>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. happening right now in a new york courtroom, you're seeing the outside picture there, closing arguments in donald trump's $370 million civil fraud trial, a trial that's put the fate of his business empire on the line. the former president is in court right now listening as his legal team is laying out their closing arguments. >> they have until 12:45 to finish those closing arguments. trump's attorney christopher kise began by saying that no witnesses testified to any fraud. before saying anything else, he made a political argument, attacking the attorney general's office that brought this case. he said, quote, this entire case is a manufactured claim to serve a political agenda. it has always been press releases and posturing, but no proof at all. again, as we said, trump's team

is making its case right now. i'm down here at the courthouse with paula reid. maybe not as contentious as we've seen before. >> this has been more orderly than some of the other days. closing arguments are an opportunity for lawyers, usually not the folks who are under investigation, but lawyers to summarize their theory of the case before the judge. that's what chris kise is doing right now. he put it in a political context. now he's going through his theory of the case. he's insisting, that, my client had no motivation to lie. he's describing his client as an expert in commercial real estate, which the judge took issue with saying he wasn't certified as an expert. he said he didn't believe deutch bank was only going to look at his financial fitness when deciding when to lend him money. it's pretty dry.

no real fireworks. this is what closing arguments are supposed to be. >> it's the legal side of all this right now. his attorney is making a legal case. i'm making that distinction because a lot of what's been taking place here isn't legal at all. >> 100%. we've seen the former president show up on multiple days. he has testified. during his time in court he's acted in a way that's unusual for most people, but not unusual for a political candidate. he's framed this entire thing as a politically-motivated investigation, trying to interfere with the election. he's tried to tie the district attorney to his political rival, president biden. the district attorney did promise to investigate and prosecute trump when she was running for office. he's not incorrect that she's expressed a desire during her campaign to go after him. in this case the judge has found him liable for fraud. they've seen witnesses and

documents. it's a serious proceeding. often he's used it, seized the spotlight and speized the attention to make arguments in the court of public opinion. >> really part of the campaign trail. this courthouse iowa's 100th county right now. stand by for one minute, paula. outside this cold courthouse, we have kristen holmes. donald trump is running his campaign around these courthouses, making political statements. sometimes in politics you say things that aren't true. >> that's right. just to be clear, he doesn't have to be here. he doesn't have to be here. these are choices he's making to turn these events into campaign stops. when he came out to the cameras, he mentioned this was election interference and claimed it was

being done at the hands of joe biden. it's not being done at the hands of joe biden. the district attorney mentioned this while she was campaigning. this has nothing to do with the united states justice department. there are other cases that do. the other part is he said he was being forced to be silent essentially. that's also not the case. the judge agreed pretty readily from the emails we saw to al lo him to speak in the closing remarks. he said, but you have to agree to these restrictions. you can't attack me or my courtroom staff. trump's lawyer said we won't agree to these restrictions. therefore, he's not speaking. he's not being silenced. he made a choice. >> paula reid, i'm not an attorney, but i've watched "law and order." >> i am an attorney. >> we think people can always

deliver their own defense if they want. >> we have to remember this is a civil trial, not a criminal trial. it's very serious, but not what people have seen on tv. closing arguments are for you to present your theory on the case. the former president was called to testify. he could have taken the stand again. he opted not to. he availed himself of the media here several times to address the public at large. no one is restricting his rights. >> you just grabbed your phone as if there was news. >> i did. i'm not texting with friends. i'm reading from colleagues in the court. things have taken a turn. they're focusing now on michael cohen, trump's former fixer and lawyer who played an important role in the origin story of this case. if you remember in 2017 when michael cohen testified before

