even though he's polling far beyond his republican rivals in the state, his team recognizes he can't get complacent in this final stretch. he wants to ensure he doesn't cede any ground to his rivals. his speech has focused heavily on attacking president biden and specifically his record on foreign policy. at one point, donald trump was referring to the president's meeting with chinese president xi earlier in the week and stated to escalate his criticism calling joe biden quote, a stupid person, and suggesting he may be on medication. >> our leader is a stupid person. our leader -- our leader can't get off this stage. you see the stage? when he's finished with a speech by the time whatever he's taken wears off and he's looking, okay, thank you. all right. thank you. >> now, paula, some of these remarks and what you just heard right there is in line with some of the increasingly vi-- rhetor he's been using. last week while in new hampshire, he received a wave of backlash for calling the political left vermin and saying he would root them out. so i think this one thing i know a lot of people are paying attention to in iowa today. quickly, i want to point you to one other thing i found interesting. at the top of his speech, he took a victory lap when discussing the ruling yesterday from a colorado judge who decided to keep donald trump on the ballot. donald trump said it was a quote gigantic victory. and also, you know, took shots at the media for saying they had a meltdown when it came out. so you know, a lot more happening right now behind me but we'll keep you posted on what we hear. >> thank you. now, let's discuss this some more with republican congressman joe walsh of illinois and cnn political commentator, erin finney. joe, what do you think of trump's push in iowa? he's not even talking about his republican rivals. he's going after president biden. what do you make of that? >> i make the same of it i've made for the past year. this party sadly is his and this nomination is his and i know we're in the midst of a race for the nomination but, it's really not a race for the nomination. we're 58 days from the iowa caucuses and the race is his. the nomination is his. and none of his opponents from the very beginning have been trying to beat him. they've all been trying to be the alternative in case something happens to trump. a heart attack or he ends up in jail, but none of his opponents have been trying to beat him so he's very comfortably ahead. >> i want to get your thoughts on something else elena covered, which was this decision in colorado. we know that other states are also contemplating trying to make this legal argument for why he shouldn't be on the ballot. colorado showed it wasn't going to work there. should other states try this, too, or just focus on 2024? >> i would just stay focused on 2024 for two reasons. number one, the more he talks and the more we're able to see it, the more americans are reminded of the nastiness and chaos. calling people vermin. essentially saying our fellow americans are our enemies and this sort of whole revenge narrative that he has. you know, again, that reminds people what the choice really is. we know it's just a small portion of republican base that is locked in with him. but number two, as we've seen and it's a tricky legal argument, but it also plays into his narrative that he's the victim. every one of these legal cases you reported on this, that's what he does. it is more fodder for that argument. i'm reluctant to continue to feed that on cases where we're not talking about violations of national security. we're not talking about overturning the 2020 election. obviously i know part of the argument in colorado was to say that effort should have made him ineligible for the ballot, but i think it's a hard legal argument to make. better to stay focused on beating him in 2024 outright. >> i want to stay with you for a second. let's talk about what's going on in new hampsh nikki haley. we're seeing her rising in the polls. what is going on there? she's now in second place. >> it's interesting. nikki haley has done an interesting job. different than the men. she's made good use of her time during the debates. she has actually taken on donald trump in a different way. not the way desantis and chris christie have been, but in a more, i'm just going to tell you the facts kind of you know, telling you the truth. and that seems to be working and in primaries, what tends to happen is when people start leaving and someone seems like they're getting momentum as we've seen reported, donors start to take another look. that's what we're hearing. she's got a little bit of momentum around that. we'll see if she'll be able to hold that. obviously for her, new hampshire's got interesting but i think for her, the key is going to be south carolina. if she can't win the south carolina primary, she's in real trouble. >> joe, what do you make of the ascension of nikki haley? >> look, and karen alluded to this. it's the cruelty. it pains me to say this. but the base of my former political party loves the cruelty. donald trump called his political opponents the left in this country vermin. there was a backlash from much of the country, but not from the republican party base. they love that. that's not nikki haley. that's donald trump. people thought it