>> business cnn breaking news. we are on verdict watch, because right now the jury is deliberating in the civil defamation trial against former president trump. jurors will determine whether trump has to pay damages and how much for defaming e. jean carrol while he was president. he could be getting a decision any minute, as i mentioned, and we have cnn standing by at the courthouse as she has been throughout this entire process. cara, get us up to speed here. >> reporter: the jury has been deliberating for about an hour and 20 minutes at this point. after hearing closing arguments earlier today, and it was e. jean carroll's team that went first. they told the jury that the only way to stop donald trump from defaming e. jean carroll was to make and pacing of the amount of money. they say they are looking for

at least $24 million for emotional harm and the money it would cost to repair her reputation, and a very large amount of money in punitive damages to punish trump for making these statements again and again. it was during the closing arguments when e. jean carroll's carol attorney is that even last year after he was found liable for defamation 24 hours later he was on cnn town hall repeating the defamatory statements. saying nothing will stop them from disregarding the jury verdict. it was at that moment the trump stood up, walked out of the courtroom with secret service trailing him, and did not return until his loggers were getting their closing arguments. it was during the closing argument that his lawyers said that he could not be held responsible for mean tweets that e. jean carroll received, or even the death threats that she said she received because he was not responsible for the people who sent them. they also suggested that e. jean carroll had this upon herself, saying that she was a public person, by going public with accusations against the president at the time, that she was going to invite some

scrutiny. of course, her lawyers say that the reason why e. jean carroll suited donald trump is that so many of the messages they got were parroting trump's own words. they said that e. jean carroll is the victim in this case, not donald trump. the jury is deliberating, i am just checking to see if we have any update from the courtroom. nothing yet. it has been about an hour and 20 minutes, the judge telling them that they will go until 4:30 today. if there is no verdict they will return on monday. rihanna? >> things can move pretty fast, as we learned here. thank you so much for the latest there. let's discuss further now with cnn legal analyst joey jackson. joey, we heard carrot they're talking about as we are awaiting this verdict how trump had walked out abruptly during e. jean carroll's lawyer giving the closing argument, which, you know, interrupted the whole process here. is that something the jury could hold against trump? how does this work?

>> yeah, so the real issue in any courtroom, as you instruct your client at all times to compose themselves and to know and understand that everything and anything you do is being evaluated closely. the problem he is going to have, that is mr. trump, in terms of walking out, is it goes to the narrative of the team for e. jean carroll, which is he plays by his own set of rules, the regular rules of decorum, comportment, forget about the law, they don't apply to him. why is that relevant now? because he goes to the issue of unitive damages, of malice, of why the jury should take into account that he just doesn't care. so if the jury were to conclude that he just doesn't care, which is their narrative all along and i am just repeating things of the jury has found him responsible for, then guess what? you see a large reward as it relates to punitive damages. that is why storming out is just not something you want to do. >> the fact that trump defamed her, continued to say things

about her after the last trial, is that going to way with the jury as e. jean carroll's lawyer makes the point that there has to be a big monetary reward here to deter him? >> so i really do think so, right? because when you look at evaluate exactly what they are saying, they are talking about the issues of accountability, talking about him not being accountable, and talking about this jury holding him accountable. a person who just doesn't care. a person who will just continue to say things and do things the jury already has found you being responsible. remember, also, that his attorney was admonished. the dead was like no, we are not doing that, playing the flip of esther trump talking about a witchhunt, et cetera. trying to propagate the narrative that this just did not happen, that has been

determined, it was decided. it was decided by a former jury last year that there was defamation involved in what mr. trump said. it was determined that sexual assault happened. so you are not going to add cannot deny that. that is out of bounds. so to repeat something again and again and again is troubling without question, and could certainly be used by that jury to award something large in the way of punitive and economic damages. >> will be waiting to see what the jury says that if they say anything today. joey jackson, great to have you, thank you so much. >> thank you. now that iowa and new hampshire voters have weighed in on the 2024 presidential race, the country appears to be headed for a rematch of 2020. donald trump has swept both states, and president joe biden won new hampshire as a write in candidate despite not even being on the state ballot. but polls also show the voters are not overly fond of the leading two candidates squaring off again, raising questions about whether a third-party

