republicans, 72% of independents, 66% of democrats across partisan lines, despite some people trying to break it down across those lines, they stay steady. everyone's a fan of the nfl. how about female viewership in the 2023, 2024, regular season. it's up 9% to its highest level ever. >> look at those bengals fans. >> look at those bengals fans. >> is that the right team? >> yes, you're much better than anderson cooper at this. >> that would be the only thing i can do better. >> i think there are more. >> taylor swift and travis kelce relationship impact on the nfl, you mentioned it. positive impact, 71% of football fans. 80% of swifties, i'm a fan of taylor swift. i'm a fan of her impact on the game. it's brought more people into it, despite the fact we root for different times, i like her and her impact. >> i love on the back end trying to get in a better place with taylor swift after your attacks last week. you know what really matters, brings people together, jason kelce, shirtless.

harry enten, i love you, buddy. cnn news central starts right now. >> that was amazing. in moments, donald trump will be back in court for closing arguments in the defamation trial against him after taking the stand for just a few minutes. we're live outside the court where the jury could have their case in their hands by this afternoon. republican backlash this morning after the rnc considered a resolution that would declare donald trump the presumptive nominee. we've got new reaction from both nikki haley and donald trump. >> prosecutors in michigan say she could have stopped her son. could have stopped him from committing the worst school shooting in michigan's history. testimony now continues today to decide if this mother should be held criminally responsible for what happened. i'm kate bolduan with sara

sidner and john berman, this is "cnn news central." any moment now, donald trump is expected to arrive at the federal court house in new york where closing arguments will begin this morning. trump finally and very briefly took the stand for a very restricted testimony on thursday, and just under five minutes, he denied carroll's allegations, was scolded by the judge sever times, and cross examined. after court, he of course, took to truth social to say what he was not allowed to say on the stand. >> i have no idea who she is, where she came from. this is another scam. it's a political witch hunt. and somehow we're going to have to fight this stuff. the whole thing is a scam and a disgrace to our country. >> but that is not what a jury

decided, carroll is seek $10 million. kara scannell is joining us from outside the courthouse. can you give us a sense of what you are expecting to happen today? >> good morning, sara. we saw trump's motorcade arrive at the courthouse. he is here for closing arguments. that will get underway this morning just around 9:30. first e. jean carroll's attorneys will go, and try to appeal to the jury that she was harmed by donald trump's statements and that she should get more than $10 million in damages. next up, it will be trump's attorneys turn. they have argued that any harm e. jean carroll faced was not donald trump's fault, and perhaps one of her own making by going public with the allegations and people who felt they were responding on their own, not tied to the former president's remarks. they will both have about an hour to make their case to the jury. then the judge will explain to the jury what law is, and then the jury will get the case and begin their deliberations.

the case ending yesterday with donald trump on the witness stand. before he took the stand, e. jean carroll's attorneys played excerpts from a video-taped deposition where trump was making a lot of statements that he wanted to say in court but hasn't been able to, that she was a what cko, and mentally il. his lawyers discussed for ten minutes about what they could ask him, not relitigating the assault or the defamation claim, so once donald trump was on the stand, he was only on for about three minutes. his lawyer asked him, do you stand by your testimony in the deposition. trump said 100% yes. she also asked him, did you ever instruct anyone to hurt ms. carroll in your statements. trump said, no, i just wanted to defend myself, my family, and frankly, the presidency. now, the judge struck the second half of that answer, telling the just just to listen to the part

where he said no. he really wanted to try to prevent this from turning into a circus. donald trump, again, was on the stand for just about three minutes before it was over, and then he left and took to his public truth social statement in order to make the comments he wanted to make, that he couldn't make before the jury. >> no doubt her attorneys are looking at this and wondering if he continues to defame her. we will be watching this case to see when the jury gets it. if there's a decision, potentially today. thank you so much, kara scannell outside of the courtroom. >> a great job going in and out of the courtroom, there, she's watching, running out, tells us what happens. really trierrific reporting. new this morning, backlash, the republican national committee is withdrawing a proposal that would have withdrawn donald trump as the presumptive nominee. the reversal comes after the rnc faced major criticism for the draft resolution.

