hello and a warm welcome to our viewers in the u.s. and

around the world. bianca will be back next week. just ahead -- >> israeli military warning gaza residents it will retaliate with more airstrikes. >> we do have the resolution now. we're ready to vote on it. yet another recording of a phone call allegedly made by donald trump in 2020 pressuring local election officials. >> bankruptcy is not a magic wand. it doesn't automatically make a person's debts disappear. >> we believe mr. giuliani is prepared to respect the bankruptcy process. live from london, this is "cnn newsroom" with moax foster and bianca nobilo. >> it is friday, december 22, 9:00 a.m. in london, 11:00 a.m. in gaza where there is growing

pressure for fighting to stop. the u.n. security council is expected to vote on a resolution calling for suspension of fighting and increase of humanitarian aid for gaza. ambassador denied the measure was watered down. >> we have worked hard and diligently over the course of the past week with the emiratis, with other, with egypt to come up with a resolution that we can support. and we do have that resolution now. we're ready to vote on it. it is a resolution that will bring humanitarian assistance to those in need. >> it comes as more than 20,000 people in gaza have been killed by the israeli military since october 7. israel says its military has destroyed a strategic network of hamas tunnels and killed over

2,000 terrorists since the last pause in fighting ended on december 1. meanwhile, a new report from the world food program and other u.n. agencies says more than 1 in 4 households currently face extreme hunger. gaza is headed for a famine if the conflict continues. will ripley is live for us. how important will this vote be today? >> reporter: this vote is important in that the united states after repeated delays and vetoes by the u.s. is finally prepared it seems barring some last minute change to be on board here with this u.n. ceasefire and humanitarian aid resolution. now, part of the reason why the u.s. says it was delaying is because they were worried that the procedures written into the resolution would actually slow down the delivery of aid to the people who desperately needed it in gaza. but of course strong allies apz

the united states wanted language in there to firmly condemn hamas for instigating this with the horrific terror attacks, something israel feels has gotten lost in all of the noise. and of course the horrific developments in gaza and the skyrocketing death toll when you have the hamas controlled health ministry in gaza and the ramallah and palestinian health ministry claiming death toll has now surpassed 20,000 people. israel saying more than 2,000 hamas militants have been killed since the last ceasefire ended, that ceasefire of course was a phased transfer of hostages, but there are still elderly israeli hostages and still israeli hostages that are in urgent need of medical care. but hamas has flat out rejected the offer that israel put on the table delivered through intermediaries in qatar to hamas, that offer for a week long pause so that 35 or 40 of

these hostages who desperately need to get out of there, of course probably all of them do, but these are the most urgent cases, hamas said they are not willing to talk about any sort of hostage exchange until there is a full ceasefire, a full stop in the military activity, something israel says isn't going to happen. they have been intensifying the street fighting. they blew up a huge underground tunnel complex yesterday. you are talking about offices and apartments, command bunkers for the senior leaders of hamas including yahya sinwar. so clearly their military operations are continuing, but hamas' are too. they launched a barrage of around 30 rockets at israel yesterday prks all of thof intercepted by the iron dome. but all the israeli airstrikes leveling 80 or more percent of gaza, certainly all the hospitals in the north and just a handful still functioning in

the south. yet hamas can still fire dozens of rockets. and their credibility among other about extremist groups is rising believing that they are more credible now. which could mean unfortunately for israel more dollars flowing in, more weapons for hamas, more training and certainly no immediate end to this extremist organization that israel vowed they will continue fighting. i was in the west bank yesterday and talking to people who said hamas is much more than just a couple figure heads, a lot of leadership, pockets of hamas spread out around not just gaza but other palestinian areas. and frankly, people said it is just not going to go away, not anytime soon and certainly not easily. >> you talk about the intensity increasing, but one house has acknowledged the need to transition to lower intensity campaigns. >> reporter: and this is

