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.

the federal judge donald trump's interference case is pressing pause as a federal appeals case is pressing pause. he said he would and now he is not, and now when he said he would testify now says he will not. today, that defamation trial continues. and just where iat impeachment trial is going next against president biden and how the white house is going to respond. i'm john berman with sara sidner and kate bolduan, and this is cnn "news central." a federal judge has hit the brakes on the donald trump 2020

interference case, because she is not sure if the president has immuni immunity, and this could push back the march 2024 trial further, and further into the 2024 campaign territory. zachary cohen is joining us, and the trump team called it a huge win, but this is a judge looking at the realities here, and saying the appeals court needs to speak, and we know that jack smith has gone to the supreme court to get a decision as well. what more are you learning? >> yes, that is right. the federal judge had no other choice but to put this case on pause, and the judge acknowledges that the two fundamental questions have to be resolved by the supreme court and that is because it is dealing with double jeopardy, because he was acquitted in the senate impeachment trial, and that has to be resolved by a

higher court, and does this presidential immunity, and does the president have some immunity over crime committed while president, and does some crime committed while this office protect you when you are not in office. so trump's team is doing everything they can to slow this process down, but the reality is that the march 4 trial date does hold even though the pause could push the date back, but at the moment, the march 4th is the effective trial date, but we will have to see what this pause does mean, and if it is delay a few more months, we will see how close it bumps up to the campaign schedule. >> thank you, zachary cohen, and huge legal questions that have lasting effects. >> and any delay in any trump trial means it could be pushed

further into the presidential election cycle, and what does that mean for trump and all of the republicans running against him in the primary. and so, what are you hearing, helena, of what you are hearing going full bore into the iowa caucuses. >> and to answer some of your questions of the trials stacking up, and the legal battles stacking up in the height of the election season, this is something that is clearly going to become more pervasive as we enter the primary season, because donald trump has a series of scheduled trials, and the campaign is trying to balance right now with the primary season, and it is something that they recognize is only going to be tougher as we enter next year, so it is something to keep in mind as we talk about some of the speeches, and hearing him rail about some of the charges in there, but in iowa last night, donald trump did have a clear message for

voters. he has been really leaning into the new stategy of trying to teach people in iowa how to caucus, and urging them not to be compla complacent and get ou on january 15th and vote. that is concern that the trump campaign has, and they want to make sure they don't just win it, but they win it in a big way, and he wants to encourage them in new hampshire, and they believe it is going to encourage his opponents, specifically nikki haley and ron desantis. and so, a message of the economy, beyond the primaries and the caucuses, they are focused on the general election, and they are trying to use joe biden's popularity to galvanize the voters to come out for him, and listen to some of the messaging. >> during this holiday season,

families all across america are struggling under the brutal weight of bidenomics. the typical family is $7,500 poorer because of crooked joe's blunders have hurt us badly. >> now, kate, the economy is something that the donald trump team thinks will help them on the general caucuses, and the general election. we are seeing the economy doing better, and the stock market doing well, and the gas prices going down, but it is something that voters are honing in on the lesson as they continue to paint the campaign as a general election rematch between him and president biden. >> it is going to be interesting how he and where he hones that

and focuses message in the next three days to the caucuses. thank you, lynn. and now, joining me is cnn political analyst john avalon. i want to go back to trial delays of donald trump, and not the legal side, but the federal trial might get delayed, and it might not be heard, and it might be thrown out, and what are not only the legal implications? >> well, the legal implication, and the moral implication, and the accountability of trying to overthrow an election, and coup, and there is a green light if there is no accountable for this, and the implications down the line are strike. if the supreme court should say that the president is not criminally liable for anything that he did in action, that is authoritarian green light for

anyone in office and that they are not liable when they are in office. >> it is possible if this case is never heard, how then should one look upon by the decision of merrick garland who waited to launch the investigation a year after the january 6th committee? >> badly. not to have the justice department perceived politicized under donald trump, but the difficulty is time is finite, and denial can be finite. i remember something chilling that peter till said that single-digit billionaires can avail themselves of the justice system, meaning that a phalanx of attorneys can avail themselves of the legal system. >> that is a quote there. and now, one who did work with president donald trump in office

