right now on "ana cabrera reports," breaking news in the middle east.

why now and where will it lead? we'll speak to the national security council's john kirby about all of that straight ahead. plus, just three days away now, the final stretch for republican candidate in iowa. how they're hoping to get people to the caucuses with even a foot of snow potentially arriving. and it's not just in iowa, that snow is coming down hard across the midwest and the great lakes. we'll have a full forecast of what to expect there and across the country. ♪♪ hello on this friday, it is 10:00 eastern. i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. we begin with that breaking news, what could turn into a major escalation of the conflict in the middle east. the united states and the uk launching strikes against houthi targets in yemen hitting airports, military bases and weapons facilities. these strikes in response to

weeks of attacks by the militants on commercial ships in the red sea, and now the houthis vowing to retaliate saying those involved will, quote, pay absolutely. let's bring in nbc news pentagon correspondent courtney kube, nbc's josh lederman is in southern israel on the coast of the red sea. also with us retired u.s. brigadier general peter zwack and ambassador to morocco marc ginsberg. it's great to have you all here. courtney, what do we know about this decision to carry out these strikes? why now? why were these specific targets chosen? >> this has been weeks in the making, frankly. the houthis have been targeting commercial shipping for the past several months right down where we see josh's beautiful background there in the red sea, and this has become an increasing concern for the biden administration and, frankly, for some close u.s. allies. so they've been discussing potential options since late in 2023. well, they just came together and got several options, the

middle of the week last week that the u.s. approved, and one of the keys here was they did not want to go this alone. they wanted this to be a coalition. you mentioned that the british military participated in this. they conducted some of these air strikes. there were also several other allied nations including the australians who provided non-operational support. that was the key here. they did not want this to be a unilateral u.s. military action. now, the targets that they went after have two real goals here. the first is to degrade the houthis' ability to continue to carry out these sorts of strikes. they've primarily been using one-way attack drones, antiship cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, fired off more than 80 of these projectiles frankly in the last two months or so. that's why we saw some of the strikes going after radar sites, going after warehouses or storage facilities where they maintained some of these weapons. but the second goal here, ana, is deterrence. the u.s. hoping that with this

sort of action last night, they can deter the houthis from continuing to carry out these strikes. there have been at least 27 attacks. now, the majority of the projectiles have been either shot down. several have struck these commercial ships. that has led major commercial shipping companies to vary some of their routes. it's costing -- it will potentially cost consumers more money because of the extensive time and the additional cost to the companies. that is one of the things that the u.s. wanted to avoid here, ana. >> so general, can you talk to us about who exactly are the houthis and what are they capable of? >> well, what we've seen is they actually have quite a bit of capability. the houthis are a shia, part of the shia population in sunni,

shia, yemen. there have been a long civil war with the yemeni government. just ten years ago the houthis took the capital saana, they're iranian-backed, and that's very, very important and they carry some of the mantras about the region, oppression and islam. there has been a terrible civil war in yemen where 150,000 have died. so the houthisr nds are aggrieved. they've latched on to israel hamas. however, they've already been out there creating substantial mischief, and they right now are the power dominant in yemen. they're very, very well-equipped by the iranians, and that is important to mention.

i don't believe that the houthis would be making these attacks unless they had a green light from iran who also has their access of resistance with hezbollah. those shia militias in iraq and syria that are hitting u.s. bases almost every day and finally hamas. >> you talk about the mischief that the houthis have been causing in the region and most recently, a lot of that mischief has been attacks in the red sea, josh. can you talk about the significance of that area and what kind of disruption the houthis have been causing. >> reporter: the economic disruption has been huge, ana, major shipping companies avoiding the red sea, and going around the red sea, not using

the suez canal, and instead going around the horn of africa. shipping experts tell us can add ten days, as much as two weeks or more to shipping routes. our friends at cnbc tell us just in the last few weeks it's been $200 billion worth of trade that's had to be rerouted, a massive effect for the global supply chain. here on the southern tip of israel, the port of allot said they have seen an 85% decrease in shipping activity since this began. the ricochet effects are being felt throughout the region. >> ambassador, the decision to strike i'm sure was not made lightly considering this region is a powder keg. how to you see the u.s. -- or how do you think the u.s. looked at the risk of not taking action, and do you think this will be effective. >> there were domestic as well as international considerations. this started when the houthi rebels began using iranian missiles and drones to attack

