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

any minute now we could hear from the ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy who has been meeting behind closed doors with senators pleading for new aid. we have learned that one republican walked out of the meeting early. what does that tell us? >> there is a lot going on the hill right now. the house rules committee is gearing up to gavel in. the republicans are locking down the votes to get the support they need for the biden impeachment hearing and a vote could come up any time. and we are closely watching a federal courthouse in new york where expelled former congressman george santos is expected to soon show up. we are learning about new deal

that there is a plea deal he is seeking. with sara sidner and john berman, i'm kate bolduan, and this is cnn "news central." and breaking this morning, ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy is behind closed doors with the u.s. senators at this moment pleading for new money to fight vladimir putin. he says that the money is crucial for ukrainian survival and right now, it is being held up by u.s. politics. he could come out to speak any minute now, and we are keeping a close eye on that. we just learned that a republican senator walked out of this meeting early. cnn's manu raju is watching this on capitol hill, and j.d. vance could not be bothered to stay the whole time, manu? >> he walked out and said his mind has not been changed and he

is one of the skeptics who would deny the aid, and another senator who decided not to go to the meeting because of the opposition of the aid to ukraine, but zelenskyy has a high hurdle here to green light the aid to ukraine amid a separate dispute with the changing immigration laws to deal with the migrant crisis at the border with mexico. they want a deal on immigration first before they agree to more aid to ukraine. so even while zelenskyy is making the pitch, we don't expect many minds to be changed, including when we caught up with congressman lange as if they would be amenable to more aid, and could you punt on immigration and approve -- >> no, no, no. again. we have a responsibility not the united states of america, and

that would be going back to my home state and saying that we care about people in another country rather than the people in our own needs. we need to pay attention to our own needs before we deal with other countries. no way to get it done this week. >> is there any way to get this done? >> it will go into a resolution of 2024 before this is actually going to be resolved. >> reporter: the senators are starting to come out, and early read is that he gave remarks and took some questions, and senator thom tillis, he got a warm reception, and the resources that he needs to win the war, and received some questions about corruption in ukraine and if the aid was to buy yachts and whatever, and those concerns were answered head-on, and this

debate over whether it can be reached, but ominous side of senator johnson who zelenskyy is going to meet with in a matter of moments he said that he would be prepared to send the house home for the christmas holiday if there is no way to get a deal in the senate is within reach. he said, what do i have the house twiddle the thumbs while waiting for the senate to act. so the reality is that it could very well wait until next year, and the question is what does it mean for the future of ukraine. >> manu, there is a microphone there behind you where he can take questions, and we will go right back there when president zelenskyy comes out. and now, we will keep an eye on the house rules committee, because any moment the committee is going to vote on formalizing an impeachment inquiry into

president biden. this is centering around the business dealings of his son hunter, and that investigation has been going on in congress and the house for months already, and now with this step, the push by the house republicans will gain strength and power. cnn's lauren fox is tracking this. she is back with us. lauren, the house rules committee, and i am told that they have gavelled in, and what is going to happen here? >> we expect that the house rules committee is going to approve this moving forward, but what is significant is what happens on the floor tomorrow when it comes up with a vote, and the question is the house republicans going to be 100% unified behind this move to launch officially an impeach ment inquiry. and you remember that house speaker said that he would look into the inquiry. but in many ways it does not change the work that the three

committees have been doing, but on the other hand, it does send the signal that the republicans are united behind this effort. i want to distinguish that the house republicans might be open to voting for an impeachment inquiry, because in the minds of some of those who are skeptical before, they believe that this is an effort and a way to get more information from the biden administration, from the white house, and they want to continue working through and getting the information they need for the inquiry. but on the other hand, you have a lot of republicans who are still arguing that this is different than a vote to impeach joe biden, and many of those republicans who are running in swing districts still say that they have to get more evidence. they have to understand a close tie between the president and that money that was coming from foreign governments, and they want to see a direct tie that has not been established yet. that is a key difference here between the impeachment inquiry and vote to impeachment

president biden and tomorrow, of course, the vote on the impeachment inquiry, and again, kate, the question is at the end of the investigation, what do the republicans do then? kate? >> what do they do or find or not find, and we know one thing that is far out. but today, the whole effort is going to gain some new steam with this vote and tomorrow with the vote on the floor. good to see you, lauren. sara? >> the house judicial special counsel normi ieisen is here to discuss this, and you always bring the heat, so what do you see with this particular impeachment inquiry? >> sara, thanks for having me back. the biggest issue with this impeachment inquiry is that after years of looking, including an intense investigation since the republicans took over the house of representatives, there is no

