our morning moment. four college students rescued at the right moment. they were catching east of lexington, kentucky when a winter storm stranded them in the red river gorge. and they woke up to find the area covered in snow. they realized it was not safe to climb down. >> and so a helicopter had to land on top of the rock. >> anytime we have to hike into rescue, it is difficult. but when it was 15 degrees and snowing, it ups the ante a lot more. i'm assuming they probably learned a very rvaluable lesson in camping in the winter month

ps. >> thankfully all were rescued successfully. and trump's motorcade has left trump tower here in new york city for the courthouse where he will be in the courtroom for e. jean carroll's defamation case. "cnn news central" picks up now. any moment now, donald trump will be back in a federal court as the woman who has won a sexual abuse civil suit against him is about to take the stand. >> new hampshire, oh, new hampshire, a state where dreams run threw free and candidates run scared. the new moves ron desantis and nikki haley are pulling to try to extend their campaigns. and an ohio woman is demanding an investigation because she said a mistaken police raid injured her little boy. i'm kate bolduan with john berman. this is "cnn news central."

very soon e. jean carroll will face the man she says unleashed his followers on her after she said he sexually assaulted her. carroll will be testifying today as donald trump is sitting in the courtroom and also donald trump then will be also sitting before a jury who are tasked with determining how much money if any he will have to pay. the former president just left trump tower minutes ago ghoed i heading to the courthouse. and he could also testify sometime this week. tbd on that. during opening statements yesterday, carroll's attorneys said that trump used world's biggest mooic mike rmicrophone destroy her reputation and continues do so.

she says he is still posting about carroll on social media. but trump's lawyer quickly reminded the jury this case is only about two statements trump made in 2019. kara scannell is following all of this for us from the federal court in new york. what are we expecting to happen today? >> reporter: today e. jean carroll will take the stand and she will be squaring off in court with donald trump sitting there listening to her testimony. the judge made it clear this is not a do-over of the sexual abuse and rape that occurred in 2006, but carroll can tell her story and say what happened to her after trump made the statements in 2019 denying that he raped her saying she wasn't his type and that she made up the allegations to sell her book. so we expect carroll will testify about how she was scared, how trump's followers latched on will his message and bombarded her with hate filled email, mean tweets and threats

that she says has caused her to sleep with a gun beside her bed. so carol oik expected to set the scene of what the impact of those statements for those kinds of messages that they haved. she will be -- as they say, on the witness stand telling her story to the jury. but while donald trump will be at the defense table facing her in the courtroom. so that will clearly lead to some extra dynamics that we did not see last year adding to the intensity of the moment. and then trump's lawyers will have the opportunity to cross-examine carroll. their defense is made clear yesterday that carroll wasn't harmed. they will argue that her career actually prospered as a result of the notoriety and fame that she received from making these allegations against the former president. and they are trying to distance trump from his followers saying he shouldn't be held responsible for the mean tweets as they put it that she received. but clearly going to be a fairly tense moment today, potentially an emotional moment in this courtroom playing out with

donald trump facing e. jean carroll as she tells her story, the fear she says she has faced and the first time this week that they are seeing each other in decades. >> car arekara scannell, thank much. >> with us now, paula reid and also elie honig. and let me read what the judge told the parties yesterday to set the stage here. told the jury too. for the purposes of this trial, it has been determined already that mr. trump did sexual assault ms. carroll. that he knew when he made the statements about ms. carroll that the statements were false, that he made them with reckless disregard to whether they were true or false. it has already been determined. that is the legal backdrop to this, there is a campaign b backdrop to this, but e. jean skarl oig carroll is taking the stand with the man she says sexually assaulted her sitting feet away.

