courtroom. ana ana navarro here with else. also, s.e. cupp. donald trump saying he wanted to speak, but not allowed to and attacking the whole process and trying to incorrectly connect it to joe biden what he's up against in this new york courtroom. >> reporter: yeah. as you said correctly, this was a political speech filled with some legal inaccuracies as he was describing what was taking place here. paula reid was with me watching this in real time. let's talk about the legal inaccuracies so they can jump into the political discussion. >> he's alleging a conspiracy between the state attorney general and the white house. we know the new york state attorney general letitia james has attended meetings at the

white house and they have said that's to get trump. he's talked about not being allowed to not participate in closing arguments. he's characterizing this as a refusal from the judge. cnn has obtained documents and the judge was open to allowing him to preparing in closing arguments, but the judge wanted some guardrails, some restrictions. there's good reason for that. during the proceedings trump has attacked the judge, the district attorney, members of the court staff. the judge said, i would let you participate in closing arguments, but we have some restrictions. you have to stick to the facts and not attack your accusers. his lawyer said it was not tenable and the judge closed the door on this possibility. i expect this will be relitigated. i think this will come up again and trump pointing to the attorney general's campaign promise to prosecute him and

suggesting this is all politically motivated, this civil case. it's similar to what we heard before with some new elements, the biggest this question of whether he'll participate in closing arguments. >> in the next few minutes we'll know if his lawyers try to sneak that back in and ask for donald trump to deliver closing arguments. as you can see and as you stated, there were legal statements made there incorrectly. it's not about the law really. it's about the politics. it's about the campaign and that was very obvious as he was walking into that courtroom. >> absolutely. ana, tell me what you heard there. same words we have heard from him time and time again. the courtroom is the campaign at this point. >> well, it's got to be, right? this is a guy who has so many different court cases going on in different venues and 91 charges against him. it's more of the same from him where he's portraying himself as

the victim, the victim of a witch hunt, the victim of political persecution by joe biden. all lies. it's part of this narrative he builds around himself where he's like a christ-like figure, a martyr taking this for his people, for his followers. it has worked for him to a certain extent. look where he is in the polls. his supporters in congress are tweeting attacks on the judge for not having postponed the proceedings so he could be with his wife melania who just lost her mom. the same guy was in iowa campaigning. the same guy was hosting a new year's party when his wife was in the hospital with her dying mother. it's selective when he wants to be with his grieving wife. it has some effect. this is donald trump being donald trump. >> s.e., you see donald trump in

the stage craft complaining there weren't microphones in front of him so he could speak to reporters. the broader view of -- you have trump back in a courtroom, also in front of a courtroom making a campaign speech. you have another republican who dropped out of the race and you have the debate that you and i discussed happening last night. put it altogether. what does today mean for donald trump's campaign? >> well, let's be clear. there is no campaign without the court. he has made this, these legal issues, all the charges, the indictments the center piece of his campaign. he doesn't want to be talking about policy. he doesn't want to talk about how he would solve problems. he has no interest in that. he didn't solve problems when he

was there in the first place. it's why he didn't show up at last night's debate. it's why he doesn't want to be held accountable and go on real news networks. it's why he has fox news town halls where no one's going to push back on him. he's not running to govern. he's running for revenge. he wants to speak to the judge because his suggesters want to see him go after someone. they want to see the vengeance. they want to see trump's takedowns. that's the whole campaign. it's really sad and it's pretty gross, but it's worked for him because he's conditioned his very rabid fan base to want that and only that. >> ana -- >> can we mention something we haven't mentioned? >> yeah. >> it's important to note that trump supporters, people following trump have waged horrible attacks against the judge's staff.