congress, he was asked if during his time working for then president trump if he had ever seen trump lie on applications or loans or insurance. he said he did. that's what prompted this investigation. cohen was a witness here. kise is talking about cohen and not surprisingly accusing michael cohen of being a lawyer -- i'll look at what else they're saying about him. they're trying to undercut his credibility. he's not a key witness here. he does have a conviction for lying. calling him a liar is not inaccurate, though, michael cohen doesn't like it when people call him a lawyer. he accuses cohen of using this to call attention to his podcast. they're also noting a recent incident that was embarrassing for michael cohen where he used

a.i., artificial intelligence, to drum up case citations. he works with a long-time friend, an attorney. he handed over these citations to that attorney who didn't check them. they were submitted to the court. that was highly embarrassing. seems irrelevant to the case at hand. kise is going there because michael cohen is the origin of the investigation. >> that was a plan months ago. they believe that if they made this case about michael cohen they could say, michael cohen has been charged with lying to the court. he's a known liar. he's been convicted. you can't base a case around michael cohen. he's not the key witness here. the case has other witnesses, other evidence. it's a strategy they've been looking to deploy. >> there's an interesting thing that happened here. michael cohen as you noted had to admit he used a.i. incorrectly as part of a legal

brief that was filed before a judge. this is the first time it's come up in a courtroom as part of a closing argument. now we have seen it at least in a case at a certain point. these closing arguments can continue until 12:45 p.m. we'll keep listening for new developments. >> we're getting new developments. let's talk about the new developments. michael cohen, this element of it, why focus on this as part of closing? >> this is a great preview not just of this case, but one of the criminal cases. michael cohen was a pivotal witness in this civil trial and he's the pivotal witness in the manhattan district attorney's criminal case over hush money which is scheduled for march. that could be the first trial.

here's the attacks on michael cohen. you'll see from trump's team is he's a convicted perjurer. he pled guilty of lying to congress. he's a convicted tax fraudster. he pled guilty to cheating on his taxes. he's claiming he lied when he pled guilty to that, all part of the michael cohen web. michael cohen has an over the top personal animus against donald trump. look at his twitter feed. >> that's not the -- >> it matters. michael cohen's credibility -- the ag will say what michael cohen tells you is backed up by paper. it is to an extent. doesn't have donald trump's name on it. a witness' bias is 100% fair game. if you have a witness that hates the defendant -- michael cohen will tell you he hates donald trump. the jury or the judge is allowed

to consider that. there's some other things here. ever since he made the break from donald trump he's come through. he is backed up by the paper, to an extent. the numbers are different. the person drawing the link between the paper and donald trump is largely michael cohen. >> caroline, what do you think about this? how much of a factor could this part of the argument be for the judge who will be the one who decides the damages? >> that's a good point. i agree, michael cohen, i think, is more of a pivotal witness in the next trial, not so much this one, because -- we always talk about the distinction of a criminal trial versus civil. it's less about the intent, the motivation, where live witnesses

give you a view inside the mind of a potential defendant. there's more paper evidence in this case that letitia james is relying on. this is the only case where there's not going to be a jury. this is a bench trial. we've seen judge engoron be specific about what can and con can't be in evidence. chris kise was trying to describe donald trump as an expert. >> why does that need to be corrected? obviously that hurts donald trump's feelings. >> some viewers may think, well, i understand there's ways that people are qualified as experts, which donald trump wasn't for the purposes of the legal rules. why does it matter because it's not a jury trial? can't the judge know that in his head and go along with it? no. every day judge engoron is thinking about the appeal in this case. as we've seen all these other

cases play out, this case will be appealed. he wants to make a pristine record for review. closing arguments are not evidence. however, he's making very specific rulings here with the knowledge that those rulings are going to be reviewed on appeal and that the record is going to be -- >> the fact checking of the record is important. >> it absolutely is. speaking of fact checks, the presence or absence of a jury makes all the difference in the world. when we have a jury in criminal cases, and they all will be jury trials, judges and courts have to be more careful about policing what's said. trump's lawyer led off the presentation by saying it's a political vendetta. there may be truth in that, but it's not a proper argument in court. if it's the judge deciding, as here, the judge can filter it out. irrelevant. not considering it. when you have 12 civilians, 12 new yorkers sitting there, the

