forward or is this a one-time thing? >> right. critics are certainly claiming that this is going to open the door, that a lot of states are keeping an eye on alabama and that this will open the door to future deaths by nitrogen gas. so far there are three states that have approved nitrogen gas as a form of a death sentence. in 2009 we saw states struggling to get the drugs necessary for lethal injection after pharmaceutical companies denied selling that to prison. so a lot of states have been struggling to figure out how to put inmates to death. the state in this case they're saying they are ready to go and the plan here is for him to lose consciousness within seconds and die within minutes. not everyone agrees. >> no question about that. isa isabell rosales, thank you very much for the reporting and "cnn news central" starts right now. ♪ ♪

donald trump soon back on his courtroom campaign trail this morning trying to keep people guessing will he or won't he testify, but should he? so an historic trial asked a question can a parent be found guilty after their child commits a heinous crime? opening statements just minutes away. after a botched execution two years ago an alabama inmate will be put to death in just hours. why a new method never used before in the united states, the ethical concern that it's now raising. i'm sara sidner with kate bolduan and john berman. this is "cnn news central." ♪ ♪ right now, donald trump is on the campaign trail and on his way to a new york courtroom. we are now waiting for him to

arrive at the manhattan federal courthouse for the next day of his civil defamation trial and this is the case brought by e. jean carroll. trump has been liable for defaming her and sexually abusing her. today donald trump may take the stand all in an effort to convince a jury to not make him pay more money and damages and also in reality an effort to make his legal problems a pillar of his presidential campaign strategy. cnn's kara scannell is outside the courthouse for us. to remind everyone, this trial has been delayed a couple of times. what's going to happen once it resumes? >> kate, this will be the first time the jury has heard testimony in this case in about a week and as it is, they've only heard two days of testimony, but we are in the homestretch of this trial with e. jean carroll's team expecting to put on their final witness and that's the former editor at "elle" magazine. she will be testifying for e.

jean carroll and carroll will introduce a donald trump deposition and making these denials and repeating these denials that carroll has accused him of and confusing her for his second wife marla maples in a photo and trump has said he doesn't know who e. jean carroll is and she's not his type as the carroll team rests their case and then the question is does donald trump take the stand. he is likely to be the only witness that this team calls if they do call him. he wants to testify. the judge has said because this case is not about the defamation or the sexual abuse, it is only about damages and harm, his testimony will be limited. he will not be able to deny raping carroll. he won't be able to say she lied or to boost sales of her book and it will be narrowly constrained about what he is allowed to say on the witness stand. donald trump does not always abide by those rules and we saw that in the civil fraud trial just several weeks ago turn more

into campaign rhetoric than it did the actual substance of the trial. this would be the tension in the room if trump does take the stand. he's clashed with the judge who threatened to throw him out of book because he's talked loudly to his lawyers saying witch hunt and this was a fraud. it will certainly be a moment if he takes the stand. does she stick to what the questions are? does he go beyond that and how does the judge handle this in this case? unlike the fraud case there is a jury here and it is important to what the jury is allowed to hear and what they are not allowed to hear in this case. carroll is asking $10 million in damages. when she came up with her allegations, the harm that she faced was not necessarily related to trump's statements and they're trying to walk that line. kate? >> it's all going to start back up very shortly, kara, thank you so much. the difference between the civil fraud trial is that there is a

jury right there in the courtroom and that's the big difference. >> it's a huge difference and donald trump says he wants to testify and when he says that, though, sometimes he follows through and sometimes he doesn't. we'll have to wait and see what that decision is. we'll have the answer shortly, what is the current thinking from inside trump world. let's get right to kristen hoe holmes who may have a sense. what are they thinking? >> you're exactly rid. look, it's 100% possible that he could take the stand, but just a reminder that despite how f fixated he is on this that he wants to defend himself and this is not the first time he's been in the courtroom with the e. jean carroll and he was convinced by his lawyers not to testify and despite the fact that he wanted to in that case, as well. part of all of this is a strategy to suck all of the oxygen out of the 2024 race as he's running against nikki