>> and the judge summarizing the findings of the trial that occurred last spring, that the former president did not participate in at all. soe so he says the verdict carries over and so they are just focused on damages. but you're right, let's talk about this moment for e. jean carroll. she testified back in the spring because trump wasn't in the courtroom. and here months later after a jury found that he sexually abused her, she will talk about the impact all of this has had on her life, on her career. and he is going to be just a few feet away. yesterday was the first time they had been together in the same room in decades. for any survivor of sexual abuse, sexual assault, this is incredibly stressful, emotional for some. i've seen in? cases i some cases it can be cathartic. >> and elie honig, let continue

this discussion. she will be cross-examined by donald trump's attorneys. how do you think that they will approach this with e. jean carroll? >> donald trump's attorneys made clear yesterday that they won't step gingerly around her, they will go right after, they will try to undercut her claim of damages. and important to keep in mind today is all about damages. how much and what amount has e. jean carroll suffered financially. and donald trump's team will argue that not only did she not suffer economically, but she actually benefited. is this a pretty audacious defense. it could backfire, it could offend the jury. keep in mind the jury is just nine regular new york civil januarys. but they will go after and i think on the cross-examination you will see them putting her tv appearances in front of her, her book deal in front of her, arguing this has raised her profile. if anything, you profited economically and therefore there are into dno damages and a toug

question that the jury will weigh. >> where could the attorneys go that would get them in trouble with the judge? >> so anywhere outside the boundaries of damages. the judge here lewis caplan, i've appeared in front of him, and he likes to run a very tight ship. he is in troflt courtroom. and as paula said, the judge made clear we are not relitigating the issue of whether donald trump sexually assaulted e. jean carroll. prior jury found that. it carries over. we're not relitigating the question about whether donald trump's statements about e. jean carroll were defamatory. we are only focused on damages. and i think what the judge is going do is shut down immediately any line of questioning or any line of testimony that goes outside of those very narrow bounds. >> and you talk about narrow boundaries, it gets to the issue of whether donald trump will testify. his attorneys say that i may. what are we expect something. >> it is hard to really say if

he will. in any other case, he doesn't have much to offer here. this is about damages. but as we saw in the civil case in new york, did he avail himself of the opportunity to address the court and completely ignored all of the guidelines that the judge had set out. he spoke the louder message that he is the victim of a rigged system. so will he testify? that is up to him and his lawyers to balance do we want to have potentially a trial loss here, antagonize the judge, make not make a great impression in front of the jury, to getting across our political message. he has done that in the past. let's see how things go the next few days because it is possible, but again legally, there doesn't seem to be a lot of need, a lot of risk, little reward. but the way he calculates the political and legal risks are different from anyone else on the planet. >> thank you.

don't go far. and much more to come on that. also deadline day in maine in trufrnl fu trump's fight to keep his name on the presidential ballot. will the supreme court side with trump or the secretary of state. and katelyn polantz is following this for us. what could happen today? >> reporter: we're going to hear at least from a judge in maine today because that is when the deadline is for the courts to weigh in. so previously there was a decision at the state administrative level that donald trump should not be on the ballot there. and this is the process now where the courts get to review that, donald trump gets to challenge it. of course a lot of it is on hold because the supreme court will be weighing in, the u.s. supreme court weighing in related to maine and colorado.

but as we are waiting for the u.s. supreme court to act, things do get to have more procedures in the states like in maine where the superior court will make a determination if trump can be on the ballot there and then there are other courts in maine that can do that as well. separately, there are boards in other states that are meeting including this illinois this morning where there is a board kicking off a process to look at a challenge to donald trump on the ballot. there will also be a meeting similar to that in massachusetts happening tomorrow. so all of these states will be figuring out what do. but all eyes should really be on february 8 which is when the u.s. supreme court hears oral arguments and we'll get more of an inkling of what the nine justices on that court are thinking and how much they believe the u.s. supreme court should or could make a determination about what the individual states do. if states like maine and

colorado can indeed decide to keep trump off their primary ballots. >> thank you so much. and new reporting from new hampshire on what nikki haley plans to pull off what would be a major up state in the granite state sgh state. and big meeting at the white house, aid to ukraine hanging in the balance. and body camera video released of police using flash bangs during a home raid with a baby on a ventilator inside the house.

