pulling out the patented tiger fist pump. it looks like john avlon after a good scoop on capitol hill. great smiles. great weekend for the tiger woods family. tiger's 16-year-old daughter sam, caddying for tiger for the first time. the woods finished 19 under, tied for fifth. the texas longhorns are your women's volleyball national champs. asia o'neal acing the championship to knock off the top-ranked nebraska. surgery as a kid, then the issue came about again in college in 2019. she had to have another surgery. doctors telling her she should give up the sport. instead, after months of rehab, she returned to the court leading the longhorns to the second title. recently, a

what a story to start our day. >> thanks, andy. thanks for joining us. i'm john avlon. "cnn this morning" starts right now. good morning, everyone. so glad you're with us. i'm poppy harlow with phil mattingly in new york. there's a lot going on on this monday, december 18th. happening right now defense secretary lloyd austin is back in israel, his visit part of the international pressure campaign for israel to change its tactics in gaza and restart the truce talks, pressure growing after the killing of three hostages by soldiers. republican front runner donald trump using darker more extreme rhetoric in that final sprint, the white house slamming trump for what it calls fascist rhetoric. right now storms gusting up the east coast and the travel

delays it could cause this holiday week. "cnn this morning" starts right now. we begin with defense secretary lloyd austin meeting right now with israel's defense min minister. pressure is growing on israel to change its tactics. a senior official tells cnn austin wants a, quote, very clear articulation of israel's objectives. there were a few proactivities after three israeli hostages with with were shot and killed by soldiers. >> they were waving a white flag. overnight the idf discovered a tunnel. it's more than 650 feet

underground. it's wide enough to drive equipment. cnn could not independently verify those claims. >> we start off with jeremy diamond. it's tough how extreme the pressure has gotten on prime minister benjamin netanyahu both dough mets particularly and internationally. how big an influence is that going to have in terms of what he does next? >> there's no question that prime minister netanyahu and his governor are coming under enormous international pressure, but in particular, the pressure from the united states is perhaps the one that can be the most effectiver. that is, of course, because the united states is the biggest supplier of weapons and security assistance to the state of israel, and fullry recognize in israel they need u.s. support in order to continue this war against hamas. there has been a recognition among israeli officials i've been talking to for weeks now if

there is a clock that's ticking, that clock is being run in washington. and so these meetings today between secretary austin and israel's war cabinet which follow discussions between jake sullivan and the cabinet and the prime minister of israel in the last few days, all of these are a bigger picture and conversation of what happens next. for the united states, they very much want to see a change in terms of what we're seeing in gaza. fewer civilians killed, a less intense bombing campaign and less intense ground offensive and instead shifting to intelligence-driven raids to go off hamas commanders, but the question is exactly when will that happen? they want that to happen far sooner than israel 'cause. the question is will israel bow to the pressure of the united states, and if so, how quickly. >> to that point, natasha they

say president biden wants a clear articulation. what is he looking for from them? >> what jeremy laid out. he's hoping to get a sense from the war cabinet what their plan is for shifting to this lower intensity phase. cnn reported earlier this month this was something the administration was hoping to do, that they would assess the international support is running lower and lower really by the day. so the time israel has to continue this massive large-scale operation in gaza really is running out, and so the administration is looking for answers from the israelis about how long they intend to maintain this phase inside gaza with the offensive there and secretary austin is going to be looking a what the plans are for the next phase of this operation, the more targeted phase. something that uses intelligence

to target the hamas leaders in a way that is more contained and more limited. >> jeremy, we've been listening from the idf it's the biggest hamas tunnel. what more do we know about what it was actually used for? >> you know, typically, philling when we see images that they have discovered, they're the kind of narrow tunnels you have to walk single-filed down to get to. you can drive a large vehicle to it according to the us raley military. it reaches up to 50 meters underground. it's fully equipped with electronics systems. it doesn't cross into israel from gaza, but where it does emerge is four meters away. it's also where hamas terrorists attacked on october 7th in order to get into israel. it was one of the points that they used. there's no evidence that this tunnel was used on october 7th

in terms of what the israel military provided. they also said they discovered and secured this tunnel weeks ago but only chose to show it to the media and release the video in the last few days. it's also what the military wants the u.s. to focus on. also the resources they have used in gaza rather than spending on the people is the key point they want to make. >> that's really interesting, jeremying that they had this for weeks and jeffet released it. natasha the u.s. military says it shot down 14 drones in the red sea over the weekend. what more are we learning about another key asset there? >> poppying over the weekend, a significant is ka lags in which the "uss carney" shot down 14. this is part of a wave of attacks from the houthi operatives in yemen who say