today there was a bomb threat at the judge's home in long island. that's what donald trump's words lead to. that's why the judge was making the very reasonable request that, if he speaks at closing arguments, there be no attacks because his attacks lead to actual, literally attacks and threats. >> i was wondering, last night in the town hall that he had on fox news, he said that he's going to be too busy to have retribution. i'm not going to have time for retribution. he's the one who kind of laid the groundwork for that being the word of his campaign when at cpac in march he said to the crowd, i'm your justice. i am your retribution. i was wondering why he's saying that last night if it's been working for him with a big section of the republican base. >> because i think it hasn't worked with one part of the republican base.

there's some people that get a little ansy at the idea of having a president who is going to weaponize government. donald trump, we know him. he'll always have time for golf and he'll always have time for vengeance. >> s.e., thinking about this and how it's worked for donald trump and how -- as you said he doesn't have a campaign without all the legal trouble he's facing. it makes me think of a moment last night in the debate, given the most direct opportunity to nikki haley and ron desantis to take on donald trump, there was a perfect question asked by jake tapper to both of them. control room, i hope you can pull it up. i want to play it for you and get your take on how they handled it. listen to this. >> do you believe donald trump has the character to be president again? >> well, i'm running because i'm the guy that's going to be

engineer a comeback for this country. i appreciated what president trump did. let's be honest. he said he was going to build a wall and have mexico pay for it. he didn't deliver that. he said he was going to drain the swamp. he didn't deliver that. >> do you believe donald trump has the character to be president? >> i think the next president needs to have moral clarity. when you look at donald trump, i said i think he was the right president at the right time. i agree with a lot of his policies. his way is not my way. i don't have vengeance. i don't have vendettas. i don't take things personally. >> s.e., it seemed like the easiest thing to make a break and it didn't happen. >> yeah, i was really tuned into that question as well. i was glad it was asked so straightforwardly. it should be an easy no. donald trump does not have character to be president. he's facing 90 plus criminal charges.

we know all of his sordid past history, personal and professional. it's an easy answer. ron desantis answered with process arguments. nikki haley kind of deflected and punted. they're trying to do this -- >> s.e., i want to -- let's look at this. we're looking inside the courtroom. it's this moment we've been able to have where cameras are allowed in to look around and then they're told to leave. let's listen to this .

>> we're looking inside the courtroom here at the new york civil fraud trial of donald trump. closing arguments about to begin. this is the photo spray we get at the beginning of the proceedings. there's a reason they're not talking. paula reid, we're getting some

color inside the courtroom. >> that's right. this was part of a compromise. the media and former president wanted cameras in the courtroom. we don't get that for the entire proceedings. they bring cameras in for a couple minutes. nobody's talking. it's a little awkward. we have pictures from the scene. there's the former president sitting between his attorneys. that's the last we'll see from inside the courtroom. now we're relying from our colleagues in there giving live reports. what we expect is going to happen now is the question of whether former president trump can participate in closing arguments. there was discussion yesterday on whether he would participate in closing arguments. highly unusual. that's what you hire a lawyer for. the judge was open to it. set some reasonable restrictions. said you can't turn this into a campaign speech. you have to stick to the relevant facts. you can't attack people.

they didn't agree to that. then the judge shut the door on it. based on what we heard the former president say, i expect they'll bring it up again. >> i'll let you read your phone. literally the way we're getting information, the proceedings have begun, we have someone inside the courtroom writing it down, transcribing in real time. the first thing we're looking for is if trump's team tries to let him deliver part of those closing arguments. they have want to make this as much of a show they can. kristen holmes is which us. she covers the trump campaign. donald trump announced as he was walking into the courtroom, something you reported prior to that, which is in addition to everything you're seeing now, he's doing a news conference later. >> reporter: that's right. you guys asked do you think he was going to stop by the cameras before he went in the courtroom,