trump was initially on board, but then he told supporters he wanted to beat nikki haley, quote, the old fashioned way. cnn's alayna treene is in washington this morning with the latest on this. >> reporter: good morning, john, you're right. donald trump and his campaign were initially on board with this draft resolution, we're told, until they started to see the backlash that it was garnering. part of the reason they were initially in support of it is it would greatly benefit donald trump if this were to be approved. it would allow him access to benefit from their ground game strategy and data operation as well as from fundraising on the trail with the rnc. they shifted their tune after they saw the immense backlash that this draft resolution was receiving, especially after it began circulating in the media. trump allies were reaching out saying that they were concerned about this, angering a lot of

republicans, and really showing that maybe trump was trying to stack the deck against nikki haley. and i have to say, you know, this is a very unusual thing that the rnc was considering. we know that their policy is to remain neutral. and there is still another republican in this primary, nikki haley, and so for them to come out and really try to, you know, already declare that donald trump would be the presumptive nominee was a bit, you know, a departure from that policy. but, look, after donald trump issued that statement on social media saying this isn't necessary, and we want to win this at the ballot box, we did see david bossy, a fierce trump ally who initially proposed this resolution, withdraw it. >> it's hard to imagine he would have done it without trump's permission, and he withdrew after trump weighed in a second time. two things seem to be true here, which is number one, republican insiders on capitol hill are lining up behind donald trump. number two, there are people in

congress, republicans in congress concerned that trump at the top of the ticket might hurt their chances for retaking the senate. explain. >> yeah, well, that's actually been a concern for a while. we've done a lot of reporting on this. i mean, donald trump did face that massive debacle in 2022 when many trump-backed candidates who he had pushed for the senate ended up, you know, collapsing in a general. and that's something that a lot of people want to avoid. yes, people on capitol hill, but also conservative groups and donors off the hill. we know -- and this is from our new reporting today from my colleague, fredricka, many of those backing nikki haley are concerned about what having donald trump potentially at the top of the ticket could mean for these down ballot races. we talked to one group, the americans for prosperity action, it's a koch-backed group that is putting a lot of money behind nikki haley. they told us that their main goal is to invest in the 2024

congressional races, particularly in the senate. i'm just going to quick read you a confederate from what their spokesperson told us. he said if trump is ultimately the nominee, a threat of the repeat of the last three elections and a democratic sweep increases dramatically, making the senate and house that much more important, and that is really what this comes down to. we have seen donald trump impact these down ballot races in the past, not necessarily in the senate's favor. something many congressmen and outsiders blame donald trump for, and so that's really what a lot of these groups are trying to avoid in 2024. >> alayna treene, have a great weekend. thank you very much. donald trump is not the republican presidential nominee yet but he has already jumped into the middle of congress's fight over the border, and that is infuriating some gop senators who say he's handing a gift to democrats by blocking a bipartisan border deal. cnn's lauren fox is on capitol hill. what are you hearing about this? this has been a huge issue for

donald trump. why doesn't he want it fixed? >> reporter: well, this isn't the first time that former president donald trump has stood isn' in the way of a bipartisan immigration deal emerging from the united states senate. if you remember back in 2018 when he was the president they were on the cusp of a deal, and he moved forward with campaigning against it with lobbying members of congress to vote against it. so this is nothing new for some of those members, and because of that reality, many of them are deeply frustrated about donald trump imposing himself in what they view is the best opportunity that congress has had in decades to do anything on the border, specifically the reality the democrats have come far in their direction in order to try and get something done ahead of the election. now, there's no doubt that doing something on the border could give biden something to point to as a potential victory on the campaign trail.

