now it's their turn. donald trump jr. back on the witness stand as trump organization lawyers kick a off their defense in the $250 million civil fraud trial. why trump jr. says his dad is, quote, an artist. and desperation in gaza, hospitals running out of basic critical supplies forcing doctors to wrap premature babies in foil. what israel is saying about this and what it could mean for hostage talks. plus the u.s. racing toward yet another potential government shutdown. will the capitol hill chaos continue or will cooler heads finally prevail?

we're following these stories and many more coming in here to "cnn news central." nus minutes from now donald trump jr. will return to the witness stand in the $250 million civil fraud trial in new york. he's the first witness for trump's legal team, which start ed their case today. kara scannell is outside the courthouse. don jr. testified for two hours this it morning before the court took that lunch break. there was an interesting moment where the judge allowed in a document of the valuation of one of trump's resorts over objections by the a.g.'s office. what more can you tell us about that exchange? >> reporter: yeah, so trump's lawyers wanted to dro this power point presentation that went through all the properties

pulled from their website. the attorney general's office objected saying they didn't think it was relevant and it was coaching the witness because he could read the lofty descriptions of these the properties. the judge said he would allow that. the a.g.'s office had six weeks to present their case. and he actually thought it was interesting and relevant to know the history. that's what we spent most of the morning doing. donald trump jr. saying with his great grandfather during the gold rush was building hotels for minors in canada. and from there we went to trump tower, walking through all the property thas own and built. so trump tower in new york, numerous hotels in chicago, las vegas, and a number of golf courses. a mar-a-lago, this is the property donald trump has become the most irritated about how it's being treated in this case. the valuations given to that property. and don jr. echoing his father saying he took um bridge with this $18 million tax assessment assigned to mar-a-lago. saying that the atrium that we

saw photos of would take more than $18 million just to construct that today. that also was another theme that kept underscoring the testimony, talking about how his father is a visionary artist. how he would take certain properties and transform them and enhance the value. that's what he was trying to underscore talking about how when they had commercial properties, they added amenities for te tants claiming his father was the first to introduce amenity there is. and also carrying that through into the hotel saying he was one of the first to do the hotel condo combination, which was way s to get value out of that. another property that's the focus of the educinvestigation the golf course in florida. donald trump jr. saying that was a property that they had expanded on that and changed it, added value to that. his father closed one of the golf courses adding condos to it

and said the creation of value like that in an instant. so trying to make the point that these properties have a the lot of components. the a.g. alleged the valuations they gave to them were inflated compared to what others have said. so they are trying to show the judge here that there were a lot of pieces that go into value. so if the state decides to cross him, they will continue the testimony. >> kara scannell, who has been tracking all of this, traung for that. and let's talk more about this with harry litman. great to see you. talk us through what trump's team has to do here to make their case. >> it's pretty hard because the judge is going to be the actual jury. so all of this stuff this

morning, it's his chance to tell his story. and you could ask what does it have to do with the charges, which are inflating values. it's his chance to do what you'd normally do to a jury, and also i think he's talking to the american public. what he really has to do is rebut the charges that the valuations were inflated and false and they knew it. this is kind of an infomercial for the first few hours. it doesn't really speak to that a lot. a that's why the a.g. was objecting so much. this was irirrelevant, but the judge is saying let it go. i don't want any problems on ap appeal. let him tell his story. you had six weeks. that was the basic theme of this porng. >> how much of this is being directed at the american people?

