>> just moments ago, donald trump returned to a new york courtroom in his civil fraud case, describing the trial as corrupt. insisting he did nothing wrong. now, the defense called an expert witness and things got testy. we've got details when we take you live outside the courthouse in moments. as u.s. aid to israel remains stalled on capitol hill. today marks two months in the israel hamas war. we'll be speaking to a spokesman for an update on the fighting. the presidents of harvard, mit and the university of pennsylvania facing streetny and calls to resign after their hill testimony on anti-semitism on their campuses. now, a house committee has launched an investigation into the three schools. we're following the major developing stories and many more all coming in right here

to cnn news central. right now, former president donald trump is inside a new york courthouse watching the $250 million civil fraud trial that threatens his business empire. trump is expected to take the stand next week. today the defense called an expert witness to testify. a new york university accounting professor named eli bartoff. he's been pushing back hard at the new york attorney general's allegations. let's go live outside the courtroom. bryn, what did this expert witness talk about? explain this testy moment he had with one of the attorneys. >> reporter: boris, the former president wanting to be on the defense table and there was a tense moment before the lunch break. they're back from lunch.

this testimony is continuing. but about that moment. this, again, witness is an ny accounting professor. and he essentially has been the defense's strongest witness to back up the defense's claim that the financial statements of condition were not fraudulently inflated to benefit the trumps and other co- defendants. at one points the state's attorney objected to the line of questioning saying it was out of the scope of his expertise and the witness, this professor, really snapped back. saying this to the state's attorney. shame of yourself talking to me like that. you make up allegations. i'm here to tell the truth. you ought to be ashamed of yourself. now, prior to that exchange, this witness, on the stand, has essentially said that those financial statements of conditions, he's looked at them and looked thoroughly through them and found no evidence of fraud. has found that there was no

violating of standard accounting principles. again, the strongest witness for the defense's claim. keep in mind, the judge in this case has already ruled that the trumps and the other co- defendants are liable for fraud when it comes to inflating the values of their properties to get better loans. we'll continue to see how this line of questioning goes, and it'll be interesting, of course, to see when the state's attorney get their term to cross examine and ask the questions. you can imagine it'll be a robust line of questioning. we're not there just yet. this is the last full week of testimony. this is the second to final witness in this two-month long civil fraud trial. as you guys said, next week, the former president takes the stand as the final witness in his defense before the trial wraps up. >> bryn, thank you so much for that report. let's talk more about this with elliott williams. it is interesting. this expert testimony. and then it got testy as well. what did you think, though, of the substance of what he's

saying on the stand? >> broadly speaking, he's correct. there is some subjectivity to the valuation of real estate. that's about as far as it goes. if you're estimating what real estate properties are going to be worth, some of these things were over valued by a pack tar of three. there's plenty of evidence of fraud on the part of the trump organization here. is he fundamentally correct? in his experience as the legal standard is education training and experience as an expert. is he fundamentally right? sure. that's as far as it goes. >> donald trump was outside the courtroom making the case that the judge was ignoring decisions made by an appellant court. doesn't sound like he was 100% accurate, would you say? >> he was not. i don't like to generalize, but this is a common practice by the president. he takes a legal issue, misstates it, plants it in people's heads and runs with it. that's what happened here. what that prior court said was

claims against ivanka trump can't be brought in and claims prior to 2014 for transactions prior to to 2014. that doesn't mean the judge ruled that this whole case was nonsense. it just means the judge limited the kinds of evidence that could come in. he is sort of twisting the facts. prosecutors have to be careful but the president is plain wrong. >> he's playing a different game in the court of public opinion than the lawyers are playing. you have letitia james participating in that. it is confusing what he's saying. she said that her office has proven the former president committed a massive scale of fraud. she seems to recognize there's a need to point out the fraud is not in dispute. there's something else the judge is deciding. >> nothing involving donald trump follows the standard play book. what you're seeing is a prosecutor speaking out that they don't typically. again, this is not a typical