certainly an acknowledgement on the part of the israelis that the current strategy while very dramatic and very deadly is not -- has not been effective. so they need to find a way to continue to go after the leadership of hamas while keeping the everyday people out of it. you can't have a situation where 2 million people are living and nearly all are displaced from their homes. you have thousands of people that don't have clean water, don't have food. you have half of that population at the starvation level. you have not only famine, but disease, unsanitary conditions, children who haven't been in school. imagine sharing one wattbathroo with #,2,000 other people, not having a shower for weeks. and not to mention a lack of medicine, almost no functional medical care. it is just the kind of situation that israel knows they condition continue. so they are talking about starting to build temporary housing for people so that they

can start to return back to their homes. but it is a disastrous situation. and of course there is so much hatred on both sides, so much distrust on both sides. the situation that you stand back and you have a look and you know how both sides got there and you wonder how are both sides going to get out of this. >> a long running question. will ripley, thank you so much. we've already heard the phone call where donald trump pressured officials this georgia to reverse the outcome of the 2020 election. now the detroit news says it has yet another recording of the then president urging officials in mi in michigan to do the same. the paper says mr. trump personally pressured two republican officials to not certify the election saying that they would look terrible if they did. cnn hasn't heard the call but erin burnett spoke with one of the journalists who says he has. >> what i heard listening to the audio of this conversation was

the then president of the united states encouraging, pressuring, contending, arguing in favor of these two republican county canvassers not signing the certification of the 2020 election for wayne county. >> marshall cohen has more on that. >> reporter: stunning news from michigan where the detroit news has published excerpts of a phone call that former president trump made in november 2020 to two election officials in detroit. the goal of the call was to convince them not to certify the results of the election, which he had lost to president joe biden. according to the detroit news, donald trump and the republican national committee chair woman ronna mcdaniel tried to twist the arm of those election officials and convince them not to sign the certificate that would certify the results from

detroit, which is heavily democratic county. here are some of the key quotes. donald trump said "we can't let these people take our country away from us, everyone knows detroit is crooked as hell." he also said "how could anyone sign something when you have more votes than people." that was one of his many lies about the election that thousands if not tens of thousands of dead people have voted. more votes than people. perhaps the most stunning revelation is when ron na mcdaniel told the officials don't sign it, we'll get you attorneys. and then trump said we'll take care of that. incredible developments and the audio recording of donald trump in his own words. to be clear, cnn has not obtained this recording and not independently verified its contents. but it was reported by the detroit news just last night.

here is a reaction from the trump campaign. they have pushed back on the idea that he ever did anything wrong. his campaign spokesman says all of president trump's actions were taken in furtherance of his duty as president of the united states to faithfully take care of the laws and ensure election integrity. however, it is hard to take that at face value trying to overturn an election is the opposite of election integrity. and that is why trump is facing federal charge, federal criminal charges for trying to overturn the election. far sha marshall cohen, cnn, washington. and ronna mcdaniel has responded to the detroit news article saying while i said publicly and repeatedly at the time that there was amp evidence that warranted an audit.

trump's long time ally rudy giuliani says he is all but broke. he's asking a federal court for production from bankruptcy. the move is just days after a jury ordered giuliani to pay nearly $150 million for defaming two election workers in georgia. the disgraced turn says he has assets of up to $10 million, but his debts are up to half a billion, which includes that defamation judgment, three other pending defamation cases, nearly a million in unpaid taxes and hundreds of thousands in lawyers and accountants fees. one of giuliani's attorneys explains why they filed for bankruptcy protection now. >> we're going to do everything we can to make sure that all his assets and all his looiiabiliti are properly disclosed. obviously with the decision to accelerate the collection process on behalf of the plaintiffs, we had to rapidly file this case.

