we start this hour of cnn news center with a touch of drama. the donald trump's civil fraud trial today in new york. his expert witness going after a lawyer for the new york attorney general. telling him, quote, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. >> some fireworks here. trump attending these proceedings to take a. a lot of attention on these. he is expected to take the stand next week as the final defense witness. cnn's kara scannell live for us outside of the court. tell us, kara, who is this expert witness for the defense? why did he get so upset? >> reporter: boris, breonna,

this is an expert witness, the final expert witness that the trump team called on his defense. and accounting professor from new york university. professor eli bartov. he was asked questions, he had been testifying all morning on this. the lawyer for the attorney generals office subjected to one of the lines of questioning saying the accounting professor is not a banker, so he is not qualified to answer questions about what a banker might be thinking when they receive the financial statements that the heart of this case. that is when bartov became upset. saying, shame on yourself talking to me like that. you make up allegations. i'm here to tell the truth. you ought to be ashamed of yourself. bartov previously testified this morning that he found that there was no evidence of accounting fraud. he said the financial statements were not materially or not in a meaningful way misstated. the strongest evidence the trump side had put forward in the most clear, common, language to explain to the judge their position that these

financial statements were not inflated. the judge has already found the financial statements of fraudulent. saying that trump and the other defendants did covid persistence and repeat of fog by inflating the value of the properties, of these athletes. bartov is's trump's strongest defense against that. they are playing this not only for this judge but for an appeal in this case. they have made clear that they are laying the record throughout this trial to do just that. bartov low pick up testimony in just a few moments. he will be back on the witness stand. they are still on direct examination. meaning trump's lawyers are the ones asking questions. when that wraps, then there will be cross-examination by the attorney generals office. it is not clear how long they will do that today. his testimony is certainly one of the stronger, clearest, most coherent pieces of evidence for the trump side so far. there was no intent to defraud anybody. i'm bartov testifying that there were errors on the witness but believe that they were not intentional. for us?

>> kara scannell outside of the courthouse. thank you. let's bring in cnn political analyst gloria borger. i know trump wasn't at this debate last night. this morning, here he is! he is in court. gloria, i know that he uses these moments before the camera, always, to make an appeal, for some drama! but, at the same time, how is this affecting how voters see him? he clearly has so much on his plate. >> look, he is declaring his innocence everything go time. saying it is a witch hunt. there is a substantial number of republican voters who he is playing to who believe him. he was not at the debate last night. you can argue that he made the right political decision not to show up to these debates. as i would argue, because he was, virtually, unscathed except for chris christie attacking him. the other candidates, morales, a little bit nikki haley, but they seem to be afraid to attack. and what he is doing in the

court, that is his campaign apparatus there. that is his equivalent of a rally. procuring his incident, say he is a victim. more that he can do that i feel like in the campaign the better off the. is >> voters, obviously, have not weighed in yet. we are fewer than six weeks away from iowa though. it does appear that trump has not lost anything from going to these debates. at least not in the polling. did anything that happened last night fundamentally change that dynamic? >> i don't think it changed the dynamic about donald trump's dominance in the race. as you note, i think not showing up to all four of these debates, not just last night's debate, has been a smart political decision for him. i don't know if it changed, what got clarified, what i thought was clear on the stage last night was the battle for the non-trump candidate. watching these folks put their strategies forth in what their answers were, how they chose to attack, how they chose to perry, i thought it was pretty clear

what each one of them were trying to do as they see the path forward, to be the last person standing at the end of the day against donald trump. >> nikki haley was clearly the person they were attacking the most. she has the most momentum. desantis even attacked her for getting fund-raisers which used to fund him but now fund her. gave her the opportunity to say, oh, you are just jealous! right? that was clearly what was going on last night. except for chris christie, by the way, who defended her at one point against ramaswamy. chris christie had his message and he has been sticking to it against -- the entire campaign. when given the opportunity he did it again. he tried to get those other people on the record. it was very difficult for him to get him to attack trump even when they were asked about it. >> ramaswamy going after nikki haley. really going after -- >> he is the one that months of getting it in the end. >> going after the truth because it is a day that ends

