if trump is the nominee, it's going to be about january 6th, legal issues, criminal trials. >> we dont need this chaos anymore. we need someone who is going to be a new generational leader that brings sanity back to america. >> and no one would tell the truth about donald trump. no one would tell the truth about his divisiveness, his stoking of anger, for his own benefit. him putting himself before the people of this country.

>> good morning, everyone. so glad you're with us. it's top of the hour. it was a huge night in politics last night. a big day in politics and the courtroom today. in two hours donald trump returns to court in new york with the fate of his business empire on the line. why the judge has stopped trump from delivering his own closing argument in court. >> that will come after trump, ni nikki haley, and ron desantis made final pitches in iowa. we'll ask the campaign manager for the desantis people what their closing argument is to caucusgoers. >> and spending bill showdown, some republicans revolt against mike johnson as he makes a deal to keep the government open. this hour of cnn this morning starts now. well, just hours from now, former president trump will be back in court, making another voluntary court appearance. this one for his new york civil fraud trial.

trump is fighting for the fate of his family business in the state. and he and his two adult sons are accused of inflating the value of their properties by millions of dollars to secure better loan agreements. closing arguments set to begin today. each side has about two hours. trump will not be speaking in his own defense after failing to the terms the judge set. he said trump must keep his comments relevant to the case and not make a, quote, campaign speech, because for trump, the courtroom is clearly part of his busy campaign schedule. he does not have to be there. he's going voluntarily. in the past, he says he attends hearings because he wants to. >> why do you want to be here in person today? >> because i want to watch this witch hunt myself. this is a pure witch hunt for purposes of interfering with the elections of the united states of america. it's totally illegal. >> there's some pretty clear campaign reasons why he goes as

well. he's been able to successfully fund-raise off the cases framing himself as the victim. it's helped in his polling numbers as well. the big question is whether today's trial will work in the same way. let's get to brynn gingras in manhattan. what do we expect to hear today? >> reporter: hey, poppy and phil. good morning. listen, the outcome of this trial could really affect how the trumps do business in the state of new york. that's if the state's attorney gets their way at the outcome. essentially, like you said, we are expecting both the defense and state's attorneys to give two hours each of closing arguments. and the former president did want to participate in those closing arguments, but according to court paperwork, there was some back and forth between the defense team and the judge about whether or not he would be allowed to, what those conditions would look like. and ultimately, the judge writing that i assume because he did not reach that deadline that he had put forward, that mr. trump will not agree to the

reasonable, lawful limits i have imposed as a precondition to giving a closing statement. therefore, will not speak in the court. as you guys just mentioned, of course, we'll hear from the former president just as we have for the last 2 1/2 months long of this trial where he has taken many opportunities to talk outside of that courtroom. and also this was a trial that was filled with a lot of drama, with the former president taking the stand himself. his adult children, many gag orders, of course. this is the finale of all of that. we expect the defense to continue its argument, essentially saying there were no banks, there were -- no one was a victim here in these loans. i'm sorry, rather these financial conditions being altered, according to what the state's attorney is saying. and the state's attorney's office is continuing to say they altered their financial statements, they inflated the values of their properties in order to get better loans and interest rates. again, each side has two hours each. we don't expect a decision by the judge today. we expect that to come later

this month. guys. >> outside the courthouse, thank you very much. joining us from des moines, iowa is senior political correspondent for "the new york times," maggie haberman. thanks for joining us. it's fascinating a lifelong new yorker is currently in des moines where you would think all politicians running for president would be. now back in new york, because of this court case, and it underscores the politics and the courtroom continued convergence l perspective, what does this case mean to donald trump? >> it's deeply personal to donald trump. this and the second e. jean carroll trial he also said he's planning on attending next week, cut to the core of him in different ways. this is about his business, whether he continues to control his business in the way he has, about the amount of damages he will have to pay, because part of this is a foregone conclusion because the judge issued a partial summary judgment before

the trial started saying he and his company had committed widespread decades-long fraud. this company is how he built this public image over a long period of time. and so there are few things that he cares about as much as his business and his money. >> maggie, last night during the cnn debate, which trump was qualified for and invited to, he didn't show up, he did a fox town hall instead, we noticed, a lot of people noticed, how he moderated his tone on key issues. things like saying he would be a dictator on day one or ebortion. let's listen to some of that sound on whether he would be a dictator. >> can you say tonight that political violence is never acceptable? >> well, of course that's right. and of course, i'm the one that had very little of it. the new narrative they have is i'm going to be a dictator. no, i'm not going to be a dictator. i'm going to manage like we did. i'm not going to have time for retribution. we're going to make this country