new reporting on where things stand in new hampshire. all three republican candidates have events there today. and for nikki haley and ron desantis, so much of what they

are doing today is about trying to mike sure that there is a political tomorrow. after the primary next tuesday. omar jimenez is joining us from hampton beach in coastal new hampshire this morning. what are you doing there, omar? it is not a beach day. >> reporter: look, i wanted to just be on the beach and this wasn't really what i had in mind. but, you know, look, a beach is a beach. find your beach. look, at the end of the day, paradise all the candidates are looking for is winning this state. we're less than seven days out to the primary. and all the candidates have events throughout the day. but really for haley and desantis, it is trying to cut into what has essentially been trump dominance up to this point. now, when you look at the polls, nikki haley has the best chance in this state to at least pose a serious challenge to the former president. a lot of moderates in the state also undeclared or independent voters as they are known here

can vote as well. and she has polled swrel with t vel with that demographic particularly with moderate republicans. but this is still a steep hill to climb. and even with polls showinger within single digits of the formered from, no poll has shown her ahead of the former president. that said, nikki haley has been a little bit of a controversy. but really over the fact of how she responded to whether america has had racism in the past and whether takes racist country. just take a loons to her commcomlisten to her comments and also desantis as well. >> we're not a racist country. we've never babeen a racist country. our goal is to make sure today is better than yesterday. >> the u.s. is not a racist country. we've overcome things. the founding fathers established principles that are universal. i think they understood what they were doing.

>> reporter: now, the nikki haley campaign doubled down on some of those comments saying that, yes, americans have problems with racism in the past or that america is not a racist country. allies have doubled down on that and her came paign is calling ia nonissue. but let's be clear, there were periods where racism was written into the fundamentals of this country. whether that matters to the meemding to the polls in a few day, we'll see if that has any sort of he impact. but regardless, this is the environment we're in where every marginal thing could change the mind of a potentially valuable voter here in the state. and when you look at someone like former president trump, he has been attacking nikki haley a little bit more and leading some to believe that it is because he sees her as a legitimate threat here which would pair up with what nikki haley has been framing things as which is essentially a two person race.

but of course anything can happen. >> omar jimenez on hampton beach, it would be awesome of one of the candidates showed up for a polar plunge there today. thank you so much, omar. >> did you use the word awesome? >> a new hampshire word. wicked awesome. >> oh, no. joining us now for more, john avlon. and also errol lewis host of the you decide podcast. let's start with what omar was ending with. what do you think of the statement and the cleanup from nikki haley and also what you heard from ron desantis, what does it say about where the campaigns are? >> what it says about the campaigns is that they are a part of a long tradition and unfortunate tradition of using

evasion and euphemism and frankly imaginary facts to try to make a certain kind of american feel okay but a really ugly past that they would not mention if they can get away with it. so you have this odd sort of side talk. it runs contrary frankly to nikki haley's own family history. her father was a ph.d. in biology. and could only find a job at a place called voorhees college in south carolina, historically black college. only place that they would hire hill. her mother was trained in law in india, but ended up starting a closing shop in south care carry because other professional opportunities were not available to her. so they will do what they think they have to do to try to at the time votes in this national kind of digital campaign era when the rest of us are watching, it can sound really odd if you are not

from the south when people go into almost kind of a second language to try to step around really delicate issues that they would rather not face. >> tim scott spoke in july, he had said i do not think our nation is racist, but then says that our nation -- but we cannot -- we should also not white wash the history. our nation's history is provocative and painful on the issue of race, but progress is palpable. is this a problem for any of them in the primary? do you see that at all as this moves forward and we're racing now into the primary next week? >> that's right. look, i think that this is the downstream effect of the politicization of history of the iz logical imposition of history where sometimes on the left they

overstate our sins and folks on the right try to pretend that there was not sin of racism. i think toim scim scott was elo in that statement. and, a cd candidate of extraordinary change. i think nikki haley misspoke. and i think if you look at the way the other candidates in the race have attacked american history from some of desantis' positions in florida to donald trump's completed misappropriate race and assault on history, what is clear, we need civic education in this country badly. we need to get smarter and remember that elections are about the future and we should be talking about the implications of the future for these very different candidates, not just the trip wires that have synoptic echos. >> one person saying we need to stop looking at the past and look toward the future is nikki

haley. that is her message now as she has hit the ground in new hampshire. and in terms of looking in the past, she is tying db and donald tr trump -- joe biden and touchdown together in terms of looking back. with her message starting really right tenat the end of iowa, beginning of new hampshire, what do the candidates need to do in these days, this less than a week now before new hampshire voters go to the polls? >> they need to make a general election message frankly that appeals to independents and moderates. new hampshire is a more representative slice of the electorate from the iowa caucus. 3.5% of the toltal population turned out. here you have independents, moderates. so this is a better test but it stands on the turnout.