candidate has a potential path towards the white house. one name being thrown around in speculation for a third-party run is west virginia senator joe manchin, who joins us now. we should note, he is a democrat. senator, thank you so much for being with us. you decided against running for re-election this year. i am wondering that ultimate question of whether you want to run for the white house. you want to announce a run right here on cnn? >> first of all, thanks for having me on such short notice. i appreciate it. we knew we were going around the country talking to people, we were in south carolina last night, we are in georgia today and will be in georgia state here in a few minutes. but it is interesting to find out what we are hearing on the road, and it truly is that people are not as divided as congress and washington wants us to believe we are. and the politics is basically being westernized, and we see what is going on. so people are looking for is

there going to be a challenge, is there going to be other options? we are just trying to tell people there are options out there, especially how you are able to get more people involved. so we put together what we call americans together, which is a movement showing people how they can change from what you see today and the discourse we have in washington, it won't be changed in washington. it will be changed in south carolina or georgia or west virginia. people have to get involved and demand better representation. they don't like what they are seeing now, and everything is politicized. it really is. >> so, given that you're hearing this from voters out there, that there is much more overlap in what they would like to see done in the nation's capital, how does that factor into your consideration or someone in your position who might be waiting a run as a third-party candidate? >> i have never been more concerned about my country than i am today.

i see what's going on, which why we are heading, and it gets more toxic every day. is look at what is happening now with this porter decision. the democrats and republicans in the senate have worked very diligently and very hard, and having an agreement very close to being finished. and now all of a sudden people are throwing cold water on it because of politics. this is what is sickening. it is the most dangerous thing we have, the border security right now and a lapse of border security. so we can fix that. but when you have for president trump saying we can't do that because let's go ahead and blame the democrats, well, the democrats let this happen. it is time to fix it. so we can fix this working together. but not to fix it because of politics, it is not who we are as a country. it is not what our purpose in washington is all about. people are sick of that. i said if we can give them options, there are a lot of good people out there that can come forward. there is a lot of good people that can do this.

on the other hand, can we move president biden back to the center a little bit more? as i think people really thought that he was a moderate centrist, and that is what i have always known him to be. if that can happen, pushing back towards the senator's remark, would that be more attractive? and donald trump is donald trump. i don't know what to say. there's not a whole lot to say on that. >> yeah, it does not sound like you are necessarily opting completely out of a potential run for the white house, so i am wondering if it is something that is on your mind you look at the calendar, is it super tuesday? is there a specific date where you are going to say i need to do this now? or am actually going to step back? >> i think what you have, super tuesday coming up, and right now people are trying to call it a handicap, if you will, or call it already.

i think nikki haley is out there fighting, god bless her, she is going at it. i think it is good, it is challenging, it is competitive. let's see what plays out. and by super tuesday i think you're going to have a very clear picture of what november would look like as it unfolds. is it going to be different? people want different. right now all polls are indicating that they do. is there a possibility that that could change? it is their opportunity for a third party up the middle? well, i can tell you, 45 to 55% of americans consider being centerleft and center-right. not being extreme left for extreme right. they want common sense, they operate their lives that way and make decisions for their family and businesses every day, and that boundary. and all of a sudden can't we run our politics? why did it get so toxic? why did they weapon isaac? why do you have to say you are a democrat or you are republican, you are the other side and i am supposed to hate you. i don't hate any of my colleagues. these are my friends and i'm going to work with them and always have tried to do it. >> it sounds like your sort of envisioning yourself for a potential run for the white house, given the way that you

describe yourself as bipartisan , and to be fair, you have drawn a lot of anger from members of your party for some of your more conservative positions. i am curious, though, if you do wind up running and you attract more moderate voters. >> i'm not real popular with the extreme left or extreme right. >> if you do wind up running and you attract more moderate, more left-leaning independents, when a third-party candidate like yourself ultimately deliver the white house to donald trump? do you not see a potential for you to place boiler? >> i'd hear that. i have heard that many times. i have not seen that play out information but i have heard that. i can only tell you, i will never be a spoiler. for one side of the other to be a spoiler. i will never do that. i will watch very carefully if that's what it comes down to. right now the movement of americans together letting you know there are things you can