so successful again, i'm not going to have time for retribution. and remember this, our ultimate retribution is success. >> what did you hear last night? what trump was that? >> this is a trump who is, as you say, and my colleagues and i noticed this as well, starting to look at a general election, and trying to grapple with his own comments and frankly his own past behavior that his aides are concerned about him highlighting at various points over the course of the last year. he said at a cpac speech, this wasn't off the cuff, he said i am your retribution, to voters who feel that they had been wronged. the reality is, trump has a very long history of seeking payback, so there's a reason that people have focused on that. those remarks are not helpful to him in a general election. you're seeing him trying to shift in terms of a general election electorate. whether that successful is an open question, but last night was the begin of him trying to make a turn. >> my question, and you know this better than anybody, can it

be sustained more than anything else? i feel like we had so often, and you have covered every one of them over the course of the last eight years these moments where he starts to moderate the tone and we hear advisers are trying to tell him, please moderate your tone on this. does it for a day or five days and swings totally back the other way. is this time different? >> look, he has a very long history, as you say, of bucking his advisers. most of his aides do not want him saying poisoning the blood of the country about immigrants, yet he continues to say it. and he has doubled down on it repeatedly. so he definitely does what he wants, and we have been seeing more of that lately, including in him insisting showing up in all of these cases this month which not all of his advisers were onboard with. when his back is against the wall, he can be much more disciplined than people realize and disciplined about repeating

a message about being a victim. he has a history of favoring retribution. he has a history of seeking payback. whether he modulates or not, the history is his own behavior. i think that's going to come up often too. >> does his ability now, as you say, to exhibit more discipline, make him a more formidable competitor to president biden if it is that head-to-head matchup? >> i guess i would put it this way. i think that everyone has seen that if you underestimate trump, it's probably unwise. it doesn't mean he will win. doesn't mean he does not have enormous general election liabilities, but he has been able to shapeshift and appear to be different things to different people in ways that we have rarely seen a political figure on this largest stage do. so, you know, will it be effective? i don't know, but it could be. >> to that point, there's a difference now than perhaps in

the past, same issue in 2020, his record. he's done things in politics. >> correct. >> i think that's where you heard him -- can we play the abortion sound from last night real quick? >> for 54 years they were trying to get roe v. wade terminated and i did it. and i'm proud to have done it. i happen to be for the exceptions, like ronald reagan, with the life of the mother, rape, incest. if you talk five or six weeks a lot of women don't know if they're pregnant in five or six weeks. i will say this. you have to win elections. otherwise, you're going to be back where you were. and you can't let that ever happen again. you have to win elections. >> maggie, there's been this kind of squishy hard to pin down where does he actually sit on this? it's the first line that the biden campaign immediately clipped and sent out. it's the 1st line he'll be reminded of throughout the course of the general election if he gets there.

does that stick or is he able to finagle his way out of these things? >> there may be some voters with whom he's able to suggest because he will not be pinned down on a specific timeframe for when he believes abortion should be banned in pregnancy or whether he favors a nation ban, there may be some voters who, you know, revert to seeing him as more moderate on this issue. however, the fact that he repeatedly reminds people of the true fact he's the person other than mitch mcconnell most responsible for ending roe v. wade, that is not going to play well with a number of voters who are animated by abortion and as you know, the biden campaign is going to remind them of it over and over again, and we saw last year in the midterms, midterms are different, as you know, than general elections for a presidential race, but in the midterms it was a huge animating force and i have seen no sign that that energy is abating. >> maggie haberman, thank you.

chris christie suspending his campaign for president and earning nikki haley and ron desantis on the way out. we'll break down new numbers that show which candidate could prft from the decision to drop out. >> also, ron desantis and nikki haley battled each other last night. largely giving trump a pass, despite his big lead in the polls. the desantis campaign manager is with us next.