a lot of republicans say, you know, we should not be prioritizing donald trump's election over the betterment of the country. if this does something to make the country safer and better, then lawmakers should be voting yes for it. and you saw yesterday some of that frustration boiling over. here's senator thom tillis who said he will support donald trump if he is the nominee, but he just hasn't a different opinion right now. >> i think this is when members of senate have to show some courage and do something that at the end of the day will be very helpful to president trump. i hope that we have these tools available so he can do what he demonstrated in 2017, he couldn't when he was expressing frustration over the lack of the very provisions that we're trying to get into law. >> reporter: now, we expect that could be released as early as next week, according to negotiators and senate leadership but one thing is very clear.

a lot of republicans believe that some of the discontentment with this emerging deal has nothing to do with the policy. one senator made this point to me yesterday saying that if this deal were to come forward and donald trump had nothing to do with it, they believed this could have gotten near unanimous republican support. sara. >> wow, this seems like really a case of politics over people. i know you will be watching it, and we'll be checking in with you, lauren fox, thank you, from capitol hill for us. kate. let's talk more about this, joining us now is a former republican congressman from south carolina, also the former republican governor of south carolina, mark sanford. it's good to see you congressman and governor. let's set the table. you're a conservative, you have been in republican politics for a long time, and you know capitol hill. what do you see in what is happening in the senate right now as lauren fox was laying it out? >> frustration. to the point that was just made, which is you get close on, you know, legislation that's been long anticipated and long talked

about. and yet somebody who's not there at the playing field or in the playing field or there at the table says no, i don't like it, that's something that tends to ir k people at the table and that's what's going on right now. >> thousanhow do they get throu? >> you know, bravery. everybody is skittish about trump's base, which is why you see the alignment that you see within both house and senate members, disproportionately going towards trump. there's a juxtaposition between legislation -- >> the question is where is the bravery. here's truth. >> good luck finding it. >> that's what i'm getting at. the truth is policy decisions are made for political decisions all the time, always maybe, just to be a little bit cynical. not something like this. honestly, it's like we have been screaming from the rooftops

about a border crisis for a long time. we're going to get so much of what we have been fighting for on the border very soon, and now we're going to spike this to make sure the other side doesn't get credit even though we would also be getting credit. who's being played for a fool here? >> again, i haven't seen the base language of the text, i don't know what's in it and not in it. i just know the overall process, is what you see right now playing out. people spend a lot of time, a lot of hours, weeks, months working on a piece of legislation, and then inevitably some third party group or outside player says, no, i don't like it, that yields frustration. that much i know. >> you paid a price, losing your congressional seat in 2018 for standing up to donald trump. that is what clearly people are afraid -- maybe not losing their seat, but that is what folks are afraid of in the senate, republicans. do you think the price is as high for people today?

>> no, i think it's dissipated. i mean, the four of us who spoke out early against trump are all gone, so corker and flake in the senate, me and amash in the house, gone. you know, he was at the apex of political power at that time. that's no longer the case. and you see a further weakening based on what we saw playing out in new hampshire. you know, nikki's nipping at his heels. you see that with the court situation that was described in an earlier segment. he's not where he was, but he's still awfully strong, and the base is there with him. and in republican party and democratic party, politics, one of the rules of thumb is never go against your base and that's why you see political figures reacting as they are. >> let's talk south carolina politics now, and presidential politics. donald trump -- it's been described as like an avalanche of endorsements from electeds in south carolina heading into the primary there.

you know all of the players involved. and it's really interesting, i was just looking back at kind of the history of it, right? when you left the governor's mansion in 2011, nikki haley came in as the next governor. when she appointed tim scott to the senate, you won the house seat that he vacated. you know everyone involved here, first and foremost, what do you think of tim scott's endorsement. it's a real happy family. what dao you think of tim scotts endorsement of trump, not haley? >> again, everybody has different motivations, and again, i think the obvious one on the wall, i don't know this for a fact, in fairness to tim, but the obvious one on the wall would be, wait a minute, you could end up vice president of the united states given trump has momentum, and given the fact that he's going to need a vice president. that would be, i think, maybe the thought. the other would be he likes, as he said when he was called upon

