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any moment now, you are looking at the podium there, and that is where the u.s. defense lloyd aus lloyd austin is going to be sending a strong message to israel to change its tactics in gaza, and we will bring you that live. and donald trump is promising the largest deportation in the history as he claims they are poisoning the blood of the country, but nikki haley who has a different message is surging in new hampshire. and plus, president biden steps away from the car when a car slams into the motorcade. john berman is off today.

i'm sara sidner with kate bolduan. this is cnn "news central." this morning, we are awaiting a press conference with defense secretary lloyd austin with the israeli defense minister. he is to press the israeli defense ministers to find ways to fight the casualties in gaza that are climbing ever higher. jeremy diamond is calling us from tel aviv, and what are you hearing from the press secretary, because in times this is very different? >> yes, the messages in public and private are quite different, but nonetheless, we are hearing the ramping up of the public pressure from the u.s. officials as they are urging the israeli counterparts to give a clearer timetable and nearer timetable

for transitioning the war efforts into the next phase of the military campaign, and that next phase, the u.s. officials are anticipating it is resulting in far fewer civilian casualties and far less intense bomting campaign, and not this all-out ground intensive, but they would like to see targeted raids and intelligence-driven to go after the hamas leadership and this is not what we are seeing in gaza, as we are continuing to see numerous casualties from daily air strikes in gaza and a ground offensive that is going into the population centers deep into the gaza strip. and today, we understand that the defense secretary is to press the counterparts for milestones to what they feel they have accomplished so far against hamas, and what more they believe they need to accomplish before the next phase of the fight. this is part of the broader push that we have seen from the u.s. officials and not only more

daylight of president boyden and israeli president and his remarks, but jake sullivan was here days ago pressing on the exact same points, but there are a number of differences of the u.s. and israel of how they see this fight, and how quickly israel can get to the next stage of this fight, and the sense of urgency that the u.s. is pressing upon israel about the mounting international pressure and the need to begin to transition as soon as possible. >> all right. jeremy diamond, thank you for your reporting there in tel aviv, and to discuss further, the cnn global analysts and anchor bianna golodryga. >> and friend. >> it is clear that the biden administration is changing tact, publicly and privately, and also, an issue on the table that it is very clear that aid to israel given unconditionally,

and so what leverage does the united states have here? >> it is a final walk for the united states, because there is pressure as jeremy noted around the world as they are continuing to see the images of what is going on in gaza and also just notable that the president last week used the word indiscriminant bombing, and equally notable, we have not heard that before, and it is going to be interesting if we hear that from secretary of defense austin or jake sullivan has not said it either. but there is interesting look at how the u.s. is looking at time line of you can continue this at this pace or scale, and this is not the goal of defeating hamas is in this goal of two to three weeks or that next phase, but it is how to get to the nex phase and what the day after is going to be looking like and this is moring a gremte agreements of n

more worried about the political future than putting the number one west ally sticking its neck out to protect israel, there are differences of how they view the day of, and guess what, ne t net and plan of his own. >> and now you have the defense secretary austin lloyd going also to this meeting, or is this commander-to-commander talking through it? >> it a little bit of of the to language that is used in press briefing, but it is a reminder that the united states visibly and publicly stands by the

closest ally, and they have security on the line as well as the united states as we can see what is happening there in the red sea, but as what many believe benjamin netanyahu is not prioritizing as much is the hostage situation, and let's not lose sight of the cia director is in poland meeting with the prime minister of qatar as well as the head of mossad to see if they can launch some new negotiations to bring hostages in. >> and the israelis have accidentally killed three hostages, and they were waving red flags, and not red flags, but white flags in reality, and then you qatar giving hundreds of thousands of dollars, and millions of dollars to gaza, to

hamas because that is the government there, and is there going to be a conversation around sort of the money that has come into gaza in the way that hamas has used it, they are using these negotiations at the same time giving hundreds of millions of dollars to hamas. >> yes, there is criticism for qatar, but don't let netanyahu off of the hook, because he has been green lit in a way that he has green lit hamas, and he has told to world that we cannot negotiate with, but work with, and we can marginalize, and then thus avoiding the talks and the pursuit of the two-state solution which literally blew up in his face, and this is one of the reasons that he is saying that we will talk about, you know, the ask that the tough questions after this war is pur pursued, because he knows that