. she's going to get smoked. you and i birtoth know it.

desantis called me, petrified. >> but then the audio cut out. that was chris christie caught on a hot mic blasting his former rivals just before ending his own white house bid. christie had struggled to gain ground in the polls but his supporters could be crucial if they have other candidates they want to back to chip away at trump's sizable lead. who will benefit moers from christie pulling out? our senior data reporter harry enten here. >> the fact is, chris christie might not like nikki haley, but in new hampshire, his voters do like nikki haley. their supporters, their second choice, look overwhelmingly, who are they? they are backing nikki haley, 65% of chris christie voters say their second choice is nikki ha haley. very sue of them, none of them, choose ron desantis, and trump comes in with the star, that means less than 1%.

nick kki haley overwhelmingly t second choice for chris christie persons. let's do a little math. who doesn't like to do math? let's remindure uour viewers whe top choices were. we saw trump at 39%, haley at 32%, christie at 12%. what happens to this math when we reassign the christie voters to their second choice? guess what, folks. we have a flat out tie. trump at 40%, nikki haley at 40%. no clear leader. the fact is chris christie leaving the race overnight changes the race in new hampshire. we got a tie. >> 24 hours, less than 24 hours before he announced he was pulling out, suspending his campaign, he said he was not doing that. why did he ultimately? >> why did he ultimately? because the fact is, if you look at the polling, new hampshire was his best state by far. and even there, he was getting 12%. look nationally, just 3% of the vote. iowa, just 3% of the vote.

2% of the vote in south carolina. there was not a pathway forward for chris christie. why was there not a pathway forward? what he was selling gop voters weren't buying. look at this, what republicans believe. biden's 2020 win was illegitimate, 67%. trump's january role disqualified him from the presidency, just 9%. so chris christie, who basically was very anti-trump, the fact is gop voters really like trump and they didn't really like chris christie. >> making new hampshire all the more interesting. harry, thank you very much. >> we do have iowa first. let's talk more about the debate last night. joining us, desantis campaign manager. james, to start with, you may have heard harry talking about new hampshire and the dynamics with chris christie out of the race. as you look forward, weeks, months even, what is your pathway and what do you need to do in iowa to continue on that path?

>> sure. well, iowa comes first, certainly before new hampshire, what you have to do here is get out the vote. it's cold here, as you guys know. when it's 20 below, team desantis is going to be ready to go. you can't buy, pay more, or create a ground base now. we have the grass roots leaders across the state. a team coordinated to insure in icy, snowy, below freezing conditions people get out and caucus for their guy. team desantis, we know the convicted voters out there, the people that really believe, that's who matters on a night like we're going to see next monday. so in iowa, we're going to do well, we're certainly going to exceed expectations and move on from there. as the governor said, it's a long journey. it's a game of numbers. you have to add the delegates one by one. we have the team, the resources, and the plan to do that. >> when you say exceed expectations, what do ulook at as the frame that you're going

to exceed? >> well, i think the media has kind of set the narrative and already written us off for dead, predicting 40-point wins. i'll leave monday to speak for that, but we're ready to go and we're expecting good results on monday. >> when it comes to the ground operation, we heard a lot about it. you know particularly from the super pac side, tens of thousands of commitment, caucus commitment cards as well. but it's being done in a different way than we have seen before, given the amount of effort from the super pac side. how sure are you that that effort will immediately translate, that it will convert on caucus night? >> i'm sure. look, spending weeks in iowa here. you travel the state, and it's not a big state. you can see who is here and who's not here. and yes, team desantis, we have knocked on millions of doors. team desantis has county chairs, has precinct captains, over 1500

speakers designated to speak at every caucus site. it's all about the network and schuring you have the people in place in every region to hit their rolodex, bring their friends, their neighbors, drag people to the polls when it's cold and perhaps in unsafe conditions. you can see that on the ground. i know it's there. we see it. the people of this country will on monday night. >> bob vander plats has endorsed you guys. said you might be better than the cruz operation from '16, which is regarded as one of the best republican operations. to that point, if you exceed expectations in iowa, i think the question has been, when you look at the new hampshire numbers, when you look at south carolina, what's the path? it was something nikki haley brought up last night. take a listen. >> you're invisible in new hampshire. you're invisible in south carolina. you're in fifth place. you have $150 million and have gone down in the polls in iowa. why should we think you can manage or do anything in this

