we will move off of those pictures and brynn gingras is outside of the courthouse, and what is the latest>> reporter: and to elaborate more on the pictures that we have seeing showing the viewer, we are noting that his son, eric trump who was scheduled to testify yesterday but he did not take the stand, and it was a dark day in the courtroom, he is also in the courtroom, and letitia james is not expected to attend court today, and that what we are getting today before the court begins. the former president is expected to take the stand in his own defense and be the last witness for the defense monday, but today, he is a spectator, and a defendant in this case of course, and he wants to listen to testimony of an nyu professor of accounting to back up the defense's claim that trump never, you know, overinflated his, didn't break any accounting rules when it comes to the statement of conditions, and a core claim by attorney general that they inflated the value of assets to get better loans and interest ratesb and this witness is expected to say that there is never ever any intent to do so an

on the line, donald trump's brand, and the penalty of $250 million, and we go to brynn gingras who is outside of the courtroom, and what has been happening today? >> yeah, kate. remember, it is the judge who is going to decide what those penalties will be at the very end of this, and we are at the end of this, and this new york civil fraud trial going on for two months, and the last full week of testimony, and as you laid out there, the former president is going to be expected to take the stand monday, but right now, he is seated at the defense table, and the defendant in this lawsuit, and he is listening in on testimony from an nyu accounting professor who is expected to really just back up these claims from the defense that trump and the co-defendants did not violate any accounting principles or rules when filling out the financial statement of condition. remember, the new york attorney general has said that trump, and his sons and trump org they intentionally inflated the value of the assets in order to get better bank loans and interest rates, and they are trying to counter that c

brynn gingras, great to see you again. thanks so much. a new year. >> let's go now to paris and cnn's melissa bell is there, where it's just a few hours until midnight. hi there, melissa. how is the city of love and lights preparing to welcome the new year? >> reporter: hi, amara, it is just under three hours to go until new year's eve. i can show you, you can see just behind me, this is all done up this year to the themes of the olympics, that is the theme, of course, of tonight's fireworks display because this is the year paris will host the summer olympics. we have been hearing from the french president saying that what he intends for 2024 is for this to be the year of french pride. that's what he was telling the french. so people have been gathering here for their traditional fireworks display, which is going to begin just before midnight. you can see down there, it is a million people. they were expecting to come out here tonight to watch that fireworks display. they have been gathering already. there's a dj getting them ready to cou

cnn's brynn gingras joins us live. how did law enforcement uncover this alleged plot?reporter: canton law enforcement and all the way up to the fbi. we learned this chatter was online on the social platform discord. it was counterextremist analysts within discord that alerted the fbi which then sparked an investigation. we learned from the stark county, ohio, sheriff's department that when the fbi went to visit this 13-year-old, they discussed their findings which included a map and detailed plans of wanting to burn and shoot up a local synagogue there in canton, ohio. get this, also. at just 13 years old, this person also told police that he was part of multiple anti-semitic and political groups on discord. this certainly sparked what was called a significant public alarm. the synagogue, of course, had to be notified as well as the student's school district.his t arrested and charged with two misdemeanors, inducing panic and disorderly conduct, jake. >> what happens next to this 13-year-old? >> reporter: so this is going to continue on through juvenile court. it's imp

cnn's brynn gingras is in sometimes square for the pre-party. hi, brynn. what's going on?>> if you can hear us, l.l. cool j is warming up doing a sound check so my phone is going in and out, but i can hear you. we are in the middle of sometimes square where the party is starting with the loud music as revelers are filing into these pens, where they're going to sit until that ball drops at midnight. these are people from virginia, california, texas, all over, really, the world. let's meet these guys. how are you? >> where are you from? >> i am originally from the philippines. yes! and i bring my cousins and my friends, and i have my nephew from germany. >> wow! all over! is this a first-time party for you? >> yes. this is the first time and we were planning for so long and everyone is spending so much money to come to new york city and we were, like, why not do it? it is a party. you can feel ittal read pep. >> how are you lasting until midnight? >> keep dancing and we've been preparing for a week. like, we search on youtube what we're going to do and then we prepare. we do

year's celebrations around the world, and on this new year's eve in the states, we are joined by brynn gingrasive from times square. what's the atmosphere like? >> can you believe it? yeah, there are a lot of people that trickled in already, but breonna, we are giving you the backstage of what cnn will be and that will be anderson and andy live on cnn tonight and this is our crew setting up, but as we walk further down here, frank, keep up with me here, we'll show you where all those people that have already started to trickle in are. they've gone through security measures, which, of course, there are heightened measures this year because of the heightened threat environment that we certainly are faced with right now. you can see the bomb squad dogs here, but if you zoom down there, frank, you can see all these people already set up in pens in times square and higher up, there is, of course, the ball with 2024 that will drop at midnight tonight. about more than a million people are expected to come into times square and this isn't even full yet. there are still people waiting to come in to cel

a 13-year-old was arrested in september, and brynn gingras is following this. >> yes, john, we have learnedis 13-year-old put details on the chat room discord that snacaused the authorities notify the synagogue, and that turned into a public alarm. now, you can know that details of the plan that were on line that am larmed someone -- that alarmed someone there to report this teen. this happened in september prior to october 7th what happened in israel, but it is certainly showing, and no se and after the surge, there was a rising incident involving targeting the muslims and ashes. for this, the adl sflog and now n social media as in real life, it cannot and will not be sol rated. this will make the determination for the penalty. >> we are just getting a look of the court documents for the first time. >> hunter sfloernlgt. >>> and now, more on the next moves against the president son's. and more on the president themselves >>> this is cnn breaking news. >>> we have breaking news, and working through the details on this, but we are learning that four people have been arrested on terrorism off

