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and good evening, thanks for joining us. we begin tonight with breaking news. new federal charges against the president's son, hunter biden. they have not yet been made public. we learned of their existence just before airtime, and do not know the details, only that in addition to being the second set of charges he is facing, anything to do with the president's son is potentially significant, all the more show so during the presidential campaign. here is the latest, cnn chief legal affairs correspondent paula reid. paula, what do you know that these charges? >> good evening anderson. well our colleague, evan perez, breaking the news that the justice department has filed a new criminal case against hunter biden. we don't know the specific charges, because the court documents are not yet public. just a few weeks ago, we broke the news that the special counsel, appointed to investigate the president's son,

david weiss has been using a los angeles-based grand jury to gather evidence about hunter biden's finances, specifically his taxes. now going back to 2018, the trump-appointed u.s. attorney has been investigating hunter biden's finances. hunter biden repeatedly missed irs deadlines to pay his taxes, and eventually owed around $2 million. anderson, he did pay back what he owed, including $800,000 in penalties and fees. and this was all expected to be resolved as part of a plea deal, where he would plead guilty to two misdemeanors. but over the summer, that plea deal fell apart. the u.s. attorney, david weiss, was then appointed as special counsel, and the investigation was revived. and the special counsel has already filed three gun charges against hunter biden in delaware. now hunter biden's lawyers insist that here, the special counsel is vowing to pressure from republicans to charge the president's son with something.

they do not believe that a criminal trial is a proper venue for these allegations, and they are confident on the gun charge that they will prevail at trial. anderson, again, it's unclear exactly what charges have been filed in los angeles. but they previously told me that they believe that they would bring this tax case, not as a plea deal, but as a criminal trial, that they will win. >> paula, stick around, i want to bring in cnn senior political commentator former obama senior advisor david axelrod. dave it obviously a lot we don't know. but what impact you think these new charges could potentially have on the president's reelection campaign? >> well look, house republicans have been trying for two years, anderson, to link the president to his son's activities. and that hasn't really panned out. there has been no financial gain shown for biden, and so in that sense, this is about his son, it's not about him. but there is no doubt that supporters of president trump, who is facing four separate trials, will try and conflate

the two and muddy the waters, to try and take some of the pressure off of himself. i think, anderson, the most significant impact is not on the president as a candidate, or as president, it's as a father. these are burdens on a family. and you know, you just did a depthful conversation with the president about grief. he has lost a lot in his life. he lost two children. i am sure that this is a source of concern for him. and how that affects him as a candidate may be as important as what kind of impact it has on him, politically, and wha do. >> he's obviously avoided openly talking about his son's legal troubles, especially as house republicans look to launch a formal impeachment inquiry. do you see him continuing to do that? >> i do, i do. you know, if i were him i would speak of it. the only thing i would say is,

i am concerned as a father, i'm not thinking about this as president. you know, i do think this will further ignite the house republicans, who have been desperately eager to do this. i think president trump has probably urged them to do it, and now he has an ally in the new house speaker, mike johnson. so, this will be a log on the fire. the fire may not actually reach the door of the white house, but the republicans will try and depict it as such. >> and paula, what's the process from here, now that hunter biden faces new charges? what to be an arraignment in short order? >> short, we will see something similar to what we are waiting to see in delaware. first we are waiting to see the unsealing of the court documents, we are waiting to see the nature of the charges. and we expect to hear his -- have an arraignment, likely next week probably, that would be the expected timing. and then, i would expect that his lawyers will try to fight these charges the same way they are fighting the charges in delaware. it's been interesting, anderson. over the last several months, we've seen a much more aggressive hunter biden.

he, along with his attorney kevin morris, they brought on abbe lowell, of course a very prominent attorney, to take a much more forward leaning approach to his detractors. now, they expect that the criminal case was gonna be resolved with a plea deal. but now, they are also facing now two criminal cases. and they have been very aggressive, very litigious, filing off lawsuits against detractors like rudy giuliani and his longtime friend and lawyer rob costello, sending letters to the hill, demanding investigations into congress, congress folks. so it has been a very different approach than what we had seen before with hunter biden, if there was someone of a split with the white house to be more vocal, to be more forward-leaning. we've seen in just the past few days, hunter biden is saying look, i'm not going to come up on the hill and do a deposition unless you do it publicly, sort of engaging in this stalemate with republicans on the hill. i would expect that he and his

