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♪ ♪ top of the hour. thank you so much for being with us. i'm kate bolduan joining you all this morning from new hampshire. john berman is holding it down in new york where donald trump is right now making a courtroom campaign stop before heading here to new hampshire on the heels of the dominant win in iowa. donald trump is in court right now as the jury that will decide if he is going to pay as much as $10 million in damages to e.

jean carroll is selected. >> yes, let that sink in, new york is the first campaign stop after winning the iowa caucuses as we speak for the first time in decades he is sitting in the same room as e. jean carroll, the woman who sued him and won for defamatory comments that he made about her assault allegations. cnn's kara scannell is outside of the courthouse right now. bring us up to speed, kara. >> so john, both e. jean carroll and donald trump are in the same courtroom and it is the first time they have seen each other in decades since the assault took place. and so e. jean carroll is at a table where she is surrounded by her lawyers and a second table behind her and donald trump is behind her, so he is about a table apart from e. jean carroll and so far she has not turned around to look at him when he walked into the courtroom.

and the judge is laying out how this is going to play out, and there is nine jurors to hear this. and he has given a warning to carroll and trump not to say anything within earshot of the jurors and say anything to communicate directly or indirectly in front of a witness. and now, if he has said anything while campaigning and this is a shot across the bow for trump and the lawyers and e. jean carroll that they are not to make any statements to influence the jury here, and this is something that came up in the last trial telling trump several statutes that there could be several tripping of jury intimidation that had to be said to previous attorneys, but this is him laying it out at the beginning saying he does not want any communications directly or indirectly with the jury. now, he also, the lawyers were

trump's team reupping some of the testimony that could be made and some of the witnesses coming and one of the attorneys was making objections and continuing to make the argument, and this ruling said judge caplan when a ruling is made, not the begi beginning, but the end of it. and that is a different judge from the judge from a block or so from here. he is running a tight ship, and he is setting the table for how this is going to be under way. soon they will bring in a pool of jurors and the lawyers will ask the jurors if they can be impartial in this case knowing that sitting in the courtroom looking at donald trump and e. jean carroll, he will dismiss them without further questions and continue to work through the process until they have nine jurors seat and from there they will move on to opening statements in this case. this trial is expected to last a

few days and the wild card here is if donald trump is going to testify as his lawyers said he wants to, and if this is going to happen this week before he attends his mother-in-law's funeral or back monday for that. >> thank you, kara scannell, where there are already a number of developments. and now joining me is chief legal correspondent paula reid, already a warning and kara said that when i make a ruling it is the end of the discussion and not the beginning. >> yes, and one of my law professors used to say, i will not debate this, and this is the decision and final and this is showing how the judge has a much stronger command of the courtroom which is common in federal courts because they are very orderly and discipline and this is what former president trump is going to see this morning because he did not participate in this case last year. >> so he is there as a campaign stop. this is the first stop after winning the iowa caucuses, and if he wants to make a spectacle

of himself somehow, and yes, he can do a press conference after, but what could he try to pull off in the courtroom and what could the judge do? >> the possibilities are endless, but there is no role for him today, and there is jury selection and so there is no role. is he is going to stand up and cause a disturbance, no. but his lawyers said that he might want to testify, and this is where he could get into some trouble, because the judge has set out rules that we won't relitigate what happened in the department store, but stick to the topic of damages, and we saw in a different civil trial where he was allowed speak in the closing arguments that he did not abide by any fiedlines and went totally off of the rails. >> if he can speak to damages how wide are those parameters. >> he can speak about the frame of mind -- >> now or then? >> in 2019 or consider another statement that he made

subsequently at a cnn town hall in 2023. so it is very narrow and any role that he would have, but if he wants to expand that lane, that could have consequence,s, and this is what the judge is getting at. and also, not just at the campaign, but him and e. jean carroll in the same room for decades and this is an enormous impact on the survivor of a sexual abuse, and this is emotional for her and anything that he says or does could have an impact on her, and also a jury there, and they are contemplating damages and he could be thinking of amplify this message that i am being persecuted and i cannot talk and this judge is restricting me, but it is going to have ramifications in terms of emotional and in terms of damages, and so it is going to be interesting of how he plays this for risk/reward. >> this is not a campaign stop for e. jean carroll, because a jury has agreed with her of

