issuing was the shooter. i didn't know what was happening and that i heard rounds of shots. it was coming from police or another person. i went running after that. i didn't know what was happening after that. i was just hearing gunfire. >> reporter: we were hearing from metro that the suspect is deceased at this point. >> we should be clear here. the shooter in this case is dead. obviously come up police would be there with their own guns. lots of questions here as we try to figure out what happened. >> a chaotic moment, no debt. officials have tried to piece togethther what hahappened. multiplele victims r reported t the unlv campus. we are staying on top of this the way that only cnn can. be right back in just moments with the lead with