i'm jake tapper. this hour, the wait for answers more than a month into the israel-hamas war. hundreds of families still do not know the fate of their loved ones being held hostage. right now, two families are here in d.c., hoping u.s. lawmakers can help. they will join me in the studio this hour. plus, america's latest abortion referendum as ohio voters make abortion rights part of their constitution. even conservatives are coming to terms with the shift in tide sense the u.s. supreme court overturned roe v. wade. take a listen. >> on the issue of abortion, in ohio tonight, we continue the losing streak in the pro-life movement. >> our pro-life movement, and i am part of it, needs to be better about the way we discuss this issue. >> and leading this hour, another historic day of testimony in the new york city courtroom. this way from ivanka trump, donald trump's oldest daughter. she just wrapped up her testimony and now states attorneys say they have rested their case. new york attorney general leticia james spoke just moments ago outside court, calling ivanka trump cordial and courteous, but questioning her credibility. >> at the end of the day, this case is about fraudulent statements of financial condition that she benefitted from. she was enriched, and clearly, you cannot distance yourself from that fact. >> let's bring in tom dupree, former assistant attorney general in the george w. bush administration, and correspondent paula reed. paula, ivanka didn't say anything outside the courtroom, unlike her dad or brothers, eric and donnie. but what about in the courtroom, did she say anything noteworthy at all? >> yeah, this was a big contrast from her father and brothers. there was none of the sniping with the judge or the lawyers, and the questions really focused on technical aspects, questions about deals she worked on at the trump organization. she did elicit some helpful information. they talked about negotiating loan terms for the trump golf course and spa. she was involved in that. and the bank said to get these loan terms, you have to maintain a net worth of $3 billion. she suggested lowering that threshold to $2 billion. they agreed on $2.5 billion, but why make that suggestion, because at the time, her father on his financial statements, said his net worth was over $4 billion. that also presented evidence that the government had questions about their financial statements when they were trying to win the old post office project here in washington, d.c. saying the way they were calculating things deviated from standard procedures. they also questioned her about a penthouse apartment she had in one of her dad's buildings. it was a purchase option for $8.5 bilmillion, but it was val at over $20 million. so this gets to the heart of the case about whether they were fraudulently representing the net worth of the former president. >> what did you make of ivanka's testimony? did it help or hurt her dad? >> i think it helped him at the margins. they asked a lot of questions, and i'm not sure she gave that many questions. she was quick with the i don't remember, i don't recall, that was so long ago. the big takeaway was a normal day in court. she functioned as a normal witness. she engaged the prosecutor's questions, she smiled as the judge, behaving as witnesses normally do, which is unusual in any trump related litigation, that there were no denunciations of the justice system, no press conferences. so something of a humdrum day in court that i don't think the states attorneys really drew blood today. >> ivanka does get judged on a curve because she acts like a human being quite often. she was cross examined by her dad's lawyer. >> this was a bit of a surprise. you got a preview of the defense they're going to put on. they used this cross-examination to establish there were no victims here. the banks were paid, and it allowed ivanka to talk about how happy the banks were, she recalls. deutsche bank was so happy to have this account, and she was able to sort of turn on the charm and talk animatedly about the old post office project. so this is a preview of the defense, whether the judge is going to be swayed and reduce the penalties, i'm not sure about that. but the cross-examination -- >> it was largely an advertisement for the trump bad, so it was true to form. i think that the trump legal defense team needs to number one, build an evidentiary record to position them well to appeal what will be i'm sure an adverse decision. they can make this point about this was ostensibly a victimless crime, no one was hurt, why are we here? i'm not sure that will resonate with the judge. >> with ythey get to present th case next and will. turning to tonight, the third presidential republican debate in miami. donald trump will be a no-show. kristen holmes is in hialeah florida where trump is holding a rally. trump is hold thing rally to try to make some inroads with latino voters. >> reporter: that's right, jake. this is an area that is 95% hispanic. this is really an area that his team believes they see opportunity. trump has significant gains with hispanic voters back in 2020, between 2016 and 2020. and they believe they can grow that ahead of the 2024 election. obviously, biden won the majority of hispanic voters. there is room there, but they believe this is critical in a general election, but also in a primary against ron desantis. we know that they are planning on launching a series of ads on hispanic media, including