and he did. we heard him say this is election interference. now we heard there's going to be some kind of press event. we don't know what that's going to look like. again, there really is no distinction anymore between the legal and the campaign, even if his senior advisers don't want to be in and out of courtrooms, they have used this as an opportunity. >> we have our first update inside the courtroom. as was reported earlier today, the judge had a bomb threat called into his home. the proceedings are under way. he didn't address the bomb threat. he's not addressing the larger controversy over closing arguments. the judge said the defense, trump's team has until 12:45 to lay out their closing argument. now trump's lawyer is at the podium and we'll see if he decides to, again, relitigate this question of whether his client can participate today. >> interesting to see

christopher kai at the podium. we'll get word shortly whether he tries to make any legal points there. also notable, we should remind people what happened this morning. there was a bomb threat called in to the home of judge arthur engoron. it delayed some of the normal proceedings we see in the courtroom. it took a while longer for people to get inside the courtroom. interesting he didn't say anything at all about it. >> that's probably best. you don't want to bring too much attention to it. this is a concern that trump is facing. he'll attack judges, attack prosecutors. there's serious consequences. the federal judge overseeing the election subversion case, judge tanya chutkan, her home with swatted. when trump turns on people,

judges, public officials, the consequences can be serious. now the question is whether kai is going to push the issue of trump participating. i'm sure he would prefer trump not participate in clothsing arguments. this is what trump wants to do. >> part of the restrictions the judge tried to set was don't talk about me or my courtroom staff because of what we have seen in terms of death threats and this morning an actual bomb threat called into his house. that's part of the issue here. that's what they're asking them to redisstrict. donald trump is saying, you cannot restrict what i'll say in my closing remarks. it seems unlike that, even if kai gets up there, donald trump is not going to agree to restrictions. part of his argument when it comes to the campaign is, yes,

it's political and they're trying to silence me. they don't want me the talk about how it's political. >> at the end of the day it's the judge's courtroom. we have our first update. chris kai summarizing his defense argument which is that no witnesses evtestified to fra. to reset, former president donald trump, his sons and company, are being accused of lying about the value of assets to get better terms on loans and insurance and taxes. they'll argue the state didn't connect any valuations to the former president. they've not proven their case here. he's saying, quote, the entire case is manufactured to serve a political agenda. that's what we heard trump say. >> the closing argument is on. christopher kai is the attorney for donald trump. beginning to make his legal

case. we will monitor it closely to see which way he takes the discussion, whether he tries to have donald trump speak himself. it's all unfolding before our very eyes. our live special coverage outside the courthouse continues right after this.

closing arguments are under way now in the $370 million civil fraud case that could see donald trump ultimately barred from doing business in new york. the fate of his business empire, nothing short of that is at stake here. the former president, as of now,

will not be speaking during closing arguments. the judge kind of shut the door on that, saying he wouldn't agree to the conditions. sources close to the former president are telling cnn he plans to deliver remarks after today's proceedings. we heard donald trump announce something of a press event will be held later today. paula reid is with john at the courthouse. ellie coneberg is here joining us. ellie, let's first address the comments trump made going into court where he said he is hoping to speak to -- to offer a summation and he's being silenced. >> wildly misleading. donald trump's team led the court know he wanted to give some portion of his own closing argument, which under some circumstances you might be able

to do. the judge insisted on what donald trump's team is calling conditions. they're really just the rules of court. >> not unreasonable? >> not at all. this is restrictions on any lawyer in any scenario. you can't give a campaign speech. you can't give irrelevant issues. you can't testify. you can't attack motives. these are things legally permissible outside those doors. inside those doors you have rules of evidence and procedure. the judge said i'll consider it if you abide by the rules of court. trump's team didn't agree. they could have agreed. they could have said, sure, he'll abide by that. the fact that donald trump is not up there giving a closing argument is his own doing. >> caroline, big picture, talk to me about -- we have to -- we'll say it because it continues to be true and important to point out. the courtroom is the campaign. this is so unusual on so many