haley. will he or won't he helps him control the meaddia narrative. i want to talk about the actual campaign and where his head is well and they are planning to go scorched earth on nikki haley in south carolina. i am told by a number of advisors that they feel really good and he has a 30+ lead in the polls. they still want to go after her. south carolina lawmakers who have backed donald trump and i will tell you that it is seemingly that more and more republicans are circling the wagon around donald trump. john, i just got the numbers from the super pac that is backing donald trump on what they raised the second half of the year versus the first half of the year. they more than tripled their number of donations between the first half and the second half. meaning there was $46 million in the last six months of the year compared to $13 million in the

first half. so it's not just these endorsements and it's also the money coming and and the team was eager to see. >> people want to put their money on the team that might be winning. >> it's not the campaign or the courtroom, he's been using this courtroom very much as a campaign. sara? >> all right. with us now senior legal analyst ellie honig and chief legal affairs correspondent paula reid. so you, looking at this case, is his attendance at the civil trial affected if he testifies? what are you seeing here? >> what's interesting is watching voters in new hampshire, every time the case came up, it was clear to me they were swayed by the idea that he was the victim of an unfair system. he does have a risk, right? there's a risk he could get in trouble and pulled out of court

and for him that serves the larger cause which is trying to drum up drama which you have to work to manufacture things here and no big constitutional question and no dispute about facts about what happened in the '90s in the department store and it's about damages and he opted not to participate in the dtria. they are acting upset that they are not -- that they have to follow the rules of the court and so the lawyers are for him not being disruptive. so this would give him the opportunity on the stand to likely spar with the judge who will not allow him to veer outside the parameters that he has set. they're not going to re-litigate what happened at the department store or deaf mfamation. for him, will he take the stand and continue this? what i heard from voters in new hampshire is yeah, this seems to be working for you. as a lawyer, i'm sural allie

feels the same way, and yeah. it is effective. they decided, okay fine. if you were to put on, which i know you haven't done, the defense hat, would not you be happy that your client would be testifying? >> absolutely not. he has the right to testify to be sure, but paula is right. strategically speaking, there is no reason on earth for donald trump to take the stand today. the issue of did he sexually assault e. jean carroll has been decided. not in play. the issue of did donald trump defame e. jean carroll? already not in play. what information could donald trump have about e. jean carroll's damages? so if donald trump takes the stand today, do not expect it to last long because he's going to veer outside those line real quick and this judge is going to shut it down real quick and if donald trump's goal here is to

be shut down and made into a martyr he's got the right judge because judge kaplan will not allow donald trump to do what he did in the new york civil fraud trial and this could be over very quick. donald trump's motor cade has made it to court so the drama will begin shortly. procedurally, how will this go? and do you have some sense how quick three this might be decided? >> i'm expecting it should wrap up in the next two days because we were caught by surprise on monday when there was a sick juror. should things go as we expect, e. jean carroll has one more witness to put on and then the question is what kind of case does the trump side put on? we expect he will be the only witness if he takes the stand. i agree with ellie that this would likely be over pretty quickly because the idea, right? that he will not stay in the parameters and he doesn't have much to offer and it's about drumming up drama and you have closing statements and the jury

instructions and then it goes to the jury. when they covered this trial in the spring when they were dealing with more questions including allegations of sexual abuse, defamation and damages, it only took the jury three hours to come back. this time we're only dealing with damages and we would expect that they would come back pretty quickly. i think we should be done with this by tomorrow. >> that is quick, but not unusual in a case like this. there is a preponderance of evidence in the trial. ellie, we have been seeing a rant by donald trump in the midnight hours he went crazy over this case. >> shocked. >> could a judge use this or could a jury yies this? >> most importantly the jury can use this. the judge has ruled that all of these statements that donald trump has been making over the last few weeks, e. jean carroll's team essentially opened their case by saying look at what he's done since 2019. the court in this case relates that the statements donald trump made in 2019. >> right, but anything donald