defendant. now, a prior court. this court found there is fraud. what they're deciding on in the case is what the damages will be. what the trump organization will have to pay on account of the fraud. so, again, another person with her. she's sort of correct. they found fraud. now the extent needs to be worked out. >> so trump set to take the stand next week. we anticipate fireworks? >> i think so. you know, you never know, boris, what's going to happen when someone gets in the court. eric trump was not a bad witness for his case. the former president might not be a bad witness if he sticks to what his lawyers tell him and doesn't fight and answers truthfully and so on. we've seen the tweets. we've all seen the public statements. it's hard to know how he'll behavior on the stand. when you're a defendant at your own pearl, you go into that court and start acting the fool and causing trouble. if he does that, it could mean $250 million. >> there's a lot on the line for him. a lot of money. his identity as well.

elliott, thank you. so here in just over a month, the selection process will begin in ernest for the republican presidential primary. the iowa caucuses are 39 days away. if you can believe that. candidates who are not named donald trump. there are some. they're running out of time to make an impact on voters. last night was one of the moments. four of them debated. plenty of fireworks here. did anyone emerge? >> yeah. let's discuss with cnn senior political analyst and editor at the atlantic ron brownstein and alice stewart. ron, i think it's safe to say the main target on the stage was nikki haley. she's become the focus of many of the attacks. did you think any of the attacks actually landed? is her status as second place to donald trump any diminished by what you saw last night? >> yeah. i actually think it was a difficult night for nikki haley. she's had an impressive few

months. but she's grown in the republican race so far primarily by consolidating the voters who are most resistant to trump. moderate voters. college educator voters. that's not enough to win. everybody understands that eventually she'll have to reach beyond the base into the coalition that is supporting trump, including more conservative voters, if she's really going to be able to challenge him. eventually. i thought it was a difficult night for her on both front. she didn't make a strong case against trump at all. hardly mentioned him until the closing statement. she didn't really have great answers to the tag team of desantis and ramaswamy who were arguing. her response was mostly bob dole in 1988, you're lying about my record rather than presenting a different view of where the parties should go. she has work to do. even if she gets to the one on one with trump where she seems to be on track better than desantis. if she couldn't handle desantis

and ramaswamy, what's it look like with trump? >> there did seem to be some policy distinctions. there were disagreements where you could see these candidates fall into different categories here. specifically we saw that on the issue of transgender rights. let's watch a couple moments from that. >> nikki disagrees with me. she opposes the bill that we did to ban that. >> i did not. >> they had a bill to try and say men shouldn't go into girls' bathroom and she killed that bill and bragged she killed that bill. >> ten years ago when the bathroom situation came up, we had maybe a handful of kids that were dealing with an issue. i said we don't need to bring government into this but boys go into boys' bathrooms. girls go into girls' bathrooms and if anyone else has an issue, they use a private bathroom. i was against that. >> i signed it. you didn't. i stood up for little girls.

you didn't do it. >> you also saw moments this idea of parental choice coming in and making a distinction between it. when you look at the moments, we should be clear, this is a fight that is aimed at iowa evangelical voters 39 days away from the caucuses. what did you think about this? >> i think that specific back and forth brianna was more about ron desantis flexing his muscles on the culture wars and what he's done in florida with regards to transgender youth as well as bathrooms and the issues. he was basically trying to say i've done more on this issue than anyone on this stage and holding her feet to the fire. she was able to push back on some of what he said. she wanted to make sure parents had the opportunity to have a voice in some soft these issues, which is important. she's also separated herself from this field on the abortion issue. all the candidates on these stages are very pro-life.