he has a lot on the line, too. and lot of the decisions were clearly the wrong decision, and the bets that he made were the wrong ones, too, and it is notable that the chief of staff of the idf and not netanyahu addressed the public after the tragic death of those three hostages. >> he is receiving a lot of pushback from the public about what happened. thank you, bianca. >> thank you. and now, the republican frontrunner donald trump's words and focus and the rhetoric is drawing comparisons to nazi germany as he spoke to supporters in new hampshire and nevada. omar jimenez has more on this, and omar, what was the message to trump's voters, and what are you hearing about this? >> what we have heard over and over again is that trump says that illegal immigration is poisoning the blood of this country, and it is not an accident, because he said it

multiple times on social media and different rally, and we have heard him say it over the weekend as well that we are a month away from the iowa caucuses which is significantly when the voters will get to have their voices heard, and not just likely voters in the form of polls which we have seen at that po point, and what is clear from the rallies at this point is what the trump campaign is going to be looking like in the weeks leading up to the votes. >> reporter: former president donald trump is zeroing in on his campaign message the final weeks before the caucuses. >> given the millions of illegal aliens invading our country with biden as president, when i am reelected, it is no choice, we will have the largest deportation in history. >> and wow. he tapped into a similar immigration message that helped to catapult him in the white

house in 2018. >> they are poisoning the blood of our country. they have poisoned mental institutions and prisons all over the world. >> reporter: and trump praised dictators saying that kim jong-un is very nice, and quoted vladimir putin. >> and vladimir putin? have you heard of vladimir putin in russia? this is a quote, political persecution of his rival is very good for russia, because it is showing the rottenness of the american system. >> the biden campaign said that donald trump parroted adoff hitler and praised kim jong-un and promised to rule as a dictator, and threaten a democracy. chris christie slammed the rhetoric and calling out nikki haley for not condemning it.

>> we is disgusting, and what he is doing is to dog whistle those who are feeling strain from the conflicts around the world and the issues at home. nikki haley is enabling him. >> reporter: he and nikki haley and ron desantis are locked in at second place behind trump. and nikki haley singled out ron desantis behind her. >> ron desantis has not put one truthful ad up there about me. he has spent millions of dollars against me. and while he is lying about me, i am going to tell you the truth about him, because he doesn't want to hear it. >> reporter: and desantis continues the huge campaign push in iowa. >> we have done all 99 counties, and we will keep going for good measure. >> reporter: despite a major setback after the sixth senior

leader of the never back down super pac stepped down. >> look, i was a talking to the head of the new hampshire survey center, and new hampshire is voting after iowa, and he said that typically in that state in new hampshire, they will see upwards to 50% of voters not deciding who they are going to vote for until the weekend of the elections. the point being that a lot can happen in this next month and a strong second-place finish for these candidates and send a message that this rhetoric is vuln vulnerable, and anything can happen, and obviously a tall task. >> all of the above. omar, it is great to see you. thank you. >> and joining us the senior political analyst john avalon. >> and so we are hearing consistently from donald trump, and i mean, he is launching the campaign on "i am your justice, i am your retribution" and how does this commentary fit into

it? >> it is fitting into it, and nit is not a dog whistle, but a bull horn. we should not be mixed up in the point of a candidate for major party praising dictators, and rounding up immigrants, and so there a danger that is normalized. and trump quotes putin is buried in page 14 is losing bearings a little bit, and it is worth calling out, because nobody has ran as a rhetoric adjacent. and so it is important the ul ka it out. >> a so, a couple of the elements when you are hearing this from donald trump, it should be less surprising to hear the democrats and republicans on capitol hill cannot come around an

immigration deal, dealing with the border security and connected to ukraine and israel aid, and looking at the ca calendar, if it is harder if not impossible. the senate was supposed to be out tbd and we will see what happens there, and the house is already out, and they are not coming back until january 9th, and the next week is the iowa caucuses, and then the government funding runs out four days later. four days after that is january 23rd which is new hampshire -- all to say that is what is already impossible is now wrapped up in presidential politics impossible. >> politics is the art of the impossible, and you don't accept impossible for the argument, but that is why kicking the can is not about solving the problem. >> so true. >> we need a little bit more

time to solve the problem, but the calendar is not your friend. the republicans would rather demagogue the issues and solve it, and so this is squarely on the republicans' turf, and it is not the dreamers being discussed or comprehension immigration reform, and it is on biden to change it on the context of ukraine and israel, but you have to wonder if the republicans really rant to solve this problem, because it is going directly into the iowa and new hampshire caucuses. >> so you have donald trump happening in iowa, but something is happening in new hampshire with nikki haley surging in new hampshire in a way is she finally consolidating non-trump vote as it appears and now the top alternative to donald trump there which led to an interesting moment on the sunday talk shows.