in that awfully weird exchange there on tuesday night, i love you more than i love nikki. i'll let you decide which one it is. >> nikki haley has been facing calls from republicans to drop out. we were talking at the top of the show about this strange rnc draft resolution declaring trump the presumptive nominee, and then it gets pulled. let me ask you this, why should she? why would she drop out? she has the money. that's the reason people end their campaigns, if they run out of money. do you think she should drop out now? >> no, but two thoughts here. one is there's always a tension between money. it's easy for people not in the arena to say keep going and you'll have money to that effect, and she certainly has that, and your own political capital, which takes years to build. and so i suspect there's at some point going to be a calibration wherein, yeah, i have the money but if i get trounced in a state

like south carolina, my home state, does it bode well for me in terms of another presidential race or other political prospects. so i think you have that tension. the other thing that's interesting that people forget is this is not a new play. this is an old play out of their play book, the trump camp, in that if you look at the south carolina primary last go around, four years ago, even though south carolina has historically prided itself in first in the south, they said we're not going to do a republican primary. we won't even allow another voice, another electoral contest against trump in south carolina. and that was the last presidential primary season. so this is not a new thing. it didn't work in this case. but if they can sort of slide one that direction, they'll go all day long, and they did it four years ago. >> given your history in standing up to donald trump and what you said about him, do you think nikki haley would be a better president than donald trump?

>> yeah. again, i think donald trump would be a better president than donald trump with all do respect. i mean, i like some of his policies. i like where he's pushed back on this open border which has been a disaster for this country, but, you know, he has been the king of debt. he has not stood up on debt and deficit spending that i think is so critical to the trajectory of our country, and he has been, you know, not a great dislocater in terms of politics but a dislocater in terms of crazy fractions coming against each other in the body politic, and i think he has dumbed down the political debate, and i think that's a problem. >> mark sanford, good to see you, thanks for coming in. >> great interview. you heard it here, donald duck over donald trump, coming up new this morning, israel in front of the international court on justice for the war if gaza. what the judge said about accusations that the idf has committed genocide.

right now, the mother of that oxford high school shooter is back in court after an emotional first day of testimony. her lawyer is arguing she had no idea her husband had bought a gun for their teenager. also, king charles was admitted to the hospital this morning for a scheduled procedure. what we're hearing from the royal family. that's all ahead.

new this morning, the international court of justice, also known as the u.n.'s top court says israel must act immediately to ensure its forces prevent genocide in gaza. here is some of their ruling. in the court's view, at least some of the acts and

omissions alleged by south africa to have been committed by israel in gaza appear to be capable of falling within the provisions of the convention. >> so you heard her say appear to be capable of falling within the provisions of the convention. cnn's melissa bell is live at the hague with more on this. melissa, can you sort of walk us through the wording here which is very important and the reactions. there are now a lot of people reacting to this. >> reacting, i think, really strongly, sara, because this ruling went so much further than a lot of us who have been watching the proceedings over the last couple of weeks thought they would. these were fairly unanimous decisions, all bar one or two of the judges ruling in favor of these six measures that do stop short of calling for an immediate cease fire. that to the south africans who brought this case is a disappointment. they had hoped it would go so

far, and yet, when you consider the six immediate measures that the court has ruled in favor of, and again, i think it's important to remember these are preliminary emergency measures that south africa had been requesting the international court of justice to take in order that the war in gaza cease so these events could be invest investigated. that could happen, it could take years for the court to decide and the question of whether genocide has been committed inside gaza. meanwhile, those six measures, extremely significant. while they stop short of calling for a cease fire, they do call for the immediate end of the killing or causing of serious bodily or mental harm to the palestinian people, which this court has recognized are a protected people. and that is extremely significant. does go in the direction of south africans and yet, have a listen to what south africa's farmers tried to say in

