appeal? i mean, and do you think they have a chance of prevailing on that point? there are a bunch of points here, but on appeal. >> well, there is no grounds for them to appeal on the findings of fact by the judge. they chose to have a bench trial, whether inadvertent or deliberate, they chose to do that. so the findings of fact by the judge that there was fraud, they are not going to get anywhere on that. they are clearly trying to provoke the judge into a kind of error and he has not always maintained his cool. but i don't see anything so strong that it would allow them to overturn something. you will see a flurry of appeals on everything they can possibly imagine because don has two legal strategies. attack the people who are coming after you from law enforcement. they are illegitimate, they are corrupt, you are a poor innocent victim, and delay, delay, delay, and delay again. >> it's been effective so far.

thank you. >> thank you. and "cnn this morning" continues right now. our first look at the results from cnn's new 2024 presidential poll. >> donald trump has a narrow lead among registered voters. >> the president has to do things that show people he can engage, he can handle the combat and debate. >> do you think the bidens policies helped you or hurt you? >> the bestning in the poll for joe biden is the date on it. ♪ ♪ >> 2024 top of mind this morning after yesterday's elections. big wins for democrats and for abortion rights. ohio voters decided to make abortion a right under the state constitution. in virginia, cnn projects democrats will gain full control of the state legislature and a

major setback for republican governor glenn youngkin in virginia who had been pushing to restrict abortions after 15 weeks. and in the deep red state of kentucky, democrat andy beshear won re-election. donald trump won kentucky by 26 points in 2020. last night's results have left us with some crucial questions. first, what do these victories mean for democrats in '24? number two, will republicans change their messaging about abortion? number three, how will election results play into the gop presidential debate that is tonight? finally, will these wins boost president biden as he runs for re-election? so, phil, to you at the wall. what do the numbers say? >> i think what is most interesting, we can't predict a year from now. what you can do is look at a clear trend line transpiring since the supreme court overturned roe v. wade. what do i mean? take a look at the 2020 map. joe biden winning the election by 7 million votes. what happened after dobbs is

instructive about what happened last night and what democrats think could happen despite biden's negative poll numbers over the last several weeks. last night the state of ohio, clearly a red state, won by trump, voting for abortion rights. why does that matter? it follows a trend since last summer where states like michigan, states like kentucky, where states like montana, kansas, others, red states, for the most part, have all voted in favor of abortion rights. that a critical issue democrats want to talk about in 2024 that the biden wants to talk about is an issue that democrats continue to win on. that's ballot initiatives. what about states themselves? what about races? if you want to go back to the same time period and you want to talk about a state like new york. well, new york '19 special election democrat overperformed pat ryan a member of congress. alaska a republican state, a

republican seat, a democrat is now a member of congress. what about last night? well, let's flip up the 2023, the governors race, the governors race andy beshear winning a deep red state by 6,000 votes. he was a popular governor in a state who had an advantage, a lot of money as well. this is a sizable win much larger than his win in 2019. health care, abortion were critical issues there. then you talk about the state of virginia. why is the state of virginia mattering? in 2020 this was a state that president biden won by ten points. largest march of victory for a democrat since 1944. yet, a clear later, glenn youngkin, republican governor, entered this campaign season trying to get the trifecta. all three bodies, the governorship, statehouse, state senate as well, instead he doesn't have the state senate or the statehouse underscoring the fact on abortion, a issue he

tried to take head on, he lost and republicans are looking at democrats who rolled off a stink of victory after victory after victory on issues in special elections and despite the poll numbers are what democrats are pointing to this morning. >> with us to talk about this, cnn political commentator former trump white house communications director alyssa farah griffin, former senior advisor to barack obama, david axlerod, and commentator van jones. david, good night for democrats. i am interested in your tweet got a whole lot of attention on sunday. you said the stakes of miscalculation are too dramatic to ignore for biden. did last night change this? >> i think you have two things going on at once. i think that the tide in the country is a good tide for democrats. that has been true almost since trump got elected and i think it was kind of turbocharged by the dobbs decision and the reaction