they're going to continue to target international shipping as a way to respond or retaliate against the western support for israel. we're getting word from a u.s. military official that another wave of attack has occurred in the southern red sea. the "uss carney" has responded to not distress call. multiple projectiles were targeting that vessel. this comes as the u.s. and the world are trying to figure out a solution to this major problem, something that's causing an impediment toen ter national shipping. the third largest shipping company has paused operations because of all of these missiles and drones being launched from the houthi remembers. in a third statement, they say, we're deeply concerned about the

attacks on the commercial ships. it's something they'll be discussing with their counter parts in an effort to get a task force that could better protect the ships operating in the region. >> natasha thank you for the update. breaking overnight, japan says north korea test launched a ballistic missile that has the potential to reach the u.s. west and east coast. >> they emphasized any nuclear attack would be met with, quote, swift, overwhelming, and decisive response. is this new? the opportunity to reach not just the west coast but the east coast? >> this is concerning because that range you mentioned was just the i initial assessment by the japanese ministry. on this launch, though, this

missile flew for 73 minutes to an attitude of only 3,700 miles and 630 miles before dropping into the waters west of hokkaido. for it to reach the u.s., it has to travel at a flatter trajectory. this is an ability. still if this is confirmed, this would mark the third time they have conducted this kind of test this year, first in april, july, and then monday. this is also like willy a more solid-filled missile. they can avoid detection and can be admitted. all of this is pointing to this

maturing, reliability of the weapons program which was very much illegal. it's at a time when the u.s. is very much preoccupied with other wars in other parts of the world already. poppy? ahead for us, donald trump escalating his authoritarian speech. and what we know about the crash that crashed into the motorcade. that's next.

welcome back. donald trump amping up his anti-immigrant rhetoric to new levels on the campaign trail. four weeks left until the iowa caucuses. at a rally in reno he called the migrants at the border an invasion. he also vowed to launch the largest deportation in american history if elected. take a listen. >> this is an invasion. this is like a military invasion. drugs, criminals, gang members, and terrorists are pouring into our country at record levels. we ee never seen anything like

it. they're taking over our cities. >> trump also defended fake electors in nevada who helped him try to cling to power after he lost. >> they weaponize gist it is. they're a bunch of dirty players. look at what they're doing to michael and great people in this state. it's a disgrace. joe biden is a threat to democracy. >> omar jiminez is with us. it's not surprising. he said things like invasion. it's obviously strategic for him, right? >> at this point, we're a month away from the iowa caucuses, which is when we're going to get data. if you look at those polls on the republican side, former president donald trump has clearly established himself as the person to beat, and this weekend, i think we saw what is

clearly a focal point of the final messages as we head into the iowa caucuses. >> reporter: former president donald trump is zeroing in on his campaign messages in the final weeks before the iowa caucus. >> given the unprecedented billions of illegal aliens invading their country, it's only common sense when i'm elected we will begin -- and we have no choice -- the largist deportation operations. >> while holding rallies in two voting states, he tapped in on a message that helped catapult him into the white house in 2016. >> they're poise oning the country. >> he quoted dictators.

>> vladimir putin. it's a plitt play motivateded rival is very good because it shows the rottenness of it. >> the biden administration responded forcibly writing in a statement, trump channeled while running for president on a promise to rule as a dictator and threaten emergency democracy. his gop rival slammed the rhetoric and is calling out nikki haley for not condemning it. >> he's disgusting, and what he's doing is dog whittling to americans who feel stress and strain from the economy and from the conflicts around the world. nikki haley should be ashamed of herself and she's part of the problem because she's enabling

him. >> reporter: wheel spiking in iowa, haley signaled desantis out for running add app many. >> ron desantis has put up mill ups of dollars against me. while he's lying about me, i tell going to tell you the truth about him because he doesn't want to hear it. >> we've done 99 counties and we're going to keep going for good measure. >> despite a major set back after others stepped down. he reminded me in that state, upwards of 50% of voters typically don't make their decision until the final weekend before an election. a lot can happen in a strong