attorneys will take just as aggressive as a stance, whatever it ends up being. >> david, i mean, you've been skeptical of the president's reelection prospects, not because of his son, but because of his age and poll numbers. but if he were ever to reconsider his candidacy, which as of now, he has not, do you think anything around his son would factor in, or could factor in? >> well, i don't know anderson. i have a strong sense that the president's full speed ahead, and that he is going to go through with this campaign. but as i've said, this is more than a political burden, this is an emotional burden. and we will see. but the family has always encouraged him, and i don't imagine they're going to discourage him now. i do think as paula suggests that there's gonna be a major effort to depict these as politically motivated charges. and so, you know it's kind of ironic, because you see both sides trying to do that. in that sense, this serves, this serves donald trump's purposes, because he would love to muddy the waters and suggest that the whole system is a

swamp, and point fingers in a lot of different directions. so, it's just one more thing that's going to make it a messy messy campaign. >> yeah, david axelrod, paula reid, thanks so much. now to presidential politics, today, the four republican candidates who were in alabama last night were out on the campaign trail, trying to make the most of their performance. donald trump, who did not take part, was in new york. he was in court for his civil fraud trial, and complaining it was keeping him away from the campaign. >> it's called election interference. it's a sad day for our country. that a thing like this could take place. i'm sitting in a courthouse, instead of being in iowa, where i should be, even though i'm leading by about 40 points. >> the former president in lower manhattan earlier today, suggesting he was being kept unfairly off the campaign trail, which is just not true. this is a civil, not a criminal trial. he is under no obligation to attend, and doesn't have to be

there at all. yet, this was his ninth time there. as for his claim that it's interfering with his campaign, that doesn't appear to be true either. we know this because he has said so himself. today in a campaign email, which went out just moments before he spoke in that clip there. i quote from you now. he said, they'd rather have me in court than on the campaign trail in iowa, with the first vote only 39 days away. but in some ways, i will still be on the campaign trail today. he went on to say that every time he shows up in court, voters see how badly they need him back in the white house. in short he's not really implying that this is part of his campaign, he is saying, and he is fundraising off of it. so, it's sort of a twofer for him. it helps him campaign, he believes, and make money. for more on his day, and his upcoming testimony on monday, ss off. so, let's talk about what happened in court today. >> yes, so as you said, this was donald trump's ninth time attending. and the first time he has attended his defense case. and the witness that was on the

stand today was their last expert witness, this was a professor of accounting from new york university. and this witness was unequivocal in giving donald trump exactly what he wanted to hear. his testimony today was that he sent his review of the documents showed that there was absolutely no evidence of accounting fraud. he also said that he found no material miss statements on the financial statements that are at the heart of this case. and the judge interjecting at one point, asking the professor if his testimony was that the attorney general's lawsuit had no merit. and the professor said, absolutely, that was exactly what his testimony was. so he went through a number of examples, saying again and again that he saw no evidence of fraud. even for example, the triplex apartment at trump tower that trump owns. when trump testified, he acknowledged that that was at one point incorrect on his financial statements, saying it was three times the size that it actually was. the professor today saying that that was an error but it did not constitute any fraud.

now trump himself was pretty quiet inside the courtroom today, he seems to be paying attention to the professors accounting. outside he praised him, praised his testimony, also criticized the new york attorney general. she shot back at a social media post, saying that we have already proven this massive scope of his fraud. no matter how much he lies, the facts vote. and as a reminder, the judge has already found that the financial statement at the heart of this case have been fraudulently inflated. but trump's play here is for an appeal, and that is why we have seen this testimony, along with many other expert witnesses in the case, and trump himself will be taking the stand on monday. >> and yeah, so let's talk about that. on monday, has he or his legal team given any indication as to what the testimony will entail? >> so his lawyers were out speaking today after court, saying that trump is not afraid to testify in this case, that he is going to come in there with an open mind, willing to answer any questions. so you remember the last time he was on the stand, when he was called to the new york attorney generals office. the judge had told one of trump's lawyers to control their client, because trump was speaking as if he was at a campaign, and not answering the questions at issue. this time around, there will be

much more leeway, because he will be asked questions by his own lawyers. so, it really remains to be seen exactly how broad they are going to try to make his testimony, and exactly what issues he will talk about. but the judge is going to try to keep a rain on his testimony, anderson. >> kara scannell, thanks. with me now, cnn legal analyst and that -- karen free -- and. also, investigative journalist and trump -- syracuse university law lecturer david cay johnston. so karen i mean, the president didn't have to be in court today, didn't have to show up. is there any legal importance in him being there in person? >> not at all. he chose to be here. let's not forget, this is not a jury trial, this is a judge trial, a bench trial. and he didn't testify today, he didn't do anything in court. so he was just an observer today. this was his choice to be there. does it not sort of showing the judge how serious he is taking it? i mean is it impressing anything on upon the judge do you think? >> potentially i guess that could be something that the judge looks at, as though he is

