from iowa. nikki haley and ron desantis head to head. this is the final push before the first votes which are in iowa. jake tapper and dana bash moderate tonight at 9:00. and i ll be back with anderson for a special hour of ac 360 starting now. we are now just about an hour away from the final republican primary debate before the iowa caucuses next monday. if you re just joining us, i m coming to you along with erin burnett from new york from the campus of drake university in des moines. ron desantis and nikki haley squaring off tonight. cnn s dana bash and jake tapper are moderating. adding to the interest, the unexpected, right, and raising the stakes, the former governor and now former candidate who did not qualify but is so crucial in this race as it moves forward, chris christie. that s right. governor christie stepping out of the race just a short time ago. we re starlgt off this hour with that headline that he made late today, suspending his campaign. here is s
the charges here are of the utmost gravity. it s just one, just one trump-related case before the supreme court right now. we re going to start with cnn legal analyst kari cordero and cnn supreme court analyst joan bis biscoupic. what do you make of this request from jack smith? he wants to reiterate as strongly as possible as the justices are considering it at this very moment the importance of the case, why delay would hurt the situation, hurt the public interest. not so much hurt the government s case as hurt the public s interest. he says nothing short of democracy is at stake. he really uses the fact that we re dealing with a former president here. he wants to say why donald trump is not like any other defendant, why he needs to jump over an appellate court at this point because donald trump should have to account for his actions back in 2020. he doesn t mention 2024 s election at all. he wants to he s talking about the imperative of being able to hold him accountab
just moments ago, donald trump returned to a new york courtroom in his civil fraud case, describing the trial as corrupt. insisting he did nothing wrong. now, the defense called an expert witness and things got testy. we ve got details when we take you live outside the courthouse in moments. as u.s. aid to israel remains stalled on capitol hill. today marks two months in the israel hamas war. we ll be speaking to a spokesman for an update on the fighting. the presidents of harvard, mit and the university of pennsylvania facing streetny and calls to resign after their hill testimony on anti-semitism on their campuses. now, a house committee has launched an investigation into the three schools. we re following the major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to cnn news central. right now, former president donald trump is inside a new york courthouse watching the $250 million civil fraud trial that threatens his business empire. trump is expected to t
haley and desantis. sending an email blast after chris christie dropped out of the race tonight, arguing that christie pulling out is actually bad for haley. okay. obviously everyone perceives it to to be good for her. their argument is christie voters are not conservative republicans. they re mostly crossover votes. so their email reads in party christie s withdrawal will only pull nikki haley further to the left. seriously, chris christie has very serious negatives and should be a liability to nikki haley. back to our panel. i will say alyssa. i guess by trump s argument, i guess it s a good thing that christie is not going to come out and endorse nikki haley, throws not now, if ever. i mean, it s arguably a accident spin from trump campaign. they are fearful of nikki haley. maga inc. is spending more than $4.5 million against haley. they have been much more aggressive in their criticisms. and i think they ve realized that this does open a window.
nikki haley has to be careful when she is on the stage. you talked about these really evangelical and more religious voters here, those are not the voters in new hampshire. they re more educated. they re less religious. going after a lot of disaffected democrats or unaffiliated voters. she can t say anything in this iowa campaign that is going the get their screwed up in new hampshire. here is the thing. christie gets out tonight two hours before the last debate before the first votes. and those first votes are in iowa. but now you ve got new hampshire voters tonight. i m going bet a lot i m going the tune in and watch this debate. and the ones who are up to look for haley don t want the hear the message that haley needs to deliver toon iowa gop base, whatever leg of the base you re talking about in iowa. so what does she do? i think she needs to prioritize new hampshire. i don t think you can alienate iowa. i think if she gets a dreadful, terrible third place, that s not the mom