the far right can hijack the process. but this is testing time for nikki haley and her vision of the republican party. if this doesn't succeed in new hampshire, that we sort of reagan tradition of the republican party is toast. >> seems that that is one big test, not just for nikki haley, but for that entire kind of like that part of the republican party really being tested with this new hampshire. >> 100%. >> and ron desantis fighting to survive. abc has canceled the debate that was supposed to be held this week? yes, this week. after nikki haley basically said that it is not worth debating desantis anymore. and then you have this comment from donald trump while in new hampshire. let me play it. >> ron desanctimonious, did he go down like a rock. i don't even want to talk about him because i don't want to waste it. i want to talk about nikki because this perception. >> not being talked about. essentially also said another

way is starting to be ignored. is that worse than being the focus of negative attacks? >> well, sure. i mean, look, ron desantis is on a one way trip back to tallahassee. that has been clear for a while now. he cropdropped in the polls. the millions that he spent and the theory that he had about how he was going to win iowa and turn everything around, it did nts play didn't play out the wa he had hoped. so let's find a state where he can win. it won't be new hampshire where is he third or worse. it won't be nevada. definitely not going to be south carolina. so where do you see ron desantis getting back into play? it won't happen. >> and a lot of questions that will soon be answered. good to see you both. and big white house meeting

in a few hours. president biden and congressional leaders respect is this the last chance for new aid to ukraine? also we're just getting breaking news out of london. kate middleton, princess of wales, is in the hospital after undergone abdominal surgery. she could be in the hospital for up to two weeks. to duckduckgo on all your devie

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breaking news coming out of kensington palace. kate middleton is in the hospital after undergone abdominal surgery. max foster has more on this as we're just really starting to get more details in.

how is she doing? >> she's in hospital. abdominal surgery as you say. she's expected to be in hospital for up to two weeks and she will have to recover or recuperate for two to three months. so it has taken -- expected to take a toll on her. a source says that it is noncancerous and a huge amount interested in this. and they are not going to give us any big updates unless there is something significant to announce. they want everyone to respect their privacy. but i can tell you that the media is already gathering outside the hospital down the road here in london and a huge amount of interest of course. only times that i can think she's been in hospital before was when she had her three children. she's a very healthy and fit person. but when i've seen her out and about recently, she's looked well. so we'll have to wait and see what other updates we get.

>> just as we all know, anything relating to an dom bdominal sur can be serious and painful. we won't jump to any conclusions about what it could be, but did emphasize this was a planned surgery? >> yes, indeed. they say it is noncancerous and as you know, the abdominal surgery as you suggested, it does have to go through the layers in the muscles and it does take a long time to recover. so they are looking at two to three months of recuperation and they have actually canceled all future travel for now until they know both for kate the princess but also for prince william as well. she will be able to go back to their home in windsor to go

through the recuperation because that is their main base while the children are at school nearby. >> we're so hsorry to hear it ad hopefully she recovers well. thank you so much, max. >> two to three months of recoup lags is a long time. so it will be interesting to see if get more details. in a few hours president biden will hold a key meeting at the white house with congressional leaders. aid to ukraine is in serious jeopardy. this comes as mike johnson has indicated that he will not pass any immigration deal even if the senate reaches a bipartisan agreement. with us now, arrlette saenz and lawyer fox. talk to us about what we expect. >> reporter: the main mission is to try to convince to lawmakers the urgency of passing additional aid for ukraine which is currently tied up over talks

relating to the u.s. southern border. the president will host top four congressional releaders, includg mike johnson. and the president will be making the case to the islamic lawmakers that in in inaction wd severely hamper the war-torn country on the battlefield. this comes as the administration has been warning for months that they are running out of fund, running out of aid that they could provide to ukraine with that last batch provided on says 27. and it is coming as the war between russia and ukraine is approaching the two year mark. just yesterday national security adviser jake sullivan met with ukrainian president zelenskyy and he expressed confidence that the u.s. would be able to get additional aid for ukraine passed. saying that after all the twists and turns, he is confident that they will finally reach there. but the reality is that it is