second place and it could send a message that messaging like what we saw from the former president is vulnerable and it's anyone's race to whip. >> joining us now is a rm goer republican strategist, now political strategist for both parties. good morning. i'm going to ask you as a former representative, what's difference this time than when he ran before, he has laid out how they would implement these things, what's the word he used a couple of weeks ago? camps. it's not just writ rick. >> and he's very specific about what he's going to do. i think that's what they want to hauer. they want to hear this kind of

strength in their leadership. so when everyone is saying it's authoritarian or fascist, it could evener jazz him. the more you attack the people that support him, the more they're like to. -- the number one" to me is the economy and then inflation. >> >> that's exactly right. >> you look at the topic and the subject matter, but the language itself, to the average person, particularly when you're talking about poisoning the blooding it preece an opportunity. >> i actually kind of agree with what was just said.

not really because so much of the republican borders is skpamtly what that i want. it's something they have to deal with when potentially voting for donald trump. they don't take it as seer annually i think that's important to keep in mind. my question is how does this rhetoric affect donald trump's standing in a potential standing. those are the kinds of voters that would bew wary voting for him. it has. affected him in a republican primary. >> it's authoritarian and fast fascist. let me tell you, michigan is

overrun by canadians. nobody ever cop plains about those people. i think that is the question that -- hear and that's what rekroyle them. it's not where everyone get togs par it is pachblt. >> i think the rote richl has expanded. he's starting to talk how everyone is coming in. whelp he went on talking about the blood and all that, he wasn't just talking about south me borders. you have to be careful because you're asking people to be careful.

the sort of cognizant dissidence that you're asking someone to go through, i must be careful. >> how do they effectually. it echoes goes fascist and why supreme is. while also acknowledging what is a cry sitsz. you cannot find any numbers. >> they've been pushing it for a long time. everyone knows you have to increase security at the border. it's toll knollgy. the repuproblem is the republic

issues are an issue and they need to make its sure. i once was in an airplane ud with a guy sitting next to me. i speak enough english to understand what he was says. he called his wife and was looking at new york city saying, american dream, american dream. what do we do about the people dying to get into this country. they're going to come mere rm. i think the pethe people are so of diversified br they i don't sim. >> i especially afree with you. the immigrants are incredibly

disappointed that joe biden had every opportunity to get it passed a help didn't language ain't. come to the general election. still around, we've got a mott more to get to. we're also trajd this ugg loi morning. there eames flthere's flash flo warnings and more. there was a meltdown last december. what the airlines must also do for passengers. that's next.

take a look at this. this is new video of president biden's motorcade after a car crashed into it. you can hear a car screeching before hitting another vehicle. the president looking startled as the secret service is seen putting him in an suv with the first lady. this unfolded as they were leaving happy hour.

it was raining heavily in wilmington. police say the crash was not inten intentional. speaking of that rain, right now nearly 60 million people from north carolina to vermont face a rough wind. if you're in the new york area, don't go outside. some places from boston to new york could get up to 6 inches of rain getting flooding concerns and travel delays. >> farther south, some places got up to a foot of rain sending water surging into homes. flooding hit florida and north carolina as well. derek van dam tracking it all at the weather center. some facing tropical storm-like conditions. is that right? >> yeah. that's occurring in many places. what you're looking at now is a live camera over the hudson river into a very socked in no, city skyline and notice the winds picking up.

it's causing people without power to jump exponentially within the past few hours. we've been watching the numbers go up and up and up. we're concerned especially on this far south atz the delmarva peninsula and into new jersey and long island including new york city with the potential of 2 to 3 inches per hour. it's associated with this band of rainfall through central new jersey, fluctuating east and west. it's a trailing line of showers and thunderstorms, heavy rainfall that's falling on top of an all right saturated environment. all in all, nearly 60 million americans impacted by flood alerts now. a lot of wind associated with it. poppy mentioned it. phil. >> derek van dam, thank you.