to it. this year, even before last night, in 38 out of 40 elections around the country, democratic turnout was much, much higher than traditional. i think this has a lot to do with it. trump does, too. one of the things about last night, and i'll get to the issue of biden -- >> are you going to answer the question about biden? >> keep the clock running. no. but in kentucky, i will talked to our friend scott jennings this morning who was on the ground in kentucky. he noted the fact that michael adams, the secretary of state there, who was a guy who resisted the election denial, led the republican -- he got 60% of the vote. daniel cameron, who clung to trump, got 47, 48%. so it's not just about abortion. the tide is good. the question is -- you see it shot through the poll and the question is whether that tide can carry biden forward despite

what is, obviously, where doubts that are rooted primarily in age. that's the question that has to be answered. i think this is set up for a democrat to win, and, you know, the question is does -- is there a drag on him, not on the democrats in general, but on him. >> and that was kind of my takeaway. bidens' numbers are bad. he is yet to be a drag on democrats' down ballot. trump seems to overperform in the pull but a massive drag to down ballot. it's the bizarre dichotomy. we have to consider the polling to be a snapshot in time. i think the age factor is huge. the number glaring from cnn's poll was the stamina question even though joe biden and donald trump are three years apart, the way they are perceived is so different. a good night for democrats. abortion is clearly the most

animating issue out there. but still an uphill battle for biden. >> and to that point, and i asked the campaign manager about this this morning, 80 years old, 77 years old, and the way people review them. it's not a party thing. just generally. so dramatically different. if you watch a trump rally isn't not like everything he says makes sense. is that something they can attack? is that something the administration should be focused on, biden's team should be focused on? >> they are going to try to make him younger. probably won't work. they will have to talk about it differently. he comes from a long lived family. you know, he is fit. he is active. they have to talk about it differently. but the reality is this. people are unhappy. they are just unhappy. we are not in a left wing or right-wing period. we are in a volatile period and people are looking for a port in the storm. biden was that port in the storm after four years of crazy from

donald trump. but the storm has gotten worse. the crazier has gotten crazier. and so now you are asking people to vote for the status quo. that's what we will be asking people to do in a year. the only way you could that, if you feel the status quo can hold you, help you, support you, get you through. when someone looks weak, fragile, that becomes a drag. but because of what you saw last night, there is a wave out there of democratic enthusiasm that has nothing to do with joe biden. it has to do with democracy, abortion, organized labor coming back and that force could carry joe biden across. >> i said to you guys the other day when you asked about this that he needs to throw this race and they need to throw this race into a very, very tough comparative frame right away. i mean, he can't allow to be a referendum on him or people's feelings about the status quo.

it needs to be a choice. and donald trump and this republican party is the choice on the other side, and i think that's what gives biden, you know, his best chance in this election. >> and i think that the biden campaign thought that other republican candidates would litigate the case against trump and they haven't. nikki haley has kind of gone there, chris christie's kind of got there. he needs to broaden it beyond the democracy argument. that worked for democracies in 2022. election denialism was rejected. the case of abortion, nobody bears more responsibility for dobbs than donald trump yet voters i don't know they perceive him like a mike johnson or mike pence with regard to abortion. that's biden's job to define that. >> he is making it harder, trump, because having the sort of card of having appointed those justices, he feels free to criticize the some of the more

draconian abortion measures. he has done that against ron desantis and he has positioned himself somehow as a moderate. you're right. he can't have it both ways, you know? and they have to prosecute that case. but there are a series of issues on the economy and other things in which biden is well positioned to contrast with trump and the republicans, and i just think they need to get going on that. >> i think it's interesting that the administration, at least to this point, and maybe they will, has not honed in on some of the reporting in the last week from "the new york times" first and "washington post" what trump is planning to do if he wins again in terms of the lawyers he is going to put around him, real political retribution at the justice department, really those fundamental things, what happened to the administrative state. it doesn't sound sexy, but they are not focusing on those things and they could. >> and they will. this stuff is terrifying. you know, darth vader would be

