>> the jury has been selected and now the trial is set to begin in minutes in the e. jean carroll definition phase case. jurors are weighing how much former president trump has to pay for defaming her yet again. >> tragedy on the rio grande, three migrants drowning in the river as texas and the white house lock horns over the fight on the border. new dna evidence against the suspect in the gilgo beach killings as rex heuermann appears in court facing a fourth murder charge. we are following these major

developing stories and more coming in right here. any moment court will resume and the civil trial to decide how much, if any, it damages former president trump must pay e. jean carroll for comments he made in 2019 denying her sexual assault allegations. >> the former president is attending the trial in manhattan and it is the first time in decades that trump and his accuser, carroll , are in the same room. paul reed paula reid joins us now. the jury selection wrapped up just before the court went to break, what are we expecting? >> reporter: live updates from our colleagues in the courtroom, it appears palmer president trump is leaving the court complex. his legal team is back in court for the opening statements. these are expected to wrap

before the end of the day. earlier in the day, business at hand was whittling down dozens of possible jurors to a nine person jury. this jury will remain anonymous. that is significant because we have seen with judges, court staff, other ranchers who have worked on cases related to trump, they have faced threats. it is notable that they will remain anonymous. trump did not have to show up to jury selection. he is not required to attend, he does not have a role at this stage, this is a choice. we have seen him make this choice multiple times, he has attended oral arguments in federal court, he also attended a civil case and now he is back in federal court for this damages trial all voluntary. he is not required to attend any , but he believes there is some return on investment. the amp opportunity to amplify this narrative that he is the

victim of an unfair judicial system. we saw little bit of that earlier today. his lawyer, who is also his spokeswoman sparred with the judge over there request to try to not have court on thursday so he could attend his mother- in-law's funeral. the judge denied a similar request to push the whole trial back. the fact that this was brought up again was significant. of felt like she was making the argument in the larger court of public opinion because she knew it would likely be denied and it will feed the narrative that he is somehow not getting a fair shake. the judge has pointed out he does not need to be here and it is up to him if he wants to attend court or the funeral. >> paula reed, thank you. we understand the former president just left the courthouse. we did not see him. her with us now to discuss this is former prosecutor elliot williams. what do you make of the fact that the former president took

time out of his campaigning to be there today when he did not have to be. is there any kind of legal strategy? do you think there was grandstanding? >> it is not a legal strategy. when someone is a defendant in a criminal trial, which this is not, they have to be present in court. when you are sued in a civil suit you do not have to go to court. his attorneys could have made all the arguments and presented their case without it. the question is why is he doing it? we all know from watching him that there is a certain amount of media coverage and excitement and he can whip up supporters in the middle of the campaign season and that is probably what is going on. >> let's be clear with what is at issue and what is not. it is similar to the fraud case because he defamed her. he is liable for sexually abusing her. this is about damages and it is also about, it was 2019 --

sorry. this is about 2019 it was about 2022 before. >> there are two different buckets of defamatory statements he denies the sexual assault and also makes disparaging comments about e. jean carroll. he has been found by the jury to have committed the sexual assault and number two issued the defamatory statements. now it is a question of the damages and the severity of the impact on the victim based on the nature of the statements. defamation is making a statement that you know is untrue about someone else that hurts them. >> there was a request from e. jean carroll's legal team that there be preconditions set on the behavior of the former president. we have recently seen him going off on this monologue, this was last week during closing arguments of his civil fraud trial. are you surprised the judge did

not say what president trump could and could not do? >> i am not surprised because how reluctant judges can be to start telling judges and legal proceedings what they can and can't do and what they can and cannot say. regardless of what anyone thinks of donald trump. any participant in the legal system is entitled to free speech and speak their mind but also zealously advocate on their own behalf as a defendant. when judges start tinkering with that that is when judges get in trouble and that is when cases are overturned or reversed on appeal because they have been seen as stepping in the defendant's way. i am not surprised even though there is a public interest making sure that this very blustery defendant does not pop off again and start insulting people. >> how does the jury look at how you put a monetary value on damages? someone is the president and they say something defamatory about you, the megaphone is huge . >> if someone is the president