judge will have to be more careful. there are consequences as a lawyer if you throw upper relevant arguments. >> that will be relevant when you move over to the criminal trials. much more to come. much more coming out of the courtroom. john is there with paula and more. we'll keep an eye on that door. we have reporters inside letting us know what's happening there. we'll bring you all those developments from inside court. >>. also, hunter biden set to appear in a court in california this afternoon on tax-related charges just after first lady jill biden is really slamming republicans who have led the investigation into him, calling it horrible, cruel. more details on that ahead.

you're looking at live pictures outside a courtroom in new york where the closing arguments in the donald trump civil trial are under way as we speak. on the way going into the courtroom, he spoke. listen to some of what he said. >> it's a very unfair trial. i don't think anybody has ever seen anything like this. i really have no rights. nobody thinks it's

constitutional. it's interference. it's political interference. it's something that shouldn't be allowed. >> donald trump repeating what we've heard often as he's going in making legal misstatements and not telling the truth on the legal case in front of him, saying he has no rights. clearly he does. he's going through the trial process as it's been going on for 11 weeks. at the same time we are seeing a collision truly of the campaign trail and the courtroom, which at this point for donald trump are one and the same. let's get some perspective on this and reaction to what we're seeing. sarah matthews is joining me now. sarah, the legal fight is essentially the entire campaign strategy for donald trump right now. we're seeing that once again come into focus today. what's your reaction to what you have heard today and the fact that his attorney right out of the gate tried to make the case

in closing arguments that this was a political trial, trying to further a political agenda? >> i think that's going to be the message we hear from donald trump and his attorneys in all the cases. while i think that some of the cases that he's facing tend to be a little more political in nature than others, i think most of them are substantive and have evidence to back them up and warrant the charges. this case in particular it was interesting to hear him say before he entered the courtroom that it was unconstitutional and they had no right. this is straight out of his victim playbook where he just acts like the victim, acts like he should face no accountability for any of his actions. it's going to be, i think, the message we see moving forward from him and his campaign on the campaign trail. >> sarah, we're getting new details of this new interview that first lady jill biden did with msnbc.

she spoke very -- attacking republicans investigating and leading an investigation into her son hunter biden. also, as part of the conversation, jill biden took aim at donald trump for characterizing jailed january 6th rioters as hostages as we heard him do and heard other republicans parrot that talking point. here's what jill biden said about calling them hostages. that makes me want to be in the fight even more because we have to win. we must win, she said in this interview, we can't let go of our democracy. from everything experienced, the stand that you took given what you saw on january 6th and around the white house, what do you think of hearing jill biden speak out in this way, and also hearing donald trump calling them hostages over and over again? >> i resigned three years ago on

january 6th because i felt that donald trump did not meet the moment. i knew that his election lies were lies. i felt like on that day, when we watched all that violence unfold, he chose to sit back and not take action. that's because he didn't want to. he saw nothing wrong with it. he thought these people were fighting for him. he simply couldn't accept the fact he lost to joe biden. now i think three years later to see politicians like donald trump and elise stefanik white washing events of that day and saying these january 6th rioters are, quote, unquote, hostages is insane, especially when we're seeing actual hostages in gaza and the things they're dealing with and equating that to people who broke the law and illegally entered the capitol and beat up police officers. i think it's disgusting and unsurprising, unfortunately, from those two. >> maybe we put it in the

category of unsurprising, the cnn debate last night. ron desantis and nikki haley having a perfect opportunity to not only talk policy and attack each other, but they could have taken an opportunity to go directly after donald trump for some of what you're talking about him. his inactions on january 6th, lies about the election and so much more. they did not. instead spending time over and over again just attacking each other. watch this. >> i have said it again, ron, stop lie. >> 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. >> sarah, as someone does not want to have donald trump win the primary and be re-elected, as a republican who would like