like, you guys are a little bit authoritarian here. this is not so great. they are going to make that a big part. i agree but. it can be democracy only. but we underestimated the midterms the power of that argument, that we might lose our democracy. you've got to talk more about, you know, bread and butter, dinner table issues. democracy brought democrats out, abortion brought democrats out. i think what's going on we are in a season of discontent, the democratic party. there is no great savior to come along. we have biden and biden's numbers are weak and so we are in a season of discontent. the underlying fundamentals of concern that biden can run on are extreme when it comes to trump. >> on the democracy point, this is what rick santorum said last night about democracy and elections. >> you put very sexy things like abortion and marijuana on the ballot and a lot of young people come out and vote. it was a secret sauce for

disaster in ohio. i don't know what they were thinking. but that's why i'm -- i think thank goodness most states don't allow you to put everything on the ballot because pure democracies are not the way to run a country. >> i don't remember rick being that outspoken when they were putting right-wing initiatives on the ballot. you know, i think he doesn't like the result that he got there. >> but i also think -- we will have to see the breakdown of the numbers in ohio on abortion. i guarantee some republicans voted for it. the sheer margin of it. >> some counties voted in favor of this by fairly sizable margins was something like 75, 80%. >> and is why when you -- >> in kansas -- >> yes, when you see the general election polling, nikki haley outperforms donald trump head-to-head with joe biden, talking about the issue of abortion with more nuance and grace. >> rick santorum calls himself a populist, yet he doesn't want to

hear from the people. >> you just said pure democracies are not a way to run a country, he said. that's the line i was focused on. >> he means we are a democratic republican. a pure democracy 51% of the people could vote to take the money from all the other 49%. that's why we have protections for minorities, stuff like that. that would be called mob rule. i think it's a little bit of sour grapes on his part ton this issue because on other stuff he loves the popular way. >> we are going to ignore that he referred to marijuana and abortion as very sexy. we are going to try to keep a level head -- i respect all of you deeply for your ability to do that. thanks, guys. moments ago one of the pandas from the national zoo is on their way back to china. it wills the first time in more than 50 years that zoo will be panda-less. and debate night for republicans. five presidential hopefuls, not

trump, will be on the stage in miami. can any of them seize a chance to gain ground on the overwhelming frontrunner? that's ahehead. five candida

tonight in miami. the third presidential debate. the frontrunner, donald trump, will not be there again. he is going to hold a rally at the same time. so less than a year from the presidential election, the question, what is the state of the 2024 presidential republican primary race? we have senior data reporter harry enten who is going to tell us exactly that. state of the race? >> what is that state of the race, phil? we had two debates so far. we are going into a third.

what difference have these debates actually made? well, donald trump in june our cnn poll predebates at 47%. he is now at 61%. and there is all this talk, my goodness, nikki haley has come in, done so well, she is gaining ground. what ground has she zband? from 5% to 10%. she is still 51 points behind donald trump leading and yet in some of those early states may be closer. ain't that much closer. really the noticeable drop isn't from donald trump, it's ron desantis' angle who has dropped by nine percentage points. all these debates, everything we have done hasn't made a lick of difference in the fact that donald trump is the clear frontrunner for the republican nomination. this gives you an understanding of how strong donald trump is from historical perspective. 50% plus at this point. all before trump won the

nomination. dole, bush, hillary clinton, donald trump. you look at the poll numbers, they have become stronger and he is in line with prior folks who went on to win their party's nominations. >> how does he compare now with how he matched up in the polling around time with biden before 2020? >> yeah, so, look, one of the big questions out of last night, polling like this showing donald trump ahead of joe biden 49% to 45% and on the polls telling us one thing, the actual election results telling us something else, what's something we have to untangle in the days and weeks and months to go. this to me is not an outlier. it's very much in line with what we have seen so far. these are nationals polls where trump led biden. this is the 14th poll where trump led biden. give you an idea how different that is from what we saw in the

2020 cycle, there was zero, zero, zero polls where trump led biden nationally. now wegovy 14. something is clearly different. how it's different, i again, i am not sure. but the numbers are clearly telling us these are two very unpopular frontrunners for their party's nomination. >> when you say we have to untangle this going forward, can we? a couple more specials over the course. next year. this is a question. we are going to have a thousand polls. >> i think the question is there are a lot of people in the middle who just can't possibly believe these two parties are going to nominate somebody as unpopular as joe biden and donald trump. what happens when they realize these are the choices we are going to get. we have a year to go. polls are not predictive but give you an idea of the state of the race in folks' minds now. peep are not happy and may be willing to throw out the baby with the bathwater despite they are voting for democrats, abortion, marijuana rights last night. >> thank you.

