parts of the game. wasn't a stellar first game for wemby. he didn't make a shot until the third quarter. knicks got the win 126-105. and also the uconn superstar playing her first sxwgame in 58 games after a torn acl. she scored eight points in the win over dayton. and becker actually called it a bad game for her but added that she's just grateful to have a fwad bad game after so long. >> yeah, takes a lot of grit to come back from an injury like that. and i have to say, i'm not as read in on the nba as i am on many of the other sports you cover. so i appreciate you carrying us through this particular point in the sports season. >> not a problem. >> and i love football and i

love basketball, but you notice very little about it. thanks for joining us. krnk thi cnn this morning oig starts right now. . good morning, everyone, glad you're with us. big debate last night. lots of headlines to get to on thursday, november 9th. the third republican debate, critical issues and foreign policy, abortion rights, did it make a difference with about two months until the iowa caucuses. former president donald trump skipped the debate for a third time, rallying just down the road, taking on his gop rivals and president biden. we are back in action, the hollywood actor's strike is finally over after four months on the picket line. just in this morning, new video from iranian-backed houthi rebels showing them shooting down an american drone. this happened off the coast of yemen. the u.s. struck back launching an air strike on a weapons facility warehouse in syria.

the new york attorney general's office rests its case against donald trump and its family business. ivanka trump said she couldn't recall details of the deal of the post office in washington, d.c. "cnn this morning" starts right now. if you're counting, 67 days left until the iowa caucuses. we just saw five republican presidential candidates go head to head on the debate stage in miami, and yet again for the third time, the republican front runner, donald trump, skipped it. >> donald trump's a lot different guy than he was in 2016. he owes it to you to be on the stage and explain why he should get another chance. >> we can't live in the past. we can't live in other headlines. we've got to start pofocusing o what's going to make america strong and proud. >> anybody spending the next year and a half of their life, focusing on staying out of jail and courtrooms cannot lead this

country. it needs to be said plainly. >> donald trump held a rally miles away from the venue. he called the whole thing a waste of time. >> it's time for the republican establishment to stop wasting time and resources trying to push weak and ineffective rhinos and never trumpers that nobody wants and nobody's going to vote for. they're not watchable. you know, the last debate was the lowest rated debate in the history of politics. so therefore, do you think we did the right thing by not participating? >> jeff zeleny is live for us in miami. to that point from the former president, not showing up has not seemed to hurt him at all. the candidates seemed to be attacking one another rather than trump. why. >> reporter: look, they're attacking one another because they're in furious scramble for second place, trying to emerge as the leading alternative to donald trump. it was clear that time is

running out, and tensions nearly reached a boiling point. on a raucous debate night in miami. >> don't lie to the people. >> reporter: florida governor ron desantis and former south carolina governor nikki haley scrambling to become the leading alternative to donald trump. desantis blaming the former president for presiding over a party that endured major defeats tuesday in virginia, kentucky and ohio. >> he said republicans were going get tired of winning. we saw last night, i'm sick of republicans losing. >> haley imploring republicans to turn the page. >> i think he was the right president at the right time. i don't think he's the right president now. i think that he put us $8 trillion in debt, and our kids are never going to forgive us for that. >> reporter: two months before the first votes are cast, the winner may not have been on the debate stage but rather a few miles away, hold ago cing a com

rally in hialeah. with time running out to slow trump's momentum, a fierce exchange broke out on china, the middle east, abortion and more, with south carolina senator tim scott pushing his rivals to support a national 15-week abortion ban. >> i would challenge both nikki and ron to join me at a 15-week limit. it is in our nation's best interest. >> reporter: voters sent a clear message on abortion rights in ohio and virginia. haley called for a consensus. >> we don't need to divide america on this issue anymore. >> reporter: desantis pointed a finger at the antiabortion movement for failing to make its case. >> of all the stuff that's happened to the pro right cause, they have been losing the referenda. >> reporter: the debate was the first since hamas attacked israel october 7th. all candidates pledged support

