right now on early start, the new poll releasing this very minute showing nikki haley is closing the gap on donald trump in one early primary state. plus the republican front runner planning to be in court just hours from now while his lawyers argue he s immune from prosecution. hi, everyone. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. good to see all of you. i m omar jimenez in for kasie hunt. it is tuesday, january 9th. we are we have a lot of news to get to. let s get going. we want to start with 5:00 a.m. in washington. we have a brand new cnn poll for you all. that poll shows donald trump s lead narrowing as nikki haley surges. the former president now at 39% of likely gop primary voters with haley just 7 points behind at 32%. the rest of the field hovers at least 20 points further back in the poll taken just this week. chris christie is at 12% fo followed by vivek ramaswamy and ron desantis in single digits. now trump is roughly where he was
action, other options. reporter: people who know austin say he kept things quiet because of how private he is. lloyd austin is an intensely private person. he doesn t go out in front of the cameras or go out of his way to be known or to be seen. he likes to take a lower profile. reporter: the pentagon said in a statement on monday evening that austin is no longer in the icu, but he remains at walter reid hospital. he s monitor the defense department s operations around the world. the state department said that austin is in good condition, but experiencing discomfort. a spokesman did not explain why even when austin went into the hospital for the first time for surgery last month president biden and others weren t told. the spokesman told reporters we know we can do better and we will do better. in the meantime, at leasts for now, the white house is praising austin s general leadership saying he took own er isship fo
with haley just 7 points behind at 32%. the rest of the field hovers at least 20 points further back in the poll taken just this week. chris christie is at 12% fo followed by vivek ramaswamy and ron desantis in single digits. now trump is roughly where he was in the last cnn university of new hampshire poll in november. the real change has been for haley, who has jumped a huge 12 points since the last cnn poll. about a third of that at the expense of ron desantis. so let s bring in political reporter steph kite to discuss. we have a lot to talk about here. but specifically, haley s biggest pickup seems to be with independent voters, who the state calls undeclired and allows to vote in either primary. so moderate voters, that s 43%. 55% moderate. so what has haley done in new