change. you can change the primary processes. we can work better on gerrymandering to stop all the crazy districts. we have 380 out of 435 already cooked. democrat or republican because they are cooked on the ideology of how their lines were drawn. those things can be changed, and that is what we are trying to talk about and show people how they can get involved. and majority voting, my dear friend lisa would probably have never gotten elected in alaska without it. and god bless her, she is one of the better senators that we have ever had in the senate. i enjoyed working with her so much. when you start living that moderate centrist middle and people are retiring. my friend mitt romney is retiring, people that we have always counted on. all the things we have been able to do in a bipartisan way, these are the people that have always been at the table. they are the ones that made the 117th congress the most productive probably in recent history. bipartisan infrastructure bill and even the i.r.a. was done, i worked for five

years putting it together with different friends on republican and democrats together. there was a lot of progress that was made because of the middle, not the extremes. nicely the extremes trying to play politics with the most dangerous thing that we are dealing with today, which is the border. the crisis of the border is an absolute, total crisis. and it is dangerous. we can fix it. and if not, i would ask the president, please declare a national emergency. don't let the politics destroyed basically the border situation and security that we needed that border, and i would hope you would do that. >> we have to leave the conversation there. when you do make a decision you should come back and do it here on cnn. >> i will come and talk to you, i sure will. thank you so much for having them. >> much appreciated, thank you so much. still to come, the georgia state senate looking into claims of an improper affair between fulton county district attorney willis and her lead

prosecutor, in the elections aversion case against donald trump. plus, trump decides he would rather win the republican nomination the old-fashioned way, then have the orange seat just handed to him. we will look at what he potentially changed his mind. and later, testimony resuming in the trial of the michigan school shooters mother. why attorneys were clashing over evidence. those stories and much more coming up on cnn.

some news just into cnn, we are now learning the fulton

county district attorney ronnie willis was telling congressional republicans that her office will not handle documents related to donald trump's election interference case in fulton county, georgia. this comes after allegations surfaced that willis and her lead prosecutor, nathan wade, engaged in an improper relationship. republican congressman jim jordan sent a letter to wade earlier this month requesting these records. let's go live now to cnn's nick valencia. what are you learning about willis's response? >> hey there, boris, this is the latest in a long standing back and forth between district attorney willis and republican jim jordan, the chairman of the house judiciary committee. jordan has been trying to undermine the credibility of this investigation and this case, parroting things from the former president, calling this a political persecution, not a prosecution. he estimated documents in the past before. again, he is demanding that now the news of his alleged improper relationship surface, but again he is being met with

resistance from district attorney willis who has rebuffed his demands, and this is what she is saying and part of her response. your request indicates significant well-recognized confidentiality interest related to an ongoing criminal matter. your request violates principles of separation of powers and federalism as well as respect for the legal protections provided to an attorney work product in ongoing litigation. ever since these alleged romance rumors really surfaced, willis has been facing criticism from her critics, her foes, now allies are asking her to step down. she has yet to directly respond to these allegations, but she has devoted her selection of nathan wade, saying he is uniquely qualified to do this. meanwhile, she is facing a deadline to respond in writing to these claims by next friday, and of course we have been reporting on the subpoenas of people who potentially have firsthand knowledge of this alleged romance. that sets the stage for a very dramatic february 13 evidentiary hearing where these individuals would potentially have to testify on live

television. >> nick valencia live from atlanta. well, the republican national committee has dropped a proposal that would've formally declared former president trump the party's presumptive nominee. had the resolution been adopted, trump would have gained access to fundraising, data, and ground operations, and the committee would effectively be opposing nikki haley before the vast majority of the nations primaries, an unprecedented approach to the nominating process. trump initially supported the measure, but reversed course amid heavy backlash. now the former president is advocating for party unity, saying that he wants to, quote, with the old-fashioned way by finishing the process at the ballot box. joining me now is matt gorman, a senior adviser to senator tim scott's presidential campaign. thank you so much for being with us. what happened here? >> i think someone got a little out of there is a little bit. if you are trump, you are winning. just keep winning. you don't need to jump the gun here, and there are historically