for the u.s.'s long time ally. >> finish the job once and for all with these butchers, hamas. >> america is here no matter what it is you need at any time to preserve the state of israel. >> reporter: haley and scot place blame for the brutal terror attack squarely on iran. >> we need to be very clear eyed to know there would be no hamas without iran. >> you actually have to cut off the head of the snake, and the head of the snake is iran. >> reporter: some of the biggest flash points came between haley and vivek ramaswamy who accused her of rushing to war. >> do you want dick cheney in 3 inch heels. >> i would like to say they're 5 inch heels, and i don't wear them unless you can run in them. the second thing that i will say, i wear heels, they're not for a fashion statement, they're for ammunition. >> with tensions inflamed in a

discussion over tiktok and china, the attacks grew personal. >> she made fun of me for joining tiktok, her own daughter was using the app for a long time, so you might want to take care of your family first. >> leave my daughter out of your voice. you're just scum. >> former new jersey governor chris christie sought to rise above the fray defending the u.s. for taking an active role in israel ukraine. >> let's remember the last time we turned our back on a shooting war in europe, it bought us just a couple of years, and then 500,000 americans were killed in europe to defeat hitler. this is not a choice. >> reporter: for much of nearly two hours it was a deeply substantiative discussion on foreign policy, social security reform and more. the question is this merely an academic exercise. for all the familiarity of the exchanges back and forth, there was a very new moment at the debate last night. that came from south carolina senator tim scott who has been

talking throughout the campaign about a girlfriend that he has. of course he's 58 years old. he's single, but after the debate he appeared on stage with in woman here. we have her picture. her name is mindy. she's an interior decorator from charleston, we're told. the campaign said he was happy to be with her at the debate last night. he has mentioned her occasionally, in fact, more often recently on the campaign trail. last night we got a glimpse of her on stage. phil and poppy. >> we did. thank you for the reporting from miami, jeff. >> let's bring in cnn political comment commentator, margaret hoover and former national coalitions director of the biden-harris campaign, i'm pro love. that's all i have on this. seeing the girlfriend thing. i hope they're happy. there was a lot of substance in the debate, a lot of back and forth. particularly there were a number of exchanges between ron

desantis and nikki haley seemed to be battling for the second place role at this point, including this on china. take a listen. >> then we will go and end all formal trade relations with china until they stop murdering americans from fentanyl, something ron has yet to say he's going to do. >> ambassador haley said somehow i wasn't doing, she welcomed them into south carolina, gave them land near a military base, wrote the chinese ambassador a love letter saying what a great friend they were. >> yes, i brought a fiberglass company ten years ago to south carolina, but, ron, you are the chair of your economic development agency that as of last week said florida is the ideal place for chinese businesses. >> credit where it's due. solid in the files that they had prepped for that. china was a winning issue for the former president in 2016, clearly an issue that's top of mind for americans right now from a foreign policy

perspective. do you think their differentiated from one another in that battle? >> i think in that moment, nikki haley went on the attack. she defended herself from an attack, and then counter attacked and had all the receipts to show it. in that moment, she won the point. >> what it does also show is the country has moved in the last ten years on china. we have had a total paradigm shift in foreign policy as a country. biden's policy on china doesn't look anything like his predecessor president obama's policy on china. the nuances of where all the individual candidates are may not stand out to the voters but what stood out in that moment is ron desantis had a cheap hit on nikki haley and she came back at him with something quite substantial. >> yeah, i think that's right, and i think tying it to fentanyl is fascinating. we saw all the candidates on stage digging into a substantiative way an issue hurting a lot of folks, and

