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donald trump facing off with e. jean carroll in the defamation case that could cost him millions. so will the former president testify, the question is hanging over the civil trial. we know he wants to, but now, it's up to the judge. plus, testifying in her own defense, the oxford michigan school shooter mom will speak to the court in a case that will test a limit of who is responsible for a mass shooting. earlier, an educator who was shot said she was quote, aiming to kill me. >> and ready to fly. boeing's troubled 737 max 9 jet could be back in the sky soon, but will passengers accept that after the plane's problems? we are following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in, right here to cnn news central. ♪ ♪ ♪ right now, donald trump is

back in court in new york, for the second civil defamation trial brought by e. jean carroll. the big question is, will he testify? the jury already found him liable for not only defaming but also sexually abusing her, and now this jury is going to decide if he has to pay for additional defamatory comments he made. so, if trump takes the stand, the goal would be to convince jurors that he shouldn't have to pay more damages. either way, trump is likely hoping to turn to today's trial appearance into a political spectacle. cnn's kara scannell is outside the courthouse for us, so kara, where do things stand right now? >> boris, the answer to that question should be coming any moment now. right now donald trump's team is putting on their defense case, and they've called carol martin, that's a long time friend of e. jean carroll, they're asking her about some text messages she sent in which she said things such as she thought that carole was a narcissist run amok, that she

was like a drug addict and the drug is herself, all trying to get to this point that carroll was enjoying the fruits of this defamation case that she was thriving in the spotlight that came after she went public with her allegations. that testimony is beginning to wrap up, she's already done cross-examination on that, just about hitting up at the lunch break. sometime soon we should learn if donald trump is going to take the stand in his defense, or if his defense will rest their case. that answer may not come until after the lunch break, because court is still in session, and carol martin is still on the stand. today, the jury has already heard from donald trump in his own words, because carols lawyers played portions of two different depositions trump is given into different cases. one of them was about money, this case is about damages, whether donald trump could afford to pay e. jean carroll, so they played portions of the video deposition that trump gave in the civil fraud lawsuit brought by the new york attorney generals office in that deposition trump is talking about how he is a

billionaire, that he has more than $400 million in cash on hand, and that his property and brand is worth so much money. they also played portions of the deposition that trump gave in the lead up to this case, and the trial last year. in that testimony, trump is talking about the accusations by e. jean carroll. he's shown the photograph of him meeting e. jean carroll at a charity event. he mistakes her in the photograph for marla maples, he's asked in the deposition, you said e. jean carroll is not your type. he said she isn't. he said, our youth three tuck wives or type? he said yes they are. that was a false statement. they play the testimony of trump bashing carroll, saying that he was offended by her, that this was a made-up story out of thin air. he calls her a whack job, and mentally ill. he says she's a liar, and a sick person. interestingly, the trump has said that if trump takes the stand, he can't say that things about e. jean carroll. he can't deny her, he can call

or a liar, and he can't -- boo sales of her book. but the jury is hearing that on this direct testimony that was played by the plaintiffs case of trump making these statements. an attorney for carroll told the judge that her understanding that if trump takes the stand, and this is still debatable, that he is supposed to testify about what his state of mind was in june 2019 when he made the statement at the heart of this case, and whether he was intending to harm e. jean carroll. that is the question for this jury. we are still waiting to hear if donald trump will take the stand, the jury has already heard of what he would want to say. the question will be, if he takes the stand and if he sticks to the rule of the road that the judge has laid out. boris? >> kara scannell, keep us posted on what comes next in court. thanks so much, kara. we want to get some perspective from defense attorney misty marris, misty, great to have you this afternoon. if you were donald trump's attorneys, given everything that carriages laid out, his repeated remarks in court, would you let him testify in this case?