sexual assault, and so she is sitting in the same room of a man who she says has assaulted her and also the judge is saying what they can say outside of the courtroom and how that is going to restrict the news conference that may or may not happen in new york today. >> what we have seen in the past couple of years, it is not going to stop him from holding press conference, but it is an issue of the trial, and the judge was frustrated and expressed the frustration to trump's lawyers because he did not participate in the last case about statements that trump was making about e. jean carroll and about the case. he can hold the press conference and get the larger message that they trying to interfere with the election and coming after me and i am a victim without coming after e. jean carroll, but again and again, he has not been able to successfully come after that, and either he does not want to or is not capable of. last week, it is about the

business and completely incapable of staying on message and staying disciplined. and so even though there is a gag order, we will see if he stays within the parameters. >> thank you for being here, paula reid. and now, back to you, kate in new hampshire. >> yes, new hampshire. and now, the campaign collides with donald trump in court. and with me, the one and only dana bash, and chris sununu. >> i feel like i saw you on a plane overnight. >> yes. >> and it wasn't a dream? and you were there and you were there. >> yes, and i was snoring in 4a. so now what john and paula were talking about, donald trump fresh off this huge win in iowa and back in the courtroom, and a split screen of how the

courtroom and the campaign have become the same thing for him. >> i was thinking that i feel like we can get rid of the term split screen, because it is the screen. >> true. it is a great point. >> it is the campaign and it is donald trump's 2024 candidacy. and since even before we really got into it when other people joined race, it was abundantly clear that a big part of the reason for him running was to fight his legal battles from a perch of not just a former president, but a candidate for president, and we are seeing that play out, and just in the context of what happened last night, we cannot underscore enough how much republican voters in iowa in particular, and we'll probably see the same going forward, they don't care. in fact, this is a plus. it is not a plus that he is alleged to do these things, but the plus is that he turns it

into a them against us, and tomorrow it is you, and i am fighting for you, because my rights are your rights, and he twists it and bushes it together in a successful way. and mushes it in -- >> i was going to say, official political term of art. [ laughter ] and one of the interesting data polls that i am fascinated with, because i don't know what to take from it. so, coming from caucusgoers last night 65% of the caucusgoers saying that donald trump is fit for the presidency if convicted, even if convicted of a crime. and 31% said that he would not be fit for the presidency if convicted of crime. one, is that a problem -- is this 65 or the 31 where people should be focused more, and does

that split look the same in new hampshire? i don't know. >> it is such a good frame of a question. because the answer is both. i mean, both of those the yes and the no are very instructive for us about where the republican electorate is or at least where the electorate was and the caucusgoers are in iowa, because you can say, yes, my goodness, almost 2/3 of the people say that we don't care. but on the flipside, if he becomes nominee in a general election and you have 30% of the base voters saying, i am not going to vote for him, that is a problem for him. >> nikki haley. >> yes. >> you will be speaking to her very soon, and she is going to hit the ground running, and this is where she has been putting time and huge amount of resources, and she just came out with a new ad this morning that

mirrored her final message last night when she was talking about the trump/biden nightmare as she put it. which i think is fascinating and then the headline also coming out that she has decided that she is no longer interested in debating ron desantis. power play or risky? >> both. it is a bit risky when you are trying to make new hampshire as the place where she can shine. she has the endorsement from the governor and i am going to speak to both of them together, and she is doing well here, and her rise in the polls was most evident here in new hampshire, and she is appealing to the kind of voter that tends to go out for a republican like her in these primaries. and yet, new hampshire takes pride in a lot of their traditions, and one of the traditions is the wmur debate, the big most important political station if you will, and the

people out there know what stations are anymore, and so, like i said, people in new hampshire take pride in that and she is effectively saying i am not going to do it, and it is supposed to be this week, and she says she is not going to do it, and she is gambling on the fact of doing the debate and a replay of iowa which is what it would be with ron desantis is not worth it. >> hurt or not help enough to be worth it which is fascinating which is adding to my interest to see what is discussed at 12:00 p.m. today. thank you for coming in early to chat. always great to see you. >> thank you. >> let us promote my dear friend dana bash "inside politics" where she is going to be speaking with presidential candidate nikki haley andha new hampshire governor chris sununu. >>ly be watching. and the gilgo beach serial

killer has just been charged with a fourth murder. and also, another step to avoid a government shutdown by the senate.

if you have been watching cnn you are aware that donald trump won the iowa caucuses and won them big, but the question is what that means going forward in new hampshire with the new hampshire primary one week away. i asked our senior political correspondent jeff zeleny which counties in iowa are the most like new hampshire.