a republican who voted to impeach donald trump is launching a senate campaign. pierre meyer with his message to michigan voters this morning no and a window for gazzans to escape. the latest from is ahead e

a republican who voted to impeach donald trump announce ago run for senate in a key battleground state. >> we need leaders willing to stand up for what they believe in. no matter the risk. i'm peter meijer. i am a proud dad, iraq war veteran, fourth generation michigander. you know i'm not afraid to risk my job. >> talking about the vote. he was one of just ten house republicans who voted to impeach trump after january 6th and he paid a political price. lost narrowly to a trump-endorsed challenger in the 2022 midterms. >> a guy who spells his name

meijer but they pronounce it meyer. what the hell kind of a spelling is that? >> he spelled it right. that was trump in mishs last year. he will have to win back some of those booing voters. his announcement this week sent off backlash from others in the republican party. the senate republicans campaign arm said, quote, peter meijer isn't viable in a primary election. if he were to be nominated, the base would not be enthused in the general. peter meijer joins us now. glad you are with us. why can you win? why can you turn the boos around? >> i mean, i love that statement that they put out. oh, he can't win. by the way, if he can, you know, there is a little bit of an internal contradiction within two sentences there. the reality is that i am running for the folks who are sick and tired for the way things are, who are frustrated at a political system that is still trying to throw options out there even though they keep

rejecting them, and in the state of michigan in the past almost 50 years we have had 16 senate races, a republican has won one once. massachusetts and delaware have had republicans more recently their senate delegations than michigan. frankly, you think it's time we do something different. hard to get more different than i am these days. >> it's been since '94 in the state of michigan that a republican won a senate seat. i am struck by the fact that one of those candidates is former michigan congressman mike rogers. served seven terms in the house, let the house intelligence committee. you seem aligned on a lot. why should people vote for you and not him? where do you differ? >> i would say the biggest difference is where we think the party needs to go. mike is a decent, honorable man. he is certainly has served this country in uniform, in the house. at the same time i think we need to be moving forward and

offering more of a vision to make sure by 2050 we are in the second great american century and that sense of a vision i don't see in the field right now. i think it's important and positive to have a diverse set of views expressed. at the end of the day, i see a lot of folks trying to navigate a current 6 as opposed to outlining where we need to go, how we get there and connecting that with the realistic approach so we're being honest with voters because at the end of the day honesty and truth are what matters. we have a tremendous amount of phoniness in the system. biden's approval rating right now, the inevitable or seems like the inevitable outcome on the presidential process. >> you said honesty and truth matters. do you think former president trump is honest and truthful a lot? >> no. i think our political system is rife with folks -- >> no, but. >> trump is more sincere and authentic with projecting.

does he get the facts right all the time, shape things in his view? doesn't matter -- >> doesn't that matter. >> lie to my face on -- >> don't the facts matter -- >> facts absolutely matter. donald trump never lied to me. the biden administration lied to my face in classified briefings on afghanistan, lied to my face about with whether or not migrants were brought into my district. i found them to be incredibly deceptive. i am more than happy to criticize the former president. we live in fields of shades of gray. when we have to go to the polls, nobody wants to be in a box where they have to focus on, hey, if you like this guy you can't say a thing and if you hate him you can't give credit where credit is doing. that's not realty. >> you called the worst 96 hours of your life. do you regret voting to impeach trump?