trump says is fair game. it can be used by the jury and the judge. look, he's going down this path of almost self-destruction when it comes to the statements about e. jean carroll. the agenda is much more political than legal. >> he wants to be a martyr, that is the goal. legally, we see it one way for anyone else, but for him it's about finding a way to paint yourself as a victim and the primary way to do that here is don't follow the rules that all of us would be subject to. >> this is federal court and you're not getting the drama and you're hearing it reported, but the one thing that you mentioned that i thought is possible that if he gets kicked out of court that will be a moment that you will see as he's coming out of the court and will be talkeded about the whole idea of a martyr, but we've never seen this before. a former president in court during a campaign. things are going to be dramatic. >> that's why we rely on our fabulous colleagues who are

inside the court giving us minute by minute live update and what he says and what the judge's reaction will be. he wants us watching and waiting, that's what we're doing. >> you both are doing it more than the rest of us and we appreciate it, elie and paula. john? >> fresh data on the strength of the u.s. economy. the surprising strength of the u.s. economy. in fact, it's not often you see this word, the shocking strength of the u.s. economy. the new gdp numbers beating expectations by a lot. rahel solomon here with that. >> beating expectations and 3.3% on the annualized basis and the ex expectation was half of that which would be a cooling economy. 3.3% and that is an economy that is still solid, still healthy and consumers who are still spending. when we looked under the hood

where we saw the largest contributors for goods, the american consumer continues to spend and defying expectations on physical goods and services. people are still according to this report, still going out, spending on restaurants and still going out on accommodations and going out and spending on hotels and that sort of thing. if you put this in the larger context. you could see the court was gangbusters. 4.9% on an annualized basis. fine. you look at the quarters before that, this is a really strong quarter. we put this in perspective in two ways, one, it is the broadest picture of the u.s. economy and the biggest picture of the u.s. economy which we talk about a lot and also in the context of the fed. what does the fed do with this next woke and it's the first meeting of 2024. they've indicated they're going to start cutting rates, so when? the expectation next week, i hate to be the bearer of bad news, they'll keep them where they are, but maybe march, the

following meeting there is a 40% chance of traders and it increases on and on and on. you put this gdp in perspective with a very low unemployment rate and 3.7% and we've been under 4% for two years and that in addition to inflation and that's cooling and the reason why you saw the markets pop on this news is it's an economy that is cooling on the inflation front, but still showing growth on the spending front. it's sort of what you might have heard is the soft landing, the goldilocks and what he, fed chair jerome powell and some would say it looks like he's doing it. >> and janet yellen, they think they're in the soft landing and we're 15 minutes archway from the opening of the market. >> they pop a little bit and they were flat before and they popped a little bit and last i checked. >> rahel solomon, thank you very much.

kate? >> right now we are keeping an eye on the michigan courtroom. the mother of a school shooter is on trial. the question is could she be held criminally responsible for what her son did, the heinous crimes he committed and what happens there could be a first. >> also a death row inmate in alabama just asked the supreme court again to halt his execution and set to happen in hours. this would be the first known execution using nitrogen gas and there's a whole lot of c controversy around this. nikki haily is telling donald trump to bring it. her plan for her home state, south carolina's and donald trump's threat to republicans. you donate to nikki haley. you're out. we'll be back.

opening statements have just begun where the mother of the high school shooter has begun. jennifer crumbley and her husband are the first ever to be put on trial for their chilled's mass shooting. they are both charged with involuntary manslaughter after their son shot and killed four students in oxford high school in 2021. cnn's jean casares is joining us right now. jean, people are going to be looking at this case. could possibly set precedent as, unfortunately this country experiences so many school shootings. >> both parents are charged, but jennifer is on trial now and we are going to watch a trial where we will see what a jury decides if the parent are responsible for the homicide, for the involuntary manslaughter of those four oxford high school students that died.