less so toward the judge. we talked a lot about how the former president likes to play things out in the court of public opinion versus inside the courtroom. how much of what we're going to be hearing from don jr. and eric and if the former president gets back on the stand is really aimed at shaping the narrative outside the courtroom? >> i would say 99%, maybe 100%. because if the the judge is going to decide, it would be one thing if don jr. was turning to the jury and trying to turn on the charm, but it's the judge who is going to decide. i think they pretty well concluded that the judge is going to decide against them. this whole story really won't do anything on appeal. so i think the only real explanation, besides just giving him a chance to tell the story of why his father is a visionary and it's a fantastic brand and the like, really is for us the public. it doesn't really have much to do with the decision that the trial judge and not a jury is

going to make. >> so much of last week's questioning was centered around e-mails, communications, indicating that the two sons were ware of the the valuation, despite them testifying they didn't have any knowledge. how will the team reshape this narrative and how does that plan to what you and i were just talking about, which is a lot of it is like an infomercial, talking about how you can value properties based on other things outside of what maybe you would traditionally use. >> yeah, so i think that's right. and we're going to have a cross-examination now. they are going to be pointed questions about exactly that. wait a minute, you said this ask you said you had some role. the one thing he said today that was a mistake is everybody shared responsibility for everything.

and that suggests a role for all of them in these potential false evaluations. so what's going to happen now, i think, is he will try his best to give different explanations about how things work, but come cross-examination, he's going to face some very pointed questions, both about valuations and about the spectacular failureses and business losses of this company that's spoededly was the visionary for the whole real estate world. >> thank you for your analysis. >> thank you. catastrophic, collapsing, doctors say the situation at hospitals in gaza is dire. medical teams forced to work by flashlight in a desperate bid to save lives. in the meantime, israeli forces continue to fight hamas. the idf saying it took out 21 alleged terror suspects outside of the hospital. video released by israel's military appears to show a

fighter with an rpg launcher near the hospital entrance. the palestinian red crescent denied there are armed individuals inside the hospital and says no shots were fired from inside. this as we are learning new details about the urgent negotiations to free 239 hostages still held by hamas. the white house revealing one of those hostages is a 3-year-old american. oren liebermann is in tel aviv with the very latest. what more is the u.s. saying about these hostages? >> reporter: the focus of the hostage negotiations has been qatar. they are able to speak with h hamas and try to put pressure on them. pressure that the u.s. are encouraging them and pushing them to put on hamas to establish a larger hostage release or all of the hostages released. also involved in those conversations, they are ongoing

from what we know. the hard point to gauge is how much progress is there. president biden spoke with the leader of qatar, and he brought up for the first time a 3-year-old toddler, an american citizen who is being held by hamas. that would be the youngest american kidnapped in the terror attack on october 7th. all of the hostages should be released immediately. he also underscored in his call the need for a palestinian state and israelis and palestinians living side by side. domestic pressure is growing here as well. the families of the hostages are planning a march from here in teal vooef to jerusalem over several days that will had end at the prime minister's office. they are pushing for a hostage release and hostage exchange here. hamas had has demanded all the hostages in gaza for all of the palestinian prisoners in israel. there's been discussions of a hostage release for a pause in the fighting. prime minister benjamin netanyahu has insisted there will be no pause in the fighting until all of the hostages are

released. the difficult part is trying to find any sort of common ground here in the mild of war between israel and hamas to allow 240 hostages to be released. >> the situation is dire. give us a sense of what's going on there. >> reporter: it is far worse from dire. everything we are being told inside of gaza, the hospital in gaza already shut down over the weekend. closed off its medical services because it no longer has the supply, the energy, the fuel to run the hospital. and that brings us to another hospital, the largest hospital in gaza that's treating some 650 patients with thousands of people trying to find sanctuary inside as fighting rages on the streets there between israel and hamas. that hospital we learned from the director had to shut off all its essential units, meaning

it's barely able to treat patients inside. in the neonatal unit, the generator could no longer operate. three babies in the nicu died as a result of that. now according to the hospital director, they are relying on hot water and oil to try to keep the babies warm and keep the babies alive. so they can keep finding some way to treat them. that's a small fraction of the challenges here. we're about to show you a clip. this is a graphic clip. please keep that in mind as we play this from inside one of the hospitals describing the situation. >> there was a direct injury in the head. internal bleeding. we can't do surgeries. no surgeries, no oxygen, no electricity we work manually. it's a clear injury. it needs urgent surgery. he's less than a year old.

