that are selling lozenges, tablets, different versions of ketamine to the general public, and that can be dangerous. the fda has issued an advisory back in october that says that these compounded versions of ketamine should not be used by the general public, unless you're doing it under medical supervision. >> yeah, important reminder, important warning to folks as well. doctor, thank you. appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. "cnn this morning" continues right now. everything that's led up to that attack and to the failures of the israelis to protect is down prime minister. and he's the only person who refuses to accept direct responsibility. there's a mounting amount of pressure on netanyahu to resign. should he resign now or after the war is over? it seems to me when this war is over, he will be facing his day of reckoning with the israeli public. >> good morning, everyone.

you just heard from a former israeli hostage negotiator highlighting the mounting pressure that is facing israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu. this as defense secretary lloyd austin is on the ground in tel aviv right now. he is pressing israeli officials for more clarity on the war efforts as the civilian casualties in gaza continue to mount. >> and will the election lies change things. a judge ordered rudy giuliani to pay $150 million. we'll talk to one of the attorneys that represented the workers about that impact. and just as airports prepare for millions of people flying for the holidays, the transportation department fining southwest airlines $140 million for last december's historic travel meltdown. what transportation secretary pete buttigieg just told cnn about that fine. this hour of "cnn this morning" starts now.

and we begin with the defense secretary lloyd austin in israel, preparing to meet with prime minister benjamin netanyahu at any moment. his trip to tel aviv comes on the heels of a visit by national security adviser, jake sullivan. and just days after blunt remarks by president biden, calling on israel to do much more to protect civilians in gaza. >> and breaking this morning, a u.s. military official tells cnn that an american warship had to respond to an attack on a commercial vessel in the red sea earlier today. "uss carney" got a distress call from a ship that was attacked by multiple projectiles, this following a string of attacks by houthi forces on commercial vessels in the red sea. also, bp is now suspending all shipping through the red sea because of these recent attacks. the oil giant joins other major shipping firms that have also decided to pause shipping through the region. >> so we have a lot to get to. let's start with our correspondent, jeremy dimon. he joins us from tel aviv. we are minutes away from secretary austin, sitting down with israel's war cabinet this morning, as the divide is now

public between president biden and benjamin netanyahu. and in the wake of three israeli hostages being killed on friday by israeli forces. what do you from this meeting? >> well, poppy, let's be clear about what we are seeing here. following jake sullivan, the national security adviser's visit to israel, now you have the defense secretary accompanied by the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff in israel. this is a full-on u.s. pressure campaign to get israel to move to the next phase of this fighting. to reduce civilian casualties in its fight in gaza and to begin thinking about the next steps of the war, and also, of course, to get on the same page about what happens after and if hamas is removed from power and destroyed in the gaza strip. there is a lot of disagreement between the u.s. and israel on all of those fronts. and the defense secretary, we're told by a senior defense official, he is going to be focused today on getting an assessment from israeli officials, very blunt and clear-eyed assessment of what kind of progress they have made

so far against hamas. and what more they feel like they still need to accomplish in this current phase of the campaign, before they can move to another phase, which would be far less intense bombing, far less of this kind of all-out ground defensive. and instead, what we expect to see would be special operation raids going in and out of urban population centers, intelligence driven, something that would ideally, in the u.s. minds, cause far fewer civilian casualties than what we are seeing right now. but a lot needs to happen before we get to that point. and so far, at least, u.s. officials, israeli officials publicly are very much not on the same page about exactly when that happens. and so today's meetings are going to be crucial to trying to get sonnet payment page and to seeing if israel will accede to the pressure it's getting from the united states. >> jeremy, we were just talking about how just in the last hour, bp said it would pause sending ships through the red sea. just the latest major company to suspend its shipments. it's something that the defense secretary was going to talk about. do we have any sense if there's a resolution in those talks, in

the future? >> no, but it's clear that the united states is looking at a variety of ways to try to beef up security for commercial shipping in the red sea. those discussions were happening already before bp announced this morning that it was going to be suspending its shipping in the red sea. it said it's made this decision to trailer pause all transits due to the deteriorating security decision. it follows decisions by other major shipping companies, all of them pausing their shipping through the red sea, as we have seen numerous commercial vessels coming under attack, and facing threats from missiles fired by houthi rebels who are aligned with iran, from yemen, just this weekend, the "uss carney" today responded to a distress call from a commercial vehicle and over the weekend, this same ship, the "uss carney," had to shoot down 14 drones that were fired from houthi-controlled areas of yemen, according to the