we believe mr. giuliani is prepared to respect the bankruptcy process and understands that true honest and accurate disclosure of assets and liabilities is a prerequisite to having the bankruptcy court assist him with this reorganization. >> cnn's legal analyst elie honig explains what is at stake with giuliani's bankruptcy claim. >> by declaring bankruptcy, rudy giuliani has now voluntarily put himself within the jurisdiction of a federal bankruptcy judge and a trustee. their job is to identified his assets, to value them fairly and then dole them out prop proport proportionately. so ruby freeman and shaye moss will get some money, but important to know if rudy giuliani tries to play games, if he commits fraud or tries to dump off his assets, he is subjecting himself to potential bankruptcy fraud. we're hoping to learn more details about a deadly shooting

rampage the in czech republic in about an hour. they say a gunman killed at least 14 people at the city's university and left 25 others wounded. officials now say three of the wounded victims were foreign citizens. the suspect later took his own life it is believed. police are still looking into his motive and they haven't released his name yet. saturday will be a day of mourning in the czech republic and the prime minister tried to convey the shock his nation is feeling right now. >> translator: we are all shocked by the horrendous act and it is hard to find words to express condemnation on the one hand and on the other the pain and sorrow that our entire society is feeling. >> the attack happened even though police had received a tip about the shooter and tried to stop him just before the ram pain. more details now from melissa

bell. >> reporter: terror on the straights of prague. students risking their lives to escape a gunman's bullets that killed more than a dozen on thursday afternoon. more than 20 were injured, 10 severely at the shoots at prague's charles university before the gunmanen a enrolled philosophy student was eliminated police said. it is an attack that has rocked the czech republic. >> translator: there is no explanation, no justification. like many of you, i'm feeling s. >> reporter: and details emerged about the 24-year-old suspect. before the deadly shooting in the capital, police say the shooter left his home village where his father was found dead. intent on further blood shed, he made his way to the czech

capital. police forces rushed to evacuate the building where a shooter was scheduled to attend a lecture but he forced students to barricade themselves. and preparation foenr end of ye exams brutally shattered. no indication of a link to international terrorism, but tonight a city in shock on a continent where mass shootings are few and far between. melissa bell, cnn. the white house condemning the texas governor for flying migrants to chicago as president biden faces mounting pressure to address challenges at the border. and nikki haley is confronted by a voter who wants her to be tougher on trump. what she had to say, coming up pup. plus activity around an

erupting volcano in iceland appears to be slowing. we have the latest from the eruption zone.

texas governor abbott is escalating his policy of transporting migrants to sanctuary cities across the country. he is now charging flights to send migrants to chicago. tuesday some 120 were flown from el paso to chicago. a source told cnn that my grants signed a voluntary consent waiver but cnn could not confirm that detail. the white house and state officials slammed abbott's move calling it a political stunt. >> we find ourselves in this condition because people like the governor of texas, governor abbott, are engaged in human trafficking. spending billions of dollars to cause hurt and to cause political division so that they can profit from the political advantage that they seek.

>> the buses coming from texas have not centered people's humanity. it has been quite raggedy. it is disheartening that the governor of texas is literally invoking chaos without having like a real clear willingness to coordinate. >> on thursday u.s. president biden spoke with the mexican president about hugh to slow the unprecedented migrant surge. priscilla alvarez reports. >> reporter: the white house is slamming texas governor greg abbott for what it calls his extreme policies on immigration saying that the governor demonizing and dehumanizes people. this after the texas governor flew migrants to chicago. but it is other incidents along the texas mexico border that

will are also raising alarm. in a video obtained by cnn, a woman is shown holding a crying babies in her arms in the rio grande as two members of the texas national guard watch. those members do not intervene. the video filmed december 12 and lasted for about seven minutes was filmed by an immigration activist. the texas military department denies that they did not help the migrant saying in a statement, texas national guard soldiers approached by boat and determined that there were no signs of medical distress, injury or incapacitation and they have the ability to return the short distance back to the mexican shore. the soldiers remained on site to monitor the situation. the woman did make it back to the mexican side with her child. but it is incidents like this that underscore what has become an untenable situation along the u.s./mexico border. thursday president biden and the mexican president spoke by phone

about the unfolding situation on the u.s. southern border where the two degree agreed on additi enforcement actions to reopen some of the key points of entry that had been closed so personnel can help with the processing of the unprecedented surge of migrants. the president also asking senior u.s. officials including secretary of state antony blinken and homeland secretary to go to mexico to continue discussions. priscilla alvarez, cnn, at the white house. recent polling shows biden is way behind donald trump when it comes to immigration and border security resp, an issue could jeopardize the re-election campaign. a poll conducted shows biden trails trump by 23 points on better handling of immigration.