that's about bringing foreign policy home, and that's an important thing to do. this was a foreign policy debate. that's where the world is right now, and that placed nikki haley's strengths overall. she's the one that's got the most foreign policy experience on the stage by far as a former u.n. ambassador, and lest we forget, the presidency is largely a foreign policy job. i think that played to they are strengths, but people were laying out their markers, particularly that divide in the republican party, between the defiant internationalists, defending ukraine, as well as israel, and neo isolationists. >> a substantive important conversation on abortion, after big wins on the abortion front across the board for democrats earlier this week. let's listen to a few of the sound bytes from last night on this. >> we need a 15-week federal limit, 3 out of 4 americans

agree with a 15-week limit. i would challenge nikki and ron to join me at a 15-week limit. >> as much as i'm pro life, i don't judge anyone for being pro choice. there are some states going more on the pro life side, i welcome that. there are some states going more on the pro choice side. i wish that wasn't the case but the people decided. >> you have republican senators like john thune saying this is going to be an issue for republicans. j.d. vance saying we've got a lot of persuasion to do as a party. if you don't see that, you're missing the issue here. abortion is not the top issue for voters. it's about 6%. doesn't mean it doesn't matter. how much can this help democrats going forward? >> i think people look at abortion ass an economic issue, one, but with tim scott saying he wants to do a 15-week ban. it was like he didn't realize

what happened the day before when glenn youngkin was saying 15-week ban, and virginia senate and house went dem. nikki haley and ron desantis are like i'm not touching that with a 10 foot pole because that's not where the american people are. >> do you think nikki haley is where the american people are? >> no, but i think she gave a good -- i think she gave a good answer for a republican primary debate, but the reality is where the american people are, they don't want a weak number, they want the government out of choices they're making. women want bodily autonomy in the doctor's office with themselves and their families, not with politicians. whatever republicans want, it's out of touch with the american public. >> we have a lot to get to over the course of the hour, a lot more to get to. donald trump rallies down the street.

who he's floating for vp, that's next. the strike is finally over, 160,000 actors can return to work today after four months on the picket line. why the union president is calling the deal historic as actors celebrate. >> back to work, holollywood.. finanally, actioion.

biden's not too old.

that's not his problem. he's too incompetent. >> we're back with mark avalon, marvin cooper, it was a late night last night, and ashley allison. his numbers have gone up, the former president, after skipping every single one of the debates. when he talked about whether or not it was a good strategy, the crowd roared and cheered. was there ever a reason to attend a debate, the three prior or going forward? >> he should. the field is winnowing, there are five candidates on the stage. you have to live in iowa to get iowans to vote for you. new hampshire is the same way. voters want to be shown the respect of somebody showing up. and while you say his numbers have gone up, his share of the base hasn't expanded and when you look at these -- we don't have national primary elections, we have early primary elections and maybe 25 relevant states and

those states include iowa in which the plurality is against trump. if the field can winnow around an alternative, a single alternative, trump can lose, and trump owes it to the voters to show up and if he doesn't, you know what -- >> i think he went to the state fair for like 45 minutes or something and now desantis has the endorsement of the governor. >> kim reynolds. >> nikki haley said something about what's happening on college campuses, that was striking. i want your take on that. listen. >> this is what i would say about our college presidents is if the kkk were doing this, every college president would be up in arms. this is no different. you should treat it exactly the same. anti-semitism is just as awful racism. and we've got to make sure they're protected. >> yeah, that line jumped out to me because of its moral clarity. and i thought it was particularly strong, you know, if jewish students are being

menaced on campus, there's not a lot of room for hand wringing and wondering how this should be dealt with. it should be clear, right? you protect students. you stop discrimination based on identity, and we apply the same standards across all our society, and nikki haley was very strong on that. and it's the kind of thing that right now, there's elements of the democratic party that seems tied up in knots about this issue, and it really should be simple. >> it's interesting because there has been that clarity, too, from president biden on this. >> absolutely. very much so. >> i think it's clear that we should not support anti-semitic activity or language on college campuses, on the street, in government. but i will say on a democratic side, the gaza and israel issue ini i think has taken a toll on the biden polling. the numbers that came out on tuesday, joe biden with young