defense department. and so, amid all of this, the u.s. is really considering bolstering protection for commercial shipping in the red sea. but of course, if this continues, it could spell major economic implications. this is a significant shipping route, not only for oil, but for other types of commercial shipping, as well. and so this is one of the reasons why the u.s. has been so concerned about a broader regional conflict in the region. and one of the reasons why we're seeing them bolstering their assets in the region, something that the u.s. defense secretary is certainly talking about as he travels in this region. >> jeremy diamond, live for us in tel aviv, thank you. >> and cnn senior global affairs analyst, bianna golodryga is joining us now to discuss. i want to go back to the domestic situation, president biden and the defense secretary, the message they've been trying to get across. my question over the course of the last ten days is does prime minister netanyahu care, at all about what u.s. officials are saying? >> well, a lot of people within

israeli political scenes and circles would say that he's more focused on his own political survival than the relationship between the two countries. there's history there, obviously, dating back to the many presidents prior to biden, that netanyahu has rial, you know, irked. and let's be reminded of what happened with barack obama. that having been said, there's no other leader that the israelis can rely on more than the united states at this time. is netanyahu putting his political future ahead of what's needed right now on the ground for their own security and the ongoing fighting in gaza. that is the big question. within israeli circles, i think it is notable that we haven't heard the word indiscriminate used again. that was one time that was reported that president biden used with donors in the u.s. we didn't hear that from jake sullivan over the weekend. it will be interesting to hear if we hear that now from the defense secretary. but there is real attention now on the divide between these two

leaders, notably at the direction of where netanyahu is taking this. i don't think much of this is coming from the united states. i don't think there's much beef with any other officials, even among idf leaders. i think it's specifically with netanyahu and what he's saying publicly, versus what he may be saying behind closed doors. >> one thing he said publicly on saturday was, i'm proud that i prevented the establishment of a palestinian state, as the biden administration couldn't be more clear about their view that that is a two-state solution is the only real end game here that can work. >> and he hasn't provided another option, either. >> right. >> so clearly off situation where netanyahu has bet on hamas for years, to be the leading party in gaza that he could neutralize to the point where he didn't have to worry about a two-state solution. he didn't have to worry about the pa. he weakened them over the years, as well. though they did that to themselves, equally so. so for him to say publicly that he's boasting about not having achieved that, he's clearly speaking to his base. he's speaking to the far right within the country. he's speaking to his own party

coalition in some of those really controversial members there, because if he loses their support, he's done. you see internal polling within israeli, and there is continuing decline in support for him, his leadership, his execution of this war. he continues to say, all of these questions will be answered and addressed following the war, but there is now concern that the longer this war goes, the longer he doesn't have to answer these questions. >> it was so striking in those comments that we were talking about from president biden, name ch checking the minister of the hard right -- i don't even know if that's the right way to describe it. >> fringe. >> yes, fringe extremists are now very much in the government for bibi netanyahu's coalition. and i think that's my question here, if that's who he's playing to and that's who the prime minister believes is the necessity to keep in his tent in order to maintain his role, what is the u.s. going to do? there's a dozen tools in terms of conditioning aid, in terms of cutting off aid, in terms of what they can and can't do, and

you haven't really seen much action from the u.s. side. >> i would bet these are conversations that are being had behind closed doors for sure. i think within the war cabinet. you are having members of the war cabinet speaking out publicly, benny gantz just a few days ago saying that netanyahu is trying to fabricate distance between these two countries where there really is none. it's getting rid of hamas. it's how much time the united states has given the political pressure globally on israel to limit, to change their tactics and the scale of this war. that's where you're seeing some differences. and obviously, the bigger frustration is what the day after is going to look like. now we saw cece win re-election in egypt. neighboring countries saying they're not going to do anything until there is a real two-state solution. that is the concern right now. >> yeah, there's no incentive.