country? >> do you think that's a fair criticism, that you have maybe invested too much in iowa. there isn't the infrastructure further out in the race. >> listen, new hampshire breaks late, just as iowa does, and the grassroots, the people on the ground in new hampshire, they see something in ron desantis. he has over 60 legislative endorsements there from the people that are governing at the ground level from the bottom up. i think nikki haley has something like five. and nothing is going to dictate the direction of new hampshire more than the results in iowa here on monday night, where ron desantis is going to do very well. ultimately, new hampshire is a state that believes in results. as people see their mortgage rates doubling from what they were five plus years ago, as they see groceries go up, they want something with a proven record who they know is going to get the job done. in new hampshire, nikki haley can say a lot about what she's going to do on school choice, on tax relief, but unfortunately, when she had the opportunity to govern, she did not do it.

likewise, donald trump has a lot of promises that he did not deliver on. the wall, adding to the national debt by over $7 trillion, shutting down the country. there's a lot of things he didn't deliver on. you know who you can't say that about? ron desantis. he's delivered on every single one of his promises, universal fully funded school choice for every kid in florida, record setting tax relief, bringing down gas taxes. >> but to that point -- >> number one education in the country. >> i understand, and i think to that point, it's an interesting one because it was how the governor was framed coming into the campaign. he is the conservative alternative, trump without the chaos. yet, if you want to take new hampshire and look at the most recent cnn university of new hampshire poll, and you break down by how they identify within the republican party, you don't expect moderates to be necessarily going to ron desantis. but you do expect conservatives. in that poll, trump is polling at 60% with identified conservatives.

ron desantis is at 7%, below nikki haley, with conservatives. that seems really problematic given your message. >> listen, ultimately, people know. nikki haley is not a conservative. and the republican party right now is not going to nominate somebody who is not a conservative. when it comes to conservative bona fides, ron desantis has those. he's the only candidate who can unite both the people who want nuv on from trump, who don't want to look at the past, as well as many people that are still open to trump, that are frustrated by the weaponized government, and that like things better the way they were before. ron desantis can do both. he has a record of conservative achievements. the people of iowa know that. they will go out, they will vote to support that, and then we'll move on to the subsequent states. it's a long journey, not one or two states that decide this outcome. we have a long ways to go. >> that is the truth. finally, voters get to vote.

james, we appreciate you talking with us. thank you. >> thank you for having me. so, in congress 2024 starting off similar to how last year ended, acrimonial over a spending bill to keep the gove government open. we'll be joined by conservative ohio congressman warren davidson, who says the speaker has no plan to do anything but resunder. >> bill belichick is leaving, we saw the breaking news, leaving the patriots. we'll bring you more about what we're learning, next..

. i'm a lifelong hard core conservative. can want to get as many paulsy wins as we can, but the reality is we have a small majority. in a situation like that, you're not going to get everything you want. you get what you can get. >> that was of course mike johnson speaking to manu raju after a group of hard line republicans drew a rebellion and ground house business to a halt all in protest of a spending deal johnson struck with democrats to avert government shutdown. the calendar says 2024. house republicans face the exact same problems as 2023.

they have a minuscule majority, a rebellious right flank, there are looming threats of a government shutdown, funding battles over wars in israel and ukraine and border security. and plenty of in fighting. here's what one swing district republican told cnn about the gop conference working against itself. >> we're in a divided government. anybody who thinks that we're going to get more out of this deal is lying. and they're kidding themselves. the speaker did the best he could under the circumstances. and frankly, you know, our hand was weakened by the eight nitwits who removed speaker mccarthy. >> speaker johnson, of course, replaced speaker mccarthy. he's now facing the same blistering criticism mccarthy got from the right flank over his leadership. the hard liners making clear they are ready to stand up and create headaches for him. one of those conservatives, congressman warren davidson, left-hand the gop conference meeting yesterday early, visibly

angry, telling reporters currently the speaker has no plans to do anything other than surrender. he's a member of the house freedom caucus from the great state of ohio. do you feel like it was a mistake to elect mike johnson the speaker of the house? >> well, i think the mistake was in removing kevin mccarthy, we didn't have a good plan. and ultimately, we did agree that mike johnson was the best alternative after that. but what we didn't do is work on the plan. i had an op-ed that fox news ran at the time that said we're focused on the wrong question, who will be the next speaker. the real question is what's the plan that unites the conference. we kind of united around a person instead of the plan. so we really haven't set the conference up or the speaker up for success because finding the kind of cohesiveness that brings the whole conference together really hasn't been done robustly enough to really give our leadership the tools they need to fight and win. >> you made clear you believe that the speaker is a good man. you met with him behind closed