voters, with voters of color, he was not where he needs to be to win in 2024. what i do think, though, he needs to go out and make his position very clear. we support free speech. we think that innocent civilians should not be killed in gaza. we want to end terrorist organizations, hamas, and all alike, and we don't support anti-semitism, and i think the biden administration has been very very clear on that, but this is a very heartfelt issue, and, you know, i will just say, as a millennial who grew up during the iraq war, i think and was on a college campus, and lost a friend to that war. >> i'm so sorry. >> millennials have a different position on how we are engaging on international conflicts, and i think that is what you're seeing right now in the democratic party, but we are a big tent party, and we have the ability to compromise, and i think that if we just go out and make it very clear with a moral compass and where our values

are, i think we land in the right place. >> i think that's the key. it's about applying consistent principles consistently and calling out hate and discrimination. >> and standing up to the extremes in your own party as someone who is from a party that hasn't for too long. >> as a republican. >> a republican. i mean, you say, look, i think there's moral clarity in the center of your party, i think that's right right now. there used to be in the republican party too, and for too long the people in the center didn't stand up to the extremes and the voices on the extreme have taken it over. pushing back on the extremes from the left, from the center left position is important for the sustainability of the country. >> generally. >> the best advice. >> always. always the best answer. >> 14 years. >> happy belated anniversary, you guys. >> thank you. >> john avlon, margaret hoover, ashley allison, always great to have you. i don't recall, i don't

recall, i don't recall. that's not avalon when margaret is asking him something. what the judge heard from ivanka trump over and over and over again, what it actually means for the case. also. >> i am so happy. i am so happy, oh, my god. >> recognize her? how hollywood is responding to the end of the actor's strike. that's ahead..

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celebrations, that's what you're seeing across hollywood and beyond, as the actor's union

reaches a tentative deal with the big film and television, vanessa yurkevich following it with us now. i think busy phillips' elation that we showed before the break shows it all. we don't know what's in the deal yet. >> we don't know the specifics. we know people are incredibly relieved by this. this was the last piece of the puzzle to get hollywood back to work. you had the writers and directors that had come to deals. this was the key part to get everyone back in studios. this deal is worth a billion dollars in value, three times what their current contract is worth. we know a little bit from sag. these are the biggest gains that the union has seen in history. we know that there are increases in minimums for workers who are -- for actors who are just starting out. not the cuba gooding jr. and

george clooney, we're seeing increases in pensions and health care, and the provision and language around artificial intelligence. if you remember, this is really what the union has been advocating for, and even this weekend when the studios put their best, last and final deal on the table, the union came back and said, hold on, let's just tweak a little bit of this language. they were able to come to an agreement on that, and that's what ultimately got them across the finish line. >> and what about, i mean, today we were saying, do we expect delays in projects. i know they were trying to salvage some of the winter season for tv. >> they were trying to salvage that. some of that is lost. however, there is an opportunity to get folks back to work as soon as possible. they can go back to work before they ratify the deal, but of course what's important is the 160,000 sag members really hold the key to whether or not this deal becomes lost, so to speak. we know shows have been delayed.

we know the studios were pushing to get the actors back into the winter production season, so that we all have something to watch next year and into the summer. but more importantly so the folks who have been out of jobs for four months now, the actors and then all of the employees that have supported the actors in other industries can get back to work. when you push the winter season production off, just prolongs how long people were out of work. this deal came at the last possible minute to make sure we have a show season and a movie season for people to act in and us to enjoy. >> important to remember what the average actor makes. >> not a lot. >> thanks vanessa, appreciate it. new video from houthi rebels shooting down an american drone. and a video from the idf showing israeli forces seizing weapons in northern gaza, plus an update on thehe hostage negotiatations next.t.