radio, tv ads, all of the primary season. he also sat down for an interview with uni vision yesterday that will air today. i talked to a number of voters here, hispanic voters, who say they're all in for donald trump. clearly, they are getting some of the messaging he is putting out. >> and this all comes, of course, as the biden campaign is launching two latino targeted ads around this debate tonight in miami. it's turning into a battle between the democrats and the republicans to win this voting bloc. >> reporter: yeah. i think it's very clear here, the fact that there are ads around the debate that there is some concern on the democratic side, and that this could be some significant gains for republicans among the hispanic voters. it's not just those ads that they launched. they put up billboards on the road to this event here in hialeah, attacking donald trump. also, the road that leads into the debate in miami, targeting hispanic voters and attacking donald trump, maga republicans overall. i want to play for you one of the ads that biden released. [ speaking in a non-english language ] >> translator: just like us, many come here for freedom and to make their dreams a reality. joe biden knows that, because fighting for us, to protect our freedom and our way of life is what joe biden has always done. >> reporter: the reason why i think this is so interesting, actually that messaging there, protecting our freedoms, talking about dictators, that's the same messaging we are expecting to hear from donald trump at the rally tonight. clearly, they are both trying to channel very similar groups, a similar bloc of voters here. it's going to be very critical in this race in 2024. >> kristen holmes, thanks so much. the former president has yet to show up for any debates. he has that civil fraud case against him, of course. he's been charged in four criminal cases. what is it propelling him to be the gop front-runner in this race? also, word of a high-end brothel network busted with clientele including elected officials, military officers, government contractors with security clearances. the details on this breaking story, ahead. just into cnn, the minnesota supreme court rejected an attempt to block donald trump from the state's primary republican ballot. challengers argued that trump should be disqualified under the 14th amendment, who says lawmakers who engaged in insurrection could not hold office. they can try again to remove trump from the general election ballot if he becomes the republican nominee. similar efforts are underway in colorado and michigan. there is so much more to discuss in our 2024 lead. cue the music. ♪ ♪ nice. 363 days away from the 2024 presidential election. last night proved contrasting pictures of what election can look like. democrats winning major victories in kentucky, ohio, virginia. polls show joe biden getting clobbered by nikki haley. apparently that doesn't mean anything to republican voters, but clobbered. any way, let me start with you. let's start with the debate in miami. trump, for the third straight debate, choosing to skip it. i have to say, we were talking about this in our staff meeting. the degree to which the public is not really seeing the full trump. the trump that we got for five, six years. it's really remarkable. i have to wonder how much that is related to his strength in the polls. the fact that people are not getting the full trump and all that means. they get little drips and drabs in the courtroom coverage. but he's not on the stage, we are rating ron desantis, tim scott or nikki haley. we're not covering his rallies any more the way we used to. he's not in the white house obviously. and i wonder if you think that's part of the reason why he's doing better in the polls? >> i think it's part of the reason. when donald trump came down ththat esca escalator, a lot of people, myself included, didn't take it for real. and he didn't have a solid campaign structure or real leaders. what we see with his campaign now, he does. he has a team of pros, people whose advice he takes, at least sometimes. that's why we have seen him be smart and strategic on some of these things, like avoiding debate where is he would only be fodder for attack. by not being there, he not only deprives these candidates of the opportunity to attack him, but he also knows that he will be the definition of the story, however he wants to be. when he gets indicted, he's learned that his opponents are really opponents in theory than anything else. they not only don't attack him when he gets indicted, they reinforce his messages. why get in their way? >> and it's not just that, he's not tweeting. >> that's a big part of it. >> only his fans are on truth social. >> and a couple of reporters. >> and he's not doing main stream interviews at all. he did that one with nbc -- >> we're not seeing him calling apparently for hiring new liars. that was a freudian slip. new lawyers. [ overlapping speakers ] >> all the people who voted for him in 2016 and they didn't vote for him in 2020, they're not seeing what they didn't like. >> you're saying less is more. >> i am. >> there's a lot less in the general election. that's one thing republicans should be mindful of. >> you might call it a basement type strategy. so it is less is more. and frankly, i think we saw this play out earlier this week in the court case, in that moment where the attorney general's office realized let him keep talking. don't stop him. he just