israel in the last few weeks. but this expanded the houthis realized as well as iran that choking off commercial shipping would be another way to put pressure on the united states as well as its allies to rein in israel. so there's the domestic and political considerations as well as the fact that the biden administration, which has been fighting inflation realized that the longer that the houthis were able to choke off the red sea route, there was a possibility that the battle against inflation here would be reversed because of the escalation of prices for goods being imported into the united states. >> we just reported that it's believed according to blinken that the houthis had disrupted or diverted 20% of global shipping. that was the beginning of this week prior to additional attacks. that was some $200 billion of international trade. josh, given the houthis are iranian-backed, does this bring the u.s. closer to a

confrontation with iran? >> reporter: well, that is a big concern, ana. u.s. officials have said they don't believe iran right now wants to get dragged into a direct military confrontation with the united states. we've certainly seen what a lot of observers of hezbollah say is restraint by them or an effort not to get drawn fully into a war. when it comes to some of the other iran-backed proxy groups. i want you to hear from the israeli navy commander and has been tracking the houthis for years. take a look. >> if the u.s. starts bombing the houthis in yemen, is there a risk we end up in a direct war with iran? >> no, i don't think so. i don't think because iran doesn't want a regional war. iran wants to fight against israel but to do it in a level that will not escalate to a

regional war. i don't think that this will happen, but i think that the houthis will probably start to attack ships. >> reporter: and this is really the delicate balancing act that the u.s. has been undergoing, ana, as they are trying to figure out these military options. they do not want to escalate into a direct war with iran either. at the same time, they have made clear that they do not feel that these houthi attacks could continue to go undeterred. >> the houthis have now vowed to retaliate. what could that look like? >> again, a good question. they have the kick that we've seen with their rockets and drones and, believe it or not, ballistic missiles have been supplied by iran, and you know, the question is do they turn more to terror? they've been called out and

rightfully so, and i think that there's a lot of noise, but there's also reappraisal. now, if they come back hard, they're going to have to expect a major reaction back. then i go back to iran and the regional partners in the area. what's this all about? now, the russians have called a meeting on the security council about this u.n. security council. well, the russians can put pressure on their partner iran who in theory could put pressure on their partner the houthis to knock it off, but for whatever reason the collective out there has not. no, if the houthis continue their threat, and i think there's a lot of thumping, i think that we and our coalition i think will grow and also the regional nations have basically tried to navigate this carefully also have some choices to make. >> and i think that's an

important point you just made is that there is this alliance. it wasn't just the u.s. acting unilaterally here. ambassador, given iran and its role in all of this, officials in iran are condemning the strikes. what do you think iran does now, and do you think they had direct control in what the houthis have been doing? >> there's been a lot of conjecture about whether iran and the houthis are coordinating their every move here. look, this is part of the broader project that general soleimani wanted to create against israel, and so when we understand that what iran wants to do here is to kick the united states out of the persian gulf, we can expect in the absence of constructing what essentially is going to be escort, a whole naval escort of vessels through the persian gulf around the red sea, there will be attempts as

the iranians have tried many a time over the last few years to use terrorist attacks against commercial shipping and claim that this is -- that they have had, you know, plausible deniability and blame the houthis. so look, this is going to require a false -- a force multiplier by the united states and its allies against the houthis. the iranians need a strong message here that this may not be sufficient for this one attack, the houthis will continue to be resupplied by the iranians. it's going to require the saudis and the emiratis and our other allies in the region to be on guard and provide more support to guard this commercial shipping. is is not the first -- the last chapter. this is really the first chapter. >> ambassador ginsburg, courtney kube, josh lederman, thank you all: we'll be joined by national coordinator for strategic communications, john kirby.