bianna golodryga, thanks very much. right now, 60 million people from north carolina to vermont face a rough morning of heavy rain and strong winds as this powerful storm moves up the east coast. some places from boston and new york could see up to 6 inches of rain, creating some flooding concerns and travel delays. pete muntean live at reagan national with more. not the best day for flying. >> not the best day, poppy. you know, it's still pretty gray here at ray gaap national airport. the weather has moved off, at least for now. the concern, though, according to the faa, is about ground stops and ground delays as the day goes on. we're talking about places here at reagan national, philadelphia, boston, the new york major airports. so this could have a pretty big impact on what could be a pretty big start to a big holiday travel season. just check flight aware. the numbers still relatively low. we've seen about 379 cancellations so far today. about 600 flight delays. although the day still pretty young, the good news here is that over the last few days, as this weather hit other parts of

the country, there weren't all that many cancellations, and airlines performed relatively well over the thanksgiving rush, but the proof will be in the pudding here. we just need to see how much airlines can handle, as they go in to this beginning of the holiday travel period. >> pete, i appreciate the update, but i've been dying to ask you about this all morning long. you have significant reporting on this record fine southwest airlines is being ordered to pay for last year's historic ten-day meltdown. how many people does this affect? how are they going to be compensated here? >> the interesting thing here is that the $140 million fine, $90 million of that goes to southwest airlines passengers for future cancellations and delays, in the terms of vouchers. $35 million goes directly to the federal government. let's look pack a year ago. we're almost on the one-year anniversary of when this meltdown really kicked off. december 21st, 2022. it lasted ten days, 16,900

flights canceled. we're talking 2 million people left in the lurch. the department of transportation imposed this fine because of serious lapses in consumer protections. they say that southwest airlines did not quality communicate with passengers, did not provide them the best customer service, and did not get them refunds quick enough, even though southwest has already refunded and reimbursed passengers to the tune of $600 million. i just spoke to transportation secretary pete buttigieg. he says, this sends a message that airlines cannot overschedule and underdeliver. listen. >> how you bounce back from a weather event is under your control. and this sends a message that every airline has to make the proper investments in having a good enough system and good enough customer service that when the unexpected happens, when weather happens or anything else, you can quickly get back on your feet, take care of your passengers, get people to where they need to be. >> southwest airlines is

responding that it's calling this a consumer-friendly settlement, even though the department of transportation is underscoring that this is an order. they must pay this amount of money. southwest airlines insists that it has done numerous things, like changing the way they do de-icing on the ramps, even, to granular things like the plugs they put into the engines when the airplanes are sitting out in the cold. we will see, though, as we go into this huge stretch for holiday travel if southwest can keep up. >> wishing smooth travels for everyone that's traveling this weekend. pete, that's really interesting reporting you broke. thanks very much. appreciate it. the cost of lying about the 2024 election is becoming abundantly clear. rudy giuliani planning to appeal a judge's ruling he must pay $150 million to the two election workers he defamed. we'll talk to those workers. and also, the white house calling donald trump's recent anti-immigrant rhetoric quote

fascist. how those comments could impact the 2024 race, ahead.

a

a. certainly we'll appeal the absurdity of the number merely underscores the absurdity of the entire proceeding. >> do you have any regrets about some of the comments that the women received? >> of course, the comments they received i had nothing to do with. >> the cost of spreading election lies, tusrns out, it'sa lot. rudy giuliani is planning to appeal the more than $148 million he was ordered to pay to georgia election workers, ruby freeman, and shea moss for the harm caused by defamatory

statements he made following the 2020 election. in intense testimony last week, freeman said she feared for her life after the slew of threats she received from people inspired by trump and the trump campaign's allies. the ruling follows fox news's $787 million settlement with dominion voting systems in april, after the network admitted to airing false claims about the role in the 2020 election. joining us now, rachel goodman, one of the attorneys that represented the women in their defamation case. i really appreciate you both being here. because one of the big questions, and rachel, i'll start with you, i think that people had coming out of 2020, particularly when you look at the two election workers, and kind of the horrors that they faced, but also in the wake of what fox news did with dominion, is would there be any repercussions? the dollar figure says "yes." when you look ahead, do you think people will recognize

that? >> i do, and i think in addition to the dollar figure, this is a real important day for accountability. the dollar figures obviously matter quite a bit to underscoring that point for our clients, of course, there's nothing that can make them whole or put things back to where they were previous to these terrible threats and harassment that they've been dealing with. but i think that we are seeing, in 2022, you did not see the kinds of voter fraud, conspiracies that were percolating among the grassroots, make it on to mainstream media outlets, in the same way that you had in 2020, and i think that's because behind the scenes, attorneys and insurers, and folks making business decisions in media are taking notice of these decisions, and we're hopeful for that reason. >> to that point, the people i think that rachel's referring to there were probably all watching what happened in your case, and saying, lawyers and investors