was ron desantis, but that's donald trump. so i just don't see nikki haley as a threat because the base of the party is so tied to trump and his cruelty. >> so what does all this mean for desantis? >> i think he's done. and look, this isn't a surprise. paula, this is a big reason why nikki haley is the alternative. and many of us who know desantis knew this would happen the moment voters really began to take a look at him, they wouldn't like him. and they haven't. month after month. so he's no longer the alternative. she is. >> and karen, we're seeing that voters in new hampshire seem to think that president biden is the democrat's best shot. what does that tell you? >> that basically supports the argument that the president and the campaign have been making, which is in the comparison between joe biden and donald trump, not between you know, elusive, generic candidates, both of whom who have real records to run on, president biden is going to come out on top. it supports that argument. the challenge is that new hampshire will not be the first state in the democratic primary, it will be south carolina. but that says to me all the better that he's doing well in new hampshire quite frankly. >> what are you watching for at the beginning of the new year? >> such a great question. i'm looking to see if the alternative, nikki haley, can close this gap. i don't expect her to because every stupid and mean and cruel thing that donald trump says and he'll say things like that every day between now and through the holidays. only attaches him even more closely with the base. so can nikki haley shrink that gap? i doubt it but that's what i'm looking for. >> karen, do you expect at the beginning of the new year tharks t year that the president will continue to sharpen his attacks on the president? >> absolutely. i think you're going to continue to see the campaign sharpen their attacks. they actually did a call in advance of former president trump's visit to texas to preview some of the harsh rhetoric and the sort of extremism we would hear and trump is delivering as predicted. so yes, and i think we're going to hear trump continue to be more unhinged. remember, the court dates will be closing in and that amps up the pressure on him as well as voting will actually start. so i think the confluence of those pressures you're going to hear more extremism from trump, which is going to give more of an opportunity for president biden to delineate the real choice and comparison. >> i want to ask you about this op-ed published by president biden and "the washington post" where he rejected calls for a cease fire. significant because we're seeing a growing number of young voter, particularly democratic ones, calling for a cease fire. so joe, do you think something like this could harm biden in 2024? >> i do. i applaud president biden. i got to tell you, i am just blown away and so happy with how strongly joe biden has stood by israel but let's be real. the party, the democratic party, has a divide on israel. and you mentioned the problem with younger voters. younger voters and some folks on the far left are antagonistic toward israel. i hope and i believe biden are stand strong with israel but that's a divide and that could hurt him politically. >> karen, what do you think? >> i agree. i think hopefully a lot of it will depend on where we are say four to six months from now. if people are seeing that perhaps some agreement is going forward. that the fighting has stopped. i think that could be very helpful. but it's very true. the fracture, not just in the democratic party, but frankly throughout the country. particularly the more we're seeing the horrors of what happened to people in gaza i think is really shocking to people. so i think as that continues to shake itself out, we may have an opportunity to, for peace. and hopefully if that can happen, that may start to shift the opinion from those who have been very frustrated with president biden but i agree. i think he's done a really good job in a very difficult circumstance. >> both going to be very busy in 2024. joe and karen, thank you. and coming up, what we're learning about efforts to free hostages being held by hamas. we'll have a live report. also, colorado judge says donald trump engaged in insurrection but rules he can still appear on the state's primary ballot. and what residents are calling the situation in iceland. a town is told to get out as the ground shakes and lava starts to flow. you're in n the "cnn n newsroom" a colorado judge has re rejected an attempt to remove donald trump from the state's primary ballot, marking the third state to do so. the lawsuit claimed trump is barred from office because of the january 6th insurrection, but the judge ruled the 14th amendment, which bans insurrectionists from serving as u.s. senators, representatives, and even presidential electors, does not apply to the commander in chief. so, let's discuss with prominent florida defense attorney, tim jansen. let's dive into this decision in colorado. so here, the judge finds that trump engaged in an insurrection, but he can stay on the ballot. if trump was your client, would you call him after this and say we won? is this a win? >> well, paula, it's interesting. it took 102 pages to rule that she didn't have authority to take him off the ballot. this