he told me lynn county which is where cedar rapids is, and you could see donald trump just trounce nikki haley and ron desantis there, and an 18-point win. haley narrowly edging out ron desantis, and not performing well, and what makes this a new hampshire-like county? suburban, much of like new hampshire, and forgive me, new hampshire, but it is one big suburb of massachusetts, and suburb and more educated voters and another county would be story county where iowa state is, and again, donald trump beat nikki haley, but only by four points and college-educated voters there, and donald trump with the edge, but this is a county that marco rubio won in 2016 that nikki haley would have to win. i am highlighting these counties, because they have more independent voters, and those are the voters that nikki haley is going to need in new hampshire if she has a chance

there, but the independent voters in iowa went for donald trump, 42% of the vote and nikki haley 34% and ron desantis 18. in new hampshire, independents will be a huge, huge issue. let me show you the voter registration, and undeclared 343,000, and democrats 268 -- republicans 268 and democrats 298, so as jeff zeleny said, are the independents similar, and probably not. we can look historically, and donald trump's victory in iowa is the biggest margin ever for iowa caucuses and edging out george w. bush who got to highest ever, and the thing about bush's victory in iowa in

2000 is that he went on the lose new hampshire badly to john mccain by almost 20 points. again, mccain did not compete in iowa, but you can see the so-called independent voters in iowa did not make a difference in 2000, but they made a huge difference in new hampshire in 2000, so the independent voters, they seem to behave very differently there in iowa and here in new hampshire. we'll have to see what happens this time around. ka kate. >> yes, and you started off my next interview as hostile saying that new hampshire is a suburb of massachusetts. >> yes, a nice tax-free suburb of massachusetts. >> moving on john berman. with iowa in the rearview mirror, nikki haley and ron desantis are all going to be holding events in new hampshire where we are today. and governor desantis is stopping in haley's home state

in south carolina. nikki haley has spent time and a whole lot of resources in new hampshire, and hoping to make some real headway against trump in what we have seen is the dominance in the polls of the more moderate independent-thinking polls in the state, and joining me for a window of what folks are thinking especially after last night in iowa, republican new hampshire state representative bill boyd and he has asked me call him bill. >> thank you, kate. i am happy to be here. >> what did you think of last night? >> it was telling. it showed to me that conservatives in iowa still resonate with trump's populous message and evident by the fact that he took 51% of the vote and absorbing 99% of the counties and a testament to the ground game that he and the advisers

and team had in place in iowa. right now, there had to be any changes of the margin, and if president trump was less than 50% or ambassador haley had finished second then i would have been looking more towards super tuesday being the firewall, but i think that new hampshire is the firewall right now, and anything less than a win for ambassador haley next tuesday bodes well for president trump and his prospects. >> it really raises stakes now? >> i think that next tuesday is vital for every undecided voter and independent voter that wants to participate in the first of the nation primary, they will be coming out next tuesday. >> you have not thrown your support behind a candidate and what are you wrestling with? >> yes, the skillset to have the skillset to walk into the oval office day one and hit the ground running, and that is paramount.

and number two, are they going to be able to calm some of the noise that exists in our country and be able to quell some of the things that we are seeing on the social media in certain parts of the unrest that we are experiencing. am looking at that, and also, lastly, to, you know, our stature in the world has taken a hit, and i think that somebody is going to need to walk in on day one and build up the idea that, you know, we are a city on the hill, and the united states is a city on the hill, and we are ra cita city on the hill to entire world. >> and given what you have seen, do you think that ron desantis has a chance here? >> truthfully, no. i think that governor desantis, unlike president trump, governor desantis has expended a lot of time and equity and money and people that i know that are working on the campaign have just been down and out, you know, head-down pedal to the

metal and trying to outreach to every single voter here in new hampshire to val ga niz the desantis message and unfortunately, it is not playing here in new hampshire. there is a variety -- and part of the reason why is that new hampshire is a purple state, and while governor desantis' record in florida is perfectly laudable in florida, it doesn't play well in the state of new hampshire, and that is probably systemic as to why his campaign has not caught fire up here in new hampshire. >> what i am hearing from you, and you have the finger on the pulse of your constituents and a lot of folks here which is that these candidates have a lot of work to do and nothing in new hampshire is a sure-fire win and these candidates all of them have a lot of work to do which is what we are going be seeing in the next week. >> i would say that ambassador haley has had numerous town halls and the same with governor desantis and same with chris

christie and even governor hutchinson is making the rounds at this day and age and tactically president trump has used the big stage, the arenas and the opera houses that exist here in new hampshire and he has used that particular forum as a way where unlike the other candidate where is they have been answering questions and the town hall tends to be organic, president trump has wanted to hone the message and stay focused knowing that the base knows that the message is ringing true and bringing along some independents and maybe some other disaffected voters in the process. >> we will soon see, and see what happens in a few days now. it is great to meet you. thank you. >> i appreciate your time. thank you. and don't miss the cnn town hall with governor desantis tonight at 9:00 p.m. all live here from new hampshire and my colleague wolf blitzer

moderating in what is a very important conversation at this stage. john? >> it is all happening. kate a moment ago, the suspect in the gilgo beach murders plead not guilty to the fourth murder charge. the new developments just in. to duckduckgo on all your devie

