the lead starts right now. this hour, hunter biden is going into court, donald trump is coming out of court, we are following it all. the lead starts right now. donald trump gets a second chance, he is allowed to speak at the closing arguments in his civil fraud trial. what you said and why a judge and then shut it down and one day after hunter biden s shop appearance on capitol hill, he is now back home in california facing federal charges. and now, the first lady, his mom, is weighing in. and a stunning rise in public officials targeted and dangerous swatting incidents, that s when hoax 911 calls report fake violent crimes to get a police response and possibly real police violence against innocent victims. i am going to speak with a republican who has faced threats and ask them what needs to happen for these cases to stop. [ music ] welcome to the lead, i am jake tapper. we start with the final moments of donald trump s civil fraud trial, playing out right now in a
a 60 day state of emergency was issued in ecuador on monday. will grant reports from guayaquil. viewers in ecuador watched in disbelief as masked and armed gang members entered a state tv channel and held staff hostage all of it televised live. translation: they shot one of our cameramen in the leg. | broke the arm of another one. they were shooting bullets inside the studio. the police were called and came in minutes. the gang was soon arrested and the hostages released, but the tv station ambush was just part of the descent into chaos. panic as gunmen stormed guayaquil university, explosions around the country, schools and businesses shut down and widespread rioting inside ecuador s prisons. in response, president daniel noboa called a state of emergency and imposed a curfew. by decree, he designated 22 gangs terrorist organisations and ordered the military to, as he put it, neutralise them. translation: we are practically living - in a state of war against terrorism. the
[applause] live from drake university in des moines, iowa, this is the cnn republican presidential debate. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world, watching us on cnn, cnn max, cnn international, cnn en español, and cnn. com. good evening, i m jake tapper, motoring tonight s debate, alongside my friend and colleague dana bash. and just five days from now, voters here in iowa will cast the first votes of the 2024 presidential race. tonight, the very first one-on-one matchup between top contenders, governor ron desantis and former governor and u. n. ambassador nikki haley. former president trump met the requirements for tonight s debate, but declined to participate. our commitment in this debate is to provide as much information as possible to voters, especially here in iowa, before the first contests begin next week. so in choosing topics, we focused on the issues important to republicans. let s bring out the candidates now. please
simone sanders-townsend, joined by my coherence, alicia menendez and michael steele. the clock just struck midnight a couple of hours ago. three republican candidates made their case why they should be the republican party s nominee in the 2024 presidential election. former south carolina governor nikki haley and florida governor ron desantis sparred in a debate hedrick university in des moines. meanwhile, the front runner of the republican party, former president donald trump, took a break from court appearances to take questions in a fox news town hall. in this town hall, he said absolutely nothing new. it was the same lies, same talking points and essentially a rally with questions. let me be clear, folks, the only normal aspect of tonight s debate was the presence of podiums. the candidates took the stage just after vocal trump critic, former new jersey governor chris christie, suspended his campaign, refusing to endorse any of his former opponents. in a normal world, a r
colleagues olamon, as don t offend k mark, a man smiling sanders-townsend with us from miami, katie phang. the twice impeached and now twice indicted donald trump has become the first ex president to face criminal charges from the federal government. over the next two hours, my colleagues and i along with some special guests are gonna break down the justice department s case against the former commander in chief. a case that we saw for the first time just yesterday when the bombshell 37 count indictment was unsealed. the indictment which also names the trump aide and valet, walt nauta, as his coconspirator. outlined criminal charges related to more than 100 classified documents that federal agents recovered from trump s mar-a-lago resort last august. trump faces 31 counts of violating the espionage act, through willful retention of classified records. he faces another six counts stemming from his alleged efforts to impede the investigation. nauta it was also charged with si