response, an acknowledgment of their disappointment that the court didn't go so far as to call for an immediate cease fire. >> i believe that in exercising the order there would have to be a cease fire. without it, the order doesn't actually work. i would have wanted a cease fire. >> reporter: now, the word cease fire, of course, never mentioned, and yet the order that has been made here by the court does pile huge pressure on israel not only to report back on what's happening and what measures it's taken to prevent the further committing of acts, the killings that i mentioned a moment ago, that significant pressure on israel, we had been very curious as we heard the pro palestinian protesters here shout as we heard those measures pronounced, very much favorable

to what they heard, almost surprised that the court had gone so far in their direction. this is what benjamin netanyahu had to say a moment ago in a short video message that was released in the wake of the ruling. >> israel has an inherent right to defend itself. the vile attempt to deny israel this fundamental right is blatant discrimination against the jewish state, and it was justly rejected. the charge of genocide leveled against israel is not only false, it's outrageous. and decent people everywhere should reject it. >> reporter: a good deal of outreach coming from israel in the wake of the ruling, and yet, part of the reading that we heard here today in the hague is that there's plausibility when it comes to the possibility that genocide acts are being committed inside gaza and that in terms of the wake of public opinion and the pressure likely to be brought on israel, for it to change at least the way it's

waging the war is going to be significant. >> it's significant, it's unusual. we're seeing a sizable protest outside of the hague this morning in the netherlands there as well. melissa bell, thank you for breaking that down for us. it's complicated stuff, but it is very clear where these judges are going. appreciate it. john. while this is happening, this morning we're learning details about a phone call between president biden and the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu. barak ravid is with us, also a politics and former policy reporter for axios. this is your reporting, i woke up to it. what did you learn about this phone call? >> reporter: well, i think this phone call was very interesting because it showed us how much president biden and his team and the white house are nervous about this war going on for much longer when you take into consideration that we are in an election year, and biden told

netanyahu in the phone call last friday that he is not in it for a year of war in gaza, meaning the war started in october 2023 that might reach october 2024 and the u.s. presidential election. and what i heard from several bi biden aides is that they see how this war affects them when it comes to, especially young voters in america, and that every day that the gaza war is still dominating the news is a political damage for biden's presidential campaign. so this is why pressed netanyahu to scale down military operations in gaza as soon as possible. >> pressure. any ultimatums? >> well, not an ultimatum. i think this is not, tloat leas not yet, but i think that, you know, when the president of the united states is telling the israeli prime minister i'm not in it for a year of war in gaza,

and when he tells him you need to scale back operations, that is at least, in my opinion, the most forward-leaning biden was until now, in private, with netanyahu when it comes to the need to expedite the end of the war. >> benjamin netanyahu in the past, i mean, he knows american politics. he's played in u.s. electoral politics before, barak. any sense of what he might want here in terms of joe biden's political success? >> you know, i think it's too soon. netanyahu has a lot of baggage with donald trump. they're not best friends in the last several years. so i'm not even sure that netanyahu is rooting for this candidate or another. but i think, as he told biden,

he told biden, listen, we thought we would get more done more quickly, and we found out that's not the case. therefore, we have a lot of work to do in gaza. biden didn't like to hear that, but, you know, that's the case for now, and what we heard from netanyahu's people today is that they're not going to stop, at least at the moment. >> barak ravid always great to have you on. thank you so much. kate. jennifer crumbley back in court today, how much responsibility do parents bear when their child commits a mass shooting. what you could hear from crumbley herself when she takes the stand.

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we have been looking at a michigan courtroom as day two of the trial for a school shooter's mother is underway. it is unprecedented what is happening. right now, the prosecution is presenting evidence including messages between jennifer crumbley and her husband james. we could soon hear from jennifer herself. during opening remarks, her defense attorney said she's going to take the stand in the case against her. her son killed four students at oxford high school on november 30th, 2021, and will spend the rest of his life behind bars. now, jennifer crumbley and her husband james are trying to avoid prison themselves. in separate trials that could test the limits of who can be held responsible for a shooting. let's bring in defense attorney misty maris, happy to see you, misty: let's talk about jennifer's defense.