entirely unclear whether the aid will be passed as it is bogged down in the talks of border policy negotiations. senate negotiations ongoing, but conservatives in the house specifically have really been exp stressing they want stricter changes made. and so the president's task and mission today will be in trying to stress the urgent receive getting the additional aid for ukraine especially as russia continues their assaults. >> and so lauren, separate from that, you know, congressional officials are fighting over this government shutdown which is just a few days away. have they made any progress to overt it? >> reporter: the senate has taken its first steps to try to overt that shutdown. and you heard yesterday from the republican whip john thune that he was very confident that they could move very quickly in the senate. expectation is that the house could take it up once the senate passes it and also pass it very quickly through the house of

representatives. the bigger task ahead though is how mike johnson navigates the next month. if they get into march, then they have to come up with an agreement on the full year spending bills. and while an agreement has been struck with chuck schumer over the top line spending number, the reality is that there is a lot of details that you still have to iron out and johnson will be under immense pressure from the hardliners within his conference to try to get policy wins in those discussions. you have some hardliners who are pressing him to once again inject the border security. and that has bogged down the process and added to a sense that perhaps more aid for ukraine will not be coming from congressen about so that is part of the battle ahead. so while the expectation is that they could move fairly quickly,

the bigger fight happening in march. >> quickly a relative term on capitol hill. thanks to you both. coming up for us, iran launches new missile strikes. more details coming in about this and dangerous situation still unfolding. and also new details about the plea agreement for the gunman responsible for the massacre at club q in colorado. we'll be right back.

this morning u.s. secretary of state antony blinken said that iran is isolated after deadly missile strikes in syria, a pair of strikes in syria.

we've seen strikes in the northern iraq and also in pakistan as well. again, this is all from iran. several people injured when iran fired drones in to pakistani territory yesterday. iran insisted that it was targeting terrorists there, but pakistan recalled its ambassador and suspended all high level visits. with me now, mark hertling. thank you for being with you. this is not through proxies, this is not hezbollah or the houthis. this is iran conducting airstrikes now on a range of targets. what do you see happening here? >> well, certainly i would suggest iran is getting much bolder. to have them actually conduct the attacks as opposed to their proxies, i think that it is certainly a reaction to what has happened in the houthis, the conflict between the east and

the west especially the united states, massive attack that was conducted against yemen by the united states last week. as well as what they see as sunni attacks inside iran. remember the explosion that happened just a little over a week ago inside iran which which directly attributed to isis. so they are striking out and hitting what they believe are sunni terrorist targets in both damascus, syria, iraq and as well as pakistan which is fascinating to me. >> as you look at this, general, is this expression of iranian power, is this them flexing and trying to show strength or does it show fear and vulnerability? >> i think a little bit of both. and what we also have to consider is they are trying to stir a very intense caldron of dynamics within the middle east,

trying to be the regional most powerful. but you are right, it does show a little bit of fear. when they talked inside of erbil the other day, i believe that they were attempting to kind of sow disruption within the iraqi government. having spent a little bit of time in northern iraq, i know you are can addition regional government and iraqi central government don't always see eye to eye. so the fact that some of the kurdish members of the government said we have got to warn iran to stop doing those kind of things and then iran goes ahead and attacks in pakistan which also is a dysfunctional government and also have enemies with india. so what you are seeing is an increasing tension across the middle east, something that i believe iran is continuing to disturb.

they use just do it with proxies, but thousand engaging themselves and again i believe it reflects how kneel that they can be bolder with some of the on in the middle east especially in gaza. >> and again, the least one of the strikes in syria and the strikes in pakistan don't have anything really do with the united states either. you see as -- you know, iran posturing against the u.s. certainly with the houthis and yemen down here, but the strikes in pakistan and syria, the u.s. no involvement whatsoever. >> true. the problem is it sows more tension throughout the entire region and contributes to what we're seeing as some dysfunction within the middle east across the board, with a lot of houthis, the pmfs in iran, iraq and damascus as well as in lebanon. all of these are coming together and i think iran is stirring the

pot to cause more trouble for the west. >> you sell yourself short. you said more than a little time in rag. iraq. we appreciate your expertise. coming up, new video released of a police raid that mother says injured her baby who was on a ventilator at the time. and now there are calls for an investigation. we'll be right back.