wasn't the first time. in the midterm elections, they tried this with various candidates and this disqualification was unsuccessful. for some reason, this judge felt she had to write a lengthy opinion and had to rule that because it didn't apply to the president because he's never sworn an oath, that she couldn't disqualify him. now, trump people are going to say she was wrong. she purposely put that bad language in there to mischaracterize him, but they're going to move forward just like every other state. just move forward and he's not going to be taken off any ballot. >> do you think it helps or hurts in the supreme court decides the weigh in on this? >> i think the supreme court's going to rule in his favor. remember, he hasn't been charged with insurrection so we don't penalize and disqualify people just because we believe. they have a right to their day in court. if he's charged and found guilty of it, then i think they could try to remove him, but it's a long away way from just saying it without a fair trial. >> i want to turn attention now to hunter biden. this week, cnn reported that a grand jury in los angeles is now hearing evidence connected to what appears to be his tax issue. so if you have a client and you hear that, you know there was a plea deal. it fell apart and now you hear that prosecutors are bringing evidence before a grand jury, what do you tell that client is likely to happen next? >> well, i'd feel pretty good if the prosecutor is the same prosecutor that let the statute of limitations run on the money laundering. you're going to a jurisdiction in california, free liberal jurisdiction. they say a ham sandwich could be indicted by a grand jury. i find it hard pressed to see they're going to indict hunter biden on tax charges out there. it's leaked that they're looking at failure to register as a foreign agent and tax charges. tax charges are pretty simple. their document driven cases. there's not a lot of innuendo. you have to prove they intentionally didn't file the taxes or their fax tomorrow is wrong. so the numbers will speak for themselves. the question really is why did it take so long to get here? why are we going to california? this originally started in delaware. those are questions the general public has. >> i believe they're in california in part because that's where the taxes were paid. it's also where he lives, but if he is charged, i know his legal team is likely to point to the fact that look, these taxes were paid back and they'd argue this was a very chaotic time in his life. he was struggling with substance abuse. would you use and how would you use those possible points for a client in this situation? >> well, paying the taxes back has no relevance about not filing or you improperly filed a tax return. whether he was going through a mental or drug induced stage where he had no intent, that could go to intent. so a lawyer could defend it by saying he wasn't in a right state of mind. he signed these documents when he was under the influence of drugs, addiction. he didn't realize he earned this money. that could be a viable defense in a federal case and that would be up to the jury to decide whether he knowingly intentionally failed to file taxes or failed to file a proper tax return. >> looking forward to this week, we know the court of appeals here in d.c. is going to hear arguments about one of the gag orders for former president trump, the one here in washington. he was also subject to a gag order in new york civil case, specifically barred from talking about the judge's clerk. both of those gag orders on hold but earlier today, he posted once again, we have the truth social post, attacking the judge's clerk. now, tim, we know why the former president does this. he wants to undermine trust in the justice system. but based on your decades of experience, how unusual is it for a defendant to attack a member of the court's staff in this way? >> well, i've never had a client of mine both publicly attack the judge or the judge's clerk. that would be unheard of. but of course, i haven't represented a man running for president of the united states and he's in the middle of a campaign and apparently, he feel he's being politically charged. one court says he has a first amendment right. the appellate court in new york said that the civil judge was wrong. we'll see what the d.c. circuit does. but it's kind of unheard of. but you know, we're in unprecedented times where you have a former president who's running for president who has defended in criminal cases and on one side, you say he's running for office. that's why he's doing this. and the other side, he's a defendant. he shouldn't be attacking the judiciary. it's a balancing test for sure, paula. >> also fair to say it's different, attacking the justice department writ large or the attorney general of the united states as opposed to attacking a judge's clerk who we know doesn't have large sway over how cases proceed. >> well, i disagree. i've never seen a judge allow a clerk to sit right next to him in a proceeding like that, pass notes back and forth, and it appears she's a secondary judge. and he's taken great deference to her. you know, you can take breaks and they can pass notes, but this seems to be more like he's more reliant on her and she's like a quasi second judge. i've