taking it seriously. but i think the judge knows he is taking it seriously. >> and david, you heard the nyu accounting professor testifying for the defense today, said the attorney general's claims of fraud had no merit. when asked about trump's company claiming his new york apartment was three times the size that actually is, and they are far more valuable, he downplayed it, saying it could've been inadvertently accidental. do you think it was? >> no, because there's some email traffic showing that donald knew this with forbes magazine. and there were other properties donald has valued at ten, 20, 30 times what they're worth. so, interestingly, every time he values something, none of them come in below, they come in above, and above by a lot. i was frankly very surprised, this very eminent accounting professors testimony, as an expert witness by the way come up today, he was paid more than one half of 1 million dollars.

>> he was paid $500,000 for us testimony today? >> well, that's what came out in court. the trumps had paid him over a half 1 million dollars. so, i mean that's not the normal expert witness you bring in, who gets 25, 50,000, $60,000. that's a great deal of money. and there are clear batches of fraud in those statements. so that's what i find very surprising. >> karen does the fact that he is a respected professor i guess at nyu, or the fact that he has paid half 1 million dollars, does that influence the judge? >> i mean, the judge will take both those things into consideration. i mean he is a respected professor with a good resume, and he has been a long term professor. some of the things he did say were surprising. >> like what? >> he is an expert, right, he is supposed to talk about export accounting principles. but for him to then opine that there was no fraud here, that's up to the judge to decide. he can say what he thinks something is worth, or what he thinks the equations are that should go into it. but how does he know whether

something was a mistake, whether it is inverted. >> what the intent was? >> exactly. i mean that's sort of the ultimate question of the judge is there to determine. and to me, that shows that he is biased, frankly towards trump. he really believes, as opposed to being just an expert on the subject, which is what an expert is supposed to be. and to educate the judge on valuations of things like that. but he really has decided that there is no fraud here, and that there is no criminal intent. and i, don't. >> i'm wondering if the judge asked him directly about that, saying, are you saying that the case has no merit? indicates the judge also is raising that concern? >> potentially, yeah. i mean potentially, maybe the judge wanted to see how far is he willing to go for trump. how far is he willing to say these things about trump. because it is not just about the mistake about the tripling the size of the penthouse apartment. it was also things like saying that mar-a-lago is commercial property or it's residential property, when it suits them. because you get more favorable

insurance terms of its one versus the, other or loan terms of its one versus the other. or saying in another building that all of the units were rented, out when they weren't, because once again that makes it more valuable. you know, at a certain point, it's not necessarily just mistakes, potentially. and that's what the judge is there to determine. >> david, what do you expect when the former president takes the stand monday? i mean, we saw him, we heard what his testimony was like. the last time. >> well the first time around, this was the state questioning donald trump. now it will be his attorneys laying out their case. this is what we want you to understand, your honor. and what i'm looking forward to is the cross examination of donald trump. how skillful it will be. asking him about things like well, you said mar-a-lago two -- was worth 27 million, now you're saying it's worth half a billion, a billion dollars. things like that. in the cross-examination i

think will be the much more interesting part of this. we know the fundamental story they're going to put forward, i'm an honest man, i've never done anything in my life that's required me to apologize to anybody. >> -- thank you, -- as well. quick reminder to stay tuned for laura coates live tonight, when -- a former attorney general eric holder, that's night 11 pm, eastern here on cnn. next for us, more breaking news. the latest in the follow after president of some of the country's most prestigious universities were asked by lawmakers to unequivocally condemn calls for the genocide of jews, and then appeared to equivocate. plus, the latest on the fighting in gaza, and the progress israeli forces say they are making on the ground there.