>> reporter: the idf tried to provide 350 liters of fuel. hamas interfered and the delivery. he said they asked to be delivered through the red cross. either way, 300 liters of fuel would have kept the hospital running for half an hour. >> not long at all. these poor babies. thank you so much. i want to turn to daniel o'say, a retired u.s. navy seal commander for the hostage working group in iraq. daniel, the parties involved right now as we talk about hostages here, they are working on a deal to get faighting in exchange for a large group of hostages being freed. they spoke about the situation. does that signal that there's progress in getting israel on board with this big step?

>> there's intense pressure coming from the allies. with the 238 total that they still have listed. you also have pressure from the families, that are going to march on hez residence demand ing the release. so all pressure is on benjamin netanyahu not only from his own people, but the international community as well. >> what does that signal that biden spoke to him? >> this has the world's attention because we have over 50 strikes on u.s. positions in syria and iraq directly related to this. so everyone is trying to deescalate this. a at the center of this is the hostages, which is the focus of international discussions. it's the one bargaining chip that hamas has. that and world opinion. that world opinion and the

hostage situation is weighing heavily on the idf to slow roll their attempt to wipe out the entire region of gaza. >> the white house revealed that hamas is holding a 3-year-old american as a hostage. thdoes that change the way amera looks a at this? there are nine missing americans, so there are american hostages that we don't know the number. does this 3-year-old change anything? >> it just goes to the level of the barberism on october 7th. we heard 3-month-old up to 85-year-old grandparents are being held. innocent people, but this is how terrorist groups negotiate with the west. and frankly, the pain is driven by had this young american child. it's getting the u.s. president involved. so it's serving the end state and why hostage terrorism is such an effective tool for

terrorist organizations like hamas. >> the idf has implemented what they are describing as daily localized humanitarian pauses in gaza. this is what is allowing the civilians out of gaza along the two main highways. do you see this as a practice run for larger pause or should we see this for what it is? >> anything can happen right now. the conjunction with the hospital it hz a command structure. the hostage could be hidden underneath this hospital as well. that's what makes it so challenging is to go in and wipe out hamas. it's pretty hard to do when israeli hostages and palestinian

civilians are colocated with the very terrorist organization you're trying to wipe out. >> it's a near impossible problem, which is the the point for hamas. great to have you. thank you so much. >> thank you. still ahead, less than five days to make a deal. we'll go to capitol hill, where lawmakers are under intense pressure to avoid a shutdown for the second time in as many months. that's right. here we are again. plus breaking news out of the supreme court amid some pretty serious ethics concerns. what the high court is doing about it. stay with usus for that.t.

this just into cnn amid growing pressure and conflicts of interest. the supreme court saying it will adopt a code of duct. >> let's bring in a paula reid and joan. paula, this is huge. what's in this code of conduct? >> we're still is working out just how big this is, how much of this is new and how it will be enforced. the court is trying to address concerns about ethics on the bench after a series of high-profile stories about benefits that justices have

received. we have looked through the code of conduct now, and it's not clear how had this will be enforced, tu it is an important step. nine justices are not bound by formal ethics code, unlike lower courts, which are. in recent months over the past couple years, there's been a series of big stories a about things the justices have received and sometimes for people who are close to cases they will hear. so this is interesting because the court says that they derived this code of conduct from the one that the lower courts abide by. they didn't accept it whole is sale. so right now, we're going through trying to figure out what is different, what is new, but democrats in congress are threatening to pass legislation to mandate ethics reform. they asked the chief justice john roberts to come before the court and testify. he declined. he sent them a letter, and attach odd to it was a statement of ethics of principles,

practices they abide by. this appears to be going a little bit further, but it's unclear how much of this is new and the big outstanding question is how are you going to enforce this? >> you used to cover the supreme court. and you really understand its intricacies. and as paula mentioned, democrats were pounding down the door. how significant is this? >> it's a significant first step. let me put it that way. back in april when the chief justice first put out a statement about how they already tryied to abide by lower court dictates, he said that we follow them. we want to clarify we do follow them. they are saying they are trying to promulgate a code. there are so many open questions here about exactly how that will