is a big deal. who was the speaker, who is the recipient and what is the harm? you are a public figure and you can say you do not like my necktie, it might hurt my feelings -- >> it looks great though. >> -- however if i were the owner of a necktie company and made my livelihood on that, that would hurt my reputation. if you are a public figure or columnist and a politician speaks ill of you that can harm your reputation and your ability to put things out of there. e. jean carroll make the case to the jury that i brand my name, image and likeness and it is not worth less. it is all objective, even the silly necktie argument you have to put a value on it and that's what they have to do. >> it is a great necktie. it is wonderful. >> i have had in a long time. >> thank you. donald trump may be in new

york but his supporters are braving the snow in new hampshire. they are lining up ahead of his event this evening, a campaign event. is two rivals are also flocking to the granite state. despite trump's grand slam iowa vicki victory, nikki haley is sounding as confident as ever. >> she is looking past the other candidate who topped her in iowa, second-place finisher ron desantis. earlier today governor desantis was in south carolina, he did not go to new hampshire, he said he was sharpening his attacks on haley in her home state. we have full coverage out on the campaign trail. let's start with kristin mahomes and atkinson new hampshire, that is where the former president is expected. what is the thinking behind the former presidents detour to new york for this case that we were discussing? >> reporter: this is really a campaign tactic.

it is also something donald trump is interested in. he enjoys going to legal cases and he enjoys painting himself as a victim and says this is all political persecution and election interference. you should know that they believe this is working. last week he was in and out of courtrooms, voluntarily, in between events right ahead of the iowa caucus and then he won the iowa caucus in a landslide. he has not participated in any debates but yet he still won the iowa caucus in a landslide. they believe the strategy, unconventional, is working for donald trump and it will continue to work. now in new hampshire we are looking at a different race. you can talk about the two man race with nikki haley, in some ways donald trump feels that way about the state. overall they do believe they will have challenges from ron desantis, in new hampshire it does seem to them a two-man race, particularly when you take into account the campaign

plus the super pac has spent millions of dollars attacking nikki haley on television through advertisements and hitting her for immigration policies as well as social security and medicare. they are trying to siphon away voters from her. the way they are looking at that , according to a senior advisor that i spoke to, they believe nikki haley's voters in new hampshire will be independence that lion more moderate or left leaning. they believe donald trump has a cinch on the right-leaning independence as well as the conservative bloc. they are trying to chip away at the moderate voters. they are very aware that people are coming out to vote for nikki haley just to cast a vote against donald trump. the goal is to make that number smaller than the republicans who come out to support donald trump. >> omar, you are in manchester, two candidates left behind to be the alternate.

>> starting with nikki haley, her outlook is this is a two- person race. we were with her a few hours ago and one thing she said is they are looking to have a strong finish in iowa. obviously she finished third, they would like to finish higher, clearly they felt their finish in iowa was enough to give them the momentum that at least they want heading into this state here in new hampshire . it is a different voting pool but also a critical standing, if you look at the cnn poll it showed nikki haley within single digits of former president trump. that is a threshold that no other candidate has been at in the recent few months for this presidential primary. take a listen to how she is framing this next phase of the campaign. >> he is in single digits in south carolina and in new hampshire. he is not my concern.