contradicted himself. it's a similar idea, right, in terms of if we were seeing more of him, if we were -- you know, the decision not to take his rallies live and all of that, there are a lot of good reasons. but i do think what it portends is that next year, when we do have more of a head-to-head, assuming he becomes the nominee, and you do see him engaging more publicly. and people are reminded what it felt like governing by tweet his -- the nastiness, particularly given that when we do report on it, it's all the more dark even than it was in 2020. i do think that will be when we see an impact on the polls. >> you talk about the pros around him. and i think they are hiding from him the fact that they are hiding him from the public. i think he doesn't know, or hasn't realized it. and like once he realizes the degree to which they are hiding him, that they're running a basement campaign, he will get mad and start to demand that he -- put me on abc, put me on cnn, put me on cbs. >> are you saying he likes attention? >> i don't think -- like, he loves the cocoon, most politicians do. he loves it so much he doesn't realize how much he's ensconced in only preaching to the choir and the american people aren't seeing him. >> that's right. the thing that people dislike most about the trump administration was his constantly being in your face. >> right. >> so people had a reprieve from that. so i do think that's part of the reason why he's doing as well as he is in the head-to-heads. >> part of that is staffing. i know you're friends with him, so please don't tell michael steele. but when i was at the rnc, there were two requests, the ones that i would show him and the others we would quietly deal with. that's part of what the job of staff is, when you're trying to limit your boss' exposure, you limit what they're exposed to, as well. >> i wondered why his -- was it you? we're going to do the jake tapper interview. i wondered why his time at the rnc was so stable compared to -- >> it was stable? >> compared to the msnbc tenure. any way, chris christie showed a page from hit notebook on the strategy, one line included his attack plans against nikki haley and ron desantis saying their' auditions to be in trump's cabinet. are they wasting their time attacking each other? trump is far and away in charge. i know they're all trying to become the alternative to trump, but didn't we see this in 2015 and 2016? >> exactly what they did in 2015, the rivals back then, including chris christie, and it didn't work because you run out of time to make the case against the front-runner. >> chris christie is taking on trump. he's the only one really doing it. >> that's right. his attack on the other candidates is that they're not attacking trump enough. i think that's right. there are central arguments against trump that have to be won if somebody is going to beat them. one of them being that he ought to be at the debates. another of them being that he's a loser, that he lost in 2020. i don't know how you can maintain that you should be the nominee, if you're not willing to say that he lost last time around. >> or last night. that's more relevant today than it was two days ago. >> but you're doing logic and conventional wisdom. one thing we know about donald trump, that does not work. you're right, that chris christie has taken him head on, very macho, and he's tanking. it's not working. the person, though, who i think has actually made some progress, interesting to see how she does tonight and if she gets a bump tomorrow, is nikki haley. as someone who works a lot with women candidates, i'm interested to see if, at the end of the day, it is the way she has taken him on, not directly, but she has talked about some of his policies. she has, you know, she's gotten some digs in here or there. maybe that's the way to do it. >> every poll suggests she's the strongest candidate against joe biden and republicans do not want to accept that fact. i want to play what margorie taylor greene said her takeaways from last night's election. we know her to be the wisest republican on capitol hill. so let's listen in. >> i think republicans are weak. they never come through on the promises that they give to their voters. they never hold anyone accountable. stop backing away from president trump. he's winning the primary by massive numbers. he's winning the poll for the general election. clearly, people like president trump and his policies. >> well, i don't think that it is true that candidates have done better by linking themselves more tightly to donald trump. we saw that in kentucky in the governor's race. i don't think trump is responsible for the republicans losing that race, but the fact that the gubernatorial candidate seemed to have a -- >> i think senator herschel walker would disagree with you. >> there's a lot of candidates that would say that. >> thanks one and all for being here. after the gop debate tonight, join anderson cooper and dana bash for post debate analysis at 10:00 eastern only here on cnn. up here on "the lead," how successful are the idf in gaza taking out hamas? cnn is on the front line giving exclusive access to those missions, coming back with differing views. stay with us. we're back with our world lead. israel's military says it's destroyed 130 hamas tunnels, tunnel shafts in gaza since the start of the war, part of a vast underground network that allows hamas terrorists to move undetected and where it's believed hamas is holding