>> no. i regret that we had to have that vote. i regret that january 6th happened in the first place. it was a dark and disgraceful day. i will be honest. going into the 2024 cycle, this is not an easy decision. this is not something that i am excited to step into. i am terrified, nervous, i'm torn. at the end of the day, you need folks who are willing to be honest and truthful with where they are. i want to show folks i am trying to grapple with the same challenges that they are. at the same time, we need to not just get caught up in a moment tha that is dark and depressing because if you turn inwards, consumed with naval gazing, we are not going to lead this country forward and we will continue this trend of lunching from crisis to crisis. >> you served iraq. thank you for that. you also went to afghanistan around the time of the biden administration withdrawal. in an interview this week, you said there is no parallel between the deliberate killings

of israeli civilians by hamas and the civilian casualties in hamas from the israeli airstrikes. do you have any concerns about the way that israel has been carrying out this campaign? >> certainly you should attempt to minimize civilian fatalities in a conflict as much as possible. before i went to afghanistan during withdrawal i spent two years there as a humanitarian aid worker. i am very familiar with the con againsts of airstrikes and collateral damage and civilian f fatalities. the hashing reality in an urban conflict environment that is challenging and they have to way how much they put their ground forces at risk and what acceptable civilian fatalities are. i will say it's a striking hypocrisy -- i mean, i don't think any life loss should be considered acceptable. this is a reality of conflict. we have a geneva convention, a law of armed conflict, established ways of trying to

get at what is, you know, considered a war crime and what is just the inevitable tragedy of violence. the reality here is that the israelis are defending themselves against the most barbaric on slot -- frankly, modern history exceeded by isis attacks and 9/11. i think it's important that we remember that. we are one month out from that horrific october 7th surprise attack. >> important to point out. finally, the vote in the house with 22 democrats supporting it, to censure rasheda talib over her presents on israel, the phrase from the river to the sea and also her denying the intelligence about who bombed, you know, the hospital in gaza, she is also the first palestinian american to serve in congress and i wonder if you agree with that kcensure? >> i am sympathetic to the position rasheda is in and with

her family ties. she has been sharing information that is inaccurate, misleading and led to a lot -- that was propagated information that led to violent protests and riots and attacks and heightened the sense of just pervasive antisemitism we are seeing which should be condemned in any form. while i am sympathetic to her individual position, i don't think you can accept folks who refuse to correct their record, continue to spout mistruths, especially when that cost folks their lives. >> congressman peter meijer, thank you for joining us as you jump into this race. come back soon. >> thank you. moments ago, pandas from the national zoo were carried out and will be on a flight pack to china. what it means for the future of pandas in american zoos and maybe diplomacy ahead. doctors performing an unprecedented procedure for a man needing a double lung transplant. what they needed to keep him

alive. dr. sanjay gupta to explain all of it.

in a crisis caused by a terrorist massacre.

warning civilians to clear out, while hamas forces them back. allowing in food and water, which hamas steals. i could use a little help. yeah, there's a lot of risk out there. huh ♪♪ hey, is this thing hard to learn? nah, it's easy. huh. you know, i think i'm going to ride it home. good thing you chose u.s. bank to manage and grow your money. with our 24/7 support at least you're not taking chances with your finances. yeah, i think i'm gonna need a chair. oh, ohhhh. five republican presidential hopefuls will be on stage

tonight in miami for the third presidential debate. frontrunner donald trump will be a no show again. overnight the israel defense forces opened an evacuation corridor for palestinians in northern gaza to move south. an idf person said, quote, the northern gaza strip area is considered to be a fierce battlefield and time to evacuate is running out. tommy tuberville signaling a willingness to abandon his one-man blockade on military nominations. he hopes to speak to the pentagon in coming days to reach a compromise on the abortion travel policy. tuberville has managed to hold up more than 400 nominations. and remembering jfk. army special forces and kennedy family will honor him today in arlington national cemetery. november 22 marks 60 years since he was assassinated in dallas, texas. the pandas on the move, going back to china for the better part of 50 years, china has loaned the pandas to the

united states. the future of that program unclear. five things to know this morning. download the five things podcast every day. a 34-year-old man with a history of smoking and vaping needed a doubling lung transplant. dr. sanjay gupta joins us with more on the remarkable surgery that saved the man's life. i think i re-read this six or seven times to make sure it was real. what happened here? >> the marvels of modern medicine. so the gentleman you are talking about, davie bauer, 34 years old. pretty healthy guy. skateboarder, snowboarder. when he was 21, he started smoking. a few years later, he switched to vaping and then in april of this year he got the flu and he developed a significant infection in his lungs. so significant, antibiotics could not treat it. so the picture was that he -- you could see the lungs there. the left side of the screen are the normal lungs and the