she's had a distinction in past debates she talked about let's not demonize people on both sides and find a more nuanced approach and talk about the limits as opposed to abortion bans. she's separating herself from the field. she took some time after a push by christie making distinction with donald trump and he actually added to the debt to this country and look, with me and my candyass, they'll be no drama, no whining. she's doing it in a way that doesn't alienate his base and the support she needs desperately. no disputing the fact, she was attacked last night. that's because she has the momentum and a lot of the wind in her sails right now 40 days out from the iowa caucus. >> i think the distinction that alice is making is significant because three of the candidates on stage last night tried to present themselves as nontrump candidates. only one of them really came

out as an anti-trump candidate. what did you make of chris christie's rhetoric? will that be successful given we haven't seen him gain any traction in polling? >> no. look, there's only a limited audience in the republican primary for that direct attack on trump. i thought christie was more suggestion sink and forceful in making the case he's fundamentally unfit and a threat to democracy than he had been in the earlier debates. he made arguments likely quoted going forward by democrats than by other republicans. obviously desantis and haley don't want to go down that road. they are criticizing trump, at best, kind of obliquely. father time is undefeated. there's too much chaos that attracts him. that's around him as haley said. rather they saying he produces chaos. they are focused primarily on

which one of them will come out of iowa and new hampshire seen as the principle alternative to trump. in that sense, it makes a certain amount of logical consistency focusing mostly on each other. eventually, they're going to have to give a better argument than they've been willing to do so far about why some of that nearly 60% of national republican voters who want trump should switch to them. and each week that goes by, obviously the window narrows in their ability to do that. >> i want to look at a moment. this is a comment that ron desantis made. >> the commander in chief not only has a right, you have a responsibility to fight back against these people. >> does that mean shooting first? >> it means you're going to categorize them as foreign terrorist organizations and we will identify just like we would anywhere. when i was in iraq, the al qaeda wasn't wearing a uniform. anyone walking down the street, they had man dresses on. you didn't know someone had a

bomb attached or not. >> alice, what's happening here? i tried to wonder what does he gain by mocking traditional garb? he's a guy with a lady shoe problem. why is he bringing attention to this? >> clearly he's trying to really mark his territory on securing the border and immigration and making the case that a lot of people coming into this country are coming through the southern border. and we need to do a better job of identifying them. >> that's not what he's doing. man dresses. why? >> clearly, i think it's inappropriate and he shouldn't be saying that. in his view, that's playing to the base. that's what the base resonates with. that's clearly the rhetoric we've heard from donald trump. he feels that's a good in road to securing that language. i don't think it's appropriate. i think it's wrong. that's clearly what he's doing is trying to play to the base. >> it just seems like a strange way to get to his point.

thank you, guys, so much. >> thank you so much. so, we just heard from several people declared they're running for president. later today, we may be hearing from one yet to declare. potentially as a third party candidate. today at 5:00 p.m. former republican congressman liz cheney joins jake tapper for a one on one interview. be sure to tune on with that. it's on the lead with jake tapper at 5:00 p.m. earlier today, president biden spoke to benjamin netanyahu. we'll speak to a spokesperson to get details on their conversation and request from the united states that israel do more to protect civilians in gaza. plus, calls for resignations and emergency board of trustees meeting. and now a house investigation. inside growing backlash over comments by ivy league leaders at a hearing on anti-semitism.

cnn has learned president biden spoke to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu today. the attacks left 1200 people dead. defense forces say they breeched defense lines, including in the southern gaza city of khan younis. the wounded are overwhelming that facility, which is critically short on medication, space and supplies. the hamas run palestinian health ministry says 17,000 people have been killed in gaza. another 46,000 wounded since october 7th. we want to bring in a spokesperson for the israeli government. thank you so much for being with us this afternoon. i want to start with the call between the two lead res today. u.s. officials have repeatedly

called for israel to do more to protect civilians in gaza and allow more aid. do you know if that was part of the conversation between the president and prime minister? >> boris, thank you very much for having me on and happy hanukkah to everyone celebrating. that call, i'm sure they discussed the ongoing movement in the war. i'm sure they discussed the situation in gaza, the humanitarian crisis that hamas has brought upon their people by invading israel's borders on october 7th. raping, burning whole families alive. dismembering limbs of children and leaving them to bleed. we know who hamas are. we're doing our best to free gaza from hamas and minimizing civilian casualties. i believe we stand shoulder to shoulder with the american administration on that. and we thank them for their continued support. >> i want to get your read on reports that the idf shelled a