i am going after trump, that's what i'm saying and i am doing that, not for personal reasons, but the fact that i do not want my kids to live like this. at some point something has to give. people are tired of the division and chaos. we cannot go through four more years of chaos, we will not survive it. >> that first part she was talking about ron desantis but in the latter portion she has painted a redline saying she will not debate anymore unless former president trump is on the stage, or if she is the eventual nominee and is faced to debate joe biden. clearly, she feels she needs to put herself above the fray. the question is, will that perception actually meet up with reality? despite her polling within single digits of the former president, nothing has showed her polling ahead and that is the opportunity this next week to see if they can find enough support, even in people like chris christie who were initially in this race who

could potentially put her over the edge. we will see. >> it is going to be a long week. and a short week. not enough time these candidates would say, to get something done. >> both of you stay warm. the drownings of a woman and two children at the southern border magnify the rift over who has jurisdiction in the rio grande area. what federal officials are saying about the tragedy. more than 2000 flights have been canceled as a arctic last hits the u.s. with snow and record low temperatures. those stories and more coming up .

the biden administration said texas made it impossible for federal agents to help three migrants who drowned.

that is according to a supreme court filing. on friday a woman and two children died in the rio grande river while trying to cross into the united states from mixico. >> days earlier, state authorities blocked u.s. border officials from accessing miles of the border in that area. we are covering the story from the white house or the southern border. first, let's go to mg lay lee. >> reporter: we are seeing this protracted dispute between the federal government and the state of texas over the border and the dispute before the supreme court is really over the question on if border patrol agents have the authority and the power to cut razor wire that was put in place by the state of texas. the federal government said that these agents do have the authority and that it is necessary for them to do their jobs by including and

apprehending some of these migrants or offering them aid as necessary while the state of texas argues that these agents do not have the authority to do that and this is wire that the state put in place for the recent. the latest development is that the biden administration is saying to the supreme court that had border patrol agents had access to areas of the border that they previously had access to, they may have been able to help these three migrants that ended up drowning last week in the rio grande. this is what the solicitor general said in a new filing to the supreme court. she writes it is impossible to say what might have happened if border patrol had had its formal access to the area including through surveillance trucks and that assisted in monitoring the area. she writes at the very least, border patrol would have had the opportunity to take any available steps to fulfill its responsibilities and assist counterparts in the mexican government with undertaking the

rescue mission. texas, she said made that impossible. it goes without saying that all of this is serving as a backdrop of what we are seeing here in washington, d.c. as democrats and republicans are still stuck as they try to reach a deal on this national security supplemental. they are stuck over the issue of the border and that is why president biden, the white house says, has invited congressional leaders to come to the white house to try to hash things out. we will see what progress is made tomorrow. >> you are outside the park that was taken over by texas authorities. what are you seeing? >> let me show you around. this is the epicenter of this order battle. this is shelby park. until last week this fence was not here. this military vehicle was not here and you can see members of the texas national guard. these members guard and

determine who enters and exits the spark. this is presumably the area that border patrol was denied access. you can see beyond this fence there is more fencing that is staged, unclear where that will go. beyond that is equipment and beyond that is the rio grande. this is the overall area where authorities say the three migrants drowned and additional two migrants were in distress on friday. that is the reason why all of this has erupted. i want to show you the scale of this takeover by the state of texas. this is shelby park, but it goes on for a while downriver. you can see that there is a international bridge that crosses into mixico, this park keeps going. there are two bridges, a golf course, if you go several miles that is the extent of this takeover. according to a law enforcement source, the number of migrant

apprehensions has gone up in the past few days. on sunday it was about 1000. if you look around you do not see migrants, there are national guard members but you do not see migrants. where they coming through? that is the thing about border barriers, they do not stop it, they redirected. migrants are actually being pushed through, by smugglers, farther up river west of town in a residential area and beyond that. that is where border patrol is apprehending migrants because they do not have access to this area. i talked to a residents who voted for governor abbott and he supports many of governor abbott's policies, he says he is against this takeover. >> the best thing is to be nontransparent, it is not the best thing to irritate the people who are here and are your constituents. we are his constituents. a bunch of us here voted for him.