>> impressive is one word. it's not a nice morning out there. >> no, no. derek has the scientific way of putting things. i say don't go outside. families facing new issues as the military killed three hoss tams and new talks to free captives. and a debate over abortion putting some republican lawmakers in a tough spot. >> i do agree that there are some states that overreached. north carolina got it right. >> who am i to queuestion the supreme e coururt? nonene of f us becauause t then standiding on ththe platformrm whwhole world d is standining o.

alfred, i'm coming in. this morning the prash of international is growing to get the remaining hostages out of gaza. >> cnn learns that a meeting took place on friday in europe between the director of israel and the prime minister as they're trying to restart these hostage negotiations that fell apart two weeks ago. it came after the idf mistakenly killed three hostages inside of gaza. it's sparking protests, look at that, in tel aviv, as people are demanding more action to get the

remaining hostages home. a family of a released hostage expressed concerns for those who remain captive. >> they heard all of the bombing and they were very, very frightened that the bombing will fall on them and they will die from the army missiles. >> the shelling. >> yeah. and they told us they didn't believe the army really knew where that i are because they were shooting very, very close and they heard all the loud noises of that bombing. i really think that we should do anything to stop the war. >> joining us now is the middle east director. he helped negotiate the release of an israeli hostage in 2011 cap ured by hamas. we appreciate your time as always. is this a different moment, the tragedy that transpired change

the dynamics for the prime minister and his war cabinet? >> i'm not sure that the prime minister has yet made the decision to put the hostages as a number one priority. it seems they put it as the number one priority, but pressure is growing, and there is talk for the first time of israel negotiating an offer to hamas. there's a meeting this week somewhere in europe and hopefully that will produce results toward a new hostage agreement. >> let's talk more about that meeting. the fact that they're having a second meeting is obviously progress, but what is hamas' impetus to get to the table? why would they come? >> hamas is demanding a full cessation of the war, it's demanding a it releases those

from the cities and release prisoners as they have blood on therapy hands or prisoners who have killed israelis. it's go ing to be very difficult for the israelis to say yes to without even knowing who hamas is willing to release. hamas is still holding civilians, young women between the ages of 20 and 30 and seniors and wounded and sick people as well as those held by hamas soldiers. it's going to be difficult for israel to meet the demands of hamas. >> can you explain the officials? the prime minister's view on all of this is playing to his base, to his political considerations, and that kind of wins above all else right now. do you think that's an accurate assessment of things? >> it seems to many of us he's putting his own position before the country's position.

he's owned staying in office when he's still facing trial for corruption, and he's directly responsible for what happened on october 7th. of course, hamas is the terror organization, but everything that led up to it is in the hands of the prime minister and he's the only person in the israeli administration who refuses to take direct responsibility. there's edmontoning pressure on netanyahu to resign. the big question is should he resign now or after the war is over? it seems when the war is open, he'll be facing the rhetoric public. >> they're quoting a name to many not familiar in with west, but you're nodding. he's been critical of netanyahu to being slow to talk about the three did israeli hostages. he called that a war crime

because they were waving white flags. he says international law is very clear on the issue. he said we're at war now. all of our hearts are with the soldiers, but nothing can come from blind love. when you hear that, what does it tell you? >> we have young soldiers for the first time in an urban war situation, there are lots of booby traps and they're tired. they responded illegally. even hamas terrorists surrendering the chief staff told the high command yesterday that no one should be shot at when they're surrendering. we should be cautious. we should make sure they're not

being booby-trapped. you have citizens who freed themselves trying to get to safety and instead they were killed by the soldiers. everyone is under pressure. this is a horrible situation. we need to get the hostages home. that needs to be the first priority. the pressure is growing on the government to recognize that they have a moral responsibility to bring these hoss tax home. >> gershon baskin, we always appreciate your insight. thank you. to politics, a new poll showing nikki haley gaining significant ground in new hampshire. we'll tell you more what's behind that rise. and the chair of the republican party sensored and stripped of almost all of his position. he's accuseded of rape.. that's a ahead here.e.

this morning four weeks until the iowa caucuses. a new poll shows how much of a lead donald trump has. iowa is growing. look at that. 58% for trump. in new hampshire his lead is smaller. he's at 44% in this new cbs news gov goal. nikki haley is up a bit. part of that polling done after her endorsement from new en england's governor. >> i want to talk about this. >> announcer: poll. yesterday it was like flickers of hope for those who don't want donald trump to be president. take the polling off the screen so i can demonstrate it here. that's up 18 points for nikki

haley since september. when you go under the hood, reasonable, likeable, all the things where independents can vote, you're sitting there looking at it saying, okay, maybe the pathway she's laids out is a viable pathway. what do you think? >> i think she's still pretty far behind donald trump. she's certainly jumped a lot. it's a big warning for chris christie, and, b, i think it's a problem for ron desantis. his earn tire argument has been it's a two-man race between him and trump. what this indicates to me is at least in new hampshire, republicans are coalescing around nikki haley and deciding

