cupp and john avalon, thank you. five weeks before the iowa caucuses, and the republican hopeful ron desantis is going to join cnn moderator jake tapper for a town hall. >>> and now, what prpresident z len si zelenskyy y is saying g to lawms behindnd those clolosed doors.s >> all right. this is just moments ago on capitol hill. the house side, ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy, and you can see his head there amidst that group of people walking down the hallway. we believe he is coming out of his meeting with the u.s. house speaker mike johnson right now. we have been watching him move through the capitol building all morning long and waiting for him to comment if he chooses to do so, but he has not chosen to do so. but we are getting comment about the pitch he is making behind closed doors from some of the lawmakers themselves who have emerged from the meetings, and then chased down by roving news finder manu raju on capitol hill. manu, what have you heard about what is taking place at these meetings? >> yeah,

. >>> and now, joining me is cnn political analyst john avalon.ant to go back to trial delays of donald trump, and not the legal side, but the federal trial might get delayed, and it might not be heard, and it might be thrown out, and what are not only the legal implications? >> well, the legal implication, and the moral implication, and the accountability of trying to overthrow an election, and coup, and there is a green light if there is no accountable for this, and the implications down the line are strike. if the supreme court should say that the president is not criminally liable for anything that he did in action, that is authoritarian green light for anyone in office and that they are not liable when they are in office. >> it is possible if this case is never heard, how then should one look upon by the decision of merrick garland who waited to launch the investigation a year after the january 6th committee? >> badly. not to have the justice department perceived politicized under donald trump, but the difficulty is time is finite, and denial

. >> 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 hous

. >> and so, coming out swinging, chris christie, and john avalon, did anyone take their chance?> no, the pattern is tiptoeing around donald trump, and coming up with slight shades of difference and growing as we get closer for the voting, but it is insufficient to the threat he represents not just to the republican party, but to the republic, and christie calling politics. >> but chris christie whole throatedly coming after him. and let's talk about nikki haley, because the numbers are looking good, and big gop b backers and she was the real target last night. take a listen. >> the only person more fascist than the biden regime right now is nikki haley. nikki, i don't have a woman problem, but you have a corruption problem, and that is what people need to know. she caves any time the left comes after her, she is going to cave to the donor and come after you. >> and that is because the wall street donors used to support him and now they support me, and i love all of the attention, fellows, thank you. >> that is a smooth way to handle it. clearly she was on the attack. that is bec

lieutenant georgia corn and jeff duncan, adam kinzinger, and senior political analyst and anchor john avalon. what kind of debate wooded this have been without chris christie? it feels to me like he really added a full special sauce to the conversation not just by putting trump on the debate stage but also forcing some of these candidates to answer some questions? >> this was chris christie's night i think. he was on fire from the very beginning. he was telling the truth. when he gets booed, this is what i love about him, he's not intimidated to get food. and i'll tell you buy a politician we don't like to get food. it's not a fun thing. boom all yet want, tom i'm telling you the truth. i think he did a service to the party. most of only disservice to the country. and i think he cleaned it up tonight. we'll make a difference that are now? but i think you did. amazing >> he also did a favor for the moderators frankly, because a lot of times people not and set you're not answering the question, a lot. >> let me go ahead and play that by of christy. >> i want to question, the question was very

. >>> joining us now to discuss cnn senior political analyst john avalon, and cnn senior legal analyst elie honig, i want to drill into the legal pieces, there's not a lot of case law, i don't think there's any, to some degree, there is no precedent for this, this is unquestionably historic, 12, 14 hours to digest this, what are your thoughts? >> so my thoughts are split into two camps, the first is that we shouldn't get overexcited that this is just, you know, i think it doesn't necessarily mean that trump's ruled out. it's clear that the supreme court, i think of the united states, will probably take up this case. this may mean just a setback. we may even see trump on the ballot if the supreme court takes up the case before january 5th, which is the day for certification of candidates on the ballot. but on the other hand it is historic because it is a preview of what is to come. now, this is something that is part of this kind of -- these ideas about insurrection, about overthrowing democracy, about the accountability that's all step stemming from the trump presidency, it's a definin

caucuses weeks away, i discuss the political mood in america with commentators margaret hoover and john avalon and hamas is extend for one more day. a journalist livg in gaza explains whatt'