town in southern lebanon. it's very close to the border with israel. i'm sure you know it's a violation of international humanitarian law to fire phosphorous near civilians. the idf previously denied similar reports. can you confirm whether the idf targeted them with phosphorous? >> boris, this is something that comes up over and over again. not just in this war but in crisis before. and the idf consistently says we do not use white phosphorous. there's a lot of psychological warfare out there and misinformation going around. the idf is very targeted, surgical army. we're going after the terrorists in gaza. our focus is gaza. we hope to deter with the help of the american administration

to deter hezbollah. we returned fire to the place of fire. and also, unfortunately we lost one of our civilians to a missile. missiles continue to rain down on israel. as the war goes on, missiles are raining down on israel. just the other day i had to run for shelter myself in tel-aviv. >> i want to be precise. the idf says it uses white phosphorous in certain circumstances. i'm wondering if you can confirm that white phosphorous was used in the most recent attack on the town near the border with lebanon. >> i can tell you categorically from the beginning of the war the idf has not used and will not use white phosphorous. i can't speak to ongoing operation activities. i am not a spokesman for the idf. >> sure. we are hearing claims inside gaza, there was a mosque that

was destroyed. also that a hospital was damaged by shelling. do you know if the mosque and hospital were idf targets? is there evidence that the government has been provided that hamas is operating in those locations? >> boris, we know that this is hamas' plan is to attack our civilians from deep within and underneath their civilians to ensure maximum civilian casualties on both sides. we heard a report today of despite the fact that israel has asked gaza to move to the southwest to specific safer zones, we're hearing reports of hamas shooting from the safer zones at our troops. we found weapon cachets and launching sight this is boycott centers, in mosques, in schools.

so, it doesn't, it's not a shock to me that hamas would be shooting from those types of places. which should be off limits, according to international law. international humanitarian law is not front and center for hamas. a brutal terror organization that is still, i remind your viewers, still holding 137 israeli men, women, children and a baby hostage. deep, dark in underground tunnels deep underneath gaza. >> a quick final question on the hostages. there was recently recorded leaked audio from a meeting between people that had been held hostage and prime minister netanyahu. one of them claimed hostages were shelled by the idf during their time in gaza. are you concerned that idf operations may be putting hostages in gaza at risk? >> firstly, especially on a day

like today, on hanukkah, on the first night of hanukkah, i reach out and hug every one of those families. we as israelis stand together with those families, and we have two missions in this war. one is to destroy hamas. and the other is to bring home every one of those hostages. we know that obviously like all israelis, there are different opinions on everything. but one thing that we're united on is that those hostages need to be released immediately. unconditionally. it is a crime against humanity. we call on hamas to release them today. so they can celebrate hanukkah with their families. >> thank you so much for sharing your perspective with us. we hope you have a happy and safe hanukkah. >> thank you, boris. >> brianna. despite the urgent plea for congress to resolve the battle over funding ukraine, republican senators blocked a multibillion dollar ukraine aid

package from advancing. the deal would also send funding to israel. the sticking point is the tug of war over border security. cnn chief congressional correspondent is on capital hill. manu, it seems like time is running out to help ukraine. what happens now? >> reporter: there are real fear that aid to ukraine could get punted into the new year and may not be dealt with and israel aid could fall by the wayside because they're tied together. given the little time that the white house is warning without immediate action, ukraine could be kneecapped in the war against russia. despite that, there's a log jam over a separate issue dealing with immigration. the issues involving border security. republicansare demanding significant changes to stem the tide of the southern border. what they're proposing democrats won't agree to. where does it go from here?