get done, who will be the judge of that, how binding will this be, what if somebody in the public or congress, which is jscrutinizing the justices righ now has a complaint, how will that be resolved? but i have to say it is something that all nine signed it because there was some desengs within their ranks about whether anything even needed to be addressed. we saw some justices, kagan, saying, yes, a code would be a good thing, but we also some resistance by alito telling "the wall street journal," i already abide by ethics principles. a code might not be necessary. so the chief justice at least got all nine to sign this, but we still have to figure out just what is being promulgated here. what kind of a true ethics code and is it a kind of code that would lack teeth. if there are any violations, there would be no panel or higher authority, but at least

an authority within their orbit to question it now. again, to the court's credit, it does say at the very end that they are trying to hash out those questions. they are going to be talking to their own legal council within the supreme court to see what kind of specifics might need to be added here. but i do have to say this clearly reflects the justices trying to respond to public criticism, trying to respond to what has been going on in the senate as recently as last thursday when senator durbin was trying to press subpoenas for people who had given financial benefits to the justices. and as i say, i think this is a concrete first step and we'll just have to see whether there's any teeth behind it. >> that is the question. so many people remain shocked this didn't exist. >> one thing i should say is that bothered the chief. everybody thinks we're not abiding by ethics, but we really were. this will communicate to people

were wie were. >> paula reid, thank you so much. a secret service agent opens fire after three suspects tried to break into a government vehicle. we're going to share the details behinded that incident, next.

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of young people who feel they can thrive. ♪ ♪ - don't mind me. just getting my steps in. 30 to 60 minutes of walking a day can reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. plus it can improve your mood and energy. take steps to better your health. this week speaker mike johnson, who got the job just last month, faces hiss first major test, avoiding a government shutdown this friday night. once again, hard right members in his conference are get ting n the way of a deal. a total of eight house republicans are opposing jo johnson's plan. his proposal would temporarily fund the government setting

deadlines in january and february through the pass act of permanent department budgets. melanie zanona joins us now. that many republicans means he's going to need democrats to avoid a shutdown. what does that mean? >> reporter: speaker mike johnson finds himself in almost the exact same position that his predecessor did. he's going to need to rely on some democratic votes here to avoid a government shutdown at the end of this week. conservatives don't like this plan because it does not uncollude spending cuts. it would extend funding at current levels. but johnson did try to give them a concession by the way he structured this plan. it's going to fund the government in two tranches. first four agencies will be funded until january. and then the rest of the agencies will be funded until some time in february. but that clearly was not enough to win over conservative hardliners, who are balking at this plan.

the question really becomes what are house democrats going to do? and so far, they have not exactly said what they want to do. they are keep an open mind. they recognize this doesn't include spending cuts or or include any policy writers. however, they don't like it's complicated structure of this two-step plan. they also don't like it doesn't include money for israel, ukraine or the boarder, somethig the white house has requested. the white house did put out a statement blasting this plan, but ultimately they may have to swallow this at the end of the day. but before they get to final passage, he has to clear a procedural vote in the house typically, those votes are done along party lines. but this year conservatives have been willing to take those procedural votes down if they don't like the substance of the bill. so we'll get our first glimpse tomorrow when they try to do that vote for that spending plan. at this point, it's unclear how they are going to act, but we'll see whether they are going to give a longer leash to govern. >> it didn't have it in the

house. then they almost do. if melanie, thank you. i'll be seeing a lot of you this week. thank you so much. a little capitol hill humor on a monday. the shutdown does happen, the thanksgiving travel week could be even more chaotic than usual. congrats to all of us. let me turn to cnn's aviation correspondent pete muntean. just to remind everyone, we don't know that's going to happen. but let's just take us there. a what would it look like? >> it would be chaos on top of the grounds. so the tsa agents, they are expected to still report to work, although not get paid if a government shutdown comes to pass. now remember, during the longest shoup ever in 2018 into 2019, it only took about ten air traffic