>> news that, it comes on the first night of hanukkah, and two months in the day since hamas perpetrated the mass massacre of civilians, most of them jewish in israel. the board of advisers at the university of pennsylvania -- wharton business school tonight calling for a leadership change at upenn. the -- ford's letter to university president -- part of the backlash to her congressional testimony, along with other ivy league presidents on the subject of antisemitism on campus. miguel marquez has more. >> miss mcgill, at penn. does calling for the genocide of jews violate penn's rules or code of conduct? yes or no? >> if the speech turns into

conduct, it can be harassment? >> i am asking, specifically calling for the genocide of jews. does that constitute bullying or harassment? >> if it is directed and severe and pervasive, it is harassment. >> so the answer is yes? >> it is a context defended decision, congresswoman. >> it is a context dependant decision? that is your testimony, calling for the genocide of jews depends on the context? that is not bullying or harassment? this is the easiest question to answer yes, miss mcgill? >> presidents of three of the country's top schools, m. i. t., harvard, and the university of pennsylvania, sharply questioned this week on capitol hill over antisemitic rhetoric on their campuses, now facing massive backlash for not taking a hard line stance against calls for genocide. >> from the river to the sea. >> from the river to the sea. >> i have not heard calling for the genocide of jews. >> but you've heard chance for intifada?

>> i've heard chants which can be antisemitic, depending on the context, when calling for the elimination of the jewish people. >> so far, no protesters held accountable. >> have any students been expelled or disciplined for bullying, harassment, or these actions that you are listing? >> i can assure you, we have robust student disciplinary process? >> no, no, i didn't ask about your processes. i asked if any students have been disciplined or removed from harvard as a result of the bullying and harassment that has taken place, based on theier antisemimitic views. >> after the hearing, university of pennsylvania president liz mcgill attempted to clarify her remarks, issuing a video statement. >> when i was asked if a call for the genocide of jewish people on our campus would violate our policies. in that moment, i was focused on our universities long standing policies, aligned with

the u. s. constitution, which say that speech alone is not punishable. i was not focused on, but i should have been. >> harvard's president claudine gay, issued a written statement after the house committee hearing, in part saying calls for violence or genocide against the jewish community, or any religious or ethnic group, are vile. they have no place at harvard. and those who threaten our jewish students will be held to account. >> pennsylvania's democratic governor said upenn's mcgill failed at the most basic level. >> it shouldn't be hard. and there should be no nuance to that. she needed to give a one word answer, and she failed to meet that test. >> the white house, making clear on calls for genocide, there is no room for nuance. >> calls for genocide are unacceptable. it's vile, and it's counter to everything this country stands for. i can't believe i even have to say that. i can't believe i even have to

say that. >> from the halls of congress to presidential politics. >> it was disgusting to see what happened. >> calls for all three university presidents to step aside, growing. some business leaders, and the ceo of the anti-defamation league. >> when i watch these presidents flail, and feebly, with legal-ish answers, responded to a simple line of questioning, i've got to say, we lost confidence in them. >> some jewish students and their supporters, demanding action. >> jewish students do not believe that the m. i. t. administration has done an adequate job to make students feel safe on campus. >> do something! protect jewish people. protect your students. >> and she joins us now. i think that testimony was

incredible, their responses. when you mentioned the board of advisers for upenn, for wharton school calling for a change of leadership, any likelihood that upenn? >> it is possible, the trustees met today. there is no answer out of that meeting. so, far they had an emergency meeting called, this board of trustees or the wharton school, very powerful members of the alumni board, for upenn as well. at m. i. t., interestingly, their executive committee has said they have full and un-reserved support for its president up at m. i. t.. but congress now has also called for a full hearing, that would have subpoena power, to dig in deeper. it's gonna keep going. >> -- thank you, appreciate it. just ahead, three city investigates how election conspiracy theories turn into, and what we warn you now are graphic threats and violence against public officials across the country, like this. >> we're gonna [bleep] hang you, traitor. give me [bleep], you peace of [ bleep ].

the threats facing government officials are so grave that the

department of homeland security to threaten must suspend next tier system americans motivated by conspiracy theories and anti government or partisan grievances. these people they said could use violence to disrupt elections. kim law has the story about the conspiracies, how they fuel the threats, and a lives for that because of it. we warn you much of the language you can hear is graphic and disturbing. >> we're gonna hand you traitor. we're gonna give you the alabama necktie you peace of [bleep]. >> this is what it sounds like to work for the american people. >> you piece of [bleep] >> from members of congress >> tell matt gaetz to watch his back, tom to watch his children. he is going to die. >> to your local government. >> people who are visiting the homes of the court supervisors, and basically their families.