never seen anything like that before in a courtroom. usually a clerk sits farther away or they're in the back and he takes a break, but i've never seen it like this. >> when i clerked in wilmington after law school in a previous life, i sat right next to the judge. i don't remember us passing notes often unless one of us was really hungry, but i sat next to the judge. it's the judge who has control over the courtroom. thank you very much. >> thank you. and coming up, the majority of patients and staff are leaving gaza's largest hospital. we'll bring you the latest. you're in the "cnn newsroom." president biden has a new op-ed in "the washington post" this evening where he makes the case for why america should be involved in protecting israel and ukraine. biden says it is america's duty to lead and that he won't back down from the challenge of putin either. priscilla alvarez is with the president in wilmington. what is the president hoping to achieve with this op-ed? >> well, the big picture here is that it serves as a reminder that these conflicts abroad, though far away, do affect u.s. national security. that's been a message that the president has tried to send repeatedly as these two conflicts in israel and ukraine have continued to unfold. but he also took the time in this op-ed to say that it is not a time for a cease fire. there have been mounting calls here domestically and abroad for that to happen and the reasoning according to the president is this. quote, as long as hamas clings to its ideology of destruction, a cease fire is not peace. goes on to say to hamas' members, every cease fire is time they exploit to rebuild their stockpile of rockets, reposition fighters, and restart the killing by attacking innocent again. end quote there. now, what the administration has pushed for is humanitarian pauses. saying that would be a way to allow for the release of hostages held by hamas as well as getting aid into gaza. but in addition to that, and notably, the president warns of issuing visa bans against extremists attacking civilians in the west bank. this has been a key area of concern for the administration and would mark an escalation if they are to take this step. and the president saying that they're preparing to do so if this violence does not end. then of course, it goes on to stress a lot of what we've heard from the president before, that israel needs to respect humanitarian law, protect innocent civilians. he also stressed a two state solution. that, the president says, is the only solution to the israel hamas conflict. and again, take the 30,000 quote, the president has asked congress for a supplemental. that is billions of additional funding for the conflicts in ukraine and israel. and this is yet another call for americans shoring up support to make sure they understand that it is important to support these c conflicts because otherwise, they're ceding ground to putin and hamas. paula? >> as we read this op-ed, talks of course continue about releasing the hostages taken by hamas. is there any more clarity on how that's going and what role the u.s. is playing? >> this is not easy and it is incredibly challenging for this administration and for all of those parties that are involved. now, prime minister netanyahu said earlier today that there is no deal as of now. this has been an ongoing process. qatar is serving as mediator. and senior administration officials are working feverishly. president biden saying multiple times a day he is spending talking to his team about the situation. and this week, twice, he talked to a leader of qatar about this. these the mediator in these negotiations. a key role in all of this. and the president speaking to him goes to show just how much of a priority it is for this administration and how much effort this has taken. but as of now, paula, there's no indication of a deal coming together anytime soon. again, israel's prime minister saying just today there is no deal. >> thank you. israel is allowing two tankers of fuel into gaza, but experts say it's not nearly enough to prevent people from dying. palestinian officials say it's far from enough to help run ambulances and provide clean water with critical ambulance and hospital needs. now, the palestinian authority's ministry of health says only nine of gaza's 35 hospitals are still operating. this comes as the first plane carrying children from gaza with urgent medical needs arrived in the uae today. joining me now to discuss all of this, tonya. the cofounder of gaza medic voices and a pediatric intensive care doctor for doctors without borders. thank you so much for joining us. i want to ask what are you hearing from your organization on the situation in gaza right now? >> hi, paula. thank you. the situation is really untolerable. i feel like every day, all i can find is the worst possible words to describe what's happening then the next day, i wake up and something worse happens. and we're lost for words. you know, we have msf staff, doctors without borders staff, at al-shifa hospital. the hospital that's been targeted multiple times as have the majority of hospitals in the gaza strip at this point. we know they're still there trying to treat injured and sick patients. they were still there when israeli forces entered several days ago and haven't received an update since