>> november 30, 2021. 14-year-old ethan crumbley kills four fellow students and injures seven other people at oxford high school in michigan. >> is it your own choice to plead guilty? >> yes, sir. >> he pleads guilty to all 24 charges. >> the defendant shall serve life without the possibility of parole. >> but his parents are not there. they are defendants in courtrooms of their own. >> your honor, we had asked -- in a precedent-setting move, james and jennifer crumbley charged themselves with homicide going to trial for the deaths of the students their son alone shot and killed. both have pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter. >> these charges are intended to hold the individuals who contributed to this tragedy accountable. >> evidence shows ethan was a loner, not many friends in his bedroom much of the time, on-line a lot. ethan's mother allegedly told

acquaintances he wasn't normal. >> did she call him weird? >> yes. >> ethan texted a friend saying he was having hallucinations and hearing voices. >> he said i asked my dad to take me to the doctor and he gave me some pills and told me to quote, unquote, suck it up and my mom laughed when i told her? yes, sir. ? text messages show he told his morgue he was seeing thing in the spring of 2021. i got a picture of the demon. it is throwing bowls. can you at least text back? ethan said no one else was to blame for the shooting. >> they candid not tell them whi planned to do so they are not at fault. >> however on black friday 2021, james using money his son earned waiting tables went with ethan to buy him a gun. that weekend his mother took him to a shooting range. at school tuesday ethan was drawing a gun, bullets and blood. the thought won't stop.

help me. blood everywhere. my life is useless. ethan's parents were asked to come to the school where the counselor told them -- >> i am concerned that he needs somebody to talk to for mental health support. did you tell either one of them when that should occur? >> i said as soon as possible, today if possible. >> the crumbleys said they had to get back to work, but would take him to a professional within 48 hours. no one looked into ethan's backpack. inside was that gun. he took it back to class and two hours later opened fire. >> medical emergency, oxford high school. the scene is not secure. >> when he heard about the shooting james crumbley called 911. >> i think my son took the gun. i don't know if it's him. i don't know what's going on. i'm really freaking out. my son's name is ethan crumbley. >> jennifer texted her son.

ethan, don't do it, but it was too late. madison baldwin, tate meyer, hyacinth juliana and justin schilling were dead. the couple now has separate trials. jennifer going first after she was overheard blaming her husband. >> do you swear or affirm -- >> a couple once united now pitted against each other in court. >> and those opening statements have just begun in pontiac, michigan. i think we do have live pictures and jennifer crumbley is in the courtroom. there are parents on that jury so you have parents judging parents and this is going to be a precedent-setting case that could go far exceedingly, the parents of a mass shooter, right? >> yeah. and we are watching pictures of jennifer crumbley being sat down in her chair and they've taken off her handcuffs and she's in regular clothes as all

defendants usually are when they go to trial. thank you very much, jean, for that story to remind us of what happened and to remind us of the victims also in this case and why they are on trial. all right, john? >> with us now is defense attorney misty maris and let's talk about why this is precedent-setting and yes, it's the parents of a mass shooter and from a legal standpoint, i don't want to oversimplify something, they are on trial for something they did not do rather than what they affirmatively did. >> that's right. this is a very novel legal theory. this is holding jennifer and james crumbley responsible for the acts of ethan, involuntary manslaughter. what does that mean? it's based on acts and omissions. their failure to provide him with mental health services and their failure to intervene. the standard is that there was a willful disregard for information that they knew or should have known that he was dangerous and a propensity for violence and their failure to

take action on that front. it is a very different legal theory than what we've seen in the past relating parents to be responsible for the actions of their kids and they're not being held responsible for the actual death and child neglect and those are the legal theories, but to hold them responsible for the actual deaths of these four victims, that is a very, very different legal theory from the legal perspective. >> what is the standard that prosecutors will need to prove? that they did know he was going to kill people or they should have known. >> it is willful disregard. that is the standard. there is no allegation by prosecutors that either parent knew that ethan was going to go to school that day, bring a gun and shoot the school. it's all based upon what they should have known and basically that they just turned a blind eye to all of these signs that he had a propensity for violence and they didn't intervene. there's going to be a lot of scrutiny on that day, what