>> but who and why? >> we are gonna come to lynch you're stupid lying cami asked. >> these are all lines that have her come out of his mouth hundreds of times. >> my dad has been with that whole wave since the very beginning and it lit a fire. >> hello excuse me. >> the man we are trying to speak with is mark rishi. >> i would never speak with you guys goodbye. >> he lenox quite corner of ottawa and cedar rapids. he will go to prison next month threatening to kill an election official. >> cnn looked it to 500 public threats against public officials. they were all politically motivated. lawmakers jumped 168% during trump's presidency. threats to republicans making up the bulk of case, 95% of those prosecuted man, mid age

39. mental age, divorced, isolation, all recurring themes in the cases. a profile, a son of mark receipt of iowa recognizes. >> he was a great dad. he was very present. >> he's always been a conservative, they'll never take our guns type of guy. but over the course of the last ten years it's gotten really, really intense. >> your mother at this point was starting to become ill. >> right. she started showing signs of dementia, she had early onset alzheimer's. so my dad mr. caretaker, taking care of my mother 24/7. how he would get away from that is to dive into literature and politics and the internet, but getting lost in his news feeds i think was really the main culprit here. a turning point where i started to realize this was a serious problem was he bet me $100 that barack obama and hillary clinton would be hung in the

next 30 days. >> final break between father and son happened during protest during the police murder of george floyd when, his son supported a local i want. march >> item message from a dad in the middle of a night to said your boys antifa or now a terrorist group. >> i won't drop you like the sack of [bleep] that you are. i never want to see your stupid [bleep] face again. you are a [bleep] moron. i hate your [bleep] guts. >> it is really put aside having family in a rare to interactions. he's put aside all of that so we can 100% focus on this hole and a government operation. >> rishi's father was also calling someone 1500 miles away in arizona. >> we are going to get started. >> clint hickman, republican chairman of the maricopa board of county board of supervisors. >> hello mr. hickman you are gonna die you peace of [bleep].

we are going to hang. you hey board oversees electing and tabulation. starting in 2020, lies spread into conspiracies and threats. there were hundreds upon hundreds of terrifying calls. >> you [bleep] lie are you [bleep] running piece of [bleep] isle of [bleep] you [bleep] corrupt politician. >> i've lived through, this counties lived through a mountain of threats. this is basically in my case the one guy that was. caught >> receipt will spend two and a half years in prison for the threatening call he made to hickman. >> i'm just a public servant and servant that has the audacity to take part in running a fair and clean elections. and if law enforcement can catch them, i'm okay was seeing people going to jail, because i'm working worried about my election workers. >> it's epitomizes the kind of

conduct god that the task forces trying to combat, because it threatens the foundation of our democracy. deaf kratzerville criminal and they will be prosecuted. >> john keller leads the election threats task force of the department of justice formed after the 2020 election. the task force currently has asked dozens of active investigations. keller says it's a drop in the bucket. >> we can only investigate and prosecute threats of unlawful violence. >> what percentage are cases that just don't meet that standard? >> over 90%. our case is the don't need to stand. her and it gives you a sense of what the election communities dealing with and what we can't prosecute our way out of this problem. >> one in five election worker signal they wanted to quit after the midterms. more than half worried about their safety. >> what do you think as we look ahead into this election year? are there going to be more people like your father? >> i mean, i hope not, but i know that there is going to be.

i'm actually kind of scared to see what's on the horizon there. >> she joins us now. i feel so sorry for his son. what measures are available to election workers to protect themselves and their families? >> all the department of justice tells us that there is some funding out there. they are certainly working with local, federal authorities in each jurisdiction to get training. there is funding available to get security as well as hardening some of these elections spaces. and they do hope that that message will get out to the election workers to begin talking about. report everything to the federal authorities, but also talk to the public, share their stories, so there is their awareness that this is horrible and simply unacceptable. the department of justice also adds this, not wall the bulk of these cases simply cannot be prosecuted, they do intend to chase the ones that can and they hope to send a very strong

message in 2024. >> kim law, thanks very much. want to go back to our breaking news because we just got a hold of the new hunter biden indictment. back to cnn's polo rate. what if you learned polo? >> i had the indictment. here is voluminous, 56 pages beading going through this, is a justice department details, the allegations supporting these nine counts that they have filed against hunter biden. they include three felony tax offenses and six misdemeanor tax offenses. to put that in context, hunter biden was hoping to resolve this investigation by pleading guilty to just two misdemeanors. but here, the justice department is alleging that he engaged in a four-year scheme in which they say he chose not to pay at least one point $4 million in self assessed federal taxes he owed between 2016 and 2019. and they also accused him of trying to evade the assessment of taxes for 2018 when he filed