controllers staying home to clear the log jam and get a funding bill passed. so this can have some significant impacts on travel and the impact of travel can also have an impact on top. we'll see if this plays out. it really comes during a huge thanksgiving travel season that is the forecast from a airlines, from aaa and the federal government. the tsa just said that the sunday after thanksgiving will likely be the busiest day for air travel ever. when you think about each day, the two days prior, 2.6 million expected on tuesday. 2.7 million people expected at airports on wednesday, the day before thanksgiving, 2.9 million on sunday. the best the record of june 30th, 2023, 2.88 million people, the biggest number tsa has seen in its existence. when you think about that against the biggest number, 51 million people expected to travel 50 miles or more over the thanksgiving holiday, it really

is going just to be icing on the cake if the shutdown does come to pass. you may want to consider driving. the big thing here is that the trends are really changing. they are trying to travel a little earlier, so it's interesting about the tsa numbers is they say it's a 12-day travel period, which means that would start this coming friday. i want you to listen to aaa spokesperson who says that really the demand is lengthening and the peaks are getting a little less as more and more people take advantage of hybrid work schedules and being able to work from home. >> the reality is many people are leaving on tuesday, on monday and coming back the monday after thanksgiving because they know that sunday is going to be such a mess on the roads and at the airports. so if people are being more

plexable. >> it is a condensed holiday. people are going to fly, but more people are going to drive. 49 million people, that's the anticipated number from aaa. and a lot of those people are driving at the worst possible time. you have to look at the breakdown. really it's kind of like rush hour times two. that's almost literally. so if you can avoid essentially 3:00 to 6:00 p.m., pretty much every day leading up to thanksgiving and in the few days after, you might have a little bit of luck. try to go early or really late in the day. but in some major areas like baltimore to d.c., houston, vegas, traffic could be twice the norm. >> great. i'm going to look into my plans for wednesday. pete muntean with a lot of information there, thank you so much. just stay put. come over to my house. so a secret service agent on security detail for president biden's granddaughter fired a weapon while trying to stop some

people from breaking into a government vehicle. it happened last night in the historic neighborhood of georgetown here in washington, d.c. we have jessica snider joining us on this story. what are you learning about this shooting? >> what we have gotten is the investigation is being led by the metropolitan police department here in d.c. we're getting very few additional details relieased. the biggest question now is why did this secret service agent fire a weapon at the people attempting to break into that government vehicle? the question is was the agent's life in danger, because that would be the protocol for actually firing a weapon. the agent isn't allowed to just fire to protect that vehicle or to protect other property. but this incident really does highlight the severe uptick in crime around washington, d.c. motor vehicle tleftheft is up 9. here's the statement on this. the most details we have gotten

so far from the secret service. it says on november 12th, in the georgetown neighborhood of washington, d.c., secret service agents encountered three individuals breaking a window on a park ed and unoccupied government vehicle. during this encounter a federal agent discharged a service weapon, and it is believed that no one was struck. that's from the spokesperson. he did continue to say that the people trying to break into that government vehicle did immediately flee the area in a red car and then a regional lookout was issued to supporting units, including mpd here in washington. the secret service is saying there was never think threat to a protectee. a source confirmed that involved in firing this weapon is a s assigned to the detail. she's the granddaughter of president biden and the first lady. the oldest daughter of hunter biden. she lives in georgetown. so few details being released,

but we're expecting more as this investigation fcontinues. no one else in danger. so this investigation does continue. >> much more to come. thank you. new york city mayor eric adams under fire over reported allegation this is he pressured city officials while he served as bureau president president. hear how he's responding, coming up.

we want to listen now to president biden just moments ago talking about the government shutdown and also the situation in gaza. here he is.