nikki haley held a town hall thursday where she tried to set herself apart from the other republicans running for the white house. including the former president. she was confronted by an iowa voter who called on her to more strongly criticize trump. >> i want to hear from you that you also think that this is not good for the country and not good for the church and i want to support someone who agrees with that. >> i wouldn't be running if i didn't think that he is not the right person at the right time. i have said multiple times i don't think that it is good for the country for donald trump to become president again. i've made that very clear. >> gop presidential candidate ron desantis believes trump's legal woes have done damage to the republican party. the florida governor discussed trump's several indictments while noting their impact on the

race as well. >> it is a republic, it is not a monarchy. everyone has a right to be able to run. obviously trump could win the primary. i'm not convinced that he could win the general. i would say if i could have one thing change, i wish trump hasn't been indicted. honestly, i think from alvin bragg on, i've criticized the cases. i think someone like a bragg would not have brought that case if it was anyone other than donald trump. and so someone like that is distorting justice, which is bad, but i also think it distorted the primary. >> because it helped him? >> that and i think it crowded out so much other stuff and it sucked out a lot of oxygen. >> so it made him stronger in a way and tougher for you and others. >> i think for the primary, yeah, it distorted. chris christie has lost his appeal with maine superior court to be on the state's primary ballot. the court sided with the state's director of elections who said

christie missed the deadline to submit 2,000 voter signatures to the state. christie's campaign says they disagree with the decision and are evaluating their options. still to come, more rain and more flooding is on the way for parts of southern california as we head into the holiday weekend. details on that ahead. and american paul whelan says he is being targeted inside a russian prison. when we come back, why he says he is afraid for safety.

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i'm starting a private-equity fund that specializes in midcap. you do you. visit xfinitymobile.com today. welcome back. i'm max foster. let me bring you up-to-date with our top stories. after being delayed four times, u.n. security council is expected to vote today on a resolution calling for suspension of fighting between israel and hamas and increase in humanitarian aid for gaza. the u.s. says it is ready to support this latest version. czech republic is dealing with its deadliest mass shooting in decades after a gunman killed at least 14 in progress. 25 others were wounded in the attack. new report from the detroit news says then president trump was recorded pressuring two republican election workers to

not certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. the paper says in a phone call days after the vote, trump told the republicans they would look terrible i signed the certification adding we can't let these people take our country away from us. everybody knows detroit is crooked at hell. detroit news says chairman of the republican national committee then told the michigan republicans do not sign it, we'll get you attorneys. to which trump reportedly add we'll take care of that. right now u.s. special counsel jack smith is strengthly urging the supreme court to make a quick decision on whether trump has presidential immunity from alleged crimes he committed while in office. the former president wants the high court to stay out of the dispute for now. evan perez has more from washington. >> reporter: jack smith is saying that this is an urgent matter, this is something that

the public has an interest in finding out what the resolution is. and obviously the election is ahead. he doesn't directly say that, but that is obvious what is behind all of this. he says "the public interest in a prompt resolution of this case favors an immediate definitive decision by this court, the charges here are of the utmost gravity." one thing the special counsel does is cite the 1974 united states versus nixon case, the case that had to do with the then president's claim of executive privilege over the white house recordings that the th ni nixon tapes. and that case was heard like the way jack smith is trying to get this done, went straight to the streak. it was handled in about two months and 16 days after oral arguments the supreme court

rendered a decision. that is exactly what jack smith wants to happen in this case pointing out of course that this trial is supposed to start in march. and obviously the election is later next year. southern california on tap to get hit are more rain and flooding as we get closer to the holiday weekend. here is what santa barbara looked like. up to 5 inches of rain. there were knee deep water in some areas and road closures and evacuation warnings for several communities. more rain expected to pound the southwest and as christmas day approaches. allison chinchar has the latest on that. >> portions of southern california have seen record rainfall the last 48 hours. this video from santa barbara where you can see flooded roadways trapping cars, some of