i want to play this moment that happened abc's sunday talking to jonathan carl. >> he talks about annihilating his enemies and using justice system to do so. >> you are exhausting with your obsession with him. the thing is that the normal people are not obsessed with trump like you are. the normal people care that they cannot afford things, and freedom is taken away, and what is happening. i know you want to talk about every word and everything he says, and that is why we need a new generational leader, because people don't want to hear about every word he said. >> i found that very interesting. >> it is called redirection. >> but why the choice in doing so, and she is surging in new hampshire, and sitting right next to the man who endorsed her

governor chris sununu. why did she do this? >> most of the folks in the field with the exception of chris christie is that they don't want to dissuade the persu persuadables. and they say if you are a republican who came of age in the age of reagan, then you want to have and be able to stand up for freedom abroad, and you are not an isolationist, and you don't want autocratic or adjacent policies, but she is calling out saying that is not what most people gravitate to him. but it is because of the comments, and so if you want to talk about a problem, that is even though she has gone to generational changes, it is part of what has gotten the republican party in trouble. >> it is going to be interesting

to see what happens in new hampshire and beyond. >> and beyond. >> good to see you. sara? a car crashes into the motorcade of president biden. the driver of the vehicle explains. and southwest airlines is slapped with last year's fines that left some travelers stranded for a week. and the republican party has been stripped of all of his authority after sexual allegations. wewe will haveve more afteter t about that.

this just into c nnn the manhunt in texas is over. ro robert yancy jr. has been caught just miles from where he escaped. they have also captured others. we will learn how they found them and brought him back under arrest. sara? the vehicle that was smashed into a suv that was part of president biden's security detail, and the driver has been called with a dui. this is the moment that happened, and you cannot see it, but you can certainly hear it. you can see the quick reaction of president biden there walking out and listening to it, and then he is whisked away.

it happened around 8:00 p.m. as the president was leaving his campaign headquarter ss in delaware. has this been deemed an accident? >> well, sara, it is deemed an accident, the crash of a car that ran into another part of the motorcade in wilmington, delaware, yesterday at 8:00, and the wilmington police department says it is an accident, a 2457d i -- and they are going to be charging 46-year-old man driving the car with driving under the influence. we have a phone call from the wilmington police who said this is an accidental collision, and charged 46-year-old wilmington man with driving under the influence of alcohol and inattentive driving. they believed it was unintentional, but you can see

president biden there as he was merging from the staff for a holiday event, and the president appeared to be startled when he heard that loud bang crashing into the vehicle, and the secret service then moved the president into his vehicle where first lady jill biden had entered. the wilmington police department says they believe it is an accident, and we have not heard the name of the suspect, but the wilmington police have identified him as a 46-year-old man. it was a startling moment for the president and those traveling with him, but it appears now that it is simply an accident. >> arlette saenz, thank you for the update. kate? historic find e for on of t largest airlines in the united states. south swewest is ordered to pay

largest fine for last year's meltdown. you probably remember the pictures and you were probably over those stranded. over ten days last winter, southwest canceled nearly 17,000 flight and left 2 million p passengers stranded. we have pete muntean there in washington, and this fine is huge. what is southwest saying about that? >> southwest is trying to spin this as a win for consumers, kate, and this is why. of the $140 million of this fine, $90 million sets up a fund for passengers in the future who face cancellations and delays controllable by southwest. if they arrive at their destination more than three hours late, they get a $75 voucher. most of that fine is going to government. remember, we are on the one-year anniversary of when this

10-day-long crisis kicked off with the snowstorm in some of the major hubs that led to the behind the scenes scheduling system, and 2 million passengers were left in the lurch. this is what the department of transportation says it levied the fine for -- e repeated and inadequate help for customers. they did not come to the help or quickly respond to passengers who needed refunds. southwest did give $600 million in refunds and returns for passengers after the crisis at the airlines. pete butte judge says it is send sending a message that they cannot oversell an airline and

then underdeliver. >> this is going to ensure that every airline has good enough system and customer service when the unexpected happens, the weather or whatever else, you can quickly get on your face, and take care of the passengers, and get them to where they need to. >> the airline industry is calling it a urgent request for remedy. and now, they are on the threshold of another rush, and they are getting longer periods of rushes as people are working from home, and more people are on the whim of work and school schedules. >> this is not only sending a

message to southwest, but every airline and what they could face the way it was screwed up the last time. good to see you, pete. >> still ahead, the florida gop chair has to submit all of his authority after a sesexual allegatition. > and we will l discuss ala ththe latest c coming up. .