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so, no matter what, i'm running this kitchen. (vo) make the switch. it's your business. it's your verizon. it is the final countdown. we are less than 72 hours until the first big test of 2024, the iowa caucuses. republican contender are on the ground making their final pitches across a frozen and snowy state. polls show former president trump with a big lead there, but there's high stakes for who grabs second place. that is the big question, and there is one group who could make all the difference, evangelicals. will they turn out? especially when there's this added curve ball, record breaking cold expected, another winter storm that could bring up to a foot of additional snow on the way. nbc's priscilla thompson is on the ground in sioux city.

but first is steve kornacki. what are the key story lines in counties we should be watching monday? >> let's take a look here at as you said, the evangelical vote. just remember last time around in 2016, the evangelical vote was 64%, nearly two-thirds of the republican caucus electorate was evangelical. let's go show you the 2016 results because we're going to be referring back to these a lot on caucus night. remember that donald trump lost iowa. he lost it to ted cruz in 2016, and he barely held off marco rubio. the big reason was that trump lost evangelicals. he lost them by double-digits and cruz won them. cruz owes his victory in '16 to evangelicals. evangelicals obviously spread out throughout the state. one particular place to watch is the northwest corner of iowa, some of the most devotely religious communities in the state are there. this is where trump did the absolute worst in 2016. take a look at sioux county.

there are 99 counties in iowa. this one is where trump did the worst. look at the 2016 results, you don't even see trump's name there. he got 11% of the vote in this county. you see ted cruz won it. for donald trump, one of the things we're looking at is this northwest corner. he did terribly here. polls have shown he's made deep inroads with evangelical voters since 2016. is he more competitive? is he winning up here? is he winning big up here? that's going to tell a big part of the story monday night. conversely when you talk about ron desantis and his strategy, he has gone hard after evangelical voters. he's gotten an endorsement from one of the top evangelical leaders in the state. he has campaigned aggressively in the northwest. i think these counties as they start to come in, if desantis is going to pull off any kind of surprise on monday night, he's got to be winning here and probably got to be winning by a pretty solid margin. there's a lot of other areas in the state where he may not do as well. if desantis is going to have a surprise, you might see it here first.

if trump's on his way to a blowout, you might see it here first as well. >> let's zoom into that zone. that is exactly where priscilla is near sioux county. what are you hearing from folks in that area? >> reporter: yeah, ana, we have been speaking with folks in sioux county, and with just days to go until the caucus, a number of them tell us that they are still undecided. and as steve mentioned, given how poorly former president trump performed here in 2016, you would think it might be fertile ground for ron desantis, but many of the caucus goers that i spoke to say that even though ron desantis has gone all in on iowa, spent a lot of time focused on evangelical voters, they're still not sure that they know him yet, but what they do know is exactly what they'll be getting with trump. take a listen to what some of those folks told me. >> donald trump already like did it all. he knows how to do it. he's experienced so probably just lean towards him. >> will you actually come

through desantis? will you? because trump is abrasive enough to push his envelope. you have backed down a couple of times. >> i am still undecided. but i do believe i'm leaning towards trump. i was really stunned that he did what he said he would. he offends but he gets the job done. >> and in speaking to a number of these voters, abortion is a high-ranking issue on many of their lists, and while they give former president trump credit for paving the way for roe v. wade to be overturned, they feel like all of the candidates are fairly firm on that issue. so it doesn't appear that that's going to be the deciding issue here, and ana, you did mention the cold. i did ask caucus goers are they still going to turn out even on that dangerously cold night, and all of them saying it is not going to stop them. in fact, one young man i interviewed yet was wearing

shorts. ana. >> wow, that's hardcore. priscilla thompson, steve kornacki, thank you both. i know you've got a busy next few days. get the coffee ready. get the hand warmers ready, the ear muffs, and we're energizing you. our spirit is with you both. thank you so much. up next here on "ana cabrera reports," a winter blast, the blinding blizzards on the way this weekend. are you in the storm's path? plus, fallout in the middle east after u.s. and its allies launched military strikes in yemen. we will speak with the national security council coordinator for strategic communications, john kirby next.

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welcome back and beware, some bitter cold coming our way this weekend, another major storm system is spinning up, expected to fuel tornados again in the south while snow and high winds could hit the midwest and the great lakes with the risk of blizzard conditions for some areas. our maggie vespa has more. maggie. >> reporter: the bomb cyclone living up to its name, as you can see here in chicago. snow only started falling mid-morning, and you can see it's blanketing the city really quickly. also causing mayhem when it comes to air travel. flight cancellations here in chicago alone stacking up by the hundreds at o'hare and midway airports. we also have a ground stop issue this morning at o'hare. we expect the ripple effects of that to spread across the country throughout the day. it's only going to get worse. as we know, close to 35 million