unfolded. there's text messages between jennifer and a friend. all of that is going to be really, really a big piece of this trial. now that's the prosecution's perspective. they're going to lay that out especially when they met with the school. >> hours before. >> and when you see that drawing, you can't help, but say this say red flag. >> so in jean's piece we did hear the killer speaking which was during his sentencing that he said his parents didn't know and aren't responsible for this. two questions. can those words right there be used in this trial? john, you asked a great question and i expect the defense to really focus on that. a couple of things. the defense will say there is a causal break because ethan is the one who committed these acts. that's uncontested and because of that, that causation that's require required under the statute that jennifer crumbley was responsible is cut off and

they'll focus on ethan's own words and her defense attorney said they may call ethan to testify. his attorneys are saying we don't recommend that, we don't want that to happen because there may be a pending appeal and it could be problematic for his rights related to that appeal and it would be incriminating and whether or not he takes their advice, we don't know. >> could they admit that was part of the trial? >> it would become a part of the trial and that would be admissible. >> the two parents, separate trial, perhaps separate interests, can they play off of each other? oftentimes you see this when you talk about two individuals charged that they'll be pointing the finger at each other and the cases are different and that's why they asked for separate trials. jennifer made that petition early on. one of the issues, the purchasing of the gun. >> the father bought the gun. >> yep. >> he also signed something that said i know it's against the law for me to buy a gun for someone

else and that's another whole issue in his case and it depends on the individual acts of the parent and i wouldn't be surprised to see finger-pointing. >> this is an important case and thank you so much for explaining it so well. banned by donald trump. anyone donating to nikki haily and nikki haley says this. >> bring it, donald. show me what you got! >> and new pictures showing the surface of the moon after japan's historic moon sniper landing. we'll be back.

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this morning donald trump, as we talked about, is campaigning from a new york courtroom once again while he's also going full scorched earth against nikki haley on the other campaign trail in south carolina. donald trump taking to social media to threaten republicans and i guess really everyone saying that anyone who contributes to haley would be, quote, permanently barred from the maga camp, even before that, here was nikki haley last night. >> donald trump got out there and just threw a temper tantrum. he pitched a fit. he was insulting, he was doing what he does, but i know that's what he does when he's insecure. i know that's what he does when he is threatened and he should feel threatened, without a doubt. >> and here we go. joining us right now washington bureau chief for "usa today" susan paige and publisher of the

bull work. so, susan, temper tantrum. bring it, donald. what do you think of this approach and how things are looking in south carolina? >> you know, no better way to diffuse an attack than to use humor. that's something we saw with nikki haley and the other thing we're seeing with nikki haley is after months, almost a year of her treating trump gingerly, she is in it now, these next few weeks we should expect rough-and-tumble politics. south carolina has a rich history of difficult, tough, even dirty politics so i would brace yourself to the run-up to the south carolina primary on the 24th, kate? we are quickly being reminded of that, and the rich history of the politics in south carolina. >> sarah, you've been talking to swing voters and focus groups for -- it's years now. if this ends up -- if nikki haley does not pull it off, we

do not see, you know -- we do not see a win and better performances, if this ends up being donald trump versus joe biden, john berman said something yesterday that kind of reminded me that you're essentially looking at a double incumbent general election race, what does that do to swing voters? >> yeah. well, the swing voters who will decide this leelection, you can categorize them as the double boubters or their double housers and they don't like either candidate and right now they're frustrated with joe biden because he'sed pr the presidentn or i'm frustrated with the economy and international affairs and they've forgotten what they dislike about donald trump and as donald trump becomes more present in people's lives and he's out there doing the kinds of things he's doing now calling women horrible names and calling nikki haley bird brain, voters will remember oh,