now has this to say about donald trump. listen. >> look, trump is not a conservative, but he is a authoritarian narcissist. he is a populist authoritarian narcissist. >> and he was on the board of fox. you don't hear that on fox so much. >> no, this is another example of a republican who is in good standing and serving alongside him, the speaker of the house, and they would freak out if someone said that, an authoritarian narcissist, and not a republican. and so this is time to listen to their fellow republicans who have worked with this man, and take them at their word, because they know him better than the people who are sort of fan-boying donald trump post january 6th. >> if we can, i want to take a look at the stock market because it had been going up after hitting the record highs

yesterday, and you don't have to take my word for it, but the inflation is lowering, and signs of success, but as you listen to alayna treene, donald trump is campaigning how bad the economy is. >> we know that the bipartisan perceptions color people's view of how the market is doing. but so many of the market fundamentals are doing, and you saw in the appropriations bill, the largest raise for military members in years. the trends are getting better, and if you are looking at the country in height of covid and crises, no question that the country is better off than it was three years ago. >> john avalon, thank you. good to have you. sara. >> john and john, thank you.

abrupt face in the rudy giuliani defamation trial, and he was going to testify, but now he is not going to. the judge has already ruled that he has defamed two election workers after he spread lies about them and a conspiracy theory about them, and now he could be faced to pay $43 million in damages. katelyn polantz is outside of the courthouse in washington. i don't know why, but i am not quite surprised about this. do we know why giuliani reversed course? >> we don't. although, this has been a week where giuliani has pledged that he would testify, and he would double down and explain himself, and continue talking about ruby freeman and shaye moss and backing up the lies that he told about them after the 2020

election, and this is a man who rarely misses an opportunity to speak in front of the microphone, and yet he did this morning confirm, and the lawyer confirmed and the spokesman confirmed that he is not going to testify in his own defense, and he was going to be the obl defense witness in his own defense, and the way it has played out here, they have heard deeply emotional testimony, really gripping and scary stuff from voice mails that were sent and left on the voice mails of shaye moss and ruby freeman, the two georgia workers in the days after rudy giuliani said things about them that were lies and racist comments, and things that made them feel as though people would come to their house, and potentially kill them. yesterday, we heard a 911 phone

call from ruby freeman because she had called the police in early 2020 saying that people were banging on the door at her house. after that, she had to flee, and she felt homeless, because she could not go to her family or friend's homes, because that testimony had everyone in the courtroom listening intently, and the jurors, and rudy giuliani had little reaction to it, and his lawyer didn't have any questions for her after her time on the stand, and so, sara, there is not much of a defense, and it could go to the jury today, of how much they award these two women, and what he did. >> we cannot say enough of how shaye moss and ruby freeman have been going through hell created by these lies, and now he will not say more because he is not

taking the stands. and now, house republicans have been moving it to the floor to impeach president biden, and what will we hear from hisson, hunter biden. and we will have hear more from the marathon press conference from the ukrainian president. and what the reporters on the ground saw in the midst of war.

this morning, the white house is slamming the inquiry into impeach him. he called it is a baseless political stunt. it is on the same day that hunter biden defied a congressional probe to ask him to testify privately on the hill. hunter said instead he would testify publicly and in turn, the republican lawmakers are now vowing to hold him in contempt. manu raju is joining us from capitol hill this morning. manu, these very lawmaker, i.e., jim jordan did not comply with the subpoena, and what are the lawmakers saying this morning? >> yes, there is a number of questions ant what is going to happen next as part of the inquiry, and we expect depositions and trying to get the record and the subpoena sent out, and this impeachment is going on since september, and this is a symbolic vote to show

the republicans are on the same page deciding to head ahead, and now questions in terms of what they have in terms of the evidence and proof of the republicans acknowledging that they have not proven the case that joe biden acted abruptly to aid his son hunter and working overseas partners, and they need to actually get the evidence as partisan investigation, and charge the president with the crime here. in talking to the republicans, it is clear that they are not all on the same page to move forward with the articles of impeachment. >> it is likely to move towards impeachment, but we don't want to get ahead of ourselves, because we want to look at the evidence. >> reporter: do you think that you will impeach the president? >> i want to look at the evidence, and after we have the evidence, we will make a decision. >> reporter: how close are you