in. lyona take a look at some of ramaswamy the's greatest hit. what chris christie might consider his most noxious hits, if we were to poke over me last night. here it is. >> why am i the only person on this stage, at least, who could say that january 6th does not look like it with an inside job? that the government lied to us, for 20 years, about saudi arabia's involvement in 9/11? that the great replacement theory is not some grand, white wing, conspiracy theory. it is a basic statement of the democratic party's platform. >> okay, all conspiracy theories, just to be very clear about this, no, he is not the leading alternative candidate. what does this say, where do you see this, david, about a significant part of the party? he is getting a lot of cheers for what once would've been completely invalidating for a candidate. >> there is a swath of the far-right, the fringe right, that buys into these conspiracy

theories. he sees, let's call it the alex jones crowd or what have you, a potential pocket of voters and support inside a republican primary. he knows exactly what he is doing. he is playing directly to that to try to amp up their support for him in this race. he does not have a ton of places to go. as you noted, he is pretty far back in the standings of this race. he is trying to juice the one segment of the republican electorate he thinks he has some sway with. >> what's notable is he wasn't challenged on any of this, either by the moderators or by the other people onstage with him, which was ridiculous. he was waiting into alex jones territory. saying that january 6th was an inside job. it should be disqualifying, but it isn't, in this republican party right now. >> he certainly has not made a lot of friends on that stage. as you noted with chris christie calling him out.

chris christie pointed to the candidates and saying that they refused to call out donald trump in part because they have their own political futures in mind, either in 2028 or potentially as donald trump's running mate. i'm wondering, david, ramaswamy appears to be auditioning for that role, doesn't any? >> he certainly seems very much like he is positioning himself that should donald trump be the nominee, should donald trump be the next president, he wants a seat at that table. >> nikki? >> he has done absolutely nothing from trumpet anyway. despite the fact that he is actually running against him for the nomination, if you are to believe what he is doing here. he is clearly positioning himself to, at least, be at the table. >> what do you think? >> oh! >> running mate, press secretary? >> but it makes you wonder why he is running at all. i mean, the only difference he can say is it is generational. he is younger than donald trump. he pays fealty to donald trump. the election theory at every chance. you know? he has gone on stage and alienated people, which is

showing up in the polls. his unfavorable ratings have gone up, as chris christie noted. he is obnoxious. but he is playing, in many ways, to that audience of one, donald trump, who likes him. who has always complemented him. >> i would know that there is an upcoming filing deadline for a senate seat from ohio. running against jerry brown. a competitive republican primary. i wonder if mr. ramaswamy is also taking a look at other options, just in case. we will see. >> what is he running for? the fact that we say his name and noah, right? maybe in the context of something as high-profile as a senate race. that is what he is achieved out of all of this. david and gloria, thanks for this conversation. it's really airstrikes continuing to target khan yunis in southern gaza as the world food programme warns of alarming levels of hunger and food insecurity. more on that just ahead. prime minister benjamin

netanyahu is confronted by the family of hostages who are angry with the israeli government. they are furious! we are going to speak to a loved one of the hostage who was in that room for that meeting. later, after the deadly crash off the coast of japan, the u.s. military now grounding the osprey fleet. you are watching cnn news center. we will have more on that when we come back.

president biden just spoke with benjamin netanyahu to discuss the latest developments in the israel-hamas war as it reaches the two month mark today. israeli defense forces released this image of five senior hamas members they say have been, quote, eliminated in the military campaign in g they also announced the israeli operations have killed two other senior operates in the terror groups. the audio says it is seen success and removing senior operatives. one report says it has made it harder for hamas to launch counterattacks because there is no leadership in certain italians. let's take you now to the region where cnn's jeremy diamond is live for us in sderot. jeremy, the idf has intensified its operations in southern gaza. bring us up to speed with the latest.