yeah, i hate that guy more. i think that's who it will come down for. you're not building a pro-joe biden coalition, can i say one thing about nikki haley. it is time for her to go the full liz cheney, right? there is no path for her. there is no math for her. this republican party has changeded to the point where if donald trump owns this party, but nikki haley has a chance to go down swinging, and to be a legend and burn the boats, and i want to see that from her because the party's not going to have her back. they already are done with politicians like her and it's time for her to go hard and i love seeing that she's starting to do it. >> attacks on both their housers might be a new tag line that i'm going to live by cynically on everything. it's really amazing. with that in mind, kind of, susan, let's talk about lessons learned or what you've seen since -- in the two contests

that we've seen so far. in your latest piece you write about new hampshire and how it both displays what happened in new hampshire both displays donald trump's strength and also exposes donald trump's vulnerabilities going forward. what do you see there? >> so two big victories, early conclusion effectively of the republican presidential nomination credit him with that, but man, does he have problems as we turn to the general elections. the voters who voted for nikki haley in new hampshire, more than 80% of them said they would be dissatisfied with trump as their nominee. he has trouble with independent voters, with moderate voterses and with college-educated voters especially with women. those are swing groups he'll need to win a general election and one more thing, this courthouse campaign has served him well in the republican primaries and wnot so well if

there is a conviction and in iowa and new hampshire and a conviction would make him unfit for the presidency and could give this courtroom drama a political bite that it hasn't shown so far. >> let me take you back to south carolina even though we say it's over. donald trump is trying to basically force nikki haley out by embarrassing her and part of that was blasting out all of the endorsements that he's gotten from south carolina from people alongside nikki haley in her home state. you also just did a piece in "the new york times", 17 of trump's best people said about him which is -- i read it as a different take on endorsements or non-endorsements in this case to people who worked closest with donald trump for a period of time. what do you make of the contrast? >> yes. so i wrote that piece in "the new york times" for two reasons. one was to sort of aggregate that the people who worked in trump's cabinet have said about him since he left because many

of them have said he is unfit to hold office, and the second reason i did it was as kind of of a call to action. you know, these folks are being very quiet now as we're in the middle of a republican primary. nikki haley's right there. go out and defend her. vote for her. this other guy is unfit and he's a danger to the country. some of them did profiles in "the atlantic" and they have to take this directly to voters and many of them have defended democracy before in uniform, and i think they need to defend democracy again now by telling voters by telling voters that donald trump is unfit. >> great to so you guys. thanks for coming in. john? >> so with just hours to go the supreme court is asked to halt an execution that would be first of its kind. the method they want to use and why it's so controversial. cleared for takeoff, why some of the grounded boeing max 9 planes could be back in the skies as soon as this weekend.

in alabama, a death row inmate is again asking the supreme court to halt his execution hours before he could be put to death. kenne kenneth eugene smith is set to be executed by gas tonight. that would be the first time this method has ever been used in the united states and he was convicted for a murder for hire targeting a minister's wife and he was set to be executed in 2022 and that was halted while he was on the gurney.

isabel rosales is in alabama. the obvious one is it's never been used before in the united states. >> right. incredibly controversial and untested as you're saying, sara. this is the first new method of execution since 1982 and that is when lethal injection was first introduced and used. alabama is just one of three states alongside oklahoma and mississippi that has approved the use of this nitrogen gas, execution by nitrogen gas, but if everything happens today without a successful, legal challenge this would be the first time that nitrogen gas is ever useded in an execution. he asked for this and once he saw in court documents he said that once he saw the proposal how they would carry this execution out he had grave

concernses that he would be put through torture, through excessive pain and a large part of that, the sticking point here is the mask that they're going to use. a five-point facial mask and he's worried that he's going to vomit inside of that mask and choke on his own vomit versus actually dying from the nitrogen gas. he preferred a hood, something over his face where -- i'm sorry. these are sensitive details here where the vomit could clear out and he would not choke that way. this is a big sticking point, and we know from reverend jeff hood, his spiritual adviser that he, smith, will not receive food past l11:00 a.m. eastern, so hee in an hour or so because of that concern to mitigate the risk of him vomiting. here's what smith said to the guardian in an interview on sunday, throwing up in that mask because if i do, brother, nobody's going to help me.