>> alex, the state of texas is under deadline to remove these gates and to give access to border patrol to this area. according to dhs, they sent a cease and desist letter to the texas attorney general's office giving them until wednesday. until tomorrow, for all of this to be removed and for border patrol to gain access. we will be here and let you know. >> rosa, thank you for that report. senator joe manchin speaking for the first time since former president donald trump's landslide victory in iowa. here what he told cnn about a potential third-party bid and hihis thoughtsts on plplaying s in 2024.4.

he says he is not campaigning but senator joe manchin is acting like he is. he just spoke with cnn about donald trump's historic win last night. >> chief congressional correspondent is on capitol hill you just spoke with him, what did he say? >> he said it would be extremely tough to run as a third-party candidate and win. he also told me in talking to voters it is clear there looking for an alternative to biden and trump. >> i think it is too early to tell, but once you know you have a main democrat candidate and made republican candidate,

after super tuesday that is sorted out then they will look for an alternative. >> if you gain support of those supporters who do not like donald trump wouldn't that effectively -- >> i come from conservative democrats. where are they? have they gone independent or identified as democrats? it is hard to say. >> you would peel away biden support. >> if i saw it going to one side or the other, i am very concerned. i said and i have been clear i love my country too much to ever support the vote for donald trump. it is not personal it's just what i have seen and what i have observed. on the other hand i would like to see the democratic party and our president move towards the center i think it will be

challenging staying in the left lane. >> you are hearing him suggest that he does not want to run if there is no chance of winning. there is not much time left in the calendar. it is january and we are looking at november elections. he said he does not have to worry about a primary for an independent candidate, so that is why he may have time until super tuesday to make a decision on whether to run or not. he does not want to upset the balance and effect joe biden's chances. >> republicans are very eager to take over his seat in the senate. thank you very much. with the new hampshire primary a week away, nikki haley is not the only one saying that the contest is a two-person race between her and donald trump. new hampshire's governor also agrees saying that ron desantis has given up on the granite state. >> he knows he is in single

digits, it is embarrassing. he has pulled his money and all of his people and he has given up on new hampshire that's why it is a two-person race between nikki and trump. he does not want to be completely embarrassed so he will come and do a townhall here and there, but he does not have the ground game or connection. >> joining me now is new hampshire state representative ross barry and also the state director of never back down. thank you for joining us today. governor sununu, fellow republican says ron desantis has given up. what do you think? >> he is known for a lot of things right there he told a lie he said governor desantis had not been in new hampshire in a month and he was here on december 30th. either my governor cannot count or he is not telling the truth. the governor and his team have not back down. i am confident that we were

over perform in the polls just like we did last night. >> the last polling that i saw had the former president trump at 39% and haley at 32% and governor desantis at 5%. we understand you're not part of the campaign itself. you are with the super pac. what have you heard from donors in the past 24 hours since iowa went to the caucuses yesterday? >> i do not talk to donors i talked to voters, let's talk about that pole, i know it is a cnn poll, that pole in 2012 was off by in the new hampshire primary it predicted the wrong winner by nine points. you can put up all of the polls you want, they said ron desantis would get third in iowa and he got second, he outperformed by a percent. keep putting up poles and keeping wrong and a lot of

posters will be out of work because they keep getting it wrong. >> we are not talk about the margin of error, we are talking 30 points that he is behind, well behind the two front runners. >> he was outside the margin of error in iowa. i just tell you i have been in the state for 12 years and these polls are wrong. >> i have covered the new hampshire primary before, one thing you can certainly say about iowans and people in new hampshire is that they want to see the candidates in front of them. they want to be treated with a certain measure of respect that fits their place in the primary schedule. yet, after iowa, we did not see the governor go straight to new hampshire like nikki haley, he went to south carolina, he was there earlier today. south carolina primary is not even until next month. what does that say about how he is feeling about new hampshire and what does that say to the new hampshire voters?