the hostages. nic robertson is right outside gaza. >> reporter: as crushing as israel's air strikes targeting hamas are militarily, they've already become politically counterproductive. a crippling consequence, civilians, thousands of them, have been killed. israel under u.s. pressure for a humanitarian pause. >> translator: on the diplomatic front, we are working around the clock to provide the idf with international maneuvering room for continued military activity. >> reporter: netanyahu's plan to destroy hamas is under threat. time may be running out. >> the two clocks, one is how long will it take the idf to finish what they see as their target. and second, how long will the international community, specifically the u.s., will tolerate the continuation of this ground offensive. those two are not in sync. >> i am afraid the united states will succeed in stopping us from completing the work. >> reporter: they are both respected veteran israeli journalists. both have been taken by the idf to the frontline in gaza. >> none of the strategic goals of this operation has been achieved. hamas are not going out of the tunnels. >> reporter: according to the idf, hamas operatives killed, rockets captured, launch sites discovered. but according to him, at a pace both netanyahu and biden can stomach. >> they go very slowly. because of two things. first of all, because -- because of the americans. to be honest. and secondly, because of the safety of the soldiers. >> reporter: bergman says he's asked idf officer it is they can rout hamas from their tunnels. >> when you ask them, do you think you can take out all the subterranean bunkers, they say no way. >> reporter: meanwhile, hamas' rocket salvo into israel reinforce their bunker resistance is working. >> this demand by the united states, to make a humanitarian pause, hits the deepest emotions of the israelis. the prime minister and others and the military, need to be by far more transparent and direct with the israeli public. >> reporter: so there's a real sense here that one month on, israel is effectively weakened by its own strength. hamas is empowered by its tunnels, but that additional pressure from the united states on israel really may mean the security that so many people here want through disposing of hamas, whatever it's called, isn't going to happen. and effectively, hamas is weaponizing the civilian death toll, and that's allowinns theyt another day. that sense that israel really is under the pressure of domestic u.s. politics, that's real. and it's uncomfortable. jake? >> nick robertson in israel, thank you so much. then there are, of course, the many families caught up in this war, which has just passed the one-month mark. the loved ones of two hostages will join me next. in a crisis caused by a terrorist massacre. warning civilians to clear out, while hamas forces them back. allowing in food and water, which hamas steals. it's been one month and one day since hamas' brutal terrorist attack on israel, and the loved ones of 239 hostages are still watching, waiting. right now, they're watching israel's military advance in gaza where, as far as they know, their loved ones kidnapped on october 7th are still being held. tonight, we want to bring you the story of three of those hostages. we've been telling you the stories of so many of these hostages. gali and ed berman are 26-year-old twins. inseparable, best friends who have a shared love of soccer. the last contact they had with their family was a whatsapp message to their mom october 7th. guy is also 26, a musician from tel aviv. he was at the nova music festival when hamas terrorists started their brutal attack. joining us now to discuss, the brother of the twins, and doris, mother of guy, they're here in washington, d.c. to meet with american lawmakers. let me just hold this up. this is guy, his mom is with us here. and this is, just as an additional one, this is guy's friend, also 26. these are just young people. these could be your friends. these could be your sons, these could be your older brothers. just regular young people. in this case, they just happened to be israeli. but they could be any young friends you have. doris, so you have not heard from your son in a month. the idf is operating in the "heart of gaza city." i'm wondering what you think about that? does that make you worry? does that give you hope? it must be conflicting emotions, i don't know. >> definitely. there is days that i'm feeling, you know, afraid that the bombing will hurt him. other days, i'm thinking maybe he's hearing the bombs and he knows that we're coming, but all in all, i have faith in the idf. i know they're doing all they can to bring him back to me. so i trust them. >> how do you think your brothers are holding up? >> i hope they are together. i don't know. i hope they are safe. i don't know. i do -- like doris said, i do trust the idf and the israeli government that they know the proximate location, even not 100%, and they will not strike and harm the hostages. we do trust the israeli government and the idf that they will do whatever they can to pressure hamas and keep the hostages safe. so the fear is there, but we trust the government. >> do you think there's more that -- you're here to meet with u.s. government officials. you've met with democrats and republicans on capitol hill. do you think there's more the u.s. could be doing to help get the hostages released? >> definitely, definitely. >> what could the u.s. be