funds if they wanted to raise money so that when trump is actually the nominee they have it ready to go. people have been doing this for decades. there are funds that you can do that the don't call you the presumptive nominee when you are not yet. >> he is already taking criticism because of what he is signaling to do another term, that he is going to be undemocratic. and this is a move to take some of the democracy out of the nominating process. it is sort of interesting that that didn't occur to him or maybe that is something that he did not worry about. >> i can't speak for him, he probably heard the idea, it sounded good, but when he saw it in practice, again, you are up by 20 or 30 points in south carolina. you are on track to win this. at least right now i cannot pick a state that nikki haley is post to win. let it keep going, win it. >> is hard to see how nikki haley turned this around, considering the electorate in new hampshire and the primary was the most friendly it is ever going to be to her.

how was she thinking about, how would a candidate be thinking about this moment as we do have weeks before the south carolina primary? >> the four weeks between new hampshire and south carolina are important. if it was a week, you are kind of swept up in the momentum and keep going. four weeks allows you to replenish the coffers and see what the polls look like. i don't think anyone realistically expected her in any way to drop out that night. that was not realistic. but what it allows her to do is take a week and a half, maybe even two, see where the polls are. if she really has a realistic chance of winning, it is close, she can win, that is one thing. if she is getting blown out by 25, 30 points in her home state, that is a very different measure. she has the time to think about it. and there is a human element to this. i think we all sometimes fail to deliver that. these people are human and dedicated well over a year of their life, and it has consumed their life. it is hard to almost hit the break real quick. you need time to think about this. >> if she wants to play a role,

potentially, in a trump term, another trump term, or if she considers that to be a possibility, what do you think that would change about her calculus? >> i think more so than anything else, the one thing trump loves his converts. he loves bringing people back into the fold. nikki haley was one of them back in 2016. so i don't think it would be too much. he loves people coming back into the fold. if this were to happen he would welcome it. >> loves the converts, love the endorsements. and tim scott, your former guy, he endorsed donald trump. donald trump did not repay him with a lovely moment on stage, he sort of ripped him a little bit, maybe embarrassed him a little bit. what did you think about this moment? >> i think it was one of the

things where trump courted the endorsement. he wanted the endorsement and he knew that it would be a powerful force. he is very popular in the state of south carolina, so you can have it both in new hampshire and south carolina. i didn't think too much of it. look, he is friends with nikki haley, i know she appointed him, but trump and him works together pretty closely when he was president, signing into some of his laws. that is what i treated it to. >> matt, it is great to have you. what a strange, strange point whereat, in a strange election season. >> january, long way to go. >> maybe not, we will see. ray to have you on. the mother of the oxford school shooter allegedly laughed when her troubled son reached out for help. that is just one of the prosecution's claims in jennifer crumbley's manslaughter trial. stay with us.

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direct deposits come up to two days early with early pay day. what if everything came two days early? (hero) have a good weekend! (co-worker) but it's wednesday... (hero) it's the weekend baby. (vo) want to get paid up to two days early? you can with wells fargo. a historic trial is taking place right now in michigan against the mother of a mesh shooter. jennifer crumbley and charged with involuntary manslaughter after her son killed four of his classmates at oxford high school back in 2021. today the prosecution laid out their evidence, claiming that jennifer crumbley not only ignored all the warning signs, but seemed to care more about her horse that her child. cnn is following this case very closely, joining us now with more. gina, how did the prosecution

make that argument? >> well, there've been so many text messages that have come into evidence today. and of course, on the written page you can see someone state of mind. was there gross negligence in regard to your child? was the shooter having severe mental issues? i want you to listen to the forensic crimes expert as he testifies to some of those texts. >> he says okay, the house is now haunted. now i'm scared. i am just going to be outside for a while. can you at least text back? >> so that is from 6:03 26:29. the last x with 6:29 p.m. and the next response from the defendant to her son is when? >> two days later, where's your dad? >> could you please tell us when and where this picture was taken? >> it was taken, the gps similar to the previous ones at