evidence of joe biden engaging in any financial or other impropriety that would give rise to an impeachment or even an impeachment inquiry. the republicans are making claims about biden's involvement in pressing for the ouster of a corrupt prosecutor in ukraine, but sara, we looked at that in the first trump impeachment, and there is no there there. and many authorities have said so. they are claiming that the payments were illegitimate, and they turn out the be loans or the payments for the son's truck, and there is simply no connection of joe biden's wrongdoing, and so therefore no basis for the impeachment or even an inquiry. >> but norm, the republicans say, but, look, we are on a fact-finding mission, and the impeachment inquiry is how we will get tot the fact, and doe

it make sense to you? >> it doesn't, because the nature of impeachment is that you have to have some predicate, some indication of wrongdoing to even have an inquiry, and that is the reason that kevin mccarthy was not able to put an inquiry on the floor for a vote. he simply declared they were going to have an inquiry, and i think that in particular for those 17 members of the house of representatives from districts that voted for joe biden, this is a very uncomfortable vote. that is the reason for delay, because not just democrats or partisans, but independent observers, and even republican members like congressman ken buck say that there is no connection of joe biden's connection to wrongdoing, and how can you open the inquiry, if there is no showing of the wrongdoing after intense

investigation? >> so i wanted to talk to you about and noticed at looking at the language of this potential impeachment inquiry is almost verbatim the same kind of language used for the inquiry into donald trump in 2019 with one glaring difference. the gop version today leaves out language mandating that the investigation be transparent. what does that say about this inq inquiry? >> well, i think that it is an unfortunate omission. the transparency is an essential part of looking at what they are doing, and to me, it is allowing inference that the house republicans don't want people to see behind the curtain to have the full transparency, because they have found no basis to open an impeachment inquiry.

consider the contrast with 2019 when you had a whistle-blower later proven to be correct saying that donald trump had shaken down ukrainian president zelenskyy by coincidence in congress today, and shaken him down by withholding nearly $300 million desperately needed u.s. aid. nothing like that here. and if you can open up a inquiry, they can say that we are going toep up one into me or you or me or anyone, that is not the united states of america, and you need some indication of wrongdoing, and not complete goose eggs, and that is all the republicans have here, and that why they don't want transparency. >> norm eisen specken plainly here on cnn. thank you. and now, george santos is

arriving at court, and could a plea deal be on the horizon? and now s, president zelensy at capitol hill. and now s, more fighting as israrael says ththey h have e fe weweapons stasashes.

moments ago, expelled congressman george santos arrived at a federal court in new york attending a status hearing as a new court filing revealing that he is in talks with prosecutors about a possible plea deal.

brynn gingras has more. >> yes, 23 federal charges is what the former congressman is facing. and among those, he is accused of stealing from his donors to enrich his own life and personal lifestyle. today is a status conference hearing and in the past, what we have seen is that the prosecutors are turning over pages and pages of evidence, and some of those are pages of documents, and we expect more exchanges of documents, but in what the prosecutors have hinted is that they want to strike a deal. they have asked for another status hearing in 30 days and the goal is to resolving this matter without the need of a trial. and george santos hinted at this himself when he spoke to our local affiliate wcbs. >> the plea is not off of the table, and so there is

conversations of what happened in congress. everybody should be afraid of going to jail, because it is not a pretty place, and i want to work hard to avoid that as much as possible. >> and keep in mind that his campaign manager have struck deals on the charges they were facing, so it is possible that there is a deal imminent. this hearing is getting started this morning in a little bit, and we are waiting to see if santos, himself, will speak to us. we will keep you posted. back to you. >> thank you, brynn. john? this morning, russian opposition leader alexei navalny is still meeting and the white house wants answers. his lawyer said that he had quote left their colony, but they could not confirm where he is now, and the white house says they are deeply concerned. fred pleitgen is with us for the latest. fred, what is the status here?

>> it is completely unknown. one thing to point out is how difficult it is for navalny's lawyers to get that little bit of information from the russian prison system, and more difficult for them to find alexei navalny, and for the last two days he was supposed to appear on a video link from where he is, and he has not shown up in the past two days. the people inside of that prison said there were issues with the electricity and then they did admit that alexei navalny is no longer listed in the prison, and then they admitted that he had left that prison, and that is how far his lawyers have gotten that he had left that prison, but it is unclear where he is. we know that he was supposed to be transferred to another jail which has a tougher regime than the one he has been in so far. it is not unheard of for prisoners when they are in the

process of being transferred to be off comms, but they don't know if that is the case, but they simply don't know. all of this is extremely concerning for the folks at navalny's organization and his family as well. he has had some serious health issues in jail over the last couple of weeks and his daughter spoke last night on ac360, and she said this. >> if i were to get a message out to him, i don't know. i just want, i want the people not just him, but i want others to know that i have hope and for other people to have hope that we can change the regime if we work together.