false returns. now they allege that heap subverted the payroll and tax withholding process of his own company by withdrawing millions outside of that process. they also accuse him of spending millions of dollars on a quote extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills. they say in 2018, he stopped paying his outstanding and overdue taxes for the tax year 2015 and willfully failed to pay his 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 taxes on time despite they say having access to funds to pay some or all of these taxes. they allege he willfully failed to file in 2017 and 2018 and then when he did finally file in 2018, they say that he did so to reduce the fairly substantial tax liability he faced in february, 2020. again these are tax allegations. it's a little in the weeds but

he faces a maximum penalty of 17 years in prison. now of course, often sentences are far less than the maximum, but i will note that in the press release tonight anderson, the justice department also says that the investigation is ongoing. and that's notable because the question of whether the investigation into the president's son was fully going to be worked up with a plea deal or they would possibly continue, that became a real key issue between his lawyers and the justice department. so notable that they included this year, just a little bit more than a standard boilerplate, what we would expect the current president someone make his first court appearance sometime next. week >> paul reid, appreciate the update. just ahead an update from israel and kamiks gaza, in two months since the o october 7thth hamamas attack.. >

in las vegas at all three ships victims -- of or faculty members. they identified two of them, and said the name of -- once their next of kin was notified. well tonight, we remember patricia navarro velez and assistant professor of accounting.

she came to -- nearly five years ago. and according to the university president, she had devoted her career to educating the next generation of accountants. the las vegas review-journal says the mom of four was from puerto rico, she was just 39 years old. we also remember professor cha jan chan who likes to be called jerry. he taught management information systems at the business school, and had an educator at, and had been an educator at unlv for more than 20 years. he was 64. today, police also identified the dead shooter's 67 year old man, investigators are still trying to understand his motives. the las vegas sheriff says the government applied, quote, numerous times for jobs at a different nevada higher at learning institutions, it was rejected by all of them. the sheriff also says the gunman had a list of people they said he was seeking on campus, and none of them were victims. also that before the shooting, he mailed 22 letters to various university personnel across the country, one of which so far was found to obtain a white

substance. well, las vegas authorities continue their investigation, and other shooting will be the focus of a sentencing hearing tomorrow in visiting michigan at a high school. in that, case a teen gunman had pleaded guilty to killing four fellow students and wounding several others. a judge is going to decide whether he is going to face life in prison without parole, the harshest punishment allowed. for the parents of one of the victims though, that is not enough. they spoke with omar jimenez. >> every single day, i have is -- there's just an emptiness, a big void in your heart you know, with family life. [crying] that's been the hardest. >> craig schilling is the father of justin shilling, one of four students killed by a classmate in oxford michigan in november, 2021. justin's parents are joining the hundreds of american families who have had to meld grief with legal procedure. in this case, the gunman pleaded guilty to terrorism and murder charges on october 2022. the sentence could be life without parole.

the harshest penalty available in michigan. >> nothing is enough. you know, he gets to live, and my son doesn't. >> it's not enough, why is it not enough? i personally feel that when you do something like that, that you should meet the same fate. >> in some of shillings final moments, he was hiding in a bathroom with another student, keegan gregory, who was texting his family in realtime. he killed him, omfg. gregory ran and survived. >> the day he came home, he sat with us and he said, i shouldn't have left him. but, there's nothing he could have done. >> the shooter himself of course, you feel there are others that need to be held accountable. >> i cannot let it go. >> while the sentencing in the criminal case is one major thing these families are dealing with, they've also filed civil lawsuits because they believe the school and some of its employees should have done more to stop this from happening in the first place.

>> and, an independent report commissioned by y the oxford board of education fouound in part, that had proper threat assessment guidelines been put in place, and district threat assessment followed, this tragedy was avoidable. >> what we do in civil law as we go after everybody who's culpable. their own paid for report says they screwed up, and could have prevented the shooting. >> but in march, a state judge sided with the oxford school district, ruling it was protected by governmental immunity, and families are appealing. the last time his father saw the shooter in court, he had to restrain himself. >> i just wanted to jump him, jump over the benches and i know it's not right. >> you know, i wouldn't say that i will ever forgive him, and i don't think i'm required to. you know, being in the court room, but if the person that murdered my son.

i [crying] but i have to accept that this has happened. >> omar jimenez, cnn, oxford michigan. >> coming up next, a remarkable moment. 103-year-old survivor of the japanese attack on pearl harbor returned to hawaii to honor fellow service members who were killed on that 82 years ago, leading america to world war ii.