>> good morning, sara. >> good morning to you. jennifer's defense is very much based on the fact that she says she did not buy the gun for ethan and that she can't be responsible for something she had no idea was going to happen. is that defense going to work for her, do you think? is that a strong defense? >> so the purchase of the gun is very central to jennifer's defense. in fact, it's one of the reasons why we're seeing the trials be separated, jennifer is being prosecuted separate from her husband james, and a lot of that relates to the fact that james purchased the gun for ethan. we saw evidence play out in the courtroom yesterday. james went to the store with ethan. they purchased the gun. as the gun owner, he has different responsibilities relating to maintenance, safe keeping, storage, and accessibility to that gun, including it's illegal to purchase a gun on behalf of another person. so, yes, that is a huge part of jennifer's defense. however, the prosecutors are making arguments that

essentially say, who purchased the gun really isn't the point. they're presenting evidence that shows jennifer knew that ethan had access to the gun. who purchased it really doesn't matter. some of the evidence we saw yesterday was jennifer with ethan at a gun range with that very gun. we saw videos from ethan's instagram, which show that he had basically unfettered access to the gun at home. and so what prosecutors are going to say is, really that question of who's the purchaser is ancillary to the issues in this case, which is did jennifer willfully disregard these warning signs that ethan posed a threat to others. >> which is the definition of involuntary manslaughter. i do want to ask you about one of the facts in this case, that i simply can't quite get out of my head. before the public knew who was responsible for the shooting, while it was happening, there was a text that was sent to

ethan from his mom, jennifer. and the text read, ethan, don't do it. after we knew that there was a school shooting at the school. could this be a really key piece of evidence? it seems like that to me. >> absolutely, sara. such a tragic case, and we saw so much emotion in the courtroom, and that text message is very very central for a couple of reasons. jennifer crumbley's defense is essentially that ethan was manipulative, that he actually hid and she was unaware of his spiraling, downward spiral of mental health ultimately leading to the shooting. and it's all about what she knew or should have known which ultimately resulted in the death of these four kids, so tragic. that text, when that comes, news is breaking there's a shooting at the school, her immediate inclination is ethan, don't do

it. that's going to show that she had some notice, that she was on notice of these issues and his propensity for violence before this. you know, there's parents on this jury, sara, and they're going to be thinking, my gosh, if there's a school shooting at my child's school, i'm going to say saying, are you okay, i'm not going to be saying, don't do it. so i think these messages are going to be really really impactful and that one particularly, that's going to stick in the minds of the jury as they deliberate. >> yeah, i mean, this is a tragedy that didn't need to happen. you have now five families, including ethan's family there whose lives will never be the same. the teacher there, we're seeing her on the stand yesterday, who was shot, so many people having to go through such tragedy because of one person. thank you so much, missy, for all of this analysis. it is a fascinating case that could be unprecedented. we'll see what happens. john. we are standing by, sara, to see if donald trump and his team enter the courtroom here in new york. they appear to be running late.

closing arguments were set to begin moments ago. now i am just getting word, trump and his team have just entered the courtroom in the defamation damages trial against him. it's starting late. we're going to get new reporting about why, next.

just moments ago, our team saw donald trump and his legal counsel entering the courtroom. closing arguments set to begin any minute in the defamation damages trial against him, and at some point today, the case is expected to be handed over to the jury who will decide how much, if any amount, e. jean

carroll should be awarded. with us now is former manhattan prosecutor, counselor, great to see you here. let's break this down one by one, the prosecution's case in closing argument will be? the plaintiff's side will say, listen, this is an actual injury, and we had an expert who testified and said there was a $12 million worth of damages for e. jean carroll, but it's correspond that. e. jean carroll was a victim. she was scared for her life. she got ammunition from her father's firearm. she was so frightened and terrified about what trump did and said, she had to get security for her home. there's so many things she did because of donald trump's actions. you heard from an expert to corroborate that as well as her friends. >> donald trump's case . >> she didn't suffer injury. don't pay attention to the expert, he didn't know what he was talking about. she was facing ridicule, not from me as donald trump, but