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and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. >> all right. moments ago, the gilgo beach murder suspect entered a not

guilty plea to a new charge of murder into death of a fourth woman. he had pleaded not gill toy first-degree murder charges in deaths of three other women whose bodies were discovered near long island's gilgo beach a decade ago. brynn gingras, what do we know about this latest plea? >> well, we have learned a lot, john. this court hearing lasted a few minutes and we have learned about the superseding indictment with the fourth charge of the murder of maureen brainard barnes. and what we are learning is that they are tying rex heuermann to the other murders. investigators are saying that there is dna evidence to prove that a hair that was found on a belt buckle used to tie up

moreen brainard byrnes matches. we were told that there were hairs found on the bodies of the other victims matched his wife, but something new, they have found hairs that matched not only with his wife, but also rex heuermann himself in one case, and also his daughter as well. more new evidence that we learned about is that when the investigators were doing a search of his home and his office and himself, they found more burner phones, and he had communications with one to victims that they were able to realize through the burner phones. in addition, too, we learned that he was communicating with the sex workers with communications in 2020, and that is something that the investigators are worrying about if there were more victims and they did not arrest him when they did. so more information in the indictment, and we are still going through it. and today, he had his hands behind him in a dark suit, and he is pleading not guilty. he is going to be back in court next month and of course, more

evidence has to be turned it over in the new indictment. his wife or estranged wife who has filed for divorce is also in court as well as his daughter. he is giving a news conference as we speak with his attorney, and we will get back with you with more information as we get it. >> that is a lot of new information. now, joey jackson joining u and start with the fourth murder charge and this fourth not guilty plea and where does it stand? >> it is a big deal, john. because it is telling us that the grand jury evaluated new evidence. the grand jury doesn't determine guilt. and a crime was committed and that he committed it. so predicated upon that, i think that -- >> okay. joey one more chance here.

joey, can you hear us? all right. we have lost joey jackson, cnn legal analyst, but the major development out on long island is that the gilgo murder suspect is charged in a fourth death and plead not guilty and they have introduced all kinds of new evidence as described by brynn gingras. and so now, more than $97 million has been raised by the bibiden campaiaign in ththis l rematch agagainst donanald trum

you have seen the numbers, but do you think that donald trump is a foregone conclusion? >> i don't know. but if it is donald trump, we have beat him before and we will do it again. >> that is kamala harris on a possible rematch. the biden campaign has raised $97 million for the re-election. and we are joined by michael of the biden reelection campaign, and do you believe that donald trump is the gop nominee or someone else? >> well, he has been polling as

the frontrunner and this is what we have been looking at as we launched the effort last year. we have laid out a clear vision for what this campaign is going to be about and that is where the sacred cause of america is going to remain with its democracy. that what we will stay focused on and what we saw in iowa is the embodiment of the threat of the democracy consolidate the power. this is a person who when he is not talking about banning abortion across the country or ripping across health care from folks who need it, he is talking about ruling as a dictator from day one and those are the stakes and we are confident as we head into the race that we will have the resources necessary, and the message necessary to defeat donald trump, and we are going do our jobs from now through election day. >> you just laid out what you think that donald trump stands for, and what does it tell you that more than 51% of the iowa voters, republican caucusgoers supported that?

>> well, listen, i think that it speaks to the fact that donald trump has fully defined what maga extremism means when it relates to the republican party, and he has made no bones of what it is going to be as he is going to do if he regains power. the stakes are clear for the american people, and the thing about this election and race is that every time maga extremism has been on the ballot box in 2022 and 2023, it has failed because of what people have seen from him. >> and if that is true, is donald trump the candidate that you want to take on? >> well, there is very little distance between any of the candidates and they are all talking about -- >> go ahead, because i have heard that from other biden officials as well, and does it undermine your argument that there is little difference, because on one hand, you are