that water even reportedly flowing into folks' homes. what we'll see the next 24 to 48 hours is a gradual shift eastward, now starting to pick up areas of arizona. and that is because the system itself will spread all of that moisture into not only arizona, but eventually new mexico, colorado as well as utah as we progress in to the weekend. the main concern for flooding at least friday still includes portions of southern california but also now picks up additional locations in arizona including phoenix and tucson. overall most of these areas likely to only pick up about an extra 1 to 3 inches of rain, but for some areas that is compounded on top of what they already had, exacerbating that flood threat as we head into the weekend. from there, that system has even bigger impacts as we head closer to the holiday itself. by the time we get to christmas eve morning, you are looking at snow for areas of denver and as

well as portions of western south dakota resand nebraska, hy rain from minneapolis down to dallas. by the time he gwe get to christmas, rain stretching from minnesota to the gulf coast region. so if you have travel plans, it may be a bit of a soggy commute for some of those areas on christmas day itself. volcanic eruptions in southern iceland appears to be slowing but too soon to declare the eruption is over. more pleitgen. >> reporter: on the one hand they have to survey the area, but they also have to practice in case they need to mass evacuations at night. iceland was prepared for the massive eruption that started

early this week, a more than two mile long fissure spewing magna hundreds of feet into the air. but authorities are still working in the area and residents evacuated. >> this is highly important for us to do this during the night. >> reporter: the crew even spots a person walking close to the lava and say they notified police to check it out. the eruption has weakened considerably, but magna is still bubbling below us. the crew strapped me in for a closer look. this is an amazing thing to be witnessing. from up here, you can see the lava and feel the power. the chopper drops us off right by the lava field to train evacuations. this is extremely challenging flying for these aviators.

right now they are practicing hoist operations in case they have to medically evacuate a casualty from this area in the dark. as furious as the eruption was initially, it also seems to be subsiding fast. >> it was very active in the beginning, fourky almost ters long, a fissure that opened and very high rate. so a bit of a surprise that it has all culminated. >> reporter: those evacuated cannot return home yet as the magna remains active and further eruptions are still possible. fret pligfred flight ken, cnn. and coming up, more than two weeks have passed and whereabouts of a top jailed critic of vladimir putin still a mystery. coming up, with a alexei

navalny's daughter says what they are doing to try to find her father.

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ukraine's capital has taken a hit from a russian drone. city's mayor says two people were injured after the drone hit a highrise building and caused a fire. in the east, rescuers dug through rubble after strikes hit two mines in the donetsk region. ukraine says three people were killed and six others injured on thursday. this news comes as french president macron is reminding the west what is at stake while military aid for ukraine is stalled in both the european union and the u.s. >> translator: today in this country that has been under russianing a sg aggression sinc

beginning of 2022, you are well aware of what we cannot allow to happen and how we not allow russia to win. what would tomorrow hold for us europeans? so we'll continue to help ukrainians, what we do even if it cost us decisive for our country's security, for our role in europe and for europe soverei sovereignty. still no word on the whereabouts of alexei navalny. he has failed to appear at court hearings and his lawyers say they have lost contact with him. in early december navalny's team say they were told he left the penal colony where he was being held and since reached out to 250 penal coal olonies but stil have not found him. and his daughter speaking out

about the disappearance telling cnn that she has not heard anything about where her father is or could be. >> we haven't heard any new information for the past 16 days. which is very concerning and we have been -- we started a global campaign of where is that va navalny. there are multiple cities around the world and in new york as well i attended a rally with a gluch people who are asking the same question, where is that value any oig oig. we don't know where he is. our team has appealed to the united nations human rights court and they granted our appeal to ask the russian government where he is. officially governments around the world has asked where he is. and the russian government is refusing to say. putin is just hiding my father

from us. >> alexei navalny was serving 11 1/2 years on four charges and sentenced to 19 years in prison in august for creating extremist community. navalny denies all the charges against him. and american paul whelan wrongfully detained in russia since 2018. in a call with cnn on wednesday, he says he is afraid for his safety after being assaulted by another inmate at a russian prison camp last month. the u.s. marine veteran is serving a 16 year sentence after he was accused of being a spy which he denies. brian todd has those details. >> reporter: american paul whelan wrongfully detained in russia for five years now faces new dangers in a russian prison camp. he says he is being targeted by an official at the remote camp where he is being held. he says the official is retaliating against him because