a horse park. on a horse. taken at march 17th at 6:03 p.m. >> 6:03, the second time with the text messages regarding the styles being haunted and saw a demon. >> so ethan was at home alone, texting his mother, he is very scared, 15 years old, and his mother does not text him back because she is riding her horse. here is another text that came out today that is jennifer crumbley texting her husband a few hours earlier, before they get to the stable, so right around the same time and jennifer texts her husband going to get drunk and ride my horse. the judge had made a ruling that no alcohol usage was going to made it to this trial, but she made an exception because she believed that show the intent of jennifer crumbley to not help her son when he

needed her. but to get drunk and ride her horse. >> and this morning the judge told the defense she is not going to allow the shooter to take the stand if he intends to plead the fifth. explain what is happening with that? >> well, the defense wants even crumbley to take the stand, because they are saying that many of these texts that the forensic psychiatrist, when she interviewed him and assessed him in jail, that he admitted he was lying and a lot of this. that it really wasn't true. so they want him to take the stand to set the record straight. what exactly was he meaning and why did he text these things? but the appellate attorneys that are mounting that appeal for the sentence of even crumbley of life in prison without any possibility of a role, they are saying he is going to exercise his privilege. he is going to plead the fifth if you bring them in. and the judge says look, i'm not going to have him take the stand if he's going to plead the fifth. so let's see what happens in

that. but that is the only way that the defense can really refute these text messages that are very, very incriminating to jennifer crumbley. >> thank you so much. obviously this case has a lot of ramifications for other cases, so we know you will be watching closely for us. shell allegations found in the u.s. state department to haltlt funding t to the u.n. re group that aids palestinians. we will have that story after the e break.

some shocking allegations

to share with you today from the israeli government. they claim the 12 u.n. relief agency employees were involved in the october 7th hamas attacks on israel that saw at least 1200 people killed and more than 250 taken hostage. the u.n. relief and works agency operating in gaza says it has now fired those workers and is launching an investigation. cnn's alex marquart has been following investigations forest. what more are you learning? >> well, this agency, essentially israel brought these allegations directly to them rather quietly several days ago, saying that these employees had been involved in october 7th in some way, which we are still trying to find out exactly what they are accused of doing. the agency took these so seriously that they immediately terminated the contracts of these employees and launched an investigation. it has been absolutely critical, not just in wartime,

but in peacetime, as well, in terms of bringing aid to palestinians. they maintain and run schools in the gaza strip and clinics. now during this war they have really been at the center of trying to get food, medicine, shelter to these desperate palestinians. but clearly taking this very seriously. we learn that several days ago they told the state department, so when they made their statement earlier today about the actions they are taking including launching an investigation, we very quickly heard from the state department, as well, and it was the u.s. that actually put a number on this. 12 staffers were accused of taking part secretary of state has with the u.n. secretary- general. he praised the u.n. for taking steps in investigating, and announced that the u.s. will be holding back, temporarily, at least, additional funding. we don't know how much that is read the u.s. is one of the biggest donors. so there is certainly a lot of questions about what exact way

happened there. >> and alex, the talk over a potential deal to secure the release of hostages from gaza. we understand that there has been progress, but not really, according to sources within the israeli government. the u.s. is sending the cia director over there to oversee the process. what is the latest there? >> which is notable. the cia director phil burns is the point person for the biden administration when it comes to negotiating this hostage deal or another hostage deal that hopefully the u.s. says would lead to a cease-fire. the u.s. really sees this hostage deal as a key to unlocking a longer pause in the fighting that would allow the weapons to be put down, the guns to fall silent, more humanitarian aid to come into the gaza strip. gazans allowed to go home. very notable, bill burns is traveling to europe, we believe there is a meeting in the coming days with his israeli and egyptian counterparts as well as the qatar prime minister . these are the main players when it comes to getting a hostage deal done. we are hearing the warning from the white house today that it

does not appear the deal is imminent, but certainly these players have to get together to get on the same page and bridge some of the very significant gaps between the hamas and israeli positions. >> alex, keep us posted on the latest. still to come on cnn news central, jury deliberations happening right now in the civil information trial against donald trump. following the very latest from the courtroom when we come back.