people across the country under severe winter weather alerts, as this system makes its way across the country aimed at people who are still digging out and drying out from the latest round of severe weather that hit just days ago. this morning the latest wave of brutal winter weather in the form of a bomb cyclone, detonating across the country. with another round of twisters and hail hammering the south and blizzards slamming the midwest with blinding snow and whipping winds causing whiteout conditions, starling roads and blanketing neighborhoods. >> we're mainly dealing with accidents. >> temperatures plunging well below zero setting the stage for possibly the coldest iowa caucus in history monday with windchills expected to feel like 30 below. and more avalanches in the west near stevens peak in idaho, authorities say two people were rescued, one is still missing. and a second avalanche in lake tahoe after one wednesday killed one person and buried three

others including jason parker. >> you said you couldn't move? >> no, you can't move at all. it's a scary feeling. >> reporter: rescuers seen here digging for parker who was trapped under close to four feet of snow. they found him after eight minutes. >> i started yelling help, help, as much as i could. my adrenaline's rushing. i'm just -- it was so -- it was surreal. >> reporter: in the northeast, another round of torrential rain is set to worsen ongoing flooding. rivers in new jersey still rising from the last round of severe weather earlier this week. hard hit communities nationwide preparing for more blows as mother nature shows no sign of letting up. and officials here in chicago pleading with people to adjust or flat out cancel their morning commutes if they can, work from home if that's an option knowing how treacherous the roads are already becoming. again, that's expected to get worse throughout the day. another differentiating factor of this storm is the brutal cold. that's basically coming in over

the weekend, overnight lows here in the chicago area are expected to hover in the subzero territory well into the middle of next week. back to you. >> my teeth are chattering just thinking about that, maggie vespa, thank you. stay warm and stay safe. angie lassman's tracking the latest forecast for us. give us the breakdown of what you're seeing, angie. >> this is going to be another major storm system that has multiple impacts over the next couple of days as we roll into the weekend. here's the deal right now, already an active morning across portions of the south. we'll see another chance for severe storms as the day goes on. we've got the heavy snow, the wet snow and the whipping winds working across portions of the great lakes. that heavy rain on already saturated grounds happening across the east. as we get into tomorrow, still those strong winds leaving us with the lake effect snow happening and at a rapid pace. we'll see upwards of a foot to a foot and a half of snow when this is all said and done across portions of the great lakes. those hourly snowfall rates will be impressive too.

1 to 2 inches per hour. we'll see difficult travel to near impossible travel across this region with that snow and the wind. here's those wind speeds that we're expecting. this is from new mexico to maine, 40, 50, 60 miles per hour winds are going to be possible here as we get through sunday, as this system works a little farther to the east. that means widespread power outages, downed power lines, downed trees and difficult travel as i mentioned, especially in those areas that we're dealing with the snow. when it comes to the rain, not all that impressive. the saturated grounds mean anywhere from an inch to 2 inches could likely cause flooding especially across the northeast where those rivers are still swollen. as we look ahead to this afternoon and evening hours, this is the area we're going to watch for a chance for strong wind gusts, 70 to 75 miles per hour winds, as well as the chance for tornados, atlanta, montgomery, mobile included in that. travel could likely be delayed with some of those storms as that line moves through.

on top of that, the cold air in place, the first of the season to see these cold temperatures dropping. we have 23 million people under windchill alerts. temperatures below zero and are going to stay that way for the next couple of days. we have big things happening in iowa on monday. feels-like temperature is 38 below for monday, st. louis into the single-digits. we've got temperatures as far south as dallas dealing with those really difficult and frigid conditions as we roll into our next week. multiple threats as we get through saturday, sunday, and into our holiday monday. ana. >> we know you will track it all for us, angie lassman, thanks. tensions mounting in the middle east. nbc news's chief foreign correspondent richard engel has more. >> reporter: the u.s. and british militaries overnight carried out air and naval strikes against militants in yemen in retaliation for attacks on commercial ships in the red sea.