levels. talk to me about the impact of these closing arguments and ultimately what we'll get from this judge. >> quite honestly today is not that big of a day legally speaking in court. we've had weeks and weeks of witnesses, evidence, testimony, things of that nature. i agree with ellie, i think chris kise knew this was never going to happen. he's using as more fuel on that fire really saying, look how much i'm being prosecuted and persecuted and i didn't even speak to my own defense in this trial. he's using it to -- it's a strawman argument. it's his fault he's not doing it. big picture, it's a civil fraud case. his liberty is not at stake unlike some of the other criminal charges against him. still hugely consequential. >> one thing it sticks to is his

ego, what his wealth is and if he can continue to do business. that's not a small thing when it comes to donald trump. john? >> we wanted to pick up on what you were talking about, the nature of the arguments that donald trump and now his legal team are making. paula, the first thing out of christopher kise's mouth tells the story. >> i'm reading notes from our colleagues in the courtroom reporting this to us live. the first thing that trump's lawyer said is, quote, this entire case is a manufactured claim to serve a political agenda. that is the crux of their defense. we heard this multiple times over the course of this trial. we just heard it from former president donald trump even though he's not formally participating in closing arts. he argues in the court of public opinion, letitia james ran on a promise to prosecute me.

he's made a series of claims alleging it's a political vendetta, ignoring the evidence that's been presented about allegations of his company not being honest about the value of their assets to get better tax rates, to get better terms on loans and insurance. they're framing their argument today as this case the political. >> they're not doing it for the judge who is the only one in the courtroom who makes the decision now. in a way he's already made a decision that it's not political, correct? >> chris kise is speaking to a few people. first and foremost is the judge. while the judge found them liable for fraud, he's considering other charges and there's the question of penalties. we're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties. also on the line is trump's ability to do business in new york. it's not just about money.

it's about identity. it's about his personal brand, which is why he's shown up here so many times. the political argument is more for the court of public opinion. the judge knows the facts. he knows the documents. he won't be swayed by that. chris kise talking to his client, the judge and the electorate. >> the very first thing in the closing art was to make the claim this was all political. >> absolutely. ellie and caroline, weigh in on this. i scribbled it down as paula was reporting, this entire case is a manufactured case to serve a political agenda, first words out of chris kise's mouth. >> two things can be true at once. yes, donald trump inflated the value of his assets, by a lot. that's been established. there's a second question whether anybody was harmed. the banks got paid back. it's a fact that letitia james

campaigned on a promise, vote for me, i'll get donald trump. she said it dozens of times. she fundraised off it. she wasn't specific. at one point she said he could be indicted for money laundering. the day after she was elected, quote, we'll definitely sue his ass. he'll no my name. when you make statements like that, you can you say there's no political angle? that's letitia james all doing. >> if these two things are true at the same time, what does it mean to all of this? >> right. that's what's so hard about trump in all these cases. we hear this phrase all the time, no one is above the law. is he being unfairly treated on both sides? whether he's being overprosecuted because of who he is or given unfair treatment and being underprosecuted.

we've got a lot of different prosecutors. it's not a good look for letitia james to be speaking on the courtroom steps. it only adds to this argument that trump is making that it is political. it tends to look political. then you have to think about the facts of the case. square footage doesn't lie. some of these things are -- on paper -- it's a paper case to some extent. the facts don't lie. he inflated the value of his assets obviously. the question is, if it weren't him, would this have been prosecuted? we might never know that answer. >> the judge has already found him liable for persistent and repeated fraud. the scope of the damages is part of what's at stake. also the political reality that this is a campaign event for donald trump at the same time. ellie, caroline, thank you. john, we'll get back to you on the courtroom steps.

paula and john are getting all this in real time and the details coming in from the closing arguments. also coming up, keeping an eye on the other part of the campaign trail. nikki haley and ron desantis are hoping to sway iowa voters today and they definitely were trying to last night at cnn's big debate. their harshest criticism was not -- again, was not for the frontrunner donald trump. we'll be back.

i think he's having a midlife crisis i'm not.