no. >> it is an affirmative no, i say that because this is a damages only case. it doesn't even have to be this case, it could be a case of a similar nature where its damage is only. the inquiry is related to what damages did e. jean carroll incur as a result of what's already been determined as a defamatory statement. in this particular type of case, the defendant, donald trump here, he's not going to have much say about he was impacted, and about her particulars with respect to damages. the only line of inquiry that might potentially be relevant is to diminish what are called punitive or punishment damages. even still, better to just sit tight, let her prove her case, and undermine those damages claims through other testimony and information, and not take the stand. my advice, no. do not testify. >> but misty, is there anything he can say that could sway the

jury, that could potentially be to his benefit? >> well right now we know, first of all, the judges put very strict parameters on where he can go, if he is to testify. one of those parameters, he can talk about the claims being false. he can't say e. jean carroll is lying, and he can't say that she has opportunistic motives. those are all outside of the scope of what he can testify about. about the only area that his lawyers have argued that would be relevant is the context surrounding the statement he made, what questions were asked of him that he was responding to when he made those defamatory comments, which have already been deemed to be defamatory, so that's not an issue. the question is, with that diminish those punishment type damages that could be ordered. maybe, but truly it's more of a risk then a rewards in that assessment, from a distance fence perspective to take the

stand under the circumstances. >> i do want to get your perspective on the defense strategy to have this friend of e. jean carroll's take the stance, carol martin, she actually testified that the plaintiffs had made's remarks to her that made her think that she enjoyed the attention that came with the trump lawsuits. this is obviously an effort to undermine e. jean carroll's position, that all of this ruined a reputation. what do you make of the strategy? >> that is a very relevant area for the defense to capitalize, so e. jean carroll is saying that her life was severely impacted by these particular comments, the comments that are at issue in this case. the dominant adam egg phone that brought about a lot of vitriol and hatred, and her fear for her life. so any evidence that's out there, that she did not have such an extreme issue with emotional distress, or that undercuts that argument, is

absolutely where the defense should be focused. this is damages only, and the whole purpose is to present evidence relating to the nature and extent of the damage is, which the jury will -- decide the value. anywhere from zero to the sky is the limit. we know what the numbers that the plaintiffs are looking for. that is absolutely very relevant, that's where the focus should be from a defense perspective, undermining any claims of actual damages incurred. >> misty, what we have you, i do want to get in a question in about the breaking news that we've got in the last hour -- peter navarro refused to comply with the work of the january six commission committee on capitol hill, he is now sentenced to four months in prison for contempt of congress. your reaction to that sentence, is it appropriate? >> that sentence is less than what prosecutors have asked for, but it's very, very clear sending a message that there is not going to be any nonsense surrounding compliance of these

subpoenas. that is a very staunch message being sent that this is illegal conduct that will not be condoned. it's a little less than what prosecutors had requested, but it certainly falls within that discretionary area of sentences. i think the message is clear, you have to comply. >> there were almost no doubt be some kind of appeal. misty marris, we have to leave the conversation there, we appreciate the time. >> thank you. >> of course. brianna? >> boeing max nine jets are expected to take off again tomorrow, about three weeks after the door plug blew off of one of them in portland, oregon, leaving pilots to land the plane with a huge hole in it. all boeing 737 max 9 airliners were grounded after the incident involving that faulty door plug, on alaska air 12 82. there were no serious injuries, no deaths, the plane now was still ascending, and crew and passengers will still in their

seats and had been instructed to fasten their seatbelts. the passenger who took this video right here, obtained by cnn, said he thought that he was going to die, and that when that door plug came off his friends socks and slippers were sucked off of his feet. the faa has cleared the way for the the plane to return to service, if new inspection criteria are strictly followed. alaska air says that it will comply, expecting that it's -- to begin tomorrow. we have cnn's pete muntean here, pete how do we know that these planes are going to be operating again? what exactly is this process? >> that's the million dollar question, and that's something i asked the faa administrator the other day. the latest that the faa says it has done is part. it is ended the 19 long -- 737 max 9, we're viewing data from boeing, from airlines, and about a quarter of the max 9 fleet in the u.s.. so the max 9 can fly again, but not before airlines do final checks of each plane.