more talks will continue. i caught up with a top republican negotiator on the issue of immigration. he told me he believes they can try to work out an accord. he said talks will pick up at the moment, even as he defended the republicans' approach and suggested they may be willing to give. he also said you guys are offering a take it or leave it proposition. >> well, we can't say it take it or leave it operation on this. i know that's the implication you made on that. we understand what the dynamics are. we've got a narrow majority in the house. we're a minority in the senate and we don't have the white house. a poll position will resolve this. we won't be able to resolve every area. based on right now what's happening, we shouldn't ignore it. >> the likelihood it gets punted into the new year? >> i hope not. it's largely up to the democrats. clearly we would like to get this done. everybody would like to get it done before the holiday. but that requires them getting

serious about doing something at the border. >> reporter: at the moment, congress is expected to leave town next week. despite the inability to get a deal on this issue and despite the warnings for action before years' end. unless something changes significantly on both sides of the aisle, that's where it's headed. >> manu raju, thank you. what we're learning about a gunman killing at least three people at the university of nevada las vegas.

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it's a pitch. get way more into what you're into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. we're learning new details about the unlv campus shooting that left three people dead and one person critically injured. law enforcement sources identified the suspect as 67- year-old anthony poleto telling cnn showing he was fascinated with the city of las vegas. we're also learning that the suspect legally purchased the weapon used in the shooting. cnn's gamilo is following all the new. >> reporter: this was a pistol that was purchased about 18 months ago. and we know, according to that website, and sources confirming

that website belonged to him, that he described taking multiple trips to las vegas over the years. he also described sort of a love for puzzles and for conspiracy theories. he said in that website that he was a member of a high iq society. so just a lot of new details in terms of who he was. his page described him as a semi-retired professor. overall, this is a career college professor who had ties to universities in georgia and in north carolina. and most recently, was in las vegas. and we know this shooting happened yesterday. just before noon. according to authorities, the shooting started on campus inside of the building. the man went through multiple floors and eventually was killed in that confrontation with police outside of one of the buildings at the university. this is where students were preparing for their final

exams, which were supposed to happen next week. there was an event going on outside where students were eating and playing games when this happened. of course, everybody hiding in terror and shock as the shots rang out. and officials, of course, saying they're continuing this investigation. but it has left a lot of people terrified in that area and on campus. boris. >> thank you so much for those details. still ahead, why congress is now launching an investigation into harvard, penn and mit after their presidents testified on capitol hill. details next.

congress now launching an investigation into harvard, mit and the university of pennsylvania over their handling of anti-semitism on campus. republican congresswoman elise announcing the probe a short time ago. it comes days after the presidents of those colleges struggled to answer her questions on whether calling for the genocide of jews violates their schools' code of conduct. harvard and penn presidents have tried to clarify their positions. no comment of the president of mit. here's some of her testimony at tuesday's hearing. >> at mit, does calling for the genocide of jews violate mit's code of conduct or rules regarding bullying and

harassment? yes or no? >> targeted individuals not making public statements. >> yes or no? calling for the genocide of jews does not constitute bullying and harassment? >> i have not heard calling for the genocide of jews. >> you've heard chants? >> i've heard chants, which can be anti-semitism based on the context when calling for the end of jewish people. >> those would not be against the code of conduct or rules? >> that would be investigated. >> and joining me now is the vice president of mit's halel's student board. what's your reaction to what mit's president said there in the hearing? >> hi. thank you for having me here. i'm obviously very disappointed by the fact that during the hearing the president refused

to say that calling for the genocide of jews violates mit's code of conduct. especially that she refused to outright condemn the violent rhetoric which has lately been spreading around our campus. that has made a lot of jews on mit's campus feel extremely unsafe and led to a situation where many jewish students feel traumatized and don't feel comfortable walking around their own campus. >> what do you see when you're listening to this testimony and there's this sort of, there's this parsing between sort of the legal and between the moral? how do you see this? >> it feels to me like a fundamental lack of empathy for the pain and suffering that jewish students at mit are going through right now. just yesterday, a man came up to the window of the halal