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name calling, finger pointing with some policy thrown into the mix. that was last night on the republican debate stage. nikki haley, ron desantis going after each other as they stood shoulder to shoulder, side by side. donald trump not among their targets. with just four days until the iowa caucuses trump's chief rivals seemed to stick with one consistent theme. >> i've said it again, ron. stop lying. >> she said she never said it. of course, you're lying. >> ron's lying because ron's losing. >> i thought he lied a lot. nikki haley gives him a run for his money. >> with that behind them, haley and desantis are headed back out on the campaign trail in iowa while donald trump, the

frontrunner, is back in the courtroom. >> joining us now former lieutenant governor of georgia, geoff duncan and matt lewis. i want to get your reaction to what you saw last night. u y thinking what about last night, matt? >> thinking, man, i can't believe it, but i miss vivek ramaswamy. >> stop. >> i never thought i would say that. >> you wrote about this today. why? >> look, i was hoping that if we narrowed down the field and got rid of these hangers on we could have a really serious, substantive debate between what we could consider to be trump's two main rivals. they're not really that competitive with trump yet. i think everyone sort of thought fewer candidates would give us a better debate. to be honest with you, i think it was a worse debate.

look, the big missed opportunity -- i was rooting for nikki haley, cards on the table, but i think she is somebody who has the potential to come across as likable and charismatic. yes, she has to firefight. she has to throw elbows. she has the potential to be reagan-esque and she did not do that. this was a childish, petty back and forth. >> you have to go after each other. you need to take out the rival while going after the frontrunner. geoff, why can't they do these two things at the same time? >> last night's debate seemed different. there were only two candidates there. this was just a game like small ball. it felt like a high school debate. just because donald trump doesn't show up to the debate doesn't mean you don't talk about him. he's the weakest republican in

this race. he raised the national debt $8 trillion. he mismanaged covid. he lied about the 2020 election. he still supports the narrative around january 6th. these are governors of two very successful states and at the end of the day they were splitting hairs. there's no way to the white house unless you go through donald trump. i encourage as many folks as possible to not be afraid of donald trump. take him on. it is worth it. he's a train wreck for the republican party. this should be a lay-up for republicans. it took 44 minutes to mention joe biden's name in the debate according to my clock last night. >> i want to play something for you both that john burns flagged for me. it's about what donald trump did during his counter-programming town hall last night. trump is talking about new hampshire.

it's how he's talking about new hampshire that you wonder -- well, listen to this. >> new hampshire's interesting. it's a great place, great state. unbelievable people. they allow independents and democrats to vote in the republican primary. what's that all about? well, it's a little bit false in that regard. even with that, i think we'll win substantially. >> lieutenant governor, do you hear donald trump trying to manage expectations in new hampshire? >> yeah. he's a master showman. we as republicans have let him get away with it. he's worried about this process too. just a couple of ticks in these polls. if nikki haley overperforms in iowa and overperforms slightly in new hampshire, we have a whole new game. we have to find ourselves in a different position than just infighting. yesterday was a tough day for chris christi. i was a fan of his approach and his honesty. he got out for the good of the

republican party. we have to get behind a candidate. we might have a slight chance to win, but it's worth trying. >> matt, what do you think about what i just played of donald trump talking about new hampshire now? that seems to be a shift for him rather than saying we're going to win, we're going to win bigly. do you hear him -- i don't know -- trying to manage expectations? maybe he's nervous what the polls are showing. >> i think he's laying the predicate to delegitimize new hampshire. if he loses, and there's a chance that trump will lose a state, it would be new hampshire. it would be nikki haley winning new hampshire. i think he's laying the predicate to say new hampshire doesn't count. it's not a real republican primary. i didn't really lose because it wasn't a real republican primary. it doesn't count. i think that's what he's doing. it's in the same league as