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for decades martha stewart has made her mark on american culture through her special brand of domestic doyenne.

she is great, martha stewart is awesome. there is a new cnn original series, the many lives of the stuart, the traces her rise, her fall, her comeback, and hers that was meant as an american icon. there is a preview of a special look of a woman known as the original influencer. >> everything in her life is thinking and dreaming and selling something. >> it is a world record. you know what else is a shard? martha's shard. >> she brought me a beautiful hotbox with cbd gummies. and martha, you'd think she would bring you a little bit of strawberry jam. >> investors are really focused on the martha stewart cbd line being number three right here in the u.s. >> she has the edge, always. >> when i thing about anything i think about the way that she did it first.

>> all these crafts and all these cooking shows, once martha paved the road everyone else pretty much copied her. >> she was pretty much the original influencer. doing it as a business. for my generation of millennial's, that felt really normal. >> this recipe is actually inspired by a martha stewart recipe from blueberry buckle that my mom has made for years. >> martha actually showed a generation of women how to grow a business. there is no modern lifestyle brand without martha. >> today we are making a social media smash burger taco. >> martha stewart actually tweeted out is gwyneth the next martha? >> there is only one martha. >> such a comment here. and joining us now is patty sellers, who covered martha stewart for years as the assistant managing editor of fortune magazine. of course, you know stuart pretty well and had incredible access to her over the years. she was on fortune's most

powerful women list you cofounded in 1998. in 1998 there were very few powerful women, even though fortune decided to start covering them and ranking them, the time there was not one fortune 500 ceo, there are about 50 now, martha and oprah, oprah winfrey was also on the list, she was higher than martha. these really the only two women who were creating their own empires at a time when women were trying to get to the top and trying to become fortune 500 ceos, but everybody was talking about the glass. >> is fascinating her entire story and was stands out to me is the fact that she was imprisoned for five months for

lying to investigators about insider-trading but then she gets out and she sort of uses that, what would be a negative thing, to her advantage and she brands on that. >> well, it is a fantastic story and quite frankly i'm shocked that it took 20 years for anybody in credit to cnn for doing this multipart documentary, it's a big life, she has had many lives, she is still creating new chat jurors in the many lives of martha stewart and 20 years ago, it seems like yesterday to me, i was chasing her as a writer and editor of fortune magazine, trying to get the interview when she was in prison for five months, i did everything i could

to get that first story and she ended up talking with me when she got out, and she is defiant, she likes to break the rules and she really broke the rules of brand building in away, and defied her lawyers and a lot of advisors by actually serving time. what he said to her you should fight this to the end, and she wanted to get it over with and she wanted to move on your she is a just do it kind of girl. >> one of the things that patty, it strikes me, i noticed over time, is that she has a sense of humor about herself. i really think that has come out more as we have seen this kind of authentic martha stewart coming out, it is not as curated as it was decades ago? >> well, people who don't know

her, i think a lot of people who don't, believe that she is almost a sort of artifice or a created character. martha is exact the who she is, she is, you know, a woman of contradictions first of all. she has created the sort of fantasy world where everything is perfect, will her life fell apart after rear fell apart and her company fell apart, and she made her come back but in rising to the top of the business world, she sacrificed a lot. she sacrificed her marriage and yet i've been in her home, and it's the real deal, she is really an amazing homemaker your she has a lot of help and it's interesting to me, she is also

very much and famously about control, and yet the number of wrists that she is taken throughout her career, and mostly they have paid off, but if you really did not pay off, including lying to investigators, about business deals, seriously. >> patty, i'm so sorry, were going to have to leave it there, but it has been amazing to talk to you and i can't wait to learn more about her story. so we are going to be sure to watch the all-new cnn originals theories, the many lives of martha stewart, back to back episodes, sunday 9 pm eastern time and pacific only on cnn.

the detroit lions have never won a full wall championship, the super bowl, so fans are trying if they can, claiming a win six months ago. >> alex scott a tattoo of a lions logo and a lombardi trophy reading super bowl champions 2024, he said he had no regrets, he was inspired by their unexpected success last season and the appearance on the show hard not, he said there are a few people who think it is a jinx, like breanna and die, what are you doing.>> don't jinx it! man! >> but put yourself out there.