this is new video just in to cnn footage, released by the houthi military media shows an american drone shot down off the coast of yemen by iran-backed houthi forces. over the course of the same time, the u.s. carried out air strikes targeting an iranian backed weapons storage facility in syria, according to the pentagon. alex marquardt joins us now. these strikes, there have been a couple of rounds, this might be the second round. what do we know about why and what they represent? >> reporter: phil, this does highlight the fears over escalation in the region. what we know about the strikes in eastern syria was two f-15 fighters jets targeted a weapons storage facility in eastern syria that is affiliated with iran's revolutionary guard core, as well as other affiliated group. the secretary of defense lloyd austin saying this was a

self-defense strike, it served two purposes, to send a strong message of deterrence to iran and other iranian-backed groups, but also the weapons contained in the storage facility, the pentagon says, were weapons that had been used against u.s. forces in the region. we have seen 40 strikes against u.s. forces in the region over the past few weeks, and this storage facility, we are told, once it was struck, there were secondary explosions, indicate k the presence of more of those weapons, and so this was a strong message of deterrence intended by the pentagon against iran, but at the same time, we are seeing these escalatory incidents all across the region. significant capabilities on display by the iranian-backed houthi rebels in yemen who have fired drones and missiles towards israel, and just yesterday, phil, they took down this unmanned aerial vehicle, u.s. drone, mq9 drone, an

expensive drone. they took it down in international waters, the pentagon says. it highlights the capabilities of the houthis and fears that the groups like the houthis could expand beyond israel and gaza. >> alex marquardt, thank you. now to the latest on the war between israel and hamas, a deal to secure a release of a large number of hostages hamas is holding in gaza appears elusive, despite ongoing negotiations between the united states, israel, qatar and hamas. the military is claiming it destroyed 130 tunnel shafts in the region as its ground operations there, as you can see in the video have intensified. this is new video from the idf and shows weapons, and opened a corridor for gazans to flee the north. it's only open in a six-hour window. that closes two hours from now.

an idf spokesperson says 50,000 people fled the region on wednesday. the devastating humanitarian crisis continues to play out in gaza as hospitals run out of medical supplies and all bakeries are forced to close because of the lack of fuel, water, and even flour. there is a lot you can do to help. for more information on how you can help go to cnn.com/impact. you can text relief to 707070 to donate. what did iowa voters think of last night's gop presidential debate? the candidate they named as the first time debate winner. we'll ask will hurd if any of the candidates made ground against the front runner, donald trump.

if you're counting, we are a little over two months away, you should be counting from the first in the nation iowa caucuses, and after last night's primary debate, gary tuchman spoke with voters to get their reactions to the five contenders that duked it out. minus leading candidate, donald trump. >> there would be no hamas without iran. >> for this third republican debate, we paid a visit to iowa, the county seat of story county to watch the debate with

republicans. most of them saying they are undecided about which republican they will support in the iowa caucuses. when it was all over, we asked what they thought the headline of the debate should be. >> foreign policy takes center stage. >> gop stands in solidarity in support of israel. >> a much more civil debate tonight. >> trump won another one. >> because he wasn't there. >> that's right. >> more substance, less spectacle. >> third time's a charm. >> we're going to talk about the third time. the first time we were here, most of us said that ramaswamy won. the second debate, desantis did. haley came in second both times. my question is, who do you think, quote unquote, again, won the debate. it's not scientific, but we have been with you three times now. i'm going to do it in alphabetical order. who thinks christie won the debate. zero. who thinks desantis won the debate. four, who thinks haley won the

debate, one, two, three, four, five, six. who thinks ramaswamy won the debate. one, two, three. who thinks scott won the debate. >> nikki haley came in first place with the story county group this time around. >> why do you think she won? >> i think she was attacked by people and that means that they fear her, and i think she's strong and she reacted appropriately, and she's not a pushover. >> the mayor of nevada, why do you think she won? >> i think with foreign policy being center stage, it plays into her strengths, and they spent a lot of time on that topic, and we saw her go toe to toe with tyrants of the u.n., and you can see her doing that as president. >> why do you think desantis won? >> aside from scott, he holds office right now, and that office is in the executive branch, so everybody else says what they would do or what they did ten years ago, desantis says what he's doing now, and what he's going to be doing once he changes position. >> and what about those who went