>> reporter: that is exactly right. israeli troops pushing deeper into southern gaza. now in the second largest city in the gaza strip of khan yunis. we have seen images of israeli troops moving through buildings that we have geolocated to parts of northern khan yunis. we also know the israeli military has said they have encircled that city. tanks, armored personnel carriers, all moving in the direction of that key city in southern gaza were israeli officials believe yahya sinwar, the group's leader in gaza, that may potentially behind. and yesterday the israeli prime minister said israeli forces had surrounded his home. there is no indication that he is actually there. instead, he is believed to be underground. the israeli military is targeting key hamas commanders underground. they announced just today that two senior hamas members were killed in a strike on an intelligence facility as well as five out of 11 members of

hamas's northern brigade who were seen in a picture in an underground tunnel, they were killed in a strike on the underground infrastructure by hamas. even as the israeli military is pushing deeper into southern gaza, not only with troops on the ground but also with airstrikes in several key cities, there are also battles raging behind me now in northern gaza. that we have heard all evening the sound of outgoing artillery fire, machine gun fire, as well. we have seen accounts both from israeli military as well as people on the ground over heavy gunfire in areas like to bolivia as well as neighborhoods in gaza city, as well. this is raging on all parts of the gaza strip at the moment. >> jeremy, on the fighting in northern gaza that, we learned the son of an israeli wartime cabinet member was killed during an operation. what is the latest on that? no >> reporter: that is right. gadi eisen on is a member of

the israeli war counted. today the israeli military was one of two soldiers killed in the gaza strip. his name is master sergeant eisen hand. he is now among the 88 israeli soldiers who have been killed in this military offensive. it is also notable that he was killed not in southern gaza where, again, that is the thrust of the israeli military operations at the moment but instead in northern gaza indicating that as israeli officials have said they are in control of northern gaza for weeks now batters are still very much raising. hamas represents a threat in israeli forces operating the northern part of the strip. >> jeremy diamond live from sderot, israel. thank you very much. a short time ago relatives of the hostages taken by hamas on october 7th, lit what is being called the hostages hanukkah menorah. organizers say 138 branches, each with a candle, representing the 138 who are

still in captivity. the next guest who is in the room when israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, faced what was really furious families of freed hostages and those still remaining in gaza. benjamin netanyahu had this meeting on tuesday and here is what he heard from one former hostage liberated with her children but not her husband, still in gaza. >> translator: you will return them all. they will not wait 50 days. they will not wait another year because you claim that they are strong enough. you have no information, you have no information! the fact that we were shouted, the fact that no one knew anything about where we were. >> jennifer master saw the outrage firsthand. she was there at the meeting. her boyfriend, henry close love, was taken by hamas at that outdoor music festival two months ago. jennifer, thank you so much for joining us. you have been through so much. you are in this meeting.

did you feel that the prime minister heard what you and other family members were there to communicate? >> hello, yes. i feel that they heard it by nothing really changed. the fighting, we continue to fight in gaza. the results are bad. they are banned! -- when you say the results are bad, tell us what you mean. >> even today the son of eisenkot, he was a soldier. he was fighting in gaza, he died. i believe that we all suffer from the fighting. i know my country is trying to protect and to avoid in the future another attack.

yes, we need to destroy hamas. but we truly believe that there will always be new terrorists. i've lived here since i was five years old. this is what i remember since i was a little child. there are always terrorist in israel. it is not a safe country to live in. so, we thought that there might be other options that we did not test yet to, first of all, receive our beloved people. the hostages, the abductees that are in gaza. every minute that they are there risks them. the option that they will come back alive. we feel that our government knows to do one thing, that is to bomb gaza. what about other options?

maybe there are other options that we need to test, that we need to think about. it was a very hard meeting for all of us. i think because the meeting started with the testimony of the abductees that were freed. it was horrible to hear. horrible! >> when you hear that, in particular we heard from one abductee who has a husband who is still there. one of the responses that netanyahu said was, families were making this case for hostages to be released. he said that hamas wants not prisoners. quote, the price they want is not only the prisoners. do you understand what he means? >> [inaudible] yeah, he did not say the other thing. i truly believe that our government is doing everything they can, i do believe it.

i won't say things against my government as an israeli. i am not sure that netanyahu is completely honest with us. with the families and with the people. he said one reason, one thing, but he did not say the other. hamas doesn't want their prisoners back, and another thing that he didn't say. i know from what i read that hamas wants its prisoners back. they want the fighting to stop. this is what i know. this is what i read in the newspaper or, the sources that i got. netanyahu will not allow that to happen. i think that is a problem right now, it is a problem.