infected lungs on the right side of the screen. they are whited out. that's what you look for in a chest x-ray to see how much impact there is on the lungs. here is the problem. he needed a transplant. but because of the infection in his lungs, he couldn't get one. so what the doctors at northwestern decided to do, i will show you the video, it's a little bit graphic, but i just want to show this to you. they needed to do remove those infected lungs, okay? they were no longer working. they were a source of infection for his body, prohibiting him from getting a transplant. they created an artificial lung to continue to oxygen ate his body. there was another problem. his heart was flopping around in his chest. so they needed to sort of stabilize his heart within his chest. the way they did that, and this has never been done before, used breast im plants, okay. they are malleable. you can put them inside the chest. they use those breast im plants to hold his heart in place. what i'm describing had never

been done before. this all allowed his body to heal, to clear the infection, and then sometime after that he had his lung transplant and he is doing well. so i just described a medical first based on a lot of different things coming together. >> that is so great that it was successful for him and, hopefully, for people in the future. you said vaping, too. not just smoking, but vaping. any sense of a role that vaping could have played in him needing a double lung transplant? >> yeah. well, you know, the doctors talked a lot about this. i think when it came to smoking, poppy, it took a long time to really develop the cause and effect relationship between smoking and harm. and you think we are sort of in that phase now with regard to vaping. there is a lot we don't know. it helps some people come off of cigarettes, but can cause inflammation to the lungs. >> this is what the doctors zeroed in. causing inflammation to the lungs. him getting the flu, becoming more compromised, and then

developing a bacterial infection which was not, you know, treatable with antibiotics. all these things coming together. but we are learning a lot more about vaping specifically with regard to this impact on the lungs. the doctors were concerned enough about it to put it on their sort of list of concerns as to why this happened in the first place. >> firsts are amazing in medicine. the ability to continually utilize those firsts for treatment is probably the biggest deal. what significance of this procedure for future transplant recipients? >> as a doc myself, sometimes with regard to transplantation we run into a tough situation. you have somebody who is very, very sick. they need a transplant. but at some point they become too sick for the transplant. and that's a terrible position, obviously, for the patient, the patient's family to be in. i think what they have demonstrated here is they were able to remove the lungs completely. other machines sort of help

assist your lungs and heart. the lungs were gone. they had to create an artificial lung and this procedure using the breast implants to hold things in place while waiting for the transplant. i think, phil, what that signals is that hope is not lost for people who get that point of their illness. they can be bridged, if you will, to transplant using innovative methods. >> it's potentially amazing news. this is so fascinating. dr. sanjay gupta, thank you very much. >> you got it. take a look at this this morning. there is not a lot to see. it is new orleans. seriously. >> no, seriously. that is what meteorologists are calling super fog. widespread fog coupled with smoke from a nearby wildfire creating limited visibility, to say the least. very dangerous driving conditions. several sections of highways closed. police asking people to avoid those areas. a dense fog advisory in effect through 10:00 a.m. local time. >> be safe.

vautivanka trump takes the d in a few hours. what we could learn from her testimony next. and the remarkable story of yousef, who will be new york's newest city councilmember.

donald trump's older children to testify ivanka is expected to take the stand in the fraud lawsuit against the family's business. ivanka was named a defendant in the case but was displaced after it was ruled too much time had passed. donald trump and his two eld st sons are accused of misleading banks and insurers about the value of the company's assets for personal enrichment.