for ramaswamy? . >> i think he wasn't afraid to speak his mind, and everybody else was kind of in sync with each other and didn't vary as much as he did, and he wasn't afraid to go against the grain. >> 12 of the 13 people voted for donald trump in the 2020 presidential election. one is a newly registered republican who did not vote for trump. >> 12 of you voted for donald trump for president, but only two of you are ready to caucus for him. why is that? who wants to speak about that? why aren't you ready to support the trump? >> i like the donald. he's not perfect. if he gets felonies the democrats are going to take him off the ballot. we need desantis as a back up plan. >> every single person on our panel says they have seen multiple republican presidential candidates in person during this campaign cycle. so they're certainly loyal and active republicans, which makes it all the more interesting that most of them are still undecided. phil, poppy. >> harry tuchman, thank you for

the reporting. always good to hear directly from the voters. let's bring in former republican congressman from texas, will hurd, and now a campaign surrogate for nikki haley. congressman, it's great to have you. you got the numbers there, six want haley, so far, four for desantis, three for ramaswamy. do you think she did enough to cut into trump's huge lead? >> i think she did last night what she's always been doing. she's building that momentum. she showed that she's smart. she showed that she's smooth, and she showed that she's tough. she's the true alternative to donald trump. this race has now come down between one man and one woman, and i think the american public saw last night that whether it's foreign policy, domestic policy, or abortion, she's ready to show real leadership. and that's why this momentum is going to continue, the momentum with israel. she also has the organization on

the ground in order to pull this off. >> talk about what she said about trump. here is her sound on trump last night. >> you know, everybody wants to talk about president trump. well, i can talk about president trump. i can tell you that i think he was the right president at the right time. i don't think he's the right president now. i think that he put us $8 trillion in debt, and our kids are never going to forgive us for that. i think the fact that he used to be right on ukraine and foreign issues, now he's getting weak in the knees and trying to be friendly again. >> it wasn't that long ago, you were running and you were calling trump a national security threat. you said he was only running to keep himself out of jail. do you think nikki haley went far enough on trump to cut into his lead or was that politically strategic for her to try to get some of his voters? >> i think she was speaking the truth. she's proven she's not afraid to take shots at donald trump. she's been clear on that. especially recently with his criticisms of prime minister

netanyahu. she's been very clear on that. i think she has articulated her position incredibly well. her goal is to continue to grow her lead in some of these other places, and she's going to continue to do that. we saw last night, we live in a dangerous world. the world is getting even more dangerous, and we need someone who has an understanding of these issues and understand that hamas, and israel is not just hamas and israel. you've got to understand iran, when you talk about the conflict with the chinese government, the new cold war, it's a multidomain conflict. she was the only one talking about how space and cyber space is important in in upcoming conflict to make sure america stays the number one country on the planet. so i think she's articulating, showing her strength last night, and she showed this is the kind of conservative leadership we need in order to stop this trend of us losing, losing on the national scale. we saw what happened earlier

this week on tuesday in places like kentucky and ohio and virginia, and so i think even your panel earlier recognizes and understands that nikki haley is the true alternative to donald trump, and she has the chance and consistently beating joe biden in head-to-head polls. >> one of the issues, obviously, was immigration and the border last night. i want to play for people what trump said at a rally down the road about it last night. listen. >> we will restore the trump travel ban on entry from terror-plagued country, and we will implement strict vetting and ideological screening for all new entrants into our country. we don't do that at all now. on day one, i will terminate every open borders policy of the biden administration, and we will begin the largest domestic deportation operation in american history.