doors after you walked out of the conference meeting. what did he tell you in that conversation? >> look, i don't doubt his principles. he wants to do the right thing, but i do question his resolve. we were at the border just last week, and his speech at the border was persuasive. he's like, we're going to fund the government but only fund a government that will secure the border. he was asked a question about what does that mean, what will you settle for? his position is hr-2 and we'll defend it because it fully solves the problem. anything less doesn't fully solve the problem. that's how you go into a negotiation. we didn't need another trip to the border. the question is are we going to do anything about it? the answer is before we could get back in session, the speaker had basically agreed to surrender our negotiating leverage to senator schumer. so how do we move the ball forward? and his answer fundamentally is, well, we'll get something out of the supplemental fight. can find that morally offensive. i don't want to fund my

government if the administration won't fund the border, let alone ukraine's government. and that's the position we're left in. >> your colleague, chip roy, was asked about what happens next, given the current state of affairs. listen to what he had to say. >> if they totally botch it, we get no policy reforms and we're spending $1.6 sick trillion, i don't know why we would keep him as speaker. i'm leaving it on the table. i'm not going to say i'm going to file it tomorrow. i'm not saying i'm not going to file it tomorrow. i think the speaker needs to know we're angry about it. >> congressman, you made clear this shouldn't be about the man or the individual in the chair. it should be about the plan. do you think that's actually a plausible option here? another motion to vacate? >> i don't think it would be helpful because who would we set up? we would set somebody else up for failure as well. and look, the speaker does know that a lot of us are unhappy and frankly, that goes far beyond the right flank.

we have a lot of promises we made to the public and many of those promises are in conflict with the promises joe biden made. and you can't fold and fight at the same time. the real question is we're going to be in a fight. or we're going to serunder. fundamentally, we have to use the leverage we have, which is the power of the purse. that means, look, we want to fund the government, but we should only agree to fund a government that will secure our borders. it's clear the biden administration isn't going to change policy. we're left with the speaker himself pleading with the administration to use executive authority to change course. he didn't accidentally implement these policies. he's for these policies because of the consequences, not in spite of them. he's entired his entire administration, and it's making a mockery of the idea of citizenship. the one thing for sure is the morale at the border with the people working at it, it couldn't be much lower.

they're completely in the pits because they just bring 90 plus percent in and send them through the country instead of securing our border. >> one of the questions i had, and look, this is not the first time republicans have been in this spot, not just this year, but repeatedly, and speaker johnson made the point, we control one half of one third of the united states government. what is the outcome, i understand the fight, i t understands the promises made, but promises and governing often conflict to some degree, particularly when you only control the house. what is your outcome here? i don't understand what the fight would lead to from an outcome perspective. >> the real question is, the big thing is, senator schumer wants the republican party to negotiate against ourselves. he wants to say, oh, not hr-2, would you accept something less? we didn't even hold out for a counteroffer. of course, we don't want to shut the government down, but we should say our position is hr-2, and we should hold at that

unless or until he agrees to make a counteroffer. the reality is what we're left with, we didn't even fight over the funding. the whole point of the cr was to have leverage in the negotiation. at this point, that cr only kicks in if we get a longer term cr. senator schumer is working on a short term cr that gets us to march or something, consolidates the two mini buses headed at us for one big bus for march, and we should do that into april or early may so it does force a cut, and then we have leverage. >> that's something we have to be watching in the weeks ahead. appreciate your time, sir. thank you. >> thank you. there is huge breaking news in the sports world. reports that bill belichick is leaving the new england patriots after 24 years, and six super bowl victories. hot we're learning about his future ahead. and you are looking live at trump tower where donald trump will leave to attend closing

arguments in that civil fraud trial. and reports of a bomb threat involving the judge in the case. we'll have more on that next.