the strikes further escalate the war in the middle east, which the biden administration has been seeking to avoid and draws the united states deeper into the conflict. u.s. officials said american aircraft launched from the u.s.s. eisenhower and bases in the region to hit at least a dozen targets in yemen, including airports, military bases, and weapons storage facilities. the purpose the pentagon said was to deter the yemeni militants known as the houthis who have carried out more than two dozen attacks on commercial vessels in the red sea since hamas's october 7th massacre and israel's devastating response in gaza. the houthis who are backed by iran, say they only target ships bound for or connected to israel, a claim the biden administration disputes. in a statement, president biden says the operation sends a clear message that the united states and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our

personnel or allow he or she pill actors to imperil freedom of navigation. the houthis calling them a defense of gaza where the health ministry run by hamas says more than 23,000 palestinians have been killed so far. in israel they've already begun mournful commemorations to mark 100 days since hamas killed 1,200 people and took hundreds of hostages. families of hostages went right to the border with gaza to shout to their loved ones. >> can you hear us? >> reporter: they gathered where an open air music festival was held on october 7th when hamas gunmen arrived at dawn in para gliders and murdered more than 360 young men and women and kidnapped dozens. romi was kidnapped from the festival. i spoke to her mother mirav next to romi's photograph.

>> do you believe she can hear you? >> yes, yes, she can either hear me or feel that i'm talking to her. i know she does. >> reporter: the israeli government believes there are more than 100 hostages still alive in gaza. the white house says at least six of those are americans. >> richard engel, thank you so much for your reporting. with us now for more on these strikes, i want to bring in national security council coordinator for strategic communications, john kirby. john, in the u.s.'s assessment, what did these strikes accomplish? >> we're still doing the assessment of the actual impacts on all these targets. that work is ongoing. i think we'll have a better sense of the specifics of the damage done here in coming hours, but we know that the targets we chose were all valid, legitimate targets that went right at the houthis' ability to store, to launch, and to guide whether it's missiles or drones.

so radar sites, ammunition sites, launcher sites that kind of thing, so we're going to take a hard look here throughout the coming hours, and we'll have a better sense later today. >> do you know if people were killed because the houthis are saying five people were killed. do you confirm that? >> we've seen some spurious reports on that to be honest with you, but we can't validate and verify whether there were, in fact, casualties and how many there were. again, these were all target thes specifically chosen to get at houthi capabilities, military capabilities and obviously with each and every target we factored in and did everything we can to avoid any civilian casualties or any damage to civilian infrastructure. >> talk to us more about the timing here because the houthis have been launching attacks and disrupting commerce in the red sea since november. why did the u.s. and the uk perform these strikes at this precise moment? >> look, this wasn't a decision we made lightly or quickly. in fact, if you go back to

november and walk your way through up until just last night, i mean, everything we've done, diplomatically and militarily has been designed to keep the tensions down and to convince the houthis not to continue these deadly attacks. whether it's work at the u.n. or issuing a multinational statement just a few days ago with a final warning to the houthis, whether it's standing up a coalition of ships in the red sea to defend against these attacks, honestly the president has really been leading an international effort here to convince the houthis that they need to stop these attacks. but making a decision like this is not something that he took lightly. but in the wake of the almost unprecedented level of attacks that happened a couple of days ago where multiple drones, multiple missiles fired at multiple ships in the red sea, the president determined after that attack had been defeated that now was the time to go after houthi capabilities

ashore. >> i mean, you just said it, the houthis were warned all along, and now they're vowing retaliation following the response from the u.s. and the uk. why didn't they heed the warning? were they perhaps trying to lure the u.s. into further involvement in the region? is this what they wanted? >> i don't know that we can say that specifically. i'm not sure we know exactly what's their mind-set here? we've seen the comments coming out of the houthis today about retaliation. all i'd say is i'd point them to the last sentence in the president's statement last night, which is that he reserves the right and will not hesitate to take further action to defend our ships, our sailors, our facilities, and of course international shipping if that's what's required. >> is the u.s. moving more assets into the region? what is the u.s. prepared to do? >> i don't have any force posture changes to speak to today. obviously that's an ongoing dynamic process looking at what the force posture is in the region. as you know, the president

already added military and naval assets to the region in recent weeks. nothing to report or announce today, but we'll always take a look at the posture to make sure that it's properly designed and organized for the threats that we're facing. >> let's talk about the threat from iran specifically. we know the houthis are militia group backed by iran. does this increase the risk of direct confrontation between the u.s. and iran? >> we're not looking for conflict with iran. we're not looking to escalate, and there's no reason for it to escalate beyond what happened last -- over the last few days by the houthis, they are the ones who have been escalating. we're not looking for conflict with iran. we know that iran supports the houthis. we know that they supply them with the missiles and the drones, the same things they've been using to attack shipping. we have made it very clear iran should stop that support. we have in the past and we'll continue to hold iran accountable for the support that they give, not only to the houthis but to groups like hamas and hezbollah and their militia