a few hours it will be a new year here on the east coast of the u.s., and i'd like to bring in brynn gingrasrom new york. hello to you, brynn. the tone is set. everyone is excited. what are you seeing right now in times square? >> yeah, amara. only 11 hours, that's all we have to wait until the ball drops here in times square, and can you believe there are people already here. they are actually handing out the times square hats that we always see that we start celebrating into that, and people get here very early and get excited about the new year celebration and of course, security here, a major issue that we get to talk about, amara because we know that intelligence has said there is a heightened threat environment right now. there are more security measures that are being taken to keep the people here safe and also all around this area. more streets are shut down. we actually have a checkpoint here and where these people come in and they get wanded before they come into the pens to wait for the ball to drop, and a major issue that the nypd has been paying attention to since october 7th an

brynn gingras has that. >> reporter: former president trump expected to take the stand on monday as theinal witness for the defense in this civil fraud trial that is really nearing an end after about two months. but in the courtroom for the defense, the second to final witness is an accounting expert that really was the strongest witness for the defense that we have seen yet. and he will this witness basically said that the financial statements of condition that are at the heart of this case, which of course if you remember the new york attorney general has said had overinflated assets done by the trumps, and they did it intentionally, this witness countered that for the defense basically saying that they weren't out of the ordinary, that no accounting principles were violated and that he in his judgment hasn't even seen a case of fraud here. and even questioned the attorney general as to why they even brought this case forward. so really the strongest witness that the defense has put forward. the former president sitting at the defense table listening to this testimony. but again, the

brynn gingras has more. >> yes, 23 federal charges is what the former congressman is facing. among those, he is accused of stealing from his donors to enrich his own life and personal lifestyle. today is a status conference hearing and in the past, what we have seen is that the prosecutors are turning over pages and pages of evidence, and some of those are pages of documents, and we expect more exchanges of documents, but in what the prosecutors have hinted is that they want to strike a deal. they have asked for another status hearing in 30 days and the goal is to resolving this matter without the need of a trial. and george santos hinted at this himself when he spoke to our local affiliate wcbs. >> the plea is not off of the table, and so there is conversations of what happened in congress. everybody should be afraid of going to jail, because it is not a pretty place, and i want to work hard to avoid that as much as possible. >> and keep in mind that his campaign manager have struck deals on the charges they were facing, so it is possible that there is a deal imminent. this

brynn gingras, thank you. >>> and out to cnn's julia vargas jones, on one of the most popular beachesrld in rio de janeiro in brazil. we know that in brazil they know how to throw a party. what's it like right there now? >> reporter: it is in full swing, paula, it is so loud here, we have -- we're right by one of the stages. everyone is here to see louisa songs, one of the biggest pop stars in brazil right now. the show has just begun, and people are so excited. this is just one of ten stages that the rio city has put up for people, people from rio de janeiro, brazilians and foreigners alike. i've spoken with people from switzerland, germany, all over, here on this iconic beach today, in just five hours, 5 1/2 hours, we will have a giant dis play of fireworks. they're already beginning. but off on the water, ten different barges will show a spectacle, 12 minutes long, a full orchestra, this will be something not to miss. and people have come from far and wide, like i said, there's people here, they came about six hours by bus to just celebrate in rio de janeiro today. they're from sao

let's get to cnn's brynn gingras. what are we learning about a possible plea deal? >> reporter: 23 federal charges, some includes stealing identities of his campaign donors and using that money to further enrich his personal life, whether buying expensive clothes or cosmetic procedures. we're learning from court records filed today, he's expected for a status conference tomorrow in the eastern district of new york. prosecutors signaling they're in talks for a plea deal asking the judge if they can have another status conference hearing scheduled 30 days from now, writing the parties are presently engaged in plea negotiations with the goal of resolving this matter without the need for a trial. we'll see how that sort of shakes out. of course, all the walls have been crumbling for two george santos. two former campaign staffers, they've pleaded guilty to federal charges that they were facing. he was recently kicked out of conference. we also know in the paperwork that prosecutors are going to be asking for his trial, which was expected to begin next september, to be a

i want to start with brynn gingras "out front" outside of the courthouse. what did trump say ninth day preparing in that court as he prepares to take that stand? >> reporter: erin, you heard some of that sound. he called this whole civil trial a witch hunt. that's something we certainly heard before. he attacked the judge in this case, the new york attorney general who brought the civil fraud trial against him. if we go back a month or so ago, if you remember, trump was on the stand called as a state's witness in this case and he did some of the sort of same grievances airing them on the witness stand at that time, even lashing out at the judge as he was sitting next to him. the judge at that time asked his attorneys be to control the witness so it's very possible that's exactly what we will see again, sort of a campaign stop on the witness stand when he does take the stand again on monday. listen, today he was not on the witness stand. he was behind the defense table as a spectator of this witness who was quite honestly probably one of the best witnesses t

brynn gingras joins us mwith more. >> it is shocking.nd let's keep in mind this was happening in ohio where they were debating reproductive rights. she was charged a month ago. we learned much about britney watts from "the washington post." a 33-year-old black woman from just outside cleveland, ohio, and what we have learned is that she was nearly 22 peeks pregnant when she spatarted feeling painn her stomach. the doctor said that her water broke, the fetus was not going to be viable and she had to immediately get to the er because she was at risk of losing her life as well. she went to the er. according to "the post," doctors debated while she waited in pain to essentially see if they could induce her which basically would be the equivalent of having an abortion because she was at that cu cusp when abortion is illegal in oyster. she goes home, has a miscarriage in her bathroom and this is where prosecutors say she committed a crime. she flushes this fetus down the toilet and actually tries to pump it back out according to "the post" and