the official was admonished following an assault on whelan by another inmate. we spoke to whelan's sister. >> i'm concerned and horrified, but not surprised to hear of these latest issues he is having. mordov mordovia is very isolated. >> reporter: and the prison official who he did not name called on prisoners to sin city gate fights with whelan so whelan would be disciplined. he says prisoners asked him for $1100 for protection money and the exact amount in his account. and a he says of the prison official having no luck with obtaining the money, he ordered me to move to a different barrack which would expose me to criminal behavior and assaults. the white house says it will address this with russian officials. >> we did in recent days put

forward a serious proposal, russians rebuffed it. regardless of what mr. putin says, we're working hard to see if we can get another probably that might be more successful to get him and evan out. >> reporter: john kirby is referring to evan gershovich. paul says most people carry knives here and many use stimulants which can make them wild and violence. >> the conditions like all russian prisons are very bad, right? so prison guards are controlling access to the bathroom, food, light, day. your mobility. and a this fact of corruption is particularly intense. >> reporter: i asked whelan's sister if he carries any kind of a weapon to protect himself. >> paul has gone out of his way to make sure that there is nothing that can be done or said about him that would cause him to incur additional charges.

because that is what the russians will do, they will add charges on to your sentence. >> reporter: whelan also told cnn he feels threatened because he's an american and that the prisoners in his camp don't look too kindly upon the u.s. support of israel in gas. paul whelan told cnn when he spoke to prison officials about his security concerns, they told him he could go to solitary confinement 24 hours a day. cnn has reached out to the prison for comment on all of this, we've not heard back. brian todd, cnn, washington. a tiktok craze helped this song become top trending track of the year on google. just ahead.

the court of justice has ruled against fifa of what it calls unlawful rules involving the formation of the super league. ruling that they abused their position. rules required prior approval for establishing new competition. and experts say the court's decision means the the two groups could still prevent clubs from joining the super league but the process would be fairer. still some club owners celebrated the ruling. >> we believe the time has come. even more so far those honored by their members such as football barcelona to have greater role officer their future. and the rams keep the

playoff hopes alive with a thursday night win over the saints. the saints still had a prayer in the second quarter with this play. saints put up a fight in the second half, but rams 30, saints 22. l.a. chargers won't be going to the playoffs, but their kicker is making his case for the pro bowl. >> wide to the right, no good! >> imy name is jeremy dicker an i'll kick for you. 40, 50, 30, doesn't matter. i'll make it. rain, sleet or snow, this guy is ready to go. >> the chargers posted this hilarious video on thursday. the 23-year-old is in his second

season and he he's made 19 of his 20 field goal attempts. and from mother nature the last meteor shower of 2023. it kicked off last night and continues through the early morning hours of today. the american meteor society says those looking up will likely see five to ten meteors per hour. no special equipment needed to view it since the meteors can be seen all over the sky. so if it is still dark where you are, it may be a good time to go outside and look up. in the spotlight this hour, spacex's dragon cargo spacecraft is headed back to earth. the resupply mission was launched last month and delivered supplies and hardware to the iss. the dragon was originally scheduled to return last week, but bad weather in the u.s. caused the delay.

it is now expected to splash down off the coast later today. google says top trending song search comes from a japanese duo. ♪ their hit song idle is the opening theme for the popular anime series. ♪ how catchy is that. it also sparked a dance trend on japanese tiktok that helped push the song to the top of google's annual list in the global song category, second year in a row an artist from asia has topped the global list. and in washington, d.c. -- >> i just want you to nknow -- >> oh, we love it.

thank you. ♪ i don't want a lot for christmas, there is just one thing ♪ >> mariah carey of course bringing holiday chair to the white house. the video posted on president biden's x with the quote it's time. the classic all i want for christmas is you was first released back in 1994. her 12-year-old twins joined her for the visit. thanks for joining me here. i'm max foster. "early start" is next here on cnn. i'll be back on new year's eve, i think.

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