groups in iraq and syria, and we're going to do that in concert with our allies and partners. >> secretary austin ordered these strikes. he's been in the hospital since january 1st. can you shed more light on how he directed these strikes from the hospital? >> he was involved actively and intimately all day yesterday with the national security team here at the white house and of course with the commander in chief, with president biden, tracking all the developments and write in on all the discussions and the decisions that were made as we approach the hour where we knew we were going to go ahead and launch these strikes. he was fully engaged even from his hospital bed. >> there have been calls for austin to resign because of his lack of transparency involving his hospitalization and his prognosis, his diagnosis. what's your response to that? >> the president has made it clear, secretary austin is his defense secretary, will remain his defense secretary. he has full faith and confidence in secretary austin and his leadership, and that leadership as we just talked about was on

display to everybody in the national security team in a hospital bed still leading and commanding our forces in some dangerous missions here. i think we're all going to learn from this -- from this event here, the terms of the notification process and the transparency regarding the hospitalization. we'll all learn the right lessons from that and move on. the defense secretary is going to stay in office. the president has full faith and confidence. >> i do want to ask you briefly about the president's relationship with prime minister netanyahu in the first days of the war, we recall they were talking almost daily, even sitting in on israel's war cabinet when the president visited israel, but then they were talking almost weekly, now it's been 20 days since they've last spoken. is this a sign the relationship is becoming more strained now almost 100 days after the october 7th attacks? >> no, not at all. i don't think you should -- anybody should use the metric of the frequency of phone calls as

some sort of indicator of the health of the relationship or the importance of the dialogue that we continue to have with our israeli counterparts. i mean, secretary blinken was just in israel a couple of days ago. i think it was like his sixth visit since october 7th, and other officials have visited as well. i have every expectation that president biden will speak again to prime minister netanyahu at the appropriate time. these are two leaders who have known each other a long time. they don't agree with everything, of course, but that's what friends can do. friends can have those conversations and those candid discussions and i have ever expect that will continue. we are going to stay in support of israel as they continue to defend themselves. they're still going to get security assistance from the united states, and we're going to continue to work with them try to reduce the civilian casualties. to try to transition to a lower set of operations and make sure we can increase the volume of humanitarian assistance into gaza because we know the situation is dire there. >> john kirby, we really appreciate you making time for us. thank you very much. >> you bet ya.

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by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. welcome back. this morning donald trump's business future in the big apple is in the hands of a judge. yesterday trump's new york civil fraud trial wrapped up with a fiery courtroom clash between the judge and the former

president after trump was granted an unexpected opportunity to speak. now trump claims prosecutors should be paying him for the trial that could bar him from the new york state real estate market for the rest of his life and force a financial penalty of up to $370 million in damages. nbc's vaughn hillyard joins us from des moines, iowa. also with us is msnbc legal analyst and former federal prosecutor joyce vance. trump got his wish to speak during closing arguments yesterday. take us through what happened. >> reporter: ana, his business future is on the line in the state of new york. you just said it there, the potential that he would be barred from ever doing real estate in the state of new york again. so you know, after 2024, if his political future doesn't go well, you know, it's the trump organization that he has to fall back on, let alone that $370 million fine, which takes us to the reason why he was inside of that lower manhattan courtroom in which he was granted the opportunity to speak

for about five minutes, though the judge ordered him to only stick to the evidence in the case at hand, donald trump did the exact opposite, you could say as expected. instead he took a shot at letitia james, the attorney general who was sitting just feet away from him saying that she hated him, and then took a shot directly at the judge arguing that he had an agenda. now donald trump has already appealed the original claim in which he has been found liable for, which is repeated fraud, and donald trump again on his own social media account this morning continues to make the case that this has been an unfair trial against him, and we can expect him to continue t make that argument once that appeal is actually heard. >> joyce, by all accounts, this was far from usual in a court of law. trump didn't agree to the judge's conditions to speak at closing arguments, so why did the judge let him talk. what do you think changed his mind? >> yeah, you're right, ana, it's very unusual. closing argument is for the