not just any whiteboard... ...katie porter's whiteboard is one way she's: [news anchor] ...often seen grilling top executives of banks, big pharma, even top administration officials. katie porter. never taken corporate pac money - never will. leading the fight to ban congressional stock trading. and the only democrat who opposed wasteful “earmarks” that fund politicians' pet projects. katie porter. focused on your challenges - from lowering housing costs to fighting climate change. shake up the senate - with democrat katie porter. i'm katie porter and i approve this message.

we do have breaking news. a court spokesperson says a bomb threat was made at the home of the judge presiding over donald trump's civil fraud trial. this is of course hours before closing arguments in that case. trump will be in that courtroom. let's go back to our brynn gin gingras. this is judge arthur engoron, who is overseeing this trial. very concerning news. >> reporter: very concerning news. and we understand the nassau county police department has responded to the judge's home there on long island. and essentially they are dealing with that matter. we know that according to the court spokesman, poppy, they say the continued layers of security in place for these trial proceedings since the beginning, those of course will continue, but they are going to add an extra layer of security specifically also for judge engoron. now, remember, this is something that the law enforcement around here has been prepared for.

continues to be prepared for, because this is nothing new. we know all those gag orders that were put in place in this trial because the former president would go on truth social and spoke ill not only about the judge in this case but also the attorney general and also the judge's clerk. we know that those -- the judge and his clerk presiding next to him really in this case, or who sits next to him rather in this case, has received a number of threats both online, in emails, phone calls so security has auld been high alert around the players in this trial. if you look around me, you can see there's actually a number of law enforcement that sort of encircled this entire courthouse. this is of course alarming but certainly something that law enforcement isn't not prepared for because of the nature of how these proceedings have gone ever since this trial began last year. >> i want to bring in elie

honig. brynn makes a good point. this is nothing new. both in this case specifically and also more broadly in the judiciary over the course of the last couple years. with this case specifically, are you surprised by this? >> no, because this happens every time. what judge, what prosecutor involved in a trump case has not had some variation of this. you think of this judge, judge chutkan who received threats, prosecutors, the d.a. in fulton county, fani willis and her staff have been threatened. jack smith and his staff have been threatened. it's a pattern you cannot ignore. trump puts out the word, somebody out there will act on it. and it's eminently predictable and it's a sad state that we're in. brynn mentioned the gag order. it's important to talk about, this judge issued a very, very narrow gag order. he actually, the only thing trump is not allowed to talk about is judge engoron's staff. this was a case where trump was talking about the law clerk. but this is the risk. this is what judges are trying

to balance. you do have to respect someone's first amendment rights but not at the risk of the safety of the people involved. >> that's a balance that a judge should never have to consider, that measures should be made with the concern of family. these threats, this violence against the judiciary, especially in the past couple years, we all remember the judge whose child was murdered at her front door. we heard from her, she just wrote a book about it. this is the gun outside of judge kavanaugh's home, far too common. >> judge esther solace of new jersey. a tragic scenario. it's growing, it's a trend. i was a prosecutor for 14 years. you're aware of this kind of thing, but we never saw this level of violence, in the worst cases, and threats. it's just becoming normalized. i don't have a magical solution how we fix it, but we have to identify it and call it out and

make it known. this is not normal. this is not okay. people who did this, if they're identified, which i have confidence they will be, can and should be prosecuted criminally for this. of course, a threat calling in a threat, any type of threat directed at a judge, a prosecutor, a witness, criminal and i think it's important we see swift consequences. >> do we have any sense, is this going to delay anything? does this change the timing of what's happening throughout the course of the day? >> reporter: no, court is expected to start right at 10:00 a.m. i was looking around while you were talking, and we haven't really seen any change in posturing of law enforcement here. there is so many members of law enforcement here from the secret service to the nypd to the court-martials, all around this courthouse, which isn't very different from when we have seen the former president come here other times. certainly, we can probably expect the judge to talk about this, because he usually does address these matters before court even begins. we'll see if that happens but we

do expect the proceedings to start right on time. >> what role do you think this would play, i mean, you expect the judge would address this at the beginning of court if everything starts on time. we know trump is going to be there. >> i think the judge is going to do business as usual. i think the judge need make a statement here, i'm not going to be derailed. we're not going to postpone this, not going to change anything we dine this court of law. we're going to be deterred or dissuaded from the job at hand. >> guys, stay with us. we're going to keep our eye on this and take a quick break. we'll be back with more on this breaking news.