to see another republican take the mantle, what did you think of last night? >> yeah, i kind of thought the debate performances from both of the candidates on stage were a little bit disappointing. i felt like neither of the candidates were interested in attacking trump and more interested in attacking each other. it felt like a battle for second place. look, donald trump is the frontrunner. you need to go after him aggressively and calling out that he's unfit to be president. that was something that they were asked. they were asked if donald trump has the character to be president, and i thought that ron desantis' response was pathetic. he decided to talk about policy differences. nikki haley, she at least was a little more aggressive in her answer. she said something to the effect that donald trump is more interested in vendettas and vengeance and all that comes with him is chaos. while that's true, i think both of them, if they want to stand a chance at defeating trump in iowa or new hampshire, really

need to get more aggressive in their messaging. >> they are 100% absolutely out of time for that. we're four days from the iowa caucuses. it's not a lot of time or any time at all to make ground, at least before first votes. sarah, thank you so much for coming in. coming up, the familiar story on capitol hill unfortunately. house republicans revolting over a spending deal that now speaker mike johnson has cut out of necessity with democrats to avoid a government shutdown. we'll hear that story and will his story y end with a an ouste likeke his predececessor, keviv mccartrthy. we'l'll be rightht back.

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with the largest fastest reliable network. give your business a head start in 2024 with this great offer. plus, ask how to get up to $1000 prepaid card with qualifying internet. senate democratic leader chuck schumer is expected to take steps on a bipartisan stop gap spending bill. it will amount to a band-aid. it's aimed at stopping a government shutdown. make no mistake, there's no grand agreement on a final deal for funding the government. even this short-term move just to keep talks going is a hard sell in the house for speaker mike johnson. hard line republicans balking and pushing back. listen to some of these

comments. >> i want the speaker to start fighting for us and fighting for the american people, which means you have to close the border. >> reporter: seems like you're banging your head against the wall. >> i'm suffering from traumatic brain injury from all this. >> manu raju has the latest. he's joining us now. manu, you spoke with speaker johnson. what's he saying? >> reporter: he's trying to say, look, we have a narrow majority, a razor-thin majority. we can only do what we can do given the democrats control the senate. the problem is that's precisely the argument that then speaker kevin mccarthy made to the hard liners, ultimately getting pushed out as speaker in historic fashion and leaving mike johnson with having to fund the government. johnson cutting almost the same deal that mccarthy cut last spring on funding levels. that's causing all the problems at the moment.

when i caught up with speaker johnson, i asked if he's concerned he's facing the same fate as kevin mccarthy. >> are you worried about this? >> i'm not worried at all. these guys are close friends of mine. we agree on the principles. i'm a hard core conservative. i want as many policies as we can. in reality we have a small majority. in a situation like that, you don't get everything you want. >> reporter: the question is if that's enough to appeal for those members. those members of the house freedom caucus are meeting with speaker johnson trying to figure out if there's a way to move ahead. what they did yesterday is they took steps to sink a rule. that scuttles legislation on the floor. that's rarely been done, but done with increases frequency in

this congress when they're not happy. they're trying to figure out any accommodation from those members who have stopped all legislation in its tracks. the big question, can they avoid a government shutdown by the end of next week? that's what speaker johnson is trying to avoid. can they avoid one given the demands for new border restrictions and deeper spending cuts? >> the comments from speaker johnson to you are eerily similar to what we heard from kevin mccarthy over and over again and eventually led to his ouster. thank you, manu. first lady jill biden is speaking out against house republicans and donald trump. she did not hold back when it came to efforts under way to hold hunter biden in contempt of congress. listen. >> what they're 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. >> her rare public comments about her son come as hunter biden is set to appear in a federal court in california today. cnn's evan perez is in los angeles tracking this. evan, remind everyone what this is all about today. >> reporter: this is a case that the prosecutors have brought against hunter biden. they say he avoided paying his taxes, $1.4 million over a period 2016 through 2019. these charges, as they're charged right now, he's facing up to 17 years in prison. of course, we don't expect it will be anything like that if he's found guilty.