lawyers. it's argument about the facts and the law that should motivate the judge's decision. here there was no jury, and the judge may have ultimately reached the conclusion that given the amount of disruption trump had already created surrounding this trial, the lesser of two evils was to let him speak as unusual as it was because the judge could disregard it at the end. >> the judge is saying a ruling could come by the end of this month, so in the next couple of weeks. he seemed a little skeptical about eric and don jr.'s involvement. they're co-defendants here. what kind of difference in penalty might we see for trump compared to his sons who are currently running the company, joyce? >> yeah, i think that's right. that's because there's a different state of mind that has to be proven for these claims that involve the sons and the submission of some of the financial statements, whereas the first charge that's brought in this complaint by the

attorney general doesn't rely on that sort of proof. that will, of course, impact all of them, and judge engoron will order the trump organization to disgorge its profits. some of those numbers are prilt cular. for instance, about $16miion that they're alleged to have benefitted from in terms interest savings just from this sort of pervasive fraud. the total number as vaughn says is staggering. it will impact even if trump by some mercy on appeal is permitted to retain permission to do business in new york, his resources will be severely decimated, even if there is no finding against the two sons. >> now, trump is back in court next week. he says he is planning to attend the second defamation trial brought by e. jean carroll. so vaughn, this will be the day after the iowa caucuses. what do we know about his plans? >> again, this is a voluntary appearance, and donald trump is

ultimately making the decision that after the iowa caucus that before a new hampshire rally on wednesday that he intends to go and sit in the same courtroom where e. jean carroll herself will be. to note, this is the second defamation suit against him here. and yet, donald trump continues to say the very things that led to these defamation suits against him, which he has already been found liable for in that first case. yesterday when he left that lower manhattan courtroom, he continued to say that he's never met e. jean carroll. now a jury found the exact opposite of that in the first case, and now we are going to see him go inside of that courtroom there on wednesday. >> okay, vaughn hillyard, joyce vance, thank you both. happy friday. up next here on "ana cabrera reports," some breaking news involving boeing after that mid-air scare. e. asn't cutting it. and that's not good for baking. or judging. or writing. so, we switched to verizon, the network businesses rely on.

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we're back with a live look at capitol hill where house speaker mike johnson is set to speak any moment now as he is facing new pressure from within his own party. the hard right house republicans are demanding the speaker back out of the $1.6 trillion spending deal he landed to keep the government open past the shutdown deadline, which is just seven days away. johnson says he has not made any commitments to go back on the deal. we'll keep an eye on the remarks we're expecting shortly. but now to breaking news on the faa's investigation into boeing. let's get right to tom costello who has been following every development in this story for us. tom, what is the latest this morning? >> this was a major development.

in addition to the ntsb looking into the cause of that accident a week ago today in which the door plug blew out in an explosive decompression event , the faa announced that it will begin new oversight and new audits of how boeing produces planes and compliance with safety. and whether or not the system which now boeing employees are designated as the faa's eyes and ears to be inspectors on the ground to watch over that manufacturing process, the faa saying that may not be working at all. listen to this sound bite from the faa chief this morning exclusively on cnbc. >> this is a brand ew air crafts and it had significant problems and we believe there are other manufacturing problems as well. so this is about finding the risks and mitigating them. so we'll increase oversight by auditing the production at

boeing and spirit. >> spirit aero systems is the company that made the fusion fuselage that provided it to boeing. and said this incident should have never happened and it cannot happen agn. faa formally notified boeing that it isonducting an investigation to determine if boeing failed to ensure completed products, in othe words planes, conformed to the safety compliance standards. >> and what is boeing saying? ing is promising full transparency and full compliance with the ntsbnd faa investigations. we've been asking them for comment this morning specifically about the faa saying that they will step up their oversight and inspections and audit process of boeing. is this all not just after this most recent accident, but the two fatal crashes with the max 8 five years ago, 346 people died

in those crashes. >> and you've been all over this. great reporting. thank you. and thank you all for joining us. that does it for us this week. i'll see you back here monday same time same place. and you can now catch our show online around the clock on youtube and other platforms. so be sure to tune in. i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. have a wufl weekend. ♪then you take me by the hand♪ ♪i feel better again♪ ♪oh i feel better now♪ he hits his mark —center stage—and is crushed by a baby grand piano. you're replacing me? customize and save with liberty bibberty. he doesn't even have a mustache. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ [deep exhale] [trumpet music plays] 579 breaths to show 'em your stuff.

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