here is what the faa is calling for. detailed visual inspection of the door blog, the part that violently shot of alaska 12 82 weeks ago. the faa also wants checks of the bullets and guides that hold the door plug on the plane, and any abnormal conditions to be corrected. remember, with airlines that operate these planes in the u.s. found loose door plug bolts. alaska airlines, 65 max nines, they say the inspections will take about 12 hours, meaning the first few max nines will be some flying as soon as tomorrow. united airlines, 79 max 9s. united says its planes will be flying by sunday. airlines cannot wait to end this chapter after being forced to cancel flights by the thousands, even still though the question a lot of people have here is are these planes truly safe. important to note, the ntsb has not finished its investigation, and this week i asked this question to faa administer mike

whitaker. >> should the flying public feel safe being on a max 9, when it is ultimately unground it? >> if the aircraft is on grounded that means we believe it is airworthy. and if it's airworthy, they are craft is safe. i can say we're not going to let that aircraft in the air until we are convinced that issue has been taking care of. >> one other big piece of news from the faa, it says it will deny any requests from boeing to expand 737 max production, and -- quality control. the faa chief told me that its inspectors are on site now in boeing's plant in washington, that's where boeing is halting production today -- quality stand down. and here's farmworkers about where things could be improved. >> certainly they would know. that's very important. let's talk about that passenger perspective. if you don't want to be a passenger on a 737 max 9? >> remember, after the 737 max

eight crashes in 2018 in 2019, and the 20 month grounding, airlines can offer you a get out of jail free card if you are worried about flying among those planes. so far we have not seen any big announcement here from announcements to make it -- on a max 9, and change your flight free of charge. the good news is, after the pandemic -- changing cancellation fees, if you do want to get off of one of those flights. remember, this case is an apples and oranges comparison. when you look at the max crashes of 2018 in 2019, 346 people killed, those are major fatalities, that was a major change according to the faa and also from boeing. in this case, nobody killed, not a serious, although it could've been, this airplane was at 16,000 feet not 30,000 feet, a lot more breathable oxygen there, and much easier for the crew to turn the airplane around and get it on the ground very quickly and fairly safely. >> and everyone was in their seat, buckled in. so important. all right pete, thanks so much.

we have cnn and transportation analyst -- department of transportation and we should know that mary has litigation against boeing that is currently ongoing. mary, as we mentioned that if this isn't happened at a different altitude beside 16,000 feet it really could have been a monumental tragedy, with people likely sucked out of the plane here. with that in mind, will this quality stand down that we heard pete detailing, is that going to fix the problem here ultimately? >> no, the quality stand down, basically they're stopping for a day and it's supposed to be introspection and re-tooling of the mind so they take their safety responsibilities more seriously. that's not going to solve it. but the faa is doing some very dramatic things. the faa has approached boeing over the years, and they're just an oversight agency, they call themselves the auditors of boeing safety court processes, and manufacturing processes.

but literally yesterday they said no, from now on we're going to do some hands on inspection, they had sent out a couple dozen additional inspectors to boeing, and pete is exactly right. for the faa to say no, you're not expanding your line, and boeing wants to expand it to make the production more profitable, but for the faa to get tough and say no you're not going to increase any kind of production until we know what is going on there and then of course recently whistleblowers have come forward about huge problems, really alarming problems on the safety line, including on the production line, including this very alaska aircraft. when the faa administrator says yes the planes are safe because we say they're safe to fly, what he's really saying is the aircraft needs -- meets the certification requirement we have put in place for the aircraft. that is safety to the faa, and that's really the regulatory meaning of it. but with the faa putting all this new resources into play,

it will certainly help the safety of boeing, but boeing is not out of the woods yet. the faa, it do deep dove will find additional problems because when you look and when you really dive down deeply, especially with these whistleblower announcements, they'll find some more problems. but they will fix them. >> that sort of, to my next question here. if the bullets were not attached properly or there were some kind of problem within mechanism attaching them, or how they are applied, what concerns does that raise about other airplane parts? >> precisely, that's exactly the issue i think the federal aviation administration is most concerned about, and why they sent so many additional inspectors. whistleblower reports say -- have come out within the last few dating saying boeing has two different quality control and work inspection systems. one is called s.a.t., and one

is called c mass, now being nickname see mass. the repairs of this particular plane, that had the door plug blowout, were not properly recorded, were not inspected, and the whistleblower says the bolts whenever there. that's going to be a huge issue, and that is i think probably going to be the focus of the faa. what on the world is going on with the quality control, with your inspections in your production line, and how are you going to get a handle on this. after the boy does welcome all this additional screening, but this is a huge benefit to boeing. if they have another disaster, it's going to be extremely difficult for them to recover. this is a gift to boeing, these additional inspectors, to get their act together and to improve their safety, and it really is going to help the flying public if the faa is going to get tough, as they should. >> they've had this issue before, with inspections on

other airplanes as well. they really, clearly, he did fix this. mary, thank you so much for your expertise. >> thank you. >> could the mother of a convicted school shooter be convicted for her son's actions? prosecutors saying she didn't pull the trigger but she still responsible. up next, what we're learning about the defensive strategy in this case. and here in just hours, an alabama inmate will be put to death by a method never used before in the united states, the ethical concerns. this is now raising.