. back to the breaking news this morning. a court spokesperson says a bomb threat was made at the home of the judge presiding over donald trump's civil fraud trial.

this, of course, is hours before closing arguments in that case are set to get started. let's brin in john berman right outside of the courthouse. this is judge arthur engoron. quite stunning news. maybe not surprising given how many threats there have been to judges. >> reporter: not surprising given everything we have seen the last few months and the last few years, poppy, but the timing is notable. we are waiting for the closing arguments in the trump civil fraud trial expected to begin just one hour from now. we got word of that bomb threat this morning. there are many layers of security in place around this courthouse at all times. especially around this trial. now, an extra layer of security around the judge arthur engoron. i will tell you that things are moving fairly normally here. the line to get in for reporters who want to be in the trial may be moving a little more slowly. kara scannell just told me she's waiting to get in to see the proceedings. we did see the clerk of the

court outside this building and heading in. so clearly, they are going to go forward with these closing arguments in this civil fraud trial. new york attorney general asking for $370 million in damages, and also basically to bar donald trump from doing business with the trump organization. >> yeah, it's a huge day from a trial perspective, also keeping a close eye on the security issues. john, you have a show coming up. we'll let you go. i want to turn to elie honig. to john's point, this is a big day on a big case that could totally change the face of donald trump's business. >> closing arguments today, so the sort of final chapter in this. people should understand, donald trump has been through a bunch of civil lawsuits. for example, he was found liable in the e. jean carroll case, another carrying on of that trial next week. normally what donald trump is cuts a check if he loses and moves on with his life. this will threaten the very existence of the trump

organization. they have already been found lie blg by the judge on one of the seven causes of action here, so the penalties the trump organization is facing here, the a.g. is asking for $370 million and more important is the cancellation of the trump organization's business certificates here in new york. if that happens they're literally out of business. that's what's at stake here. >> a couple things, the fact this is going to be decide by one judge. trump's team didn't argue to get a jury. they might have had a shot at that. also, is there a bit of room here for appeal, at least on the second part of it, that maybe it's overreach by the a.g.'s office to completely wipe out the ability for trump org, if found liable and guilty here, to do business in the state at all? >> very important to keep in mind, no jury, this is a judge. the judge is the one, we already know where he stands, but the are still several counts outstanding, and then there's the question of what will the penalty be. donald trump's team surely will appeal this, whatever the monetary figure is. they'll appeal if they have

their business certificate suspended and their argument will be this is unnecessary, unprecedented, and overkill. there is a reasonable argument out there to be made that the trump organization is being treated more harshly than other organizations. letitia james, it's a fact, campaigned for office as a.g. on a platform of vote for me and i'll get the trumps. i think that may come back to haunt her. >> elie honig, thank you very much. also this breaking news. bill belichick out as the head coach of the new england patriots. there's no word yet if he plans to retire or move on to another team. coy wire takes a look back at a remarkable career. >> the only thing i'm focused on is the seattle seahawks. >> getting ready for cincinnati. >> give me an f, a c-plus, it doesn't matter. >> who cares. >> renowned for his terse press conferences, bill belichick and the new england patriots parted ways after a 24-year

partnership. with tom brady arguably the greatest quarterback of all time at his side, belichick and the patriots dominated the nfl for two decades, reaching the super bowl an astonishing nine times, winning six of them. >> i mean, he's a great coach. taught me a lot. was a great mentor for me for a long time. and i really enjoyed my time in new england. >> belichick began his career in 1975 at the age of 23. during those ensuing 49 years, he created one of the most accomplished coaching resumes in nfl history. two super bowl wins as a defensive coordinator with the giants. at 38, became the league's youngest head coach when he was hired by the cleveland browns. most post season wins by an nfl coach in history, second all time trailing only don shula. >> work hard, be prepared and do what's best for the team. that's what i always tried to live by. >> his last super bowl was five

years ago, and since tom brady left after 2019, the patriots have had a losing record in three of the four seasons. culminating with a 4-13 record this season. fans can debate for decades who is more essential to the patriots success, belichick or brady, but one thing is not up for debate, bill belichick is one of the greatest nfl coaches of all time. >> that is true. >> belichick in 24 hours. >> and pete carroll. cncnn news central s starts aft this b break. hahave a greatat day.

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