>> that is interesting because you are saying that he did not say that hamas wants not the prisoners, that he wants something more. are you saying that he did not say that? >> yes, he didn't. he didn't say what is the other thing that hamas wants. that is what i meant. >> jennifer, can you tell us -- you have been through so much, we can see it as we talk to you just how difficult this time is. we can hear if the voices. even people who don't speak hebrew can feel it in the tone of voice as they listen to this audio. tell us how you are doing, tell us what your concerns for andre are right now. also, as we have heard from some of those who have been held captive, they were able to hear some of the news even about their families.

if there is something that you would like to say you can go ahead and say that andre. >> i am disappointed not only for the israeli government but the rest of the world. i see this huge support from houston right now. i don't know. in a way i admire i know the palestinian people suffer. i will not live up i know that we both supper. it has been two months that we israeli people don't know, today it is two months, we do not know what is going on with our beloved people. we do not know if they are alive, if they are harmed, if they are injured or sick we don't know anything! we don't know who is keeping them. hamas? jihad? what kind of terrorist is keeping my andré? i do not know anything about

andre. i don't even know if right now he is alive. the red cross did not visit them the u.s. was involved in the latest agreement the red cross to not visit because they can't visit the abductees. hamas would not let it. we are all silent about it. like it is legit, it's not legit? we suffer! we are ill in the inside of us. we are so ill! i cannot take this anymore, seriously. i am just ago friend. there are people who are parents, sisters, brothers, you know? people tell me, you can find another boyfriend. find another boyfriend? it shouldn't be like that! it shouldn't be like that! i am asking you, all across the world, help us. to see our suffering. we are suffering --

i don't even have words. i'm losing my words when i talk about. it i cannot express to you how much i am suffering right now. i know what it is when it's gonna be over and how it is going to be over. will we have to bury andre? maybe i will have a body. i don't know! i just want to see him alive. i want all of our hostages to come back home. please, help us. >> jennifer, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us. i know you say that you did not have the words but we hear it loud and clear as you are telling us how you are feeling and what you are going through. we are thinking of you, we are thinking of andre, we are thinking of all the families. jennifer master, thank you so much for being with us. >> thank you. thank you for the opportunity. >> we will be right back.

this just into cnn, congress is launching an investigation into several top universities over their handling of antisemitism on campus. this comes just two days after the presidents of harvard, m.i.t., and the university of pennsylvania testified on capitol hill. their remarks to lawmakers drawing scathing criticism and growing calls for their individual resignations. cnn's matt egan joins us now, live. matt, what is the latest on this investigation? >> reporter: boris, the latest

is u.s. lawmakers have launched an investigation into the university of pennsylvania, harvard, and identity. this is coming from the house educational workforce committee. republican, elise to phonic, announced that they are launching this investigation into what she described as the, quote, pathetic and morally bankrupt testimony earlier this week. let me read you a line from stefanik statement. she wrote, quote, we will use our full congressional authority to hold the schools accountable for their failure on the global stage. she noted that this is going to include subpoena power. it should be noted that it was stefanik's questioning of the university president on tuesday that really sparked all of this controversy. the university president struggled to answer questions about whether or not cause for genocide against would violate the universities code of conduct. listen to one of those exchanges between stefanik and then president, liz magill.

>> i am asking, specifically calling for the genocide of, does that constitute bullying and harassment? >> if it is directed and severe, it is harassment. >> so the answer, yes? >> it is a context dependent decision. >> reporter: that exchange caused so much backlash from donors, business leaders, politicians, that there were calls for mcgill to step down as president of pen. just this morning the reality of pennsylvania held a emergency meeting. this was a virtual gathering that was called quite hastily. university spokesperson tells me this gathering was called around two pm yesterday, which was also right around the time that the governor of pennsylvania, josh shapiro, condemned magill's testimony, calling for the board of trustees to look into this. boris, if we are going to stay on top of what comes out of

these meetings in pennsylvania and these calls from lawmakers for more answers in more accountability for the university leaders. >> not long after the testimony, magill trying to clean up the remarks. it did not appear to be enough for those folks. matt egan. thank you so much. breonna? today, the flags at the university of nevada las vegas are flying at half staff as the school and the community are mourning three lives lost in a shooting on campus yesterday. we are also getting our first look at the shooter. 67-year-old anthony polito. law enforcement sources told cnn he applied for job at the university and he did not get it. this tragic shooting marks the 80th school shooting in the u.s. so far this year. 29 of which have been on university and college campuses. cnn's lucy kafanov live outside of the campus there was some new details. lucy, tell us about what you are learning about the suspect and also how students are coping. this was a horrific day yesterday.