and saying, absolutely no more, never again. i guess my question is, given the proclivity of people to spread misinformation and lies that we've seen over the course of the last six or seven years, do you believe that that's durable? >> i think it's durable in a sense, but of course, if people are crazy enough to buy into theories and cynical enough to say whatever they think they need to say to try to accomplish the result, there's little we can do to prevent that ahead of time. what we can do is, as rachel pointed out, make sure there's accountability down the road. i think it's very important to emphasize that not only did these lies damage brave people like shea moss and ruby freeman or the dominion voting company, but they damaged the whole country. they damage our faith in the integrity of our election system. and there has to be some accountability for that and these defamation cases at least stand for the proposition,

eventually these falsehoods will come home to roost and you'll be held accountable for what you say. >> do you believe that beyond the business side of things, and i think businesses are perhaps different than the individual, and i want to ask rachel about this in a minute. rod, i want to start with you. the idea that people less than they're scared to have to pay a lot of money, that they actually recognize the damage that this caused. you have rudy giuliani coming out of court afterwards saying he didn't actually get a chance to present his case and he has no regrets and nothing he did was wrong. what do you think about that? >> well, i think it's not entitled to any respect whatsoever. he had every chance in the world to present his defense. he chose not to. he really flouted the system twice. originally, the original lies were an affront to the rule of law. and he reduced to do what every litigant must do in this country, which is to produce the evidence that you have. so having done that two times, in my view, he got exactly what

he deserved. and the claim that the verdict or the proceedings were an absurdity is the absurdity, in my view. >> rachel, to that point, he says he's quite confident the case will be reversed. that he's definitely going to appeal. he was not allowed to offer a single piece of evidence in defense, of which he, quote, says he has a lot. keep in mind, he decided not to testify, despite saying he was going to. but he also hasn't produced financial documents that he was supposed to produce. as you look forward in this case, a potentially appeal, what are you thinking about in terms of how giuliani has operated here? >> yeah, and i just want to add to that list. he signed two stipulations this summer, affirming that he would not contest facts in this case. that we got to the trial on damages, because that's the trial that rudy giuliani wanted to have. and so this about-face here is quite interesting. but looking forward, we will be

locating his assets and chasing them down on behalf of our clients and i'm not concerned about the sort of protestations around his appeal. i think our clients are in good shape. >> and there's a possibility that if he does appeal, you would be able to ask for him to put up some type of, something on the financial side, as that appeal plays out. is that something you guys are planning to do? >> that's right. we expect to move forward -- we're seeking to have him waive the bond requirement, so that we can move forward right away, into collections. and we'll see more on that soon. >> we'll definitely be watching. this is a very important conversation. rachel, rod, we appreciate your time. thank you very much, guys. nikki haley make significantly gains in new hampshire, narrowing the gap with donald trump. can she catch the front-runner? harry enten will break down the numbers.

welcome back. nikki haley making some significant gains in new hampshire. a new poll finds that she has cut front-runner donald trump's commanding lead by more than half over the past few months. should trump be concerned? senior data reporter harry enten with us now. just lay out how well she's doing in new hampshire,

according to this cbs poll. >> so, yeah, let's just talk about the state of new hampshire and take a look at how much ground she has gained. you go back to september, donald trump had nearly a 40-point advantage. now nikki haley has cut that down to 15 points. she's at 29%. that's the best percentage for a non-trump candidate in any poll, in any state or nationally since all the way back in june. that's how well she's doing. now, you were asking me in the break, poppy, whether or not there's been anybody who's come back from a 15-point deficit. >> to win new hampshire. >> absolutely is the answer. gary hart did in 1984. pat buchanan did on the republican side back in 1996. so this gap is absolutely make-up-able. and one of the ways she might make that back, i want to go back to her last unh/cnn poll. the second choice of christie voters, overwhelming haley at 50%, and you still see chris christie getting 10% of that vote. so you could add on a lot of that 10% to 29 and all of a

sudden that 15% gap might close a lot more. >> might be within the margin of error. talk about why she's doing so well in new hampshire. >> why is she doing so well in new hampshire? because, take a look, moderate share of the gop primary electorate, this is the group that trump does worst with, it's the group that nikki haley does best with. take a look at how much moderates make up of new hampshire, it's 36%. nationally, they only make up 27% of the vote. and in iowa, where there was also a cbs news ugov. poll, moderates only make up 17% of the vote. so the new hampshire electorate is far better for her either nationally or in iowa. here's the real question. is winning new hampshire merely enough? national gop front-runners who won iowa and lost new hampshire, which perhaps could happen to donald trump, bob dole in 1996, george w. bush in 2000. both of them won the nomination, so nikki haley has a long hill to climb. she'll have to do something historic, but the fact is at this point, she's in a better position certainly than she was a month or two months ago. >> for sure. >> thank you, harry. appreciate it.