>> so there's dasha navalny saying that she has hope, but at this point in time, she simply and they do not know where he is, and maybe it is a transfer going on, but they do not know. >> fred plightgeeitgen on the p of alexei navalny. and not far from the white house is the senate leaders chuck schumer and mitch mcconnell who are walking out, and they have chosen not to speak with reporters. what are you seeing, manu raju. >> yes, we did nexpect chuck

schumer and mitch mcconnell to talk to the press, but maybe they will meet after the next group of meetings. he is going to be meeting with the speaker of the house hakeem jeffries, and perhaps he did not want to meet with the press at this critical moment, but we did meet with the senators from the early readout of what happened in the room here, and we are told that he talked about the border issue, and that is what is holding up the aid with ukraine, and having to do with the u.s. border issue that republicans are insisting. hold on a moment -- senator mcconnell!

senator mcconnell, did the meeting change your approach at all? okay. so we will see if it is going to change anything, and what we have heard is that if you don't deal with it, you will see a influx of migrants from ukraine, because it may collapse. >> it was a very powerful meeting, and president zelenskyy made it clear how he needs help, but if he is going to get the help, he will win this war, and he outlined in great detail, a, the help he needs, and how lit help him win, and how many of the republican colleagues are talk about how they are winning this war, and if they help, and if he can get the help he needs, we will win. and yet we all made it clear that if we lose, putin win, and this is very, very dangerous for

the united states. so we cannot let putin influence through any surrogate what is, what we need to do for ukraine. he also made one other point, that he needs aid quickly. if we don't give the aid quickly, several things will happen. first the military needs, but second europe and many other allies are going to say, what is going on here, they are not giving them the aid. thank you. >> reporter: john, are you still with me here? so chuck schumer saying that the money has to be dealt with immediately, and he did not give a time frame, and that is one of the major questions if congress can deal with this before they leave town for the year, but the white house says it needs to be done this month, and otherwise, ukraine is going to be

kneecapped. and that is what i tried to ask chuck schumer is if it has to be done this month, because right now, there is no indication that congress will be reaching a deal on the separate issue of immigration before aid can be approved and there is indication it is going to be punted into next year, and what is going to happen if that situation does occur which is widely occurring in the capital. he said quickly -- but what is "quickly" mean? that is the problem debated in the capital, and this is the issue that was debated behind closed doors, how soon ukraine will fall if they are not rescued with hundreds obillions of aid. >> thank you, manu raju. and now, president zelenskyy is on to a meeting with house speaker mike johnson who is the individual most standing in the

way of the quick, immediate u.s. aid to ukraine. and now with us is retired u.s. general, retired u.s. general mark hertling. and president zelenskyy is a seasoned politician now, and he knows that the aid is being held up by u.s. politics, and without judging it, it is u.s. politics holding up the aid, and how does a foreign leader approach that? >> i think that zelenskyy more than perhaps any other leader in a long, long time has been enmeshed in u.s. politics for reasons having nothing to do with him and his country. it has happened under president trump and now president biden, and so he is a vis savvy about and americans need to immediately send that aid, and politics are in the way, and it is unfortunate, but sadly, it

has to be dealt with. immigration is now tied to ukraine aid. >> he mentioned, we are told, the border issues and he said, you will end up with more ukrainian immigrant, and can he say, hey, separate the border issues or make a deal on the border and get me my money? >> i think that he has to tread carefully here, and he will. he is going to acknowledge that there a border question, and he is not going to say dealing or fix it now, because he does not want to be seen as meddling in the politics, but at the same time he is making a good case of why we should support ukraine, because if putin wins in ukraine, we will well face him in one of the nato allies, and because it is going to cost more money, and lives at stake. >> and general, there was a headline in new york times that struck me, and i want to

paraphrase it, and it is the military leaders meet after the failed ukrainian counter offensive. and the word they used was the failed counter offensive, and so the meetings are happening at time when ukraine, and maybe you don't think it is failed, but it is certainly not making progress that it hoped for in the counter offensive, and how do you change that? >> yeah, john, first, i would like to say that the use of the word "failed" in that article was unnecessary and incorrect by the way. ukraine has significantly gained back some of the territory that they lost from russia. they did not gain all of their objectives, but that is truly where we are right now as the ambassador herbst just said. that are at an inflection point and existential threat, and they have to have aid. if congress delays this, and does not vote for it before

christmas, it is going to delay it exponentially before the new year, and ukraine is facing a russia that has generated more manpower and ammunition from the allies like iran and north korea and generated more actions on the battlefield, and ukraine has to go somewhat on an active defense mode in the next couple of months while russia attempts to attack the infrastructure in winter just like before, and ukraine has to defend the russian counter attacks and they need arms and ammunition to do that and they have been in a tough war for two years and just to continue to exist, they have to have this aid from the united states. it is critical, and ukraine at an inflection point. congress is tieing this to aid to the border cries is and getting more funds to the border, but it is a problem that has existed for decades. ukraine right now needs money right now.