>> reporter: absolutely. so much grief and disbelief here. in terms of the suspect, as you pointed out, we have learned from law enforcement sources that he was, indeed, 67-year-old anthony polito, who may have been passed over for a job at this university. his linkedin profile list him as a, quote, semi retired professor. his most recent full-time job dating back to 2017. sources say he previously worked in schools in both georgia and north carolina. he did die at the scene after a confrontation with police yesterday. violence kicking off just before noon local time. gunfire breaking out on the fourth floor of beam hall, which is the building that houses the university business. go the gunfire continued through multiple floors. the suspect ended up outside. that is where authorities engaged him and, quote, neutralized him. police chief saying that many

more lives may have been lost had the police not acted so heroically and swiftly. this was a terrifying ordeal for the students here who were told to run, hide, fight, by the university. they've got the alerts on their smartphone, blocks themselves in classrooms. one woman describing the ordeal as she locked herself in the bathroom to stay safe. take a listen. >> i jumped up on the toilet, trying to make sure my feet weren't shying. i heard the gunman, the gunman started coming closer in the direction of the union. banded of going inside of the building. i have a clip from when i can hear them shooting. i was just freaking out, crying! >> reporter: we spoke to one faculty member who is actually hiding inside of this building. they said it was a terrifying experience. she has worked here for 20 years, she always felt safe here, but not any longer. back to you. yeah, that is going to be the feeling for so many of the

students there. this breaks and ideally experience for them, going to college there. lucy, thank you for that report. elon musk is placing a big ax on disney's bob iger. slamming the ceo for pulling ads from his social media site. he now wants him fired. and he also threw in some choice words, as elon musk does, in his rant. we will have that ahead.

the u.s. military has just grounded its entire fleet of the 22 osprey's a week after a deadly crash killed eight u.s. airman off the coast of japan. the tilt rotor aircraft have been yanked out of service for the time being in what is known as an operational stand down. let's get details now from cnn

national security reporter, natasha bertrand, live for us at the pentagon to explain exactly what this means. natasha this pause also includes the navy in the u.s. marine corps. >> reporter: the air force, the navy, and the marine corps. that is right, boris. they are all conducting this operational stand down on these ospreys that week after an osprey crashed off the coast of japan killing all eight service members on board. it really comes amid a number of crashes that have been suffered by these ospreys over the last 20 months or so, which have resulted in 20 deaths over four different crashes. clearly this is something the u.s. military found that they really need to address here. out of an abundance of caution they are grounding the entire flee across the military. in a statement, the commander of air force special operation command said, quote, preliminary investigation indicates a potential material failure causing the mishap last week off the coast of japan. the underlying cause of the

failure is unknown at this time. the standup will provide time in space for a thorough investigation to determine causal factors and recommendations to ensure the air force cbc 20 twos fleet return to operation. they really do not know exactly what happened here. that is what they are going to be investigating. here whether this is an internal problem with the ospreys themselves. because a preliminary investigation has concluded that this was not pilot error for example. this was something intrinsic to the machinery themselves out of an abundance of caution they will be grounding the entire fleet. of course, that raises questions as to it will affect the operations here. deputy pentagon press secretary sabrina told reporters that each service will, essentially, be reevaluating the timeline of investigating this and getting them back up into the air when they are deemed, of course, safe. boris? >> natasha bertrand from the pentagon. thank you so much. still to come, the father of a carolina panthers player, aiden hearst, revealing that

the tight end was diagnosed with post traumatic amnesia. the details of what led to that when we come back.