>> he is in new hampshire right now, he will be towed hosting a townhall in less than an hour and i believe he is going on cnn tonight in new hampshire. he will be campaigning here for the foreseeable future. you can push whatever you want, he has a 400 person rally in nikki haley's backyard and then his coming right here to new hampshire per you you want to talk about snubbing the voters, let's talk about nikki haley not doing the debate, snubbing the debate on thursday. i don't know if she will do the debate on cnn either. she will put her foot in the mouth enough to have us search ahead. >> governor haley saying she did not want to debate unless donald trump shows up. do you think desantis should join haley in pressuring trump to debate to take a unified stand together so that the voters can see the top three candidates alongside each other? >> donald trump will do what he wants to do.

ron desantis puts himself out there and nikki haley does not want to be on the debate stage because we saw how it ended. that debate by nikki haley was an absolute embarrassment. she kept dropping some weird website every 2 1/2 minutes. this has nothing to do with donald trump being on or off the stage. this has to do with when nikki haley got on the stage with ron desantis she was embarrassed by her performance. >> you mentioned our town hall tonight. what do you think desantis needs to say to new hampshire voters? what do you want to hear him say ? >> i want to hear him talk about what he did in florida and the covid lockdowns and ending those. i am a brand-new dad, i want to hear about parental rights and economic policy. i think governor desantis record in florida would matchup well with the electorate here. >> congratulations on your new child. thank you for joining us. >> and other bleak milestone

that underscores the horror unfolding in gaza, more than 10,000 children killed according to the hamas run health ministry. new evidence is suggesting israel's offensive has not yet entered it's less lethal lower intensity stage.

the humanitarian crisis in gaza is only getting worse by

the day. hamas -controlled health ministry says more than 10,000 children have now been killed since the attacks on israel and the war that sparked it on october 7th. >> the health ministry says 150 people have been killed in israeli attacks on gaza here in the last 24 hours. we should note that cnn cannot independently verify these numbers. they are relied on by many international organizations. these numbers are heartbreaking. they are hard to comprehend telus what we are learning. >> it is staggering and concerning figures that we are hearing, these are figures that we are hearing in just over 100 days since the war began. the health ministry noting over 24,000 people have said to have been killed, thousands more injured and they leave there are many people who have not

been identified because they are buried underneath the rubble and buildings that have been destroyed following israeli airstrikes. we cannot independently verify these figures. the israeli military and government said they are targeting hamas and not civilians, of course it is difficult to reconcile that intention with the death toll that we are seeing mounting day by day with the unfolding humanitarian disaster and the sheer scale of the destruction that we are seeing across the gaza strip. we have been hearing alarm balls bells sounded by numerous un agencies over that unfolding humanitarian disaster which is being characterized as a catastrophe in the gaza strip. we are hearing warnings of gossiping on the brink of famine. as we begin to see israel shifting its focus from northern gaza into southern gaza, those are alarm bells are being sounded more and more. the vast majority of goddesses 2.3 million population, the

vast majority concentrated in the southern region where they were told to evacuate to buy the israeli military. that southern region is a key gateway for eight. we have been hearing calls from aid agencies calling for the access, for more trucks to get in to deliver more aid. the vast majority of the hospitals are completely in operational. we are hearing concerning stories from medical officials medical procedures, amputations been carried out without antiseptic, the humanitarian situation seems to be growing more dire by the day. >> thank you for that report. we will be right back.

>> a long island man accused of killing three women in the gilgo beach murders is now accused with a fourth. rest rex heuermann pleaded not guilty to killing her. remains are discovered on long island in 2010, she disappeared three years prior to that. >> he was awaiting trial for three murders that occurred more than a decade ago. today's indictment revealed new dna court filing of hair found on a belt buckle link him to the fourth victim. >> today for the first time we hear about nuclear dna we will look into that. we will certainly look into the lab reports, lab testing and the transfer of evidence. it is somewhat disturbing to learn for the first time after 13 years that we now have nuclear dna testing. >> candace delong is a former