>> the same new y"new york time article used the word "failed" is also saying they need to hold and strengthen their forces to make sure russia doesn't make any further inroads into the area. >> yes, it is a good strategy to continue to defend on the ground, and reduce the amount of maneuver warfare that ukraine has been attempting, and hold the positions on the ground while continuing to strike key targeting areas of russia,

ammunition cache, fuel caches and troop movements and key communication lines, and that is going to be what the u.s. generals and the ukrainian generals will be discussing over the coming months as part of the winter campaign. that is one part that the new y york times article did right. >> and the president of ukraine just finishing the meeting with the senators and now he is going to have a meeting with the house speaker mike johnson, and when we wait for coverage after that occurs. we will continue our coverage after this.

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

i'm here to thank you. for palestinian agency says that gaza is hell on earth, and this as they are demanding a cease-fire in gaza, and this is coming as israel is intensifying attack on hamas, and the defense minister is demanding two strongholds in northern gaza are surrounding the heavy fighting in the south as well after israel's military is expanding offensive.

meanwhile, israel says that two crossings in israel is going to open so that aid heading into gaza can be screened. alex marquardt is joining us from the area. what are you seeing ahead of that? >> well, sarah, this is one of the busiest crossings of aid going from israel to gaza, but it is not the case since october 7th, and instead, all of the aid has been going in from egypt through the rafah crossing, and instead, israel is going to inspect all of the aid here coming in from kerem shalom, and they have only had one inspection point, but now they will have a second one. and so we have been seeing the long lines coming from kerem

shalom, and we have seen dogs inspecting truck, and the soldiers were looking inside of the truck, and we have seen aid from the world food program, and we have seen the trucks from the world central kitchen, and then, sara, rather than straight into gaza, which they could do at this point, they then go back to egypt and drive up towards the rafah crossing, but there is no assurance that even if there is more aid approved by israel they can get in. at the rafah crossing, it is a bottleneck, because it was not built for hundreds of trucks every day which is needed right now, and at the same time, the bombardment of israel is creating such chaos in gaza strip that so many people have fled south, it is so difficult for the aid organizations to distribute the aid. so not all of the aid that is approved can get in. so, a major question is when

will the aid go from israel into gaza directly which is what the humanitarian officials would like to see. that we are told is a political decision for whatever reason, the netanyahu government has not yet approved. >> still so much suffering going on there, and i am sure that you will be watching as we are watching to see what goes on there. and alex marquardt there from kerem shalom. thank you. and now, the caucusgoers, and presidential townhall for ron desantis as the republican base in iowa key base is evangelicals, and so where are they on trump and the rest of the gop field? that is next.

34 days to the iowa caucuses, and tonight, ron desantis has a key opportunity to make his case to the voters there in the cnn presidential town hall tonight. the latest polling out of iowa is showing that he has real work to do. a distant second to donald trump who has a 30-plus-point lead. in the des moines "register" polling showing that trump is leading with a key group of the iowa republican base, evangelicals, and they are often a consequential voting bloc, and they are key to trump's support in iowa past and present. so can ron desantis or any other candidate chip away at the

support now? joining us now is tim alberta a staff right for the atlanta "key" and it is a new book he has out called the "the kingdom and the power and the glory." and it is a combination of deep reporting that you put into all of your work and also the lived experience, and i want to get to lived experience in a second, but when you are seeing the polling out of iowa especially around the evangelicals, you will see what we know which is what i will call it the resilience and support for donald trump among evangelicals in places like iowa, and so from your reporting, what is the why behind that, and why evangelicals would support someone whose behavior is really completely against the teachings that they follow? >> kate, it is the million