elon musk lashing out again as more major advertisers leave his social media platform, formerly known as twitter. today, musk going after disney ceo, bob iger. saying he should be quote, quote, immediately. say he used to be one of the largest appetite is on. acts like many other large companies, including the parent company of cnn, disney has temporarily pulled its advertising dollars after musk endorsed antisemitic remarks on the platform. we have senior media reporter oliver darcy joining us on this

story. i guess it would be weird is musk didn't lash out at someone. it is just such a bad business decision. it is almost -- we see him do it time and time again. but he is shooting himself in the foot here, all over. >> this is a classic mosque, you know? a mosque of tin uses his perch of 155 million followers on axe to lash out at critics. lash out, really, at any one who refuses to bow down to his throne. whether it is a wise business decision, probably not. if you are bob iger and you are at disney, you are probably already not inclined to resume advertising after he, quite literally, told advertisers, singling out uygur and told them.

. >> reporter: alienating one of your biggest advertisers even more. hard to see how that's a wise business decision. again, it's classic elon. he can't help himself. >> tis the season of the gift guides, and i think maybe for him, it's how to win friends and influence people. that's the book he needs this christmas. maybe his friends are listening. oliver, thank you for the report. now to scary news out of the nfl. haydn hurst was diagnosed with post-traumatic amnesia. his father making the announcement on "x." and his own social media post he says it happened after took a hit in a game against the bears last month adding he

can't recommend what happened up to four hours after the game. let's discuss with a leading expert on concussions and brain injury this is sports. dr. cantou, thank you for sharing your afternoon with us. post-traumatic amnesia. that must have been a really significant hit. how exactly that happen? >> well, amnesia comes in two types, boris. they're both under the name post-traumatic because they happen after trauma to the head. trauma to the brain. antriagrade is loss of memory starting at the time of the hit going forward. which is what you've described here. for four hours. by far and away, the most common. and most people, most researchers think because it is so common, it's probably less important than the other kind

of amnesia called retrograde. that is forgetting things before you got hit in the head. like what you were doing before you got hit. both of the amnesias are felt to be graded in severity by how long they last. that's more severe than an amnesia that lasted a few minutes. sometimes it can last days. four hours is not insignificant. it's not rare. >> doctor, how does this compare to a concussion, and what are some of the longer terms affects on the brain of something like this happening? >> well, amnesia is a cognitive affect of a concussion. concussion has symptoms that fall into different baskets. one is the cognitive symptoms that deal with memory. deal with amnesia. deal with alertness.

others are physical symptoms like lightheadedness and dizziness. others are balance. others are sleep and others are emotional symptoms. amnesia is one of the cognitive symptoms of a concussion. by definition, he's had a concussion. >> now, what about the long- term affects here? hurst says he hopes to be back for the last few weeks of the season. can he make it back in a healthy and safe way? would you be concerned if he was a patient of yours headed back on the field? >> well, i think things need to be taken into consideration in terms of the amount of concussions he's had prior to this one. the severity of concussions, how long the symptoms lasted before they cleared. all of that will be taken into effect and whether he can exert through a protocol without provoking symptoms. for instance, hypothetically saying this was his first or

second concussion and everything completely cleared up with the exception of the small gap of memory of four hours, yes, he would be most probably cleared to come back and play. >> doctor, hurst has previously talked about his struggles with mental health and depression. we know from history that football players that have had repeated concussions have had similar situations. similar symptoms in the past. how can something like this contribute to mental health problems? >> well, it can aggravate and actually precipitate. in other words, some people with cognitive behavioral and mood issues, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, never had them prior to concussions. it's also very common that somebody may have had that earlier in their life at a fairly minimal level. at a level they could deal with quite well. but then after a head injury, it's like an injury on top of an injury or an injury on top

of a dysfunctional situation. you can greatlying a have visit the underlying issues. it tends to cause the concussion to clear more slowly. takes longer for symptoms to go away. >> well, we certainly hope that hurst gets better and that when he returns to the field he's ready and healthy. dr. robert cantou. we very much appreciate your time. >> you're very welcome, boris. still plenty to come on news central. while his republican opponents are back on the campaign trail, former president trump is back in a new york courtroom for his civil fraud trial. details when we come back.