right now, a historic trial is taking place in michigan. prosecutors say that jennifer crumbley chose to do nothing when her son showed troubling signs before going on a deadly

shooting rampage at school. ethan crumbley was sentenced to life in prison last year for the murder of four of his class mates, at oxford high school back in 2021. seven other people were injured, including a teacher who was shot in the arm went to hiding in her office. she took the stand today, describing those terrifying moments. listen to this. >> i locked eyes, he didn't hesitate. >> about how long was that from the time you saw in your peripheral vision, and then the gun was raised? >> a second? i felt a jump and turn my body this way at the same time,. >> for the record, you're turning your body to the right. >> and i feel my left shoulder moves back a bit, and i feel burn, like hot water has done me. i texted my husband, i love you, active shooter.

and then i started feeling blood dripping down my arm. >> this is a novel case, it's the first case to ever bring involuntary matt slaughter charges on parents for their child's actions in this kind of scenario. the father, james crumbley, is being tried separately we should note that court case set to kick off in about six weeks. we want to go to cnn's jeanne casarez, she's been following this case closely. jeanne, jennifer crumbley's attorneys said that she will take the stand at some point. what are you hearing about what they anticipate that will look like? >> i think that will be a pivotal moment, because she has got to explain, she has got to talk about the day to day life with ethan and what she experienced. of course there will be cross-examination by the prosecution, but i think she has to testify. they're just getting back from lunch now, getting back into session, but there was a late witness right before lunch that was the assistant manager, the office manager at the counter when james crumbley walked in

on november 26 and purchase that six hour nine millimeter gun. it was four days later that the mass shooting happened. the clerk said that he had a teenager with him, that would be ethan. ethan didn't talk at all when he was purchasing the gun. on defense, they said with jennifer dare there at the gun shop? no? what's her name on any paperwork for that gun? no. but before that, it was all in motion. the assistant principle of oxford high school, christy gibson marshall took the stand, she knew ethan from before. she was one of his teachers in elementary school. so she knew him exactly who he was. listen to this emotional testimony of what she experienced. >> it seems so odd that it was him, so i said but are you okay, what's going on? when he didn't respond to me, and he looked away, that's when i knew it was him.

that he was the shooter. >> did you point to gonna you? >> he did not. >> i've got on the waukee and i told my team that i had eyes on the shooter, and i have a victim. >> her life was saved, one of these many prosecution witnesses, and i do have to say, after this testimony the prosecutor outside of the presence of the jury's said to the judge, your honor, the defense attorney was sobbing in the testimony, we can have this. >> the defense attorney said this is i am only, human -- or not robots, for human beings. that was how it all ended before the break. >> very powerful moments in court, jean casarez, thank you so much for that. rihanna? >> alabama death row inmate can smith is at once again asking the u.s. supreme court to halt his execution just hours before it is set to take place. just yesterday the justices rejected a separate appeal for

a stay. if it moves forward, this execution, it will be the first -- nitrogen gas. it's an untested method that smith previously requested before reversing course. cnn's isabel rosales is following this developing story for us. isabelle, is the state confident that this execution will move forward on schedule? >> breonna, i will get into all that, but first i did want to let you know that i just got a hold of a statement penned by kenneth smith and his spiritual adviser, reverend jack hood. the statement is short, and speaks only to one thing, and that is the method of this execution, death by nitrogen gas. let me leave this out here right now. here's what it says, the eyes of the world are on this impending moral apocalypse. our prayer is that people will not turn their heads who simply cannot normalize the suffocation of each other. hood also tells me that here in the past hour and a half smith