then. we are unable to contact them and roaare very, very worried, we are about the rest of the staff and their families who are trapped in various places in the gaza strip. in our last contact with the staff at shifa hospital, they described having no electricity, no food, no water. scenes that are intolerable. as you mentioned, i'm in contact with other medical professionals at the gaza strip through other work that i have done in that region and they are completely, completely overwhelmed by an unbearable level of suffering they're witnessing. they describe the hospitals, what's left of the hospitals, as being slaughter houses. they describe being unable to articulate what they're seeing. calling them intolerable scenes, scenes that no creature can bear. we have been warning about this for weeks. this is a systemic massacre of an entire population, a systemic destruction of an entire healthcare system. targeted destruction of the healthcare system. and i'm at a loss for words. then you know, you probably heard that again, al-shifa has been again asked to evacuate what staff and paretients are left. that's like an utterly impossible request. sick patients cannot be evacuated across the gaza strip. even, we know that these so-called corridors for evacuation have not been safe. multiple people have been targeted on them. even if we were to assume they were safe, you have extreme, to transport a critical care physician, you need multiple staff members, equipment. we need safe passage. and it takes hours. it takes a lot of advanced equipment. it's just utterly impossible. we already know that many, and we can't receive reports because we don't have contact, but the last reports were that so many of these critical ill adults, children, and newborn infants have died as a consequence of being deprived of the basic care that medical professionals like myself are trying to provide for them. >> so, for those who cannot be evacuated, what can be done to help these patients with critical needs? >> i mean, everything that can be done to protect and keep patients alive is being systemically destroyed. so, access to life support equipment is impossible when you don't have electricity. and when it's destroyed by fo fo forces entering the hospital. access to water. to medicines that we've been warning have run out and continue to run out of every type over the last several weeks. and of course, access to safe spaces to operate within. we have healthcare staff at these hospitals that describe being killed through the windows as they pass down the corridors trying to do their duty. to care for patients. i'm sure you hear my frustration, but i, i share as a doctor who has worked in these hospitals and other humanitarian crisis and as a doctor who has committed the hippocratic oath to care for my patients. i share the rage, the fear, the desperation, the immense sadness of medical professionals there. and it's utterly indefensible to attack facilities and healthcare providers and patients. i'm talking on a healthcare level. but then there's just you know, we can speak for hours about the impact and the impunity at which healthcare phfacilities and healthcare workers has been targeted over the last six, what are we now, six weeks. but there's also you know, entire civilian congregations. today, two united nations schools were hit. there are reports of thousands of people, couple hundred people at least being killed. mostly women and children. this is, you know, utterly indefensible. there have been so many violations of international law and these are crimes against humanity and i -- i am struggling to process how as an international community, we allow this to happen with all of the systems and checks that we have in place to prevent these kinds of crimes against humanity. and the fact we've been warning about them every single day for the last six weeks. i am strugglie to process how w are still living this reality. >> doctor, i do clearly hear the frustration in your voice. thank you so much for joining us with your perspective. thank you, doctor. >> i'd like to just end by saying there is an urgent, urgent need for cease fire. i know you've heard these words from me and the majority of the humanitarian community for the last six weeks. but they have been met with the deafening silence of the powers that are able to make that happen. we have to have a cease fire. we have to have the opening of humanitarian aid. you have an entire population that's being bombarded indiscriminately that has been stripped of their access to healthcare system that is being driven to severe dehydration, thirst, lack of food, and i'm worried about msf staff, families, and i'm worried about the very large civilian population of gaza, at least half of whom are children. this has to stop. >> thank you, again, for sharing your perspective. we'll be right back. disturbing video just in to cnn. earlier today, a group of about 20 neo nazis marched to the state capital in wisconsin waving nazi flags. the wisconsin governor calling the march truly revolting, saying neo nazis, antisemitism and white supremacy have no home in wisconsin. the capital is also the home to the university of wisconsin madison, the university did not say whether the demonstrators were ever on campus but says it has tightened up security ahead of