building and urinated on the window. we went outside to confront him and he started telling us and asking us if we had nuclear weapons. there has been incredibly many stories of anti-semitism and people who have encountered harassment and who have been made to feel unsafe and it feels as if the administration is failing to recognize that and failing to emphasize with the pain that students at mit are going through right now. >> do you think this is to the point where your president should resign? >> so, i think that she is doing her best. i think she really has the best intentions in mind. but i think this hearing should function as a wake-up call for her. i think that people who are listening to this hearing and people who were watching it for the first time and who didn't understand the extent to which

this is a problem and who didn't understand there are people on our campus calling for revolution and saying they should use their own two fists to free palestine. people who didn't understand there were thousands of protesters gathered on mass ave and came into the religious center in which the halal center is where the jewish center go and feel it's a safe space for them. and that these people were just kind of allowed on to our campus and this rhetoric, this violent rhetoric has been allowed to prom gait without a lack of efficient response, i think the president should see this as a moment, a reflection point in response to this crisis and demonstrate to the jewish students she cares about us. she emphasizes with us. if she sets that example, that

people on the campus will see it. students will see and it'll be made unacceptable to call for the genocide of jews at mit. >> we really appreciate your voice. obviously this is a debate that goes far beyond mit and being heard in the nation's capitol and beyond. thank you for your time. >> thank you. still ahead, the case of an off-duty pilot who allegedly tried to shut off the engines of a commercial airplane. it's sparking the conversation about pilot's mental health. we'll discuss that next.

today the off-duty pilot who allegedly tried to turn off at a plains engine midflight is expected to be released from custody as his case continues to make its way through court. back in october prosecutors say joseph emerson told officials he believed he was dreaming aboard the flight after taking magic mushrooms two days earlier. >> he was indicted on 84 charges, mostly reckless endangerment. the grand jury decided to not indict on the attempted murder charge as he was initially booked on. his wife spoke about how her husband's case sparked a broader conversation regarding mental health. >> i am saddened that this situation has happened to my husband and the people that it affected, but i know this has created a movement and momentum to help thousands of other pilots and people in mental health situations in jobs that

are silenced or does incentivized to get help. >> we are joined now by our aviation correspondent. what is the industry doing to address this? >> it is true that emerson's case really did bring the issue into the spotlight, a fat syllable -- silver lining. the reality is countless others faith in mind when it comes to mental health. now the bind is in the spotlight with the ntsb holding its first-ever summit on this troubling stigma. it is the latest and largest effort to fix a system of secrets in the sky. the first of its kind national transportation safety board summit putting the mental health of pilots in the spotlight. >> mental health in aviation is our great challenge. >> would you rather fly with a

pilot who is depressed or a pilot depressed on medication? four the conversation ignited by joseph emerson, the off-duty pilot indicted from trying to crash a flight from the cockpit jumpseat. the ntsb chair says pilots are trapped in a stigma created by the federal aviation administration. the faa mandates pilots reportedly mental health issue, but the risk losing their ability to fly. some pilots lie to fly, although they could face five years in prison and a quarter million dollars in fines. >> pilots are suffering in silence. that does not make the system safer. it makes it less safe. >> first officer troy mary said he decided to grant himself a year ago for anxiety and depression, faced with the possibility of not being able to fly again.

>> the barriers in place today, having not been there i would sought treatment earlier and avoided some of the more painful moments in my life. >> reporter: on the eve of the meeting the faa announced a new committee that could suggest ways to break down any remaining barriers that discourage pilots from reporting and seeking care for mental health issues. >> it is fair to say the approach that we have is a bit out of date. >> reporter: the parents of john hauser had no idea their son was depressed until the student pilot crashed and left a letter. >> if there is anything that you can do for me, get the faa to change the rules on pilots seeking help with mental health. i know that it would change a lot of things to do better and help a lot of people out. love you. john. >> the bottom line is never has this been talked about so openly. the ball is now in the court of regulators.

the ntsb could before the official recommendations, but it is up to the faa to enact changes on this troubling topic. >> really a powerful story. hearing from the powerful stories of those who have been impacted, very moving. >> very moving during the summit. this has really come a long way, this conversation. it has never been this out in the open before. >> and the lead with jake tapper starts after a quick break. you bring a lot back

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