>> back with us now to discuss, cnn political analyst, aastead herndon. make-up-able was the definition that our harry enten used there. she's still down a lot of points in a state she's targeting as a must-win. so this is my question. the number of republican people -- republicans i heard from yesterday, when the cbs poll came out, saying, see, told you, this is happening, it's moving, this is real. is it real? >> i mean, it's real to the extent that nikki haley is consolidating the moderate share of the conservative base. harry's right, the reason we see this movement in new hampshire is it's a nice kind of connection between haley's platform and what we see in a state that has a history of moderation and independence. but to your point about the broader point here, the same things that make nikki haley more acceptable to that slice of the party makes it harder for her to coalesce the rest of the republican party. and when we look at iowa as the

state that's going to go before, we see the challenges really laid out bare there. i was at a nikki haley debate watch party, and you hear people talk about her stances on abortion or her ability to bring in democrats and independents to the party, as to why she'll be a good general election candidate. in iowa, those are same things a lot of those evangelical voters are holding against her. and even the people who don't want trump are preferring other options, mainly a ron desantis, partially because there's a mismatch between the type of things that make someone electable to moderates and the way that donald trump has changed the party, so a lot of those people view those same qualities as even part of nikki haley's problem, as viewing her as somewhat inauthentic. >> i think what harry just showed us about the share of moderate republicans in new hampshire is totally fascinating, it outweighs nationally, certainly outweighs iowa. thinking back to '92 and clinton's comeback kid moment, people like chris christie also need that boost. anything that can be analogous

from then to now. so much is different in the republican party now and trump makes it all different, but -- >> you know, when you look at the landscape of new hampshire, it looks great for the nikki haleys and chris christie, to the extent that there's a place you can cobble together a coalition. the question is, what happens next? then you turn to nevada, then you turn to south carolina, and those are places that still have kind of donald trump written all over for it. so you know, new hampshire has to be a starting point, but it not only -- but it can't just be that, because there's a lot of a higher ceiling for donald trump when we look at those kind of other states and where it's going. and it's really difficult to see that for the haileys of the world. when the americans for prosperity, the kind of koch unit backs her on this front, that gives her a much-needed boost for the race in the short-term. those are the exact kind of people that a lot of the grassroots members of the republican party have oriented to revolt against. the things that are bringing her closer to doing well in new hampshire make it harder for her to coalesce the rest of the party. >> she's the former governor of

south carolina. she's the former governor of south carolina. and if you look at the governor of south carolina, who backs donald trump, or him at the clemson south carolina game, can she win south carolina? that's part of it? the theory of the case has her winning south carolina. >> earlier this month i was at the silver elephant dinner, a main gop fund-raising event in south carolina, and it was incredible to the extent that in that state, she was absent for the people there, or even tim scott, someone else who was in the race at the time was completely absent for those folks. they have kind of owned the fact that the party had changed to such a degree that even nikki haley, a governor who has like good ties in the state, is not reflective of where members of congress are, are not reflective of the new leaders of the party, and this is how donald trump has really taken over republicans. i think it's really underrated fact of his 2024 campaign, there are loyalists and kind of state party positions, the party has changed to such a degree in 2016, where he's not the outsider against the establishment, he is part of the establishment too, and that's something that nikki haley has to overcome. >> astead, thank you.

so many good points, as always. meanwhile, defense secretary lloyd austin is in tel aviv right now meeting with israeli officials, trying to get more clarity about their goals and milestones as his war with hamas continues. you see him there being greeted on the tarmac. the civilian death toll in gaza climbing and israel is facing more international pressure to resume truth talks. general david petraeus is with us on all of it, next.

welcome back. right now, defense secretary lloyd austin is in israel. this is his second visit to the country since the terror attack on october 7th. secretary austin is meeting with israeli officials. he is expected to push them to define milestones clearly in this war against hamas, as the united states urges israel to do a lot more to limit civilian casualties. a senior defense official tells cnn that austin wants a, quote, very clear articulation of israel's war effort and strategic objectives. joining us now, retired four-star general, former cia director, general david petraeus. thank you so much for being with us, especially at a moment like this, as you see secretary austin in israel for these meetings.