dollar question. you are right to ask it, and it is taking a lot of unpacking into the terms of the psychology, but the simplest answer that i can give you in this setting is that in many ways these folks are not supporting donald trump in spite of the behavior and in spite of the rhetoric that you are referencing, but they are supporting him because of that behavior and rhetoric. >> which is counter. >> well, it is makes no sense. >> it makes no sense. >> and so it makes perfect sense. as i tried to write about in the book, for a lot of folks who have been for decades marinading in the idea that the end is coming for america, and the country is unrecognizable to them, and the judeo-christian heritage is basically collapsing in realtime and that the secularists are coming for them, and shut down the churches and persecute christianity and ban ish the almighty from public life, they have come to think that the barbarians are at the

gates, and maybe they need a barbarian to protect them, and so in some sense, donald trump's relationship with this community, which is once nakedly transaction, and i will give you policy victories if you give me your vote, they have come to view him differently as the mercenary type figure who is not having to play by the rules of christianity which is going to empower him to do the things that many people can't do, and that is how many see him. >> it is going to take the pages of the book to unpack it, because there is more to this also in the reporting that you have found that there is more going on below the surface among evangelicals, and a schism, a rift or a split, and you tell me how it is best to mirror or describe the divide that we are

seeing in the republican party more broadly right now. >> yeah, it does. and i think that so in one sense that first of all what you are seeing in the evangelical movement in terms of the implosion at an institutional level does in some sense mirror the implosion of the republican party, which is to say that, kate, if you are looking at the donald trump takeover of the party, as we have documented for the past ten years or so, it was a case of a fringe movement steadily overtaking mainstream. right. so donald trump did not start the race in 2016, without anywhere near the majority support or plurality support, and somewhat of a laughingstock, but he was embolden and gained support and then took over the party, and what you are seeing in the evangelicalism movement,

and particularly the white movement today is similar that the militant far right christian movement that we want to believe is at the periphery and at the fringe and not something that we need to treat seriously as a quantifiable threat to the country is actually growing in power, and there has not been a strong institutional response even though, kate, i would still argue that a majority of the white evangelicals are turned off by that sort of the radical ideology, and yet, that i have not responded in a way that is able to sort of keep it at bay. >> and i mentioned in this perfectly, too, that you come at this from lived experience. your father was an evangelical minister, and this book, and i did not know this until i started reading it, it is borne out of your grieving your father's death. what is -- what has this whole journey been like for you? where do you think that you have

landed? you had the question, and you faced the incoming, and where have you landed? >> you know, in many ways i have landed in a darker place in terms of my view of this tribe that i was a part of for most of my life. understanding how warped the incentive structures have become, and understanding how, again, there is not, there are not these sort of the defenses, and systemic institutional defenses that can keep this extremism at bay. that part of it has been dark for me, and quite discouraging. at the same time, you know, my own faith, and my own relationship with jesus has never been stronger which is frankly surprising to me, because i was really worried that my faith was suffer because of the project, but it has been the opposite, and i think that probably the reason for that is that c.s. lewis is my favorite author and he said that we only

know that a line is crooked, because we have seen a straight line. so if we believe as my friend john dixon says that jesus wrote a perfect symphony and every note flawless, but if you hear somebody on the street playing the tuba or trombone territerri you say oh, that is awful but the symphony is perfect. so, i am seeing what is wrong with the church, i am continually reminded of what is right with the church, and that is jesus. >> it is a thoughtful project and reporting. congratulation, and thank you so much. it is good to have you here. "the kingdom and the power and the glory, the age of extremism." >> tim alberta, one of the best reporters out there. thank you. and now, in a jury where rudy giuliani has been found

guilty of defaming two election workers has just received ananother rebubuke. ststay tuned. .

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(♪♪) get exclusive offers on select new volvo models. contact your volvo retailer to learn more. all right. breaking this morning and few moments ago, a federal judgeg defamation trial. giuliani has been found guilty of defaming two georgia election workers. zach cohen is following this for us, and the week did not start well for him, but, zach, this morning, it is getting worse. >> yeah, john. the jury is deciding whether or not rudy giuliani should pay rudy freeman at y of trial? he walks out of court and repeats the samejudge this repo

camera, and the judge this morning said that giuliani may have opened himsel what giuliani said last night that has him in hot water today. >> but everything that i said about them is true. >> do you regret what you said about -- >> of course i don't. i told the truth. they were engaged in changing votes. >> there is no proof of that? >> oh, you are damn right there is. stay tuned. >> and so giuliani is to take the stand and testify in his own defense, and the judge is asking his own lawyer to go up there to get on the stand and not repeat what he said outside of court yesterday. >> the comments are surprising, and the trial is getting surprising. keep us posted about what happens behind those courtroom

doors. and republicans are taking the first procedural vote of an impeachment vote against president biden, and as you can see, the ukrainian president is making a desperate plea a for a.