to support the actual impeachment of the president? >> we are not there. we voted tonight to allow for the actual investigation to continue. >> reporter: the question is where does this end up going, and how long does this investigation take. it will be kicked into 2024, and the house is casting the last votes of the year now. they are going to be leaving town, and the investigation will be continuing behind the scenes into next year. mike johnson the new speaker is going to be facing enormous pressure from the base, and members of his own conference to move ahead with the article of impeachment, but the members of the swing districts and those central to the republican majority saying that we need time to investigate further, and to have that tension point there to continue with what they have and with charging president with

high crimes and disdemeanors which has happened to three previous presidents. >> just what the congress needs now is more tension. and the chief of the january 6th impeachment hearing. and so we have that this is a inquiry, and not an impeachment, and you tell us why. >> congrefrn nal individuals have a process by which they can be referred to the judicial department for contempt, and so this vote does not enhance the congressional process by any way, and the white house is

making this position to have personal involvement in the son's financial dealings which is a high crime or misdemeanor. we have not seen that yet. >> and the republicans are make making a statement that they need to expand the scope of the requests for the inquiry, and you don't believe that? >> no, every congressional action of any kind has to have a legislative purpose, and the court in the may czars case imposed that subpoena, they have to have a legitimate purpose. but there no way that the

judiciary committee could not have articulate that. again, the body who procould have published it for any committee without force. >> i want to go to jim jordan and what he had to say. >> look, when the congress asks you to come, you are supposed to come and testify. >> when congress asks you to come, you are supposed to come and come testify. he defied a testify himself a subpoena from the january 6th committee to come and testify. >> that is rich from chairman

jordan who received a subpoena from the committee of which i worked asking him about relevant information about the attack on the congressional authority of the process. he thumbed his node at the process but when he thumbed his nose at the process, it strikes me as ridiculous. and so now, a man appeal ed and so what they are looking is if some of the law can be used to prosecute some of the rioters, and what could this m

mean. >> there are some different parts of that, whether it is to impede with a document or the and it interferes with a official proceed ing and then i and i think that with respect to the former president, it does not matter with the submission of the late e tej those counts pending against the former president maintain. they have big impact of the blue collar workers were sglournlgt

but the former president's y yarg -- perspective as relates to january 6th. and now, in relation to ukraine, the president is told he won't be getting any more freebies anymore. anand d now, the first o ouo go insidide of gaza.a.

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.

happening now, the national u.s. security adviser jake sullivan is in a series of meeting with israeli officials and getting new reporting that the defense minister is going to look at the war in gaza, that he believes is going to be longer than six months. and he went in a field hospital where doctors are treating young patients, and clarissa ward went into southern gaza, and give us a sense of what you saw. >> we were able after weeks and weeks of unsuccessfully trying

to finally manage to get into gaza with a team of medical volunteers who work at a newly established field hospital that has been set up by the uea, by the emiratis, and john, within minutes of arriving at the facility, there was a large strike nearby and about ten minutes after that, we saw the first casualties of the strike arriving at the hospital. a man and a young boy of 13 years old who had both lost part of their legs. the doctor said it is like that all day everyday and sometimes 20 strikes a day, and you are talking about one single area of gaza. we also talked to children who have been severely injured and often maimed due to the ferocity of the bombardment there, and it is truly harrowing and horrifying at the end of it, and

of course, we had the privilege of leaving, and most gazans do not, and most importantly, the gazan journalists who have been dying in record numbers to do heroic work to cover this story do not have the luxury to leave this gaza strip not that they would want to do that because they are committed to the work they are doing, but it is a very short and illuminating window into the hellscape that is gaza, john. >> how much were you able to see, clarissa, going into, and getting out as the hospital is extremerd -- extraordinary, and so what were you allowed to do? >> we were not allowed to film

from within, but we were allowed to fill frm the windows. we were able to film the people on the streets. and when you are in conflict zones, you don't normally see the people on the streets, but there were a number of people on the streets, and that is testament to there is no safe place to retreat or refuge or sanctuary to be found, so people are out there on the streets going about the business of survival. we saw crowds near a bakery. what you don't see are cars or traffic moving, and there a lack of fuel. so people are just honestly trying to get through the day as the bombardment continues, and the humanitarian catastrophe worsens, and with no meaningful uptick in the amount of aid that