>> that's what he said. nikki haley talked about sending in special ops to take out the cartels in mexico. desantis talked about more military intervention. tim scott said he would close the southern border. i don't know how that would work for trade and economically, but you're the one who repped a third of the u.s. border with mexico. are any of those things viable? >> you can cooperate with the mexican government on going after cartels. here's the bottom line. the current crisis that we're dealing with on the border began with donald trump. it was donald trump's administration that opened the border up and started treating everyone coming into the country as an asylum seeker. joe biden continued that and turned it into a bigger mess. you can tell when donald trump is reading something and when he's talking from the cuff, it's almost like he didn't know what he was talking about. the fact that he doesn't understand the root causes of

these problems is indicative of his crazy answers. but, yeah, we need someone that understands we have to address the asylum issue, we have to address root causes in these countries that are dealing with this, who understand that fentanyl is a major issue that is killing ta lot of americans, and that fentanyl starts in china. we need someone in the oval office that understands that. i hope in the meantime that joe biden fires secretary mayorkas so we can start seeing changes because the crisis is going to continue to get worse. >> i would not hold your breath on that one, but the border does have a lot of issues. congressman hurd, appreciate you getting up early. thank you. >> always a pleasure. we're also going to be joined later on the show by republican candidate chris christie, he's with us next hour. the new york attorney general's office rests its case in the civil fraud trial against donald trump and his businesses. we're going to break down what ivanka trump said on the stand

and how much she did not recall.

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only in the trump family does take your daughter to workday mean she's forced to testify in court, on the stand, ivanka repeatedly answered i don't recall, i don't recall, i don't recall. which is a phrase she picked up from her father whenever eric asked when his birthday was. >> that's cold, man. ivanka was the fifth and final witness in the case against donald trump and his company. she faced questions on her role in negotiating and the penthouse she leased from her father.

most of the details, she did not recall. let's bring in former assistant attorney for the southern district of new york, elie honig, the future of the case in a second, but to start with, do you think anything that happened yesterday will have a dramatic impact on the future of the case? >> the main purpose of calling ivanka trump was to get the spectacle, put the attorney general on the steps of the courthouse to draw the tv cameras. her testimony was largely neither here nor there. one of the big moments was when ivanka trump testified about how when deutsche bank made a loan to the trump organization, deutsche bank originally requested $3 million, that donald trump maintained his personal wealth at $3 billion, they negotiated it down to $2.5 billion. big deal. borrowers always try to negotiate down the amount of guarantee they put up. i didn't think see anything there. i don't think you're going to hear reference to ivanka trump in the ag's closing argument. >> her testimony may not have been that valuable. but can i present the other side of it, how could you not bring

her to testify when she's the one that brought deutsche bank to the table, when she was involved in the deal for the post office. wouldn't it be a misstep by not bringing her. talk about how you think the ag has handled the case. >> i don't think she backfired on the ag. sometimes you have a witness who provides a few details, a few facts, that's fine. i think the drama the ag tried to bring to this in making a dramatic statement was out of line with the importance of ivanka trump's testimony. you're right. you bring witnesses sometimes who have marginal information. i think ivanka trump had marginal information. >> i want to ask you, down in washington, the house oversight committee announced they're going to subpoena president biden's son, brother, what does this say about that investigation? >> here we are a year into or so the republicans taking over, and they've got next to nothing. congress has wide latitude to investigate. they're in an impeachment inquiry. when congress was in an

impeachment inquiry over the first trump indictment, the ukraine scandal, we were hearing testimony from marie yovanovitch, alexander vindman, we were hearing direct testimony. they're still scraping around, and they have next to nothing. they can run with this, very little to stop them. but having nothing will politically hurt them. >> thank you. "cnn this morning" continues now. the third republican presidential debate is now in place. >> nikki haley and ron desantis getting the most attention. vivek ramaswamy made his presence known. >> in the last debate she made fun of me for joining tiktok. her own daughter was using the app for a long time. >> leave my daughter out of your voice. you're just scum. >> biden should step aside so we can see whether it's newsom or michelle obama. >>