she's the candidate. it makes me wonder is that eventually going to happen in some of these early states? >> i'm fascinated by the whole thing. when you look at the polling last week, you soo e the numbers on your page. >> when i was here last week, she was only at 18. now she's at 29. it's an 11-point surge. she hasn't even been -- she's been in new hampshire, but that hasn't been her whole focus. >> i should note it's among republican primary voters. >> exactly. right. when you loom. i don't think that that's likely that they'll back out, but you could have a real race between trump and hay will i be really interests. if you think what happened in 2020 all the senate democrats pulled out except

nikki haley has a chance. i'm fascinated by watching the energy, the momentum. you feel it in her rallies. it's a very, very different nikki haley than i saw. >> i'm going to given you a large bucket of ice water to dump it all over. do you think this is real? >> there's no question. nikki haley is the best performer among the second tier republicanses out there. >> there are names you don't really know. she's the best performer. the question is can she really overcome donald trump? 15 points is doable. i've seen new hampshire move. i've seen them climb very fast. iowa will also matter. if donald trump comes in, if he smokes in iowa and comes steaming into new hampshire, that might quell whatever

rebellion is happening in nikki haley land or inspire all of those independents who are now thinking they want to get rid of donald trump to go directly to nikki haley. we saw that back when obama ran against her in 2008. everyone expected barack obama to win and clinton ended up taking it. >> interesting new reporting on tim skolt's role in all of this. >> i was told over the weekend a bunch of 2024 candidates have been vying for his endorsement. nikki haley has commented. prior to that she reached out in a text message. it's notable to me because on its face tim scott, based on how he did, wouldn't be the person you would think all of these 2024 candidates would be

interested in getting his endorsement. rpg but he had one of the highest capabilities among the 2024 candidates. people really like. he him. he said in november when he dropped out, he wasn't interested in endorsing a republican primary. i'm told he may be interested come the new year. dependinging on who he endorses, that could set him up. he will jump to the top tier of options for the vice presidential ticket. if he entorss nikki haley, it coalesces the arguments she's the only non-trump impact. he could impact the race that other endorsements have not yet. >> he could have a big impact in north carolina. th south carolina. if hoe has a strong showing, he could get a momentum there. >> the tim scott message was a

message of the republican party. it was optimistic, america's going to win, we can all do this together. these aren't those times. it's negative. everybody goes hard at each other and no holds barred. >> thank you, guys. we appreciate it. former house speaker kevin mccarthy is waving good-bye to capitol hill, but he might not be leaving washington forever. if f what he wants if trump wins in in 2024. >> the federal government takes quite a step to o curb t the su in migigrants s along the south border.. we'll tetell you whahat happene there.e.

i'm a little anxious, i'm a little excited. i'm gonna be emotional, she's gonna be emotional, but it's gonna be so worth it. i love that i can give back to one of our customers. i hope you enjoy these amazing gifts. oh my goodness. oh, you guys.

i know you like wrestling, so we got you some vip tickets. you have made an impact. so have you. for you guys to be out here doing something like this, it restores a lot of faith in humanity. if it seems like everybody is sick these days, i'm looking at you, my four children, the bad news, it could get worse even before christmas actually starts. rsv is increasing in most parts of the country, and the cdc warns the peak is not even

here yet. meg meg tirrell is at the table. i don't know. short of giving my kids orange juice and wearing masks, what else do you do? >> being good corporate citizens of the world and not going to work or school when you're sick and trying not to spread. when we look at where levelings are highest, right now it's in t theet different parts of the country. we are hearing that covid wastewater levels in particular -- when you're picking up the virus in wastewater, those are highest in the midwest right now. i'm looking at both of you guys, memd guys. >> and kind of rising? >> yeah. >> does it make sense to get vaccines nor or is it too late in the cycle? >> noing they would tell you you

absolutely need it. flu in particular is on the upswing. rsv may have reached a peak. but folks in the public health world are disappointed how many got the vaccine over 60%. we're showing you emergency didn't visits. covid is still the highest, but flu is coming up strong. >> what does this mean for folks who get so sick they have to go the manager room. >> there is a concern. and we're hearing about i. we know the icus and crs are fall. even now we've got these two respiratory viruses but we're adding covid on top of that. so each as we're