fbi profiler and host >> well, he is going to have quite a time to get that discounted. it is dna technology, especially as it is being used in solving crimes. moving very rapidly and improving all the time. >> basically what this means is he did it. what would his dna be doing on her belt buckle when the remains were found? >> today we learned about new digital evidence in this case. the suspect did extensive

online searches on their victims and family members. according to the statement, he searched the status of the investigations into those murders. he also conducted google searches on serial killers and serial killer investigations. would that be considered circumstantial evidence that help prosecutors make their case against the suspect? >> it depends on exactly what the content is. is it circumstantial evidence? yes. however, it is not something that would put an individual on death row. lots of people research serial killers because they are curious. in his case, now he has been linked to four murdered women. so what is the problem. that is not unusual whether it is a serial killer or anyone who has committed a murder and has not been caught two follow

the news about it. there have been infamous killers and newspapers were found under their pillow about the crime they had committed. they are curious. >> listen, if there is enough circumstantial evidence, it is hard to dismiss, right? he had software that he was using to try to scrub the data trail. both his wife and daughter were out of town when this murder occurred. we had known before that his wife was out of town when other murders had occurred. that was actually a big tip off for police. how convincing is that to a jury, do you think? >> well, for me as an investigator, it is interesting. i know that when they searched his home, it took two weeks which tells me they were

looking in walls, fireplaces because there is a possibility his wife was gone when he did this. he brought his victims to his home, quite possibly. if there is a mountain of circumstantial evidence, many people have been convicted on only that but it has to be a lot. >> plus, with the dna, as you said, it's going to be an uphill battle. candace delong, thank you so much for being with us this afternoon. >> thank you for having me. and we will be right back.

i think he's having a midlife crisis i'm not. you got us t-mobile home internet lite. after a week of streaming they knocked us down... ...to dial up speeds. like from the 90s. great times. all i can do say is that my life is pre-- i like watching the puddles gather rain. -hey, your mom and i procreated to that song. oh, ew! i think you've said enough. why don't we just switch to xfinity like everyone else? then you would know what year it was. i know what year it is.

with the new hampshire primary now just less than a week away, nikki haley might need to explain this one. in an interview with fox news, nikki haley was asked whether the republican party was a racist party, take a listen. >> we are not a racist country. we have never been a racist country. our goal is to make sure today is better than yesterday. are we perfect? no. our goal is to always make sure we try to be more perfect in everyday that we can. i know, i faced racism when i was going up i can tell you today is a lot better than it was then. our goal is to lift up everybody. not go and divide people on race, gender, party, or anything else. we have had engh of that in america. >> nikki haley has recently faced blowback from another comment that she made when she was asked about the cause of the civil war and she did not cite slavery. she later cleaned that up. as i suspect we might see her

doing with this one. former congressman walsh. it was interesting for her to say she had faced racism herself. i almost wonder if she called herself about how bad it might be what she said. >> i don't think she did. the bottom line is nikki haley is afraid. that was a scared answer. that was a fearful answer. she is afraid to tell republican voters the truth. this is what got her in trouble a few weeks ago with the civil war answer. to say that an american has never been a racist country. slavery, our original sin. we still have aspects of systemic racism in this country. she is afraid to tell the republican base the truth. she does not deserve to beat trump like that and she certainly cannot beat trump if she is afraid to tell

republican voters the truth. >> trump does get away with mistakes like this. what efforts do you think she's going to make to try to clean this up? what kind of implications are there going to be for? >> alex, you make a great point. trump gets away with this stuff because he is a leader of a colt and he can do no wrong. if every other republican candidate thinks they can be that way, they can't. nikki haley can never out cruel donald trump. she can't. she cannot beat donald trump. she will try to walk back the best she can but it will not matter. she is a fearful politician and she's never going to win the republican primary. >> joe walsh, thank you so much for being with us. we appreciate it. we will have to see. this is what she said this morning. we will have to see how she deals with it. and