is so desperate to get into gaza. >> clarissa ward, we will see much more of the reporting throughout the day. sara? >> and now to the war on another front. vladimir putin making it clear that his stance on the war against ukraine, he has not changed. he says that if ukraine does not standdown and accept russia's terms, then moscow has to solve the problem by force. he says that the so-called special military operation in ukraine have not changed, and this is our guest, and thank you so much for coming in. so you have president putin coming out with the same stance, there is no peace in ukraine until we get our objectives, which is demilitarization, and

russian dominance and he is bolstering his army. >> well, you have to remember that he is running for office again next year, so he is trying to convey a position of strength. >> and what you see is a certainty from the eu. the package granted for the ukrainian by the u.s. and the difficulties. and that is meant to be conveyed to the easterners, because it

should be done by to be in and so he is projecting this for his own theory. >> he says that the west is growing weary, and he is just playing this out. how much damage is this doing sflp and what is to remember here is that this is a democratic process, and so we have to sometimes weigh out the values and interests, and sometimes the united states and europe have the economy 22 times

the size of russias, and yet we have committed about the same size of russia and that means that 45% of the budget is going to war, and this is not sustainable. >> and he has pledged to put more to the military this morning, and that is something that has caught our eye. as putin is speaking, we have noticed on the screens behind him, there were flashing questions, and most of the things were innocuous, and praise-worthy of him, but one is when will russians stop killing russians, and this is flashing behind him as he is giving a big grand speech, and this is the kremlin taking on the kremlin and him. >> yes and they are trying to

control the information something like that could happen at the end of that risk with prigozhin, and there are people outside who are not pleased with vladimir putin. thank you for coming on with us this morning from warsaw, poland. kate? >> an expermit alexpermital vac what information is coming from this experimental trial. >> and what is being describeded a detail plan put together by a

teenager. we will have it when we come back.

new this morning, the university of arizona campus is on alert after the police say that a man tried to kidnap one woman after following her in a car, and two thers reported being groped or followed by a similar car and getting away. they are drawing a sketch of the potential kidnapped, and adding

patrols and trying to catch the diskidnapper. and now, people are safe about a small cargo vessel that kit napped, and they rescued saw more people hold, and they spent a team into the water. kate? and now, a new vaccine to battle skin cancer, and this is to battle high risk melanoma, and so i have seen the report, and what did the trial find, meg tirrell? >> well, just for people who

have melanoma, this is an individualized treatment just like covid, and driving a vaccine to deliver to better fight that and they found that three years and that was fighting the mel know that three times better, and they are seeing the results three years out. and so it is seen a improsdz and it is the three-year, the five-year, tor the improvement, and what are the side effects that people need to look forward

to? >> the side effects what people experience with the covid shot. fatigue, infection shot and they are saying they are hoping to get this available in 2025 if they can get it available, because they are building a manufacturing plant to be available that soon if they can get the green light. >> that is important, because when i asked about this reality, i expected 5 to 10 years out. >> well, mel nonie is not only hope here, and think are looking into test ing by a teenager to planning out a shooting in the

synagogue, and how close he e ce to a m mass s shooting. the details are ahead. why are so many women afraid of giving childbirth in hospitals? >> t the whole story with coope andersrson saturdaday on cnn. .

all right. new this morning, the court documents in ohio reveal that the police there manage to thwart a mass shooting at a synagogue. a 13-year-old was arrested in september, and brynn gingras is following this. >> yes, john, we have learned that this 13-year-old put

details on the chat room discord that snacaused the authorities notify the synagogue, and that turned into a public alarm. now, you can know that details of the plan that were on line that am larmed someone -- that alarmed someone there to report this teen. this happened in september prior to october 7th what happened in israel, but it is certainly showing, and no se and after the

surge, there was a rising incident involving targeting the muslims and ashes. for this, the adl sflog and now n social media as in real life, it cannot and will not be sol rated. this will make the determination for the penalty. >> we are just getting a look of the court documents for the first time. >> hunter sfloernlgt. and now, more on the next moves against the president son's. and more on the president themselves

this is cnn breaking news. we have breaking news, and working through the details on this, but we are learning that four people have been arrested on terrorism offenses following an operation by danish intelligence. we are going right over to alex marquardt who has much more on this. alex, tell us what you are learning. >> well, kate, we are getting statements now from both the danish intelligence and security services as well as the israelis, and there is a discrepancy of how many are arrest