has not been allowed to eat, by the state, by the corrections officer. that is to mitigate the risk of him throwing up. hood tells me that smith regularly throws up due to migraines and ptsd. the reason this is important, as we see this outlined in the court documents by smith's attorney, saying that they're very worried that he will vomit and choke on that vomit, and that is how he will die. torture is what they're calling it, from underneath that mask that is delivering the nitrogen gas. that is -- they are worried that is the way he will go. who it is also worried about his own personal safety as well. he snapped this picture -- just on monday, they're smiling. he said that smith, spy the smile, is terrified. who had also worried about his safety how well alabama will be able to pull off this maneuver, being that smith had failed execution back in 2022, and

this is never been done before. listen to what he had to say. >> i mean, the state has said he will go unconscious in seconds. well, isabelle, i don't know about you, but i can hold my breath more than a few seconds. if he holds its breath for minutes, we're talking about a situation where that nitrogen is going to be pumped through that mask for a long period of time. and again, if the seal breaks, you're talking about a roomful of nitrogen. >> to your point, breonna, he doesn't have a lot of avenues here. the supreme court, or the governor, neither steps look to be viable here, to stop this execution. >> all right, we will be watching to see what develops there. isabelle rosales, live for us from alabama. still ahead, cnn exclusive reporting on the district attorney prosecuting trump in georgia. could she be forced off the

case because of allegations she had an affair with a fellow prosecutor? plus, positive new economic numbers out today showing the economy grew in a shocking clip at the end of 2023. treasury secretary janet yellen also getting ready to speak in minutes about the future of the u.s. economy, especially when it comes to middle class famimilies.

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showing the united states economy grew at a shocking pace at the end of last year, as consumers and businesses continue to spend, and inflation continue to cool. that widely predicted recession never quite happened. >> that is good news, but many american households are still in financial straits, and that is not. right now, treasury secretary janet yellen is delivering a speech on this year's economic agenda, so let's listen in to that. >> this leads us to pursue an agenda that is focused on the middle class. we started with an economic recovery that is remarkable for both its speed and fairness. the recovery is so strong and so widely shared because bidenomics is not just about a post pandemic rebound in demand, we've also focused on -- supply chains, and bringing more americans into the labor

force, which increases supply. we are now doubling down on that strategy with massive investments to position middle class families to benefit from and to drive our country's growth. i called this approach modern supply side economics. overall, the biden administration has put in place the most extensive set of policies and investments to benefit the middle class and grow the economy that our country has seen in my lifetime. our economic plan is improving lives, and laying the foundation for a new future for middle class families and communities across the country. this is what i will discuss today. let me start with some personal experience. i grew up in bay ridge, brooklyn, in the 1950s, and 1960s.

it was a middle class neighborhood, at a good time for the middle class in america. my father was a doctor, and he would tell me that the workers who came to him for treatment. i learned about how much their jobs mattered to them, and also about the consequences of losing them. from the 1970s on, the american economy made great strides. from thes in high school graduation rates, two dramatic improvements in workplace safety. the challenges i heard about when i was a kid became trends, and my own special concerns as an adult, and as a practicing economist. real median wages stagnated over decades, they grew only 8% between 1979 and 2019. at the age of 30, 90% of my

generation were earning more than their parents of the same age. in contrast, only half of children born in the mid 1980s earned more. incomes became more volatile, especially for people without college degrees. -- >> all right we are listening to treasury secretary janet yellen speaking, we she has previously talked about there being the soft landing, this avoidance of a recession, and we heard her there saying that the acute economic recovery had been fast, describing it as widely shared, and making a pitch for bidenomics. let's discuss this now with matt egan, and cnn's catherine rampell. catherine, this is the message certainly that the biden administration is selling, and there are a lot of excellent indicators. there's also a lot of negative sentiment. i know i feel like a broken

record saying that, time again, but that is what we see. >> absolutely. there has been for a while a big disconnect between how the economy looks on paper, if we're talking about gdp, unemployment, even cooling inflation, and how people feel about it. there has been a lot of can sue more pessimism throughout the united states. that said, in the past few months we have seen an uptick in consumer sentiment by a host of different metrics. if you look at what share of americans believe the economy is in recession, it is now fewer than half. it is still very high, to be clear, by historical numbers. but american seem to be getting a little more optimistic, and so i think the best-case scenario for biden's reelection campaign is not necessarily that the economy becomes a winning issue for the incumbent so much as it becomes less of a negative, in the same way we kind of saw in 2012 when