i'm going to drown on my own vomit and my wife will have to sit there and watch. i also want to bring up this picture of reverend hood and spiritual adviser and reverend hood said that smith is terrified, terrified of how the day will unfold and hood is worried about his own safety, too, if that perfect seal is not maintained in the mask that nitrogen could leak out into the execution chamber. he, in fact, had to sign a waiver indicating that he acknowledged his own risks that he was taking here before he would be allowed in the execution chamber. here's what else he had to say. >> i mean, it's lunacy. it's abslight lunacy. for months, we have been asking the alabama department of corrections, is this going to be safe? what's going to happen? in tradition fashion and

completely silent the entire time and today i go to the chamber to orient myself with the warden and one of the captains of the execution squad and as i ask questions, he's consistently saying either we don't know or we can't tell you. i hope that the rest of the country is looking at alabama and saying what is going on down there? >> you heard those dramatic words there from his spiritual adviser and that was also isabel rosales in alabama. kate? >> counting down the days until the end of dry january. if you took part and if you stuck with it, the science of all of the good it did for you in the past 25 days.

not just any whiteboard... ...katie porter's whiteboard is one way she's: [news anchor] ...often seen grilling top executives of banks, big pharma, even top administration officials. katie porter. never taken corporate pac money - never will. leading the fight to ban congressional stock trading. and the only democrat who opposed wasteful “earmarks” that fund politicians' pet projects. katie porter. focused on your challenges - from lowering housing costs to fighting climate change. shake up the senate - with democrat katie porter. i'm katie porter and i approve this message. this morning, tlhere is a pause at a boeing plant in washington so workers can focus on safety. this as the faa cleared the way for boeing 737 max 9s to fly as soon as this weekend.

cnn aviation correspondent pete m is with us. what are you seeing? >> it ended the 19-day long grounding of the 737 max 9, reviewing the data from the fleet out there in the u.s. the max 9 can fly again, but not before airlines do final checks of each plane. here is what the faa is calling for. a detailed visual inspection of the door plug. that's the part that violently shot off alaska 1282. faa also wants checks of the bolts and the guides that hold them on the plane and abnormal conditions to be corrected. remember, both of the airlines that operate these planes in the u.s. found loose door plug bolts. alaska airlines say the inspections will take about 12 labor hours, meaning the first few max 9s at alaska airlines will be flying as soon as friday, the airline says. united airlines says 79 max 9s,

the planes will be flying by sunday. airlines can't wait to put this chapter behind them after being forced to cancel flights. are these planes going to be truly safe now that they've been ungrounded? ntsb has not finished its investigation, and this week, i asked the question to faa administrator administrator, if the planes should be ungrounded. should the flying public feel safe being on a max 9 when it is ultimately ungrounded? >> if the aircraft is ungrounded, we believe it is airworthy. the aircraft will be safe. we won't let the aircraft back in the air until we're convinced the issue has been taken care of. >> one other piece of news from the faa, it says it'll deny any request by boeing to expand 737 max production while the faa is

auditing boeing's quality control. the chief told me inspectors are on site at the boeing plant in washington. that is where boeing is halting production for the day as it does this quality standdown and hears from workers about where things can be improved. >> in terms of getting the planes in the sky, i am sure passengers want them to take their time and make sure the bolts are screwed in tightly. pete muntean, thank you very much. >> thank you, john. right now, donald trump back in a new york federal court for his defamation trial. his lawyers saying he wants to testify. how soon that might happen. that's ahead. and moments from now, former trump white house adviser peter navarro will be sentenced for defying a congressional subpoena in the january 6th investigation. how much jail time might he face? that's ahead..