what prosecutors allege or accuse hunter biden -- they say during this period he was taking a lot of money, millions of dollars from clients both in ukraine and china and he wasn't spending any of that money paying his taxes. they say he was using it to fund an elaborate lifestyle, including paying for exotic cars and exotic dancers, a lot of personal problems during the time he was struggling with substance abuse. repu hunter biden says he paid those taxes. his legal team says the only reason he's facing these charges is because of pressure on the justice department. you remember in july hunter biden was minutes away from sealing a plea deal on these charges. he was going to be able to get away with a misdemeanor,

pleading guilty to two misdemeanors. he's facing these charges and another set of charges in delaware. >> evan, thank you so much. we'll be watching for updates on that. coming up for us, we head back to the courthouse in new york where closing arguments are under way in donald trump's civil fraud trial. live look at the courtroom doors right there. a lot of updates coming in.

i'm john berman along with cnn chief legal affairs correspondent paula reid. we're outside the courthouse in lower manhattan. you're looking at live pictures

where closing arguments are being delivered in the civil fraud trial against donald trump. they've been going on now for about an hour and a half. trump's attorneys have until 12:45 to finish, laying out their case. one thing we're waiting for, trump to ask to be part of the closing arguments himself. he wanted to deliver part of them. the judge said no because trump would agree to certain conditions. trump's team might try to sneak him in at the end. we're watching that very closely. paula, lay out the case that trump's attorneys are making. >> today closing arguments by trump attorney chris kise. he kicked it off by insisting it's a political-motivated case that was manufactured to go after to trump to interfere with the election. he insists his client had no intent to defraud banks when his

financial statements misrepresented the value of his assets. they also went after trump's former lawyer and fixer, michael cohen. michael cohen has played an important role in the origin story of this case because in 2019 he testified before congress that trump had lied to banks and insurance companies, trying to get more favorable terms for loans, insurance and also taxes. that is part of what inspired this investigation that went on for years and resulted in this civil case. they also attacked cohen personally reminding people he's a convicted liar and brought up an incident recently where he used a.i., artificial intelligence, to drum up case citations and handed to his friend david schwartz. they really went after michael cohen. they're summarizing their argument, insisting there was no harm. the bank profited from this. all a summary of the case they

presented. >> the judge arthur engoron has stepped in a couple times. >> yeah. the first time he stepped in is when kise referred to trump as an industry expert in commercial real estate. intelligent minds could have a debate whether he's considered an expert. it's a technical term in court. the judge said, stop, he's not been qualified as an expert. that's a technicality. a few other times the judge interrupted. what he's doing is preserving the record for appeal. he knows his decision is going to be appealed almost immediately. he's making sure to protect the record and interrupt every time he thinks there's something he needs to step in. >> donald trump has been sitting and listening and watching this. there was an issue over the last 24 hours because trump, they said, wanted to take part in the closing arguments.

the judge said you could do it as long as you don't give a campaign speech. the trump team said he wouldn't do that. >> this is highly unusual, but the judge was open to allowing judge to participate, but said there will be guardrails for good reason. you've seen trump attack the judge, the court staff and use this as a campaign strategy to frame himself as political prosecution. the judge said, you have to focus on material, relevant facts and you can't attack your accusers. they wouldn't agree to that. chris kise said that was untenable. the judge shut the door on that possibility. we thought they might revisit this issue. it was interesting because chris kise got up and went right into his closing. so far trump has not ente