we know he wants to find milestones, a sense of what his victory meeans to you, and by te way, how are you going to get there and start really limiting these civilian casualties in gaza. what does success for his trip look like? >> well, with it would be to get answers to the questions that you just raised. this is clearly a very, very tough fight. it's an incredibly difficult battlefield, the most fiendishly difficult context imaginable. the israelis have made progress, clearly there needs to be greater attention to minimizing civilian loss. and there also have to be answers to what will the day after look like. who is going to administer gaza. what is the vision for the palestinian people after hamas is gone. and above all, how do you keep hamas from reconstituting if there is not some degree of occupation. noting that no one wants to see israel re-occupy, including the israelis. but i'm at a loss as to how you

keep hamas down, if they can destroy it. and there's still a lot of tough fighting to achieve that particular objective. >> we just saw him there with his israeli counterpart, galant, the defense minister. you know better than anyone that you have to rightly answer the question as you asked in 2003, tell me how this ends. austin comes in here having said a couple of weeks ago, warning israel, look, you could replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat. is there any clarity from the israeli government on how this ends? >> look, i think this is still under enormous discussion. i should just note, by the way, then general austin knows very much about this. he was the second three-star level commander during the surge, which i was privileged to command in iraq. he knows what this will look like, and he was ultimately the iraq commander. the final one there. he knows that there are a lot of

more difficult fighting to go. in my view, they have to clear and hold the entire territory if they're to achieve the overall objective of destroying hamas and dismantling the political wing. i'm actually a bit concerned that we might pressure them to stop some of the operations and replace what is going on now with more counterterrorist kinds of operations, which really will not achieve the overall objective. certainly, again, there has to be greater attention to civilian loss of life. that's his point about, in a sense, winning a tactical victory, but losing the strategic war. and that is imperative, without question. and i'm sure that he will re-emphasize that many times during his conversations with israeli leaders today. >> our colleague, katie, just confirmed reporting that the cia director, bill burns, is set to meet with a qatari prime minister today. they're really trying to get hamas and israel back to the table to restart these negotiations, to get the rest of those hostages out, especially, general, after the idf mistakenly killed three israeli

hostages on friday. do you -- i mean, hamas has said, we need a total cease-fire if we're going to come back to the table and release the hostages. how does that end? >> well, i don't think a cease-fire can be sustained. certainly, there should be discussions to try to get more of the hostages out, without question. and look, these kinds of mistakes happen on a battle field, especially if you have soldiers that may or may not be trained on the kind of operations that are being carried out. a hostage rescue situation is very, very sensitive and challenging. and we have mistakes like this over the years in iraq and afghanistan, with our special mission units. >> but they were waving a white flag, according to the idf. >> yeah, again, without knowing the full scenario, how did they enter the room, did they expect an enemy, what was the situation leading up to it, it's difficult to second guess or to grade this. but again, these are really tough missions against an enemy that doesn't wear a uniform,

uses civilians as human shields, is holding hostages, has tunnels, and i suspect over time, is going to start blowing themselves up to take the israelis with them, as well. we've only seen, i think, one or two documented suicide attacks so far. so, again, the most difficult context imaginable, and yet, they have not yet, by any means, destroyed hamas. the major leaders are still at large. they're still pursuing them, and at the end of the day, i think, again, there's going to have to be the clearance of the entire territory, but they have to figure out how to get the civilians back into their houses while this goes on. so they don't just keep pushing them all around the territory at the same time. >> what is the significance of -- and i'm not going to use a technical term here, the mess in the red sea right now. i mean, we just learned this morning that bp is basically halting all of their operations in the red sea. there there have been attack after attack after attack from iran-backed rebels on u.s.