talking about how donald trump is a threat to democracy and saying that he wants to be a dictator and paint him as this unique outlier, but on the other hand, you say there's not much difference between donald trump and nikki haley. so does that undermine the first argument? >> well, no, because everybody is doing their best to emulate the extremism in donald trump. they are running on advancing abortion bans and ripping the health care away from americans who need it, and embracing the big lie of the maga extremism, and how black folks benefitted from slavery and there is not a lot of difference of the candidates. donald trump is the frontrunner at this stage of the race, and we are confident because we have the resource, and we also have $117 million cash on hand, and that is money in the bank that we have to wage this war and to put it in perspective, maga republicans spent $100 million alone running ads in iowa. so we are more than prepared to

take on whoever emerges from the primary as it continues to play out on the other side, and they are spending money to speak to the extreme fringes of the party and not who is going to decide this election. >> we have word that asa hutchinson has suspended his campaign, so you won't have to worry about him, michael. and now, another number into the entrance poll of the caucuses in iowa. is donald trump fit for the presidency if convicted of the crime, and among the republican caucusgoers in iowa, 65% said yes, and 31% said no. my colleague kate bolduan put this number up as a rorschach test and it says more about you depending upon how you look at it. what are you seeing in the numbers? >> well, look, what you saw in the turnout was not that high in iowa and donald trump consolidate the extreme maga base in iowa. the fact of the matter is that

he is running, and they are all of these candidates are running on an agenda that is dangerous as unpopular, and the big lie. and the vast majority of the americans understand the truth of what happened in 2020 and what happened january 6th, and this is why the maga extremism continues to fail when it is presented in the ballot box and happened in 2022 and last fall and going to happen in 2024, because the american people continue to side with joe biden and his vision of america and more freedom and stands up for the democracy and continue to reject this maga extremism that wants to tear down the fabric of our democratic institutions. >> we will see as it is moving forward in the process. thank you, michael tyler. >> thank you for having me. i appreciate it. >> just days until a potential partial government shutdown, and now, we have learned that weather will keep congress from conducting any votes today, and

does that make a shutdown even more likely? to duckduckgo on all your devie

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all right. a partial government shutdown looms just days from now, and maybe it just grew more likely because of the weather. cnn congressional lauren fox is on capitol hill, and you are working today and why can't the house? >> well, they canceled the votes tonight because of the inclement weather in washington, d.c., but what is really mattering is that the senate is going to be showing up to vote tonight at 5:30, the first step to take to try to advance a short-term

spending bill to avert the government shutdown looming friday if the house and senate don't take action. this is what we are waiting to see however, even if the senate can begin the processing tonight, which is the expectation, any one senator can slow this process down, and because of 1078 some of the sen are frustrated with where the negotiations are headed, it is going to be unknown if some of the senators will try to slow walk the process, so if the senate can't move expeditiously, they could put themselves in a position where they cannot fund the government finally until sunday or monday and this is obviously a very, very short partial government shutdown and usually because the federal government does not work on the weekends the impact would not really be felt, but that is the timing issue and the timing element that is very real right now in the united states senate. meanwhile in the house of representatives, they can move more quickly, but mike johnson the house speaker is facing fire

from hardliners within his ranks who are frustrated with a few things, which is sticking with the topline spending deal to have full-year spending bills into march with chuck shumer who is not backing away from the deal, and frustrated that he is moving yet again on the short-term spending bill after saying that he did not want to process any more short-term spending bills to keep it funded. so a one-two punch here, they have to pass the bill to give negotiators more time, and even when they have more time, the top level lines have been set and the deal between chuck schumer and the speaker remains. >> thank you, lauren fox. happening now, the jury selection began moments ago in the trial to determine how much donald trump is going to have to pay in damages to e. jean carroll for comments that he made about her sexual assault

allegations.

i'm john berman in new york where the republican presidential campaign is centered at this moment. kate bolduan is in new hampshire where it is all going to be this afternoon. donald trump's first campaign stop after winning the iowa caucuses, a federal court in manhattan. the jury selection began moments ago and this a trial the determine damages after a jury

found him liable last year for sexual abuse and defamation. e. jean carroll is seeking $10 million in damages, kate. >> and here in new hampshire, we will soon find out how everything that you just mentioned, john, and much more, will resonate in new hampshire, will impact voters' views here. new hampshire is next up in the republican presidential primary. donald trump's rivals nikki haley and ron desantis are already back on the campaign trail this morning. >> we are going to work this entire week to continue what we have been doing for 11 months and we are a stone's throw away from trump, and it is going to work in new hampshire. >> despite everything that they threw at us, and everyone against us, we have our ticket punched out of iowa. >> all right. some insight on all of that and trump's mindset as he is in court ri