in an emergency meeting over the weekend, four republican florida members voted to strip the florida representative of his responsibilities, and he says it is a misunderstanding. it is a mess. carlos, what are you learning more about. and we do know that they will vote to remover as, and they want to see him go. he was stripped of the duties and the salary at an emergency

here where we and that he was not welcomed into the room. over the weekend also talk that sieg and he, himself, told me that it was not the case. he said that it is 100 ps a loi. and zeigler has been under investigation after a woman said that he raped her between the woman, and his wife and christian had a planned sexual encounter in their florida home. christian has not been charged criminally, and he says that the sex has been ceen exploited ands

going to defend this. >> you cannot stand in front of him and the admissions in the affidavits, and you cannot morally lead the republican parties well. we wish christian the best if he did not do it, and we wish the victimwell if he did, and we need the legal to move forward in this party time. >> we reached out and as for his wife, bridget, she has called

this disgusting, and she says that she is not charged with anything, but she did have one sexual encounter with this victim and her husband over a year ago. >> carlos suarez, thank you. and happening now, a trailblazer, and first of her kind, and today, she is being honored in the rotunda and words of her great friend sonya soao tome -- sotomayor. and now, we are watching this live, and somebody is coming up quickly -- >> it is one of the honor guards. security details or the honor guard that was standing there who has collapsed. we will take a quick break to see what happened there.

hopefully that honor guard is okay. we will be right back.

those are live pictures of the casket of the late supreme court justice sandra day o'connor who broke the ultimate glass ceiling becoming the first woman to serve and the highest court. it was boy's club until 1981.

she served until the age of 1993. the person that you saw fall there, the members of the honor guard was walked out, and she is okay, and walked out with a little help on her own. we go to joan biskupic, and can you tell us more about the memorials plan and the public can pay their respects, kr ekt? >> that is right, sara. i just came from that scene that you showed from the great hall, and able to hear the remarks made as a preface to the viewing going on until 8:00 p.m. by the way. so the public can go to 8:00 p.m. to see her. i wanted to tell you about the remarks made that captured sandra day o'connor's contributions to america and the justices themselves. first, one of her former clerks spoke, a woman named jane faughey who is a reverend and spoke about her devotion to the law clerks and their children who she called her grand clerks.

but the most moving words came from justice sotomayor who is the senior forewoman, and how she was the social glue of the nine, and how she insisted they go to launch after the oral arguments, and if there were some differences, she would walk arm and arm with them to launch, and she felt that helped form collegiality, and helped to get to answers for smoothly. and she liked to take justices and clerks to movies and as she said, the occasional glass of scotch and water. and from justice mayor, what she said about justice o'connor's

understanding of the american people. >> she had an extraordinary understanding of the american people and just as she had an extraordinary understanding of this court's ruling and its limits. the court was well served by the steady hand and intellect of a justice who never lost sight of how the law affected ordinary people. >> you know, sara, when justice sotomayor said that she changed the court and the country in every way, you believed it. this is being destooif on the day. and she knew what went on as they listened to justice sotomayor, and she had died at age 93, and been out of the public eye for many years, as she was ill, but she was such a

trailblazer for them, really changing way they interacted with them. all nine of the justices there today to begin the memorial event, and retired justice anthony kennedy who was very close to justice o'connor was there, and tomorrow, a funeral service for justice o'connor at the national cathedral where president joe biden will be there to speak, and chief justice as well. >> i remembered most of the things that she did, but i had forgotten so many . and we are told that there

is a potential weapon that has the range to reach the united states.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

new this morning, north korea has fireded a long-range ballistic missile that could reach the u.s. south north korea says it traveled 600 miles and then fell into the water. it is believed to be a solid-fueled icbm which is the third time that north korea has launched a missile of this kind. let's brick in the unn jipt and this test launch? >> yes, sara, this test is but

it could be flown at a higher trajectory to form a larger shadow of trajectory into the atmosphere. but this is the third launch by them this year, and another saudi-fueled missile, it is mored vanced because think and they have been seen with the minutes and not houred needed for the weapons, and this is were much illegal under the u.n.

sanctions. the more they test, they will refun and this is going to take some strong diplomatic ties to reaffirm the possibilities of friendly. >> the possibilities are terrifying. steven jiang, happy to see your face this morning. i know it is late there this morning. thank you, kate. right now, secretary of state lloyd aus since. >> and the message he is sending

seems to be disagreele.

glaringly different approaches heading into the first caucuses of the nation. donald trump using xenophobic and fearmongering and a new low talking about immigrants. >> and then nikki haley setting her sights on a different target, joe biden. could this be a closer fight than potentially the polls are showing nikki haley surging. defense secretary lloyd austin is speaking right now after the meetings with the israel top officials, and the rough rajing