because of what she said and wrote on her own. that's what he's going to come back. there's no damages here. >> one of the most interesting things today, if not the most interesting to me is what the jury instructions will be, the judge, what the judge says before the jury goes to deliberate. what are the possibilities here? >> well, i understand that there was a little bit of a conference, that's the wrong term, there was a conference, a dispute as to what might be said, and for example, the judge was talking about instructing the jury. this was not a rape, but this is a sexual abuse, and there was an issue about what that meant and how far the judge would instruct the jury about that. the judge would explain this is not proof beyond a reasonable doubt, it's preponderance of the evidence, so basically that it's just a hair more likely than not. just a little bit, that's all it takes, more likely than not that the plaintiff has proven their case and that this occurred. and then you're going to hear about the damages, which would be you have compensatory, and then make you whole or take care of the injury, and then there's a punitive side as well, which is how it impacted her.

>> how likely is it that the judge will remind the jury about what they can and can't consider about donald trump's very brief testimony because to the layman, it seems he got everything he wanted. he got to go there on that witness stand and say that he didn't do it. >> yeah, and there was -- and i think at one point, the judge instructed the jury not to listen to what donald trump had said, and struck that from the record. so it's going to be very clear, i think, that the judge will make a tight, tight decision here and say you have to listen to what was before you that i did not strike. not what donald trump may have said about what he thought outside. this is solely to the four corners of what's in the testimony. >> jury gets the case today, how likely do you think it is that we'll get a ruling on the damages today. >> today would be pretty quick. but i think this is going to be a fairly quick, nanmay not be today, but quick. >> thank you very much. >> good conversation. a first of its kind execution has been carried out in alabama, the fears leading up to the moment, what happened, and what it means now for the

death penalty, potentially across this country. that's ahead.

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this morning a prison official in alabama says a first of its kind execution went as expected. kenneth smith was killed by using nitrogen gas and he was dead in about 25 minutes. but it seems that the questions surrounding the method, this method of carrying out the death penalty, questions surrounding it still remain. isabel row sal sales is outside prison in alabama. what are you learning? >> reporter: at around 8:25 central, alabama clear that we have entered a new era of the death penalty. we're getting a clearer idea of that time line of death via this first execution by nitrogen gas from witnesses and from a statement from the attorney general's office. from the time that the new troh ag her her nitrogen gas started to flow until death was approximately 28 minutes. smith appeared conscious for several minutes, that around two minutes he was struggling up

against the gurney, the gurney was shaking. and that he was followed then by several minutes of deep pr breathing and then the breathing slowed down. the state is touting this as a success. the attorney general says nitrogen gas has proved to be an effective and humane method of execution. the governor says it was lawfully carried out. meanwhile the commissioner of the alabama department of corrections says about that shaking when he was asked by reporters that it was involuntary movement. cnn was the first to speak kenneth smith's spiritual adviser who was inside of that chamber. he was shaken and emotional by what he saw and he said it was not painless. listen. >> that was torture. that was absolute torture and

torture is evil. i thought that was something that as a country that we held that it is wrong to torture people, it is wrong to experiment on people. but that is what i saw. that is what i saw. i can tell you what i saw tonight was unbelievably advice cal. and i think that serves as a warning to governors across this countryadvicecal. and i think that serves as a warning to governors across this country. >> reporter: so remarkable contrast there to what state officials are saying. and i do also want to point out kenneth smith's last words about the death penalty, about what he received nitrogen gas. he said tonight alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards. family members of elizabeth tell me this was justice served. we are keeping an eye on a press conference here in the next hour from the attorney general's office. we'll monitor that. >> thank you so much. moments ago closing arguments did begin in the defamation damages trial against donald trump.

but not after a bit of early drama. donald trump wasn't there when the proceedings were set to begin. am be ambleded in late.. why? new information coming in.