doing? >> first of all, they have a channel to qatar. and that's a channel that they need to, you know, progress in. that's not enough done because if there was, they would be back. >> yeah. >> and, yeah, i think that's where the pressure should go. >> the last contact from your brothers was that whats app message to your mom. what more do you know about those moments leading up to that message. we do know what happened, that it was horrific, horrific. it's one of the worst sites -- >> a massacre. we know nothing after the message. >> what did it say? >> that we are safe in the safe room, and it was around 10:00 in the morning, saturday. and after that, complete silence. and for ten days, they were considered missing. we had no confirmation that they were in gaza for ten days. no visual confirmation, no video, no nothing, no picture. and then after ten days, israeli officials came to us and told us that they are kidnapped in gaza. they didn't give us any more information. i don't know intelligence, they don't know. but it was ten days after that they told us that they are hostages. >> dor us, tell us more about your son's interest. i know he has a dog. >> yeah, georgy. >> and he was studying psychology and philosophy. tell us about him. >> he's philosophical guy. we can go into deep conversations. he's very sensitive. opinionated about a lot of things. and he sees the world in terms of music. somehow, he translates everything into music. >> umm, have you thought about the first thing you will say to your loved ones when you see them again? >> i love you. i love you both. >> i'll probably just smother him, you know. it's more touching for me. i love him. that's what i want to say to him, i love him. >> is there anything you want to say to any of the -- of anyone who is watching? this show is on around the world. obviously, there are people here in the united states. people all over the world watch it. is there anything -- i don't know what camera you should look at, but anything you want to say? >> i want to say thank you to the american people for having us here, for listening to us, for taking action for us. those are just regular civilians who got kidnapped from their beds, from the music festival. they have nothing to do with the conflict. they just -- the families want them home and we need the support and action of whoever can push the right push buttons. >> they will be back. they will be back, and they will be back in your arms, and we'll keep covering it. we'll keep covering it. the story hasn't gone away. i know that there are protests out there in the international community calling for a cease-fire. i wish there were protests calling for the hostages to be released. >> definitely. >> that should be on -- we should have more people holding up signs for that. but that's what we're going to do on this show. thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> and stay in touch. we'll be right back. is it possible my network could take my business to the next level? 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(engine accelerating) (texting clicks) (tires squeal) (glass shattering) (loose gravel clanking) we have some breaking news for you now. the united states military carried out air strikes in syria in response to a series of attacks against u.s. personnel in syria and iraq. cnn's natasha bertrans is at the pentagon. >> reporter: they were targeting weapons facilities used by the iranian guard. they were carried out by f-15s in eastern syria after the u.s. conducted similar air strikes against iranian backed weapons storage facilities in eastern facility. so the u.s. making an effort here to respond to the attacks that iran-backed groups have waged against u.s. forces in the region. there have been about 40 such attacks in recent weeks by these iran-backed proxy groups. the u.s. wanting to show it's willing to conduct these strikes. this is not the only thing that happened. another iran-backed group in yemen, they say, and the u.s. has confirmed, that they shot down a u.s. military mq 9 reaper drone operating off the coast of yemen earlier today. so all of this obviously, you know, contributing to the u.s. fears that this is going to escalate. for now, the u.s. says that today's strikes conducted in eastern syria were meant for self-defense and limited in scope. >> thank you so much. the justice department just announced arrests in connection with what the feds are describing as a high-end brothel network with clients who included elected officials and military officers, government contractors with security clearances and one imagines much, much more. evan perez is here. so far, we know who was arrested. but not who were the customers. >> reporter: that's right, jake. we don't know any names of customers, but the prosecutors describe possibly hundreds of clients of this brothel service, this prostitution service, and they say that these people operated brothels in the boston area, as well as in the tyson's corner in fairfax county here in the washington, d.c. suburbs. this is an investigation that is still ongoing. they say that it stretches from boston to washington, all the way to california. and what these people were doing is bringing people in from overseas and moving them around the country to service these clients who went through very elaborate means to prove who they were before they were even approved to be able to buy the services of those very high-end service that they had. prosecutors