tonight's football game. and new york city's mayor eric adams has set up a legal defense fund. the move comes amid a wide ranging public corruption investigation by the fbi and the u.s. attorney's office into adams' 2021 campaign. we have more from city hall. what is the latest? >> reporter: here we are well into this federal public corruption investigation you reference and the mayor continues to maintain that he has not been accused of any wrong doing. he has also now moved to establish a defense fund. a pool of money the mayor can use now for any resulting legal fees. now, he is well within his ability to actually do that. well within his right to do that. tr at least according to city code but he would have to act within restrictions and requirements. i want to list a couple of those. for example, according to city code, he would not be able to at least not receive any individual donations exceeding $5,000. he would have to disclose all of those legal expenses. also, he cannot receive any donations from suppbordinates o anyone doing business with the city and can't receive funding from any companies or corporations. so there's some guardrails in place here that are dictating who can give to the mayor's fund, but exactly how much. again, at this point in time, he can do this as his investigation presses forward. >> thank you. and tonight, we're introducing you to the top ten cnn heroes of the year. jasmine was one of the 1.5 million children in the u.s. navigating life with a parent in prison. she has dedicated herself to helping people just like her get into college. >> what we're ultimately doing is ensuring that young people who have incarcerated parents are overcoming systemic barriers and also changing the trajectory of not only their lives, but their family's lives and breaking the stereotypes and the stigma around having an incarcerated parent. >> getting ready for graduation. >> congratulations! i'm so excited! what keeps me going, it's that proud mama effect to see our scholars achieve, accomplish and over time, gain a sense of healthy confidence. a little bit of support can go a very, very long way. it really is a snowball effect. >> go to cnn heroes.com right nw to vote for jasmine for cnn hero of the year or choose your favorite top ten hero. we'll be right back. tonight, a town in iceland is under evacuation as geologists fear a nearby volcanic system is on the verge of erupting. cnn's fred pleitgen is in iceland for us. fred, how dangerous could a possible eruption be? >> reporter: well, it can certainly be very dangerous for that town and in general for the south of iceland. of course, one of the things we know, paula, is what is a big volcanic eruption in iceland can really affect the entire northern hemisphere. about 10, 13 years ago there was a big eruption of a volcano in iceland that disrupted air travel for a long time. i'm at the last checkpoint you can get to before the town you mentioned. you can tell it is about 10 kilometers, so 6 1/2 miles from where we are right now. underneath that sign the world famous blue lagoon, the hot springs that, of course, are only there because of the volcanic activity in this part of iceland, all of that now cordoned off as the authorities here believe that it is highly likely that there is going to be a large eruption and that that large eruption could very well happen extremely soon. now, there's another dangerous factor in all of this as well, because between where i'm standing right now and the town there is also a thermal power plant. what the authorities here are doing all night long 24/7 is trying to dig a massive trench for when the lava comes, if the lava comes, to try to divert the lava away from that geothermal power plant as well. so certainly the authorities here in this part of iceland very much on edge as they believe this could be a massive volcanic eruption. you know, we saw some of the videos that have been coming out of iceland over the past couple of days. in that town already the magma that is under the earth right now is trying to make its way through the earth's crust and destroying a lot of the streets there. where you see the big cracks in the streets, steam coming out of those, large parts of that town are already very much affected. you know, you mentioned it. the place absolutely evacuated. what the authorities are doing is they had to evacuate it so quickly as they are letting people into the town for a very short period of time during the days to pick up some of their stuff, but then they immediately have to leave again. but they're also not sure how much longer they will be able to do that as the situation here continues to get more strained, continues to deteriorate. again, the authorities believe a massive eruption could be happening very, very soon, paula. >> yikes. fred pleitgen, thank you for that reporting. and president biden again rejects calls for a cease-fire as we see growing signs that an israeli ground offensive into southern parts of gaza could be imminent. you're in the e cnn "newsroooom" you're probably not easily persuaded to switch mobile providers for your business. but what if we told you it's possible that comcast business mobile can save you up to 75% a year on your wireless bill versus the big three carriers? 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