economic sentiment had really weighed down, then president obama's chances, and as it recovered it helped his campaign as well. >> matt, you, today is sort of a one-two punch, because you have janet yellen giving the speech now, and soon at about 2:00 president biden is going to be in superior, wisconsin, at a brewery, touting bidenomics and this investment in the revitalization of a bridge that is going to be built there. there is a strong po message to sell, especially when it comes to gdp numbers. walk us through those. >> yeah, for us, these gdp numbers that came out this morning they really stood out to me. first of all i was thinking wow, because it was just so much better than what we expected. the other thought that comes to mind is, what recession? remember for so long we heard the u.s. economy would be in recession right about now. instead, it looks like that soft landing that so many

people thought was basically impossible is actually happening. the economy growing at 3.3%, that is very impressive, one economist describing that as blue me, the other one calling this the recession that wasn't. one of the big drivers here is americans continue to shop. they went on a shopping spree this saw holiday season and that is continuing to keep this economy afloat. but none of this is to suggest that the economy is perfect. it's not. there are real affordability challenges out there, and we know that janet yellen is addressing that in the speech right now, talking about how it is too hard to be a working parent in america. how they need to do more to help people with housing, childcare. housing is a big one. the fact that mortgage rates are so high, home prices have spiked to record highs, means it's very unaffordable. this chart shows how the median monthly payment to get a mortgage right now is

swallowing up a bigger and bigger portion of paychecks, and that is a problem. that is something that this administration, janet yellen in the president have to address. boris and bianna, as you know, when people think about the economy that's what they're thinking about. they're thinking about housing and childcare, and the price of gasoline. they're not thinking about gdp. >> purchasing power, and the choices they're making. >> absolutely, yeah. and the price of groceries as well. catherine, quickly to you. do we anticipate that the issue of the of fort ability -- may start to go back down? >> it is very unlikely that overall price levels are going to come back down. you'll see something go up a little bit, some things will go down a little bit because of supply issues, for example if you of a bird flu that causes egg prices to go up and then they'll go back down, but the overall price level throughout economic history generally trends upwards and that's what economists want in fact. they don't want to see overall prices going down, which is not

super intuitive to the usual consumer, to the standard person. so i think part of the reason why you see so much frustration among americans even as inflation has cooled is that inflation cooling just means there are slower price growth, not that there is price declines. and as more time passes, as you have that slow price growth, i think you'll see more consumers get kind of acclimated to the price increases that we've already seen. what has already been baked in. they stop expecting prices to fall, they just start assuming that, four bucks a gallon for milks as is the roughly current national average, that's the new normal. they're not looking for it to go back to what it was in 2019. and it's not as painful. if in fact their wages continue to rise, as they have been in recent months. >> catherine rampell, matt egan, thank so much for bringing that up for us. up next we have some exclusive

new cnn reports, subpoenas expected for a hearing soon on affair allegations against top prosecutors in the election subversion case in fulton county, georgia. what this could mean for the case against former president donald trump.

>> we have some new, exclusive reporting. the district attorney leading the 2020 election subversion case in fulton county, georgia, maybe called to testify at a hearing on whether she should be disqualified in the case. fani willis is just one of several witnesses who can explore you can expect to get subpoenas here in the coming days. nick valencia is live for us outside of the fulton county courthouse with his new reporting here.