>> the i know the speaker of the house has a proposal that's being negotiated. and the really leader also talking about. i don't know what the outcome is going to be. there was a meeting today at 4:00 or 5:00 today on the rules committee. and we'll see what happens. >> i'm not going to make a judgment what i would veto or sign, let's see what they come up. >> the hospital in gaza. have you expressed any specific concerns to israel on that, sir? >> well, i am reluctant at

express ing my concerns going o. it is my hope and expectation that there will be less intrusive action relative to the hospital. and with the israelis, also there's an effort to take this pause to deal with release of prisoners. and that's being negotiated as well. engaged so i remain somewhat hopeful that the hospital must be protected . >> that was president biden just

a few moments ago talking about two separate issues. number one in gaza, he said it was his expectation that that hospital would be protected. he also said that they are continuing to negotiate the release of hostages in exchange for a pause. so more to come on that. then in terms of a potential government shutdown, he sounds like so many americans. he also is waiting to hear what comes out of the house as they talk and meet this afternoon. so more to come there. new york mayor eric adams says he's cooperating with the federal probe into reports he may have pressured city fire officials to open a building housing the turkish consulate, despite safety concerns. cnn previously reported that authorities are also looking into whether adams took illegal campaign contributions from a foreign entity. national correspondent is following the very latest on this investigation. so the mayor says has not been accused of wrong doing. he's going to address the public tomorrow. bring us up to speed here.

what's the latest? >> i think we can start just a few days ago with reminding viewers that fbi officials took a remarkable step last week to issue a warrant to the mayor to seize his electronic devices. and the reason i bring that up first is it's a pretty remarkable escalation of this investigation. a judge had to issue a warrant and in order to view that, they had to be presented with probable cause that some crime or evidence of a crime could be found on those electronic d devices. what we don't know is whether the mayor is the the one who committed that crime, as you said. he has not been directly named at any of these investigations. then over the weekend, we learned just a little bit more about the investigation, "the new york times" has been reporting that part of what investigators are looking into is whether or not the mayor before taking office in 2021 used his power as brooklyn

borough president to interis fear with the local fire department to ensure that the tushish consulate would get permits that it was trying to acquire in order to open up their headquarters. now as you said, the mayor has issued a statement saying that as borough president, this is part of what he was supposed to do in office to help his constituents and his swan sits and has said over and over that he has nothing to hide and he will cooperate with officials. but this is getting more and more closer to the mayor every time, a drip, drip of details coming out about this investigation, so certainly a lot of questions for the mayor and his administration. tomorrow when we expect to hear from him to see if he will say anything more about what this investigation is about and why he thinks electronic devices were seized.

>> we'll be looking forward to that. thank you for that report. a tragic incident over the mediterranean sea. the pentagon now identifying five army soldiers killed in a hospital crash. we'll have what we're learning about the victims, ahead.

identifying the service members killed in a training flight crash in the eastern mediterranean sea. right now, officials continue to investigate the cause of the crash but they say the accident was not related to the fighting in the middle east. natasha is live for us at this

pentagon. tell us what you're learning. >> reporter: these were soldiers with the 160th special operations aviation regiment. special operations forces in the region because they were sent there as part of the military's contingency planning around the war between israel and hamas. and during a routine training exercise, it was a refueling exercise. their helicopter, a black hawk, had suffered a mishap. that's how the pentagon is describing it, and it crashed into the eastern mediterranean and it killed all five of the troops who were on board. according to two u.s. officials, these soldiers were part of a broader contingent of special operators sent to the region including the teams stationed in cypress. all as part of emergency planning in case there needs to be some kind of evacuation carried out in the middle east.

the defense department did take a few days to give the families some time to grieve this loss. a very tragic moment during the ongoing tensions, of course, in the middle east and the pentagon is being very sensitive to that. >> yeah, horrible, horrible news. thank you for that information. still ahead, gaza's vulnerable health care system is crumbling at a rapid pace and it comes as israeli forces intensify their forces on the ground against hamas. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com