good morning. welcome to morning joe. it is friday, december 8th. glad it s friday, but we do have a lot to get to this morning, willie. president biden is putting more pressure on israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu to allow additional aid into gaza. we ll have more details on the first conversation between the two leaders in 11 days. a lot of questions. meanwhile, the president s son is facing several new tax charges. we ll break down the allegations against hunter biden. plus, a recap of donald trump s day in court for his civil tax fraud trial. he was there as the former president is now expected to be the last person to take the stand. that should happen next week. also ahead, a rare ruling in a post roe world. a judge in texas granted an emergency request for an abortion, but the state s attorney general is threatening to prosecute any doctor who treats the woman. we ll talk about that. with us, we have the host of way too early, white house bur
encounters and much more. cnn this morning continues right now. under no circumstances you are promising america tonight you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody? except for day one. except for? except for day one. meaning in. i want to close the border and i want to drill that s he says you are not going to be a dictator, are you? no, no, no, other than day one. we are kpoes closing the border and drilling, drilling, drilling. after that i am not a dictator, okay? good morning, everyone. i m poppy harlow with phil mattingly in new york. that was donald trump last night saying the quiet part outloud when he was put on the spot. for trump rhetoric on the campaign trail sparked a frenzy of headlines this week about what he might do if he becomes president again. he danced around the question about abusing power. his ally ckash patel is talking about punishing enemies if there is a new trump term. this is a man who holds a senior rol
city. on the brink of the one decisive battles of this war. possibly byian we ll get to the next phase, what we re about to see a longer term campaign. we begin this hour with exclusive breaking news. cnn is learning that mike pence the former vice president could be taking the stand when donald trump goes on trial in january. sources say fulton county prosecutors have put the former vice president on their list of witnesses. the most recent versions of the witness list is 150, more than 150 names, but pence could be key, right. absolutely, we know that the pressure campaign targeted vice president mike pence at the time is a key point of this broader conspiracy case. who better to speak to that than is mike pence himself. by putting him on this witness list, you know, they re preserving their right to call mike pence to testify during a pivotal trial in this case. look it remains unclear when that might happen. the judge hasn t set a trial date yet. mike pence, thi
gaza, why said the situation is getting worse each minute. u.s. coast guard rocked by allegations that leaders held back information for years failing to keep people safe pick reporting on reforms they plan to make, we follow these major developing stories coming into cnn news central. a 24 hour dictatorship, that s how donald trump will start a second term in the white house. his comments coming during an iowa town hall after he already signaled he would use presidential powers to carry out personal vendettas, his allies have echoed those plans leading to a host of former government officials, constitutional scholars, and other republicans warning trump would usher an era of authoritarianism. now last night, the former president ally and adviser, and also fox news anchor sean hannity offered him and out. trump did not take it, listen to this. under no circumstances you are promising america tonight you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody. except da
to be handed back to israeli officials. we know that 13 is really hostages are due to be released and would also be released is separate to that deal. 39 palestinian prisoners who are being held in israeli jails also being exchanged for those hostages. now as we continue to watch those live pictures, joining us now on the line, our correspondent lucy williamson. and the occupied west bank. lucy, we sawjubilant scenes and the occupied west bank. lucy, we saw jubilant scenes there yesterday as prisoners were released by this time yesterday. we ve had these delays, what is happening where you are now? right, this sounds like we are have communication problems here. we can t make contact with lucy at the moment. so we ll keep trying, lucy williamson our correspondent in the west bank. let s head tojerusalem with our correspondent tom bateman. it seems that the problems have been ironed out now, do we know what stage the release process is at? while we know it is due to take place