nick, who else is expected to get a subpoena? >> well, breonna, this is significant development here. we're told that these individuals are those who are believed to have firsthand knowledge of this alleged improper relationship between fani willis and nikki wade, among those who've been made win of the subpoenas aren't even wades current and former law partners and as you mentioned, fani willis is also expected to get a subpoena, as our members of her d.a.'s office. now, we did reach out to ashley merchant. she is the attorney who first level these allegations. she's the attorney for codefendant, a former president trump, mike roland, the former trump campaign official. she tells us that she has documents, evidence, and witnesses, and depending on how fani willis responds in this february 2nd response that she has to, you know, respond to these claims by, that will determine how merchant moves next and who she called to testify. -- zoom out here because on the surface, the subpoenas might not seem like big news but they are, especially when you consider that if these individuals are called, they

would potentially have to testify publicly and their testimony would be captured live and broadcast to the world. that sets the stage for this february 15th evidentiary hearing where the judge overseeing this case has said he wants to focus on these claims. the potential for these firsthand witnesses to air out the dirty laundry of willis and weighed. now, we have to hear that district attorney's office, but it's likely that they're going to try to fight these subpoenas. fani willis already is trying to fight the deposition in nathan wades divorce proceedings. it's been a couple weeks out since these allegations first, you know, have aired publicly and fani willis is not directly responded to this alleged affair, but she has previously said that she chose the most qualified man for the job in her special appointment of her top deputy, nathan -- rihanna? >> nick valencia, thank you for sharing that exclusive reporting with us. we appreciate it. boris? >> we have new details in the health ethics probe of republican congressman matt gaetz. cnn is learning that the committee investigates has reached out to a woman who

skates allegedly had sexual relations with when she was just 17 years old. cnn's paula reid broke this story. she joins us now live with more. so paula, what more do we know about this investigation? >> well boris, this is the latest round of outrage from the health ethics committee. they reached out to several witnesses, including that woman who was still 17 when she allegedly had sex with a congressman. they also reached out to the justice department, seeking materials from its years long criminal investigation into the congressman. now, that investigation began in late 2020, under trump appointed attorney general bill barr. it started with allegations about sex with a minor, but then expanded to look into potential sex trafficking, obstruction of justice, and -- relations. i want to emphasize, congressman has always denied any wrongdoing and he was never charged by the justice department. that case was closed last year with no charges brought against gaetz, however, his longtime friend and associate, joel greenberg, he did plead guilty to several crimes, including

soliciting and having sex with a minor. in response to our new reporting, the congressman issued a statement saying, those allegations were not true, have never been true, and the people who spread those lies have been exposed -- and imprisoned, like a reference to joel greenberg. >> and paula, there have been some political consequences out of all of this, right? >> yeah, absolutely because the ethics investigation began in 2021, but then yielded to the federal criminal probe, when the federal criminal investigation wrapped up last year, the ethics probe was revised revived and gaetz privately expressed frustration that he believed then house speaker kevin mccarthy had allowed this to happen. mccarthy has said publicly that he believes gaetz's frustration with it ethics probe was behind gaetz's effort to oust mccarthy from the speakership. but it's notable that now, obviously, kevin mccarthy is no longer speaker of the house,

that after it was successful, this investigation is not only continuing. it appears to be expanding and escalating. >> a high drama on capitol hill. no love lost between matt gaetz and kevin mccarthy. paula reid, thanks so much for the reporting. breonna? >> now to the brewing scandal in arizona, the leaders of the -- republican party resigning after a leaked audio tape appeared to show him trying to convince a fierce trump ally not run for office. jeff the wind can be heard urging kari lake not to run for the senate after she lost her race for governor in 2022. >> there are very powerful people who want to keep you out. >> -- >> they're willing to put their money where their mouth is in a big way. so, this conversation never happened. >> is there a number which -- >> i can be bought? that's what it's about. >> [inaudible] for a couple years. >> no. >> so, in a new statement, the

weight denies allegations of bribery and causes conversation with lake a set up. still ahead, former president trump back in new york federal court right now. his lawyers say he wants to take the stand, but will he actually do it? he said that he would before, only to not end up doing it. is he going to actually? we will have the latest from court.

two candidates, two very different events. joe biden is heading the campaign trail with the speech promoting how he's handled the economy and how his administration is investing in america. and former president donald trump, off the trail, back in court for a hearing in his defamation case. one in which he could soon be taken to the witness stand. plus, a busted deal from the border. republicans spending weeks a demanding what slamming the white house for not having one, and then working to negotiate one, ultimately, though, any deal may be dead because of former president trump. the latest from capitol hill. >> and no more empty nest. we're more young adults are living with their parents and putting a pause on starting life on their own. we are going to take a look at the reasons why. i think it might be that it costs less. we're following thes