interiin interiin interjected. >> back to you, kate. the final inflation numbers are out for 2023, showing consume confidence closed out the year for a 4.3% increase. what does that mean for the roller coaster that was the 2023 economy? this final report tells us what, vanessa? >> that's we've had a bumpy road. inflation up 3.4% in the past four months and up about .3% in december. that was higher than analysts were projecting. look where we came from. we came from inflation at 9.1% in june of 2022 and in december of last -- of 2022 it was 6.5%. it's like if you set a weight loss goal and you want to lose

ten pounds. the first eight pounds may be easier to lose, some water weight coming off. those last two pounds really difficult to lose. that's what we're seeing right now. >> you're speaking to a lot of us here. >> no one needs to lose ten pounds here. you're seeing the fed try to get to 2% and we're 3.4%. it's harder for them to get to that rate. in terms of what americans have seen over the last year or so, food prices up 2.7% on the year and shelter, rent, still incredibly expensive. that accounted for half of the monthly increase we saw in december. energy prices falling over the course of the last year, down 2%. airline fairs also coming down 9.4%. >> does not feel that way. >> it doesn't, but compared to where we were when energy prices were so high, it's better. the motor vehicle insurance is up 20% in the last year. probably because of all the interest rate hikes that we saw

from the federal reserve. that trickles down into what people are paying for their car loans, for their student loans and on credit cards. it's important for people to realize when we talk about inflation cooling, we're not talking about cheaper prices. we're not going to see the prices we saw in 2019. however, cooling inflation means prices are rising slower. that is good news. we are headed in the right direction. we'll be bumpy. that 2% target in sight right now. >> good to see you, vanessa. thank you so much. coming up, today's news sending shock waves across the sports world, at least the nfl. the head coach of the new england patriots, bill belichick stepping down after 24 years. more on this news from our chief patriots correspondent john berman, when we return.

courthouse in lower manhattan where closing arguments are under way in donald trump's civil fraud trial. there is other major developing news today. and that is after six super bowl titles, nine super bowl appearances, 24 remarkable years, bill belichick is stepping down as coach of the new england patriots. again, six super bowl titles, changing the lives of everyone in the greater new england area, including me. it is now over. a news conference about to be

held in foxborough between bill belichick and patriots owner kraft. let's get to andy for this development. >> you were 27 years old when bill belichick came into your life as your head coach of your nfl football team, the new england patriots. from then on, all you knew was winning. won 17 division titles, went to 9 super bowls, won 6 of them. belichick has more super bowl titles than any coach in nfl history. the last four years without tom brady obviously have not gone as well. this past season, 4-13, his worst record as a head coach in the league. and that got the fan base going, saying can he still be the general manager and pick the players and be the head coach? but it appears here in the nebs few minutes when the press conference starts they will be announcing belichick will no longer be the head coach of the new england patriots.

i don't think he is done coaching by any means. he is 15 wins away from being the nfl's all-time winningest coach, just behind don shula, 15 wins away from doing that. where is he going to go next? the betting favorite is the atlanta falcons. that would be quite interesting considering he was at the hands of the falcons' worst defeat, that 28-3 comeback in the super bowl. >> i remember that one. that was one of the six super bowl rings they won. it would be amazing. and i'm not necessarily in a good way to see belichick coaching another team. the last few years with the patriots, not so great, but i think we're all going to choose to remember the six super bowl titles because as you said, we have known nothing but winning. before that, it was a whole lot of losing with the patriots. now they turned into this unbelievable franchise. thank you so much, andy, for that. you'll be moderating that news conference very, very closely. the most perfectly

appropriately biased report i have ever heard, not you, andy, obviously not you. john, we have no time. would you root for atlanta if bill belichick went there or are you patriots forever? >> i would not root for atlanta if they were the last team on earth. no, i'm just kidding. no, i root for the patriots. i root for the patriots. it doesn't matter who the coach is. i'm all in. >> just had to confirm. thank you, all. now come back to the studio, john. thank you all so much for joining us. this is cnn news central. "inside politics" next.

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