in boston, joshua levy, who is the acting u.s. attorney there, described a who's who basically of the type of clients that were going there. listen. >> they are doctors, they are lawyers, they are accountants, elected officials, they are executives at high-tech companies and pharmaceutical companies. they're military officers, government contractors, professors, scientists. pick a profession, they're probably represented in this case. >> reporter: jake, the service was charging between $350 to $600 an hour for these services. as i mentioned, this is an ongoing investigation, so you can bet that there are a lot of very nervous people, especially here in the washington, d.c. area. we're talking about people who are elected government officials, people that are military contractors, all these people with security clearance who are still under investigation. >> we've been through this before. they never reveal the client list, though. >> i think more reporting is needed for that. we'll stick to the story. >> they never seem to release the client announced the indictment and arrest of ten alleged members of the gambino family in what they say was an attempt to dominate new york city's private garbage collection. the names sound like a cast of characters in well, a hollywood mob movie. joe brooklyn and fifi and vinnie slick and v and uncle chichio. they and the others face charges involving arson and other crimes. giants pandas in fedex cargo containers. the chinese government is taking the pandas back. have we reached the end of the line when it comes to panda diplomacy? shoot. they leave. the pandas from the national zoo in washington are on their way back to china. an emotional moment for those of us who have come to know those bamboo eating bear, but it is also a sign of the escalating tensions between beijing and washington. here to explain it is robin wright. staff writer for the new yorker. we usually have you on to talk about escalating tensions but you've also been tracking the pandas since 1978 and you were this this morning. these are beloved bears. what was it like when they left? >> this this city so polarized about so much, the one thing that has reunited washingtonians is the panda bear. it was almost like a celebrity funeral with a cortege of the big crates, each carrying the pandas out. with the panda bears, the pal barers, it was emotional. >> i remember years ago when they were having trouble getting pregnant. it was very sad and tragic. >> the great contribution the zoo has made is figuring out ways to encourage gene diversity to help an endangered species become more versatile. to be able to survive its own numbers. >> you've taken pictures of the pandas over the years. what do you think was their impact on the millions in the u.s. who have visited over the years? >> oh, i think that there are people today who showed up who had driven from all over the country to find out they were gone. just heartbreaking motion of having to say good-bye to something so cuddly, so charismatic and endearing. >> are they nice though? i know they're gorgeous but raccoons are gorgeous, too, and they're very ferocious. >> i suppose if you got up close and they felt threatened. they're bears. but they're not meat eating. >> the pandas have always been in the u.s. under agreements with china. they've agreed those agreements numerous times extending their stay. what does it say that they did not extend it this time? >> for now, panda diplomacy is dead. atlanta zoo will have to send the last pandas in the u.s. back. it's happening across europe. happening next year in australia, but china basically is saying we don't need this kind of good will diplomacy anymore. we're not trying to kind of cater to public interest. we now are a big enough power that we, you know, we are gioin to create this monopoly on our bears. one of the few places to still have won is moscow because 2019, xi gave two to putin whom he called at the time, his best friend. they will be there for 15 years. >> really? they're just like we don't care what you think about us. >> this is a power play and on the eve of a very important summit between president biden and xi next week. >> how can or should the u.s. try to repair the situation or is it irreparable? >> for now, this is something china is kind of exerting its muscle and its you know, it doesn't need to make those gestures like it did with the ping ping ping-pong diplomacy and athletes coming to play on american teams. the zoo wants to have pandas again. it's tried to get their leases renewed but to no avoail. >> i went to a zoo in bulgaria and they had raccoons. maybe we can replace. i guess it's not that good of an idea. i'm really sorry because they are beautiful animals and it really is sad. >> for washington, particularly. >> yeah. we don't a lot of beauty in this town. >> no kidding. >> thank you so much. this note, in honor of veterans day this week, you should join me for the seventh annual homes to our troops celebrity auction on ebay. you can bid on items, ebay.com/hfot. a few items, john bon jovi autographed control. golf 18 holes with jason bateman. a purse from jennifer aniston. so many things. baseball, football, basketball. check it out. the auction is open until monday. please check it out. if you ever miss an episode of the lead, you can listen when you get your podcast. our coverage continues with wolf blitzer in "the situation room." i'll see you soon. happening now. as democrats