saying the election was stolen, that ted cruz stole the iowa caucus last time. >> geoff, as someone who lived through those same words being said over and over about the 2020 election in your state, what does this mean for that primary if that's allowed to occur and people believe him? >> one thing i learned about the 2020 post election time period is that donald trump's main game is sewing seeds of doubt and chaos. he throws it out there in the field. we've seen these pieces all along. these daily press conferences sow seeds of doubt. that was the most polite way to sow seeds of doubt in new hampshire. if that doesn't work, then it's that it was rigged. it just continues and continues and continues. the republican party is so

starved for a genuine leader right now, it's so ripe for somebody to say donald trump's wrong, he's a liar, he's misguided us for far too long. now we're going to move forward and beat joe biden and take the white house. >> that's why that question last night to ron desantis and nikki haley, very direct, does donald trump have the character to be president, why it should have been so easy to answer, and it was not. >> the answer's no. >> geoff duncan and matt lewis, thanks. coming up, the fate of donald trump's business empire is on the line today as closing arguments are under way in his siefl civil fraud trial, a trial going onon 11 weeks.s. our coveverage contitinues in a moment.

john berman along with paula reid, we're outside the courthouse in lower manhattan where closing arguments away in the civil fraud trial of donald trump, where he's already been found liable. this trial is about additional counts, as well as damages. as we said, closing arguments under way behind us. for the first time the judge, arthur engoron, has stepped in as donald trump's team is presents.

>> that's right. chris kise is presenting his closing argument. for the first time we heard the judge stop him and correct him. it was over whether former president trump is an industry expert. kise reminded the court, as part of his closing argument -- i'm reading notes -- that trump is a, quote, industry expert. he said trump has been part of the fabric of commercial real estate in this state and around the world. the judge stopped him and said, trump has not been qualified as an expert. when you bring in an expert, they have to be qualified. the judge stopped him, corrected him. things like this, john, get under trump's skin. trump is sitting in there because this case is so

personal. this about everything he's sold himself to be. it's likely this exchange did not please kise's client. >> it's interesting. it's a technical term. industry expert is a legal term. for donald trump it's probably a term of art, right? >> absolutely. i'm sure donald trump takes issue with anyone suggesting he's not an expert. the judge said you can't refer to him as an expert because he's not been qualified. it's a technicality, but a technicality about something so deeply personal to trump. >> donald trump's team has until 12:45 to finish their closing arguments. we're waiting to see if they try to get donald trump in there to speak. the judge said that's not allowable under the current agreement. will trump's team try to sneak it in? a lot more going on. this is cnn special coverage. more right after this.

first lady jill biden is speaking out against donald trump and defending her son hunter. she not holding back when it comes to house republican efforts to hold hunter biden in contempt of congress. arlette saenz is at the white house with more. the first lady rarely talks about everything that hunter biden has gone through, including his legal troubles. tell us more of what she's saying. >> reporter: it's notable that jill biden is deciding to take on house republicans investigating her son hunter biden very directly. saying the tactics that republicans are using against hunter are cruel. this comes after two house

committees voted to hold hunter biden in contempt of congress for not sitting down for a closed-door deposition. that will go to the house floor for a vote. if it passes the house, that will be a decision for the justice department to decide whether they'll pursue those charges. first lady jill biden spoke in blunt terms about the way that republicans are handling this and the impact it's had on her family. >> i think what they are doing to hunter is cruel, and i'm really proud of how hunter has rebuilt his life after addiction. you know, i love my son and it's had -- it's hurt my grandchildren. that's what i'm so concerned about, that it's affecting their lives as well. >> reporter: it's really not that often that the first lay day weighs in on hunter biden's legal issues. the biden family and the white house paint this as a personal

issue, saying the bidens consistently stand by their son hunter, especially as he's overcome his addictions. it comes as republicans have tried to keep investigations into hunter biden and joe biden front and center in the campaign. the first lady showing she's willing to push back. >> arlette, thank you. right now, closing arguments are under way and continue in donald trump's new york civil fraud trial. we have life updates coming in on what's happening inside the courtroom. we'll get back to it next.