this morning a plea deal for the person who killed five people at an lbgtq night club in colorado in november of 2022. the killer will plead guilty to 74 counts of federal hate crimes and gun charges, but will not face the death penalty. veteran republican senator chuck grassley, who is 90s, is in the hospital in iowa, his home state, treated for an infection. grassley's office says he is receiving antibiotic infusions but is in good spirits and plans to return to work as soon as doctors give him the okay. new audio of the 911 call requesting an ambulance to defense secretary lloyd austin's home on new year's day.

>> can i ask, can the ambulance not show up with lights and sirens. we're trying to remain a little subtle. >> yeah. i understand. yeah. usually when they turn into a residential neighborhood they'll turn them off. is he reporting chest pain? >> no. >> did he pass out or feel like he's going to pass out? >> no. >> he's awake, alert and oriented? he's not confused or anything like that? >> correct. >> president biden's white house and congress were not notified of austin's hospitalization at walter reed or that austin had undergone treatment for prostate cancer until days later. police in ohio released new body cam footage showing officers raiding a home. inside is a mother and 17 month old baby on a ventilator at the

time. the town's mayor is calling for an investigation of the incident. you may find it difficult to watch. >> police, search warrant. >> coming down the stairs. >> you're good. >> come to the door. your hands up. >> okay. >> i'm the only one here. >> you're good. come down to us. >> okay. >> come outside. >> on a ventilator. >> all right. >> the baby not going to be able to move it. >> cnn's athena jones following this for us. what happened here? >> well, look, you can see that this young mother was certainly very, very start told have this many police officers arriving on the scene of this house within just a few seconds, they deployed the flash bangs, rammed the door in. here's more of what she told our cnn affiliate.

>> all i seen was lights flashing and smoke coming into the house. i didn't know what to do because there was guns pointed at me. i wanted to run to him but if i ran to him they could have shot. they drug me out of the house an put me in handcuffs. my baby is on a ventilator. my baby is in here. >> this mother goes on to say her child was harmed by the use of these flash bangs. she said her son had been diagnosed with chemical new manitis a form of lung irritation because of the raid and the condition caused by inhaling chemicals released by the flash bangs. the child had to be hospitalized. we now know in a statement from the elyria police department they're responding saying this child couldn't have been harmed by these flash bangs. this is what they say. any allegation suggesting the child was exposed to chemical agents, lack of medical attention or negligence is not true. now a statement from the mayor, the mayor's office, is who released the body cam footage

that we have had access to. mayor brew baker said while the foo footage captured what did and did not occur, it does not answer questions what led to the warrant itself. he had the lorraine sheriff's dep department to investigate this. they may not want to comment until the sheriff's investigation is carried out. unclear what status of the child is or really why it was necessary to deploy this sort of force in carrying out this raid. we know from the police this is part of an ongoing investigation into multiple stolen guns and that at a separate residence, a separate warrant, there were two juveniles arrested, three guns found, but the person that they were looking for at this home, according to the aunt of this young woman, hadn't lived there for more than a year. we'll find out more as the investigation is carried out. >> absolutely. athena jones, thank you so much.

john? happening now, donald trump in a new york courtroom where we could very well see the return of the "access hollywood" tape as key evidence later today. to duckduckgo on all your devie

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all right. any moment now we expect the woman who won a defamation case against donald trump about sexual abuse, she is to take the stand with donald trump sitting just feet away. we're getting new details from inside the courtroom. and it is all about new hampshire and donald trump is, as john said, back in new york. trump, haley, desantis, sharpening their attacks with so much on the line. >> breaking news this morning out of london, the princess of wales, kate middleton, she is in the hospital after abdominal surgery. we are told she will be there for two weeks. that's a long