joining us now karen freidman. i'm fascinated because we don't hear a lot from ivanka trump, she was out of the case to some degree. what are your expectations for what we are going to hear today? >> i think it will be interesting to see if she takes the tactic her brothers took which is to distance herself from any knowledge of things like financial statements or any of the specific facts, right? they didn't really challenge the facts, they just said we don't really know anything. or if she tries to say things like what her father said, which is, i knew about it, but justified it. like she had an option to purchase that now infamous apartment that was not 33,000 square feet, it was 10,000 square feet, and so i'm sure they're going to ask her how big was it? did you know about it? did you know about the financial statements, et cetera. so i think it's interesting to watch what tactic she will take at trial here. >> she was deposed last august,

let's listen to part of that deposition. >> do you have any recollection of your father having personal financial statements? >> not specifically. >> what about generally? >> well, see, i combine them all in my mind, like the statements of the company, so i -- no, i mean, not like specific to him. look, i have my own, i had never prepared one, i don't know, i have never made one, i'm not an acco accountant. >> any idea how she will answer similar questions today? >> i think she will not contradict herself but the question is will she expand on some of her knowledge. she was instrumental in negotiating some of the loans in question and she is a very smart woman, she went to business school. so let's see -- >> wharton, i think she brought deutsche bank to the president. >> exactly.

she brought deutsche bank, she was instrumental in negotiating those loans, in negotiating leases for the old post office, for example, in washington. i mean, she was very involved in the business. she was hands on, she is a businessperson, she's smart and so let's see what she testifies about and how much she either distances herself from her family's business or if she talks about what her involvement specifically was. but it could be -- this could be very problematic for the family and for the finances because right now in addition to talking about the six remaining counts and trying to prove them, they're also trying to determine the number -- the monetary amount that will be disgorged from ill-gotten gains. she will be instrumental in helping the attorney general prove those facts as well. >> i know we don't have a great specific answer to why this would be the case, our reporting is that she will be cross-examined by the dwechbs, t defense. what's the value to it for the

defense and why didn't they cross-examine anybody else? >> it's unclear why the tactics they're taking they're taking, but there is a blurred line here between direct examination and cross-examination. in general direct examination is not supposed to be a cross-examination, but because the trump children and donald trump are hostile witnesses the prosecution even though they are the ones who called him were allowed to cross-examination them. so the question is why didn't the lawyers that represented them clean it up afterward, right, by asking him the kinds of questions they want out there? maybe they are reserving it to call the witness again, to call their client again, donald trump, or eric or don jr. on their case when the prosecution rests, when the attorney general rests, or maybe they just thought they got everything out that they wanted. it's unclear why tactically their own lawyers wouldn't try to clean up anything that was said in the direct case.

>> it will be interesting to watch today. karen, thanks very much. more than 30 years ago he and four other teenagers falsely convicted and imprisoned for raping a woman in central park, now he has been elected to represent central harlem on the new york city council. yusef salaam's inspiring jououry next.

in a crisis caused by a terrorist massacre.

warning civilians to clear out, while hamas forces them back. allowing in food and water, which hamas steals.

the beautiful thing about my story is that i was counted out. i was one of those who was pushed into the margins of life and now we're here right now. they look at the color of our skin and not the content of our character. today is a new day.

such powerful words from yusef salaam decades after being wrongfully imprisoned the exonerated central park five member won a seat on the new york city council. salaam is a democrat, he won his primary election in a landslide. he will now represent a central harlem district. he was here speaking with cnn this morning in july shortly after he won that primary. >> i was 16 at the time and i kind of buried it and said maybe -- i wanted to make sure i didn't succumb to the pressure of what prison was trying to turn me into, which was monster. years later now i'm looking back at that journey and i'm saying to myself, wow, all of the things that happened, every single piece, the good, the bad, the ugly has prepared me for this moment right now. >> his victory yesterday comes more than two decades after dna evidence was used to overturn his conviction as well as the conviction fs of the four other black and latino teenagers.

he was arrested when he was 15 years old and imprisoned for almost seven years old for the rape and beating of a white jogger in central park. he said he always kept his eyes on the prize and always saw the light at the end of the tunnel. >> i knew that i was counted out but as they say a setback is a great thing for a come back, and look at this come back that we are coming back to right now. >> before this year's election he had said in an interview that for him, quote, this means that we can really become our ancestors' wildest dreams. did he prove that accurate. >> boy, did he prove it. and his voice heard now loudly when it was ignored for so many years and all that he went through. >> and to represent his constituents as well. great story. moments ago ivanka trump arrived at a manhattan courthouse where she will testify in her father's civil fraud trial. "cnn news central" picks up our coverage right now