assets there. what is the bigger picture implication of that, especially with all of this movement stopped in the red sea. >> well, this is one of the most important arteries in the world when it comes to maritime shipping. if you have to go all the way around, say, africa or something like that, it obviously adds a considerable amount of time and expense. so this actually will have a real impact on the global economy, which so far, by the way, has not really been seen, other than the initial spike in the price of crude oil at the outset, when everyone waited to see whether iran might interdict shipping coming out of the gulf. that has not taken place. crude oil prices have actually gone down below where they were at the start of this campaign, but now you may see some impact, as again, global shipping is re-routed, halted, and so forth. so, this is something that i think that the u.s. and other forces are going to have to take more action to -- first of all,

to destroy some of these elements, and then to deter further such attacks. so they can get that artery reopened. >> just, finally, what would that action look like? i think the "carney" shot down 14 of these drones over the weekend. what does further action look like, without escalating things, right? >> preemptive action. again, you'll have to identify where these are being launched from, and start twagaking them , along with the launch teams. we've faced this kind of threat in the past. we faced it both in the war zones and in some of these shipping lanes. and ultimately, it will be, i think, they're going to have to go to the source of these attacks. >> a number of them coming from houthi rebels in yemen. general petraeus, always good to have you. thank you, again. >> good to be with you, poppy. thank you. right now, a manhunt underway for a texas inmate who escaped prison yesterday. the latest in the search ahead. also, time is running out if you still have holiday shopping to do. i feel like this is a message for me.

good news, though, cooooling ininflation shshould bringng do mamaybe some o of the coststs oe gifts.

♪ welcome back. here are 5 things to know this monday, december 18th. soon, we're expecting to hear from defense secretary lloyd austin and other officials. austin is in tel aviv right now, he's pressing for the milestones for the operation. later today, texas governor greg abbott will sign a controversial border bill to make it a state fine to enter texas illegally. and also give law enforcement the power to leave their county. civil rights groups for radical profiling of latinas. right now, a manhunt is under way for a texas inmate who

escaped prison yesterday. police say 38-year-old robert yancey jr. is serving life without parole for sexual abuse of a child. if you see him, don't approach him in person. call law enforcement. under 50 million americans are under flood watch from north carolina to maine. and sandra day o'connor will lie in repose at the supreme court this morning. she died earlier this month, and she will be remembered in a private ceremony today before members of the public will come to pay their respects. >> don't forget to download the 5 things podcast every morning where you get your podcasts. you have just one week left for last-minute christmas shopping. i feel like chelsey has got this covered. >> yeah, she's got it. >> okay. prices have gone down for some things, cnn business reporter nathaniel madison is at the wall. what are you looking at?

>> yeah, good news for holiday procrastinators, especially toys, toys down 3% from a year ago. tvs down 10%. appliances down 11%. some of the physical goods that we stocked up on earlier in the pandemic, those prices have started to come down, supply chains which were completely gummed up years ago, they've normalized. some things are coming down, some being the operative word there, some things are not. >> some things are not, phil. we talked why are families so frustrated with the economy right now. you're still paying more than last year, about $200 more. $636 more than two years ago, just for the average physical goods and services. >> a year or a month? >> in november, from a year ago. >> okay. >> so $630 more for everyday goods according to moody's. here are some of the places we're still seeing prices go up.

groceries, this is the big one for families, groceries up 2%. sporting goods, i'm not able to see aknicks game. department stores people not going to macy's as much, kohl's, we saw a couple weeks ago, macy's was offered to go private. so shopping in amazon, not as much in department stores, furniture stores. >> i bet you'll go to a jets game. >> oh that was so cold, mattingly. >> appreciate that. >> donald trump is escalating his andy immigration pro libertariaian rhetoricic over t weekend. what it memeans for ththe race

aheaead.

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it's time for the morning moment. usually this segment is reserveded for an inspiring hero, a changemaker, a person or story that will make you feel good. indeed today, it is that. just a little closer for us at home here at cnn this morning. this weekend, everybody's favorite buckeyian, ohioan, turning 40. happy birthday, mattingly. >> thank you. >> he's not just a co-anchor of our show, he means a lot to our team at cnn. since he joined us, phil has been a constant source of joy, looking at images. for me, the whole staff. there was a time he spilled his coffee on air, earning him an esteemed title, phil mattingly -- >> that was a great moment for me. >> still got the job. but the time he still showed up

to work on halloween, scooby-doo. apparently he owns more than one "d," thank you for that, chelsey. and all of the moments in between when your tireless work insight makes us all better journalists. how do you pull it off with four kids at home, it's a mystery to me, because i know it's your beautiful wife chelsea. we have something for you. >> that's really nice. this was really nice and delightful in the university of michigan cupcake. >> yes. >> andrew, i feel, judas, if you call -- >> it was actually my idea. don't blame andrew. and here's love from the viewers at home. >> happy birthday, dad. we love you so much. >> that's pretty cool. >> here's your actual birthday present. >> wow, now we're talking. >> i worked all weekend to make it. but i wa