. happening now. there s majora breaking news out there for the republican presidential nomination. a source now tells cnn that chris christie is dropping out of the race. we are standing by to hear directly from him live this hour in new hampshire. we will bring that to you as soon as it begins and all this comes as the final republican debate before the iowa caucuses are now just a few hours away right here on cnn. nikki haley and ron desantis preparing to face off tonight as both candidates make their closing pitch to try to naur row t narrow the gap with donald trump. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. this is cnn breaking news. let s get straight to the breaking news and the race of the republican nomination. he s got details on the major developments that are unfolding. exactly, omar, what are we expected to hear directly from chris christie in the coming minutes? yeah, wol
where he ll finally experience consequences for some of his actions. next week, tuesday, marks the beginning of the second e. jean carroll defamation trial. news on that later on. but first things first, developments ahead of closing arguments. tomorrow in new york s $250 million civil fraud lawsuit. the judge revealed he would not allow donald trump to deliver part of those closing arguments himself as he had requested. the reasoning, neither trump nor his attorneys ever got back to the judge agreeing to preconditions. in truth, it is hard to imagine what trump wanted more, an opportunity to put himself at the center of proceedings to deliver his message in his own way, or an opportunity like this, to complain, whine about being silenced, despite the fact his own team failed to respond to the judge on time. remember, in both cases, e. jean carroll s defamation and new york s civil fraud, trump s guilt has already been determined. these decisions will only settle the punish.
plus, the remarkable story of this 9-year-old and how she s using her own voice for the first time all thanks to a rare and complex surgery. we re following these stories and more all coming right here to cnn central. we begin on the southern/u.s. border where thousands of migrants right now are making a very long trek by foot to the u.s. the caravan is called quote, the exodus of poverty. homeland security. p encounters with migrants at the border is averaging 10,000 nor the month of december alean. and border patrol agents say they ve been 380,000. what s unfolding from eagle pass, texas. what do you know about this caravan and how are officials preparing? jessica, they departed on christmas eve and they have spent their christmas day walking towards the united states. make no mistake about it, it s going to create an even more complicated situation. what we see and hear at the border, and, behind me it s a holding area that was empty when we arrived here this morning a
merry christmas to you. it is a new, leak prison for alexei navalny. he has been found, but his new home maybe the worst yet. it is a penal colony. no public celebration in bethlehem as the death toll mounts with 250 killed in the last 24 hours alone. the israeli prime minister vowing to intensify the war. and the former president urging an appeals court for out a case against him. will accept his argument? following the stories and many more coming in right here to cnn news central. vladimir putin s most famous critic has been found in one of the most remote prisons. alexei navalny is doing well despite being at a penal colony in siberia known as polar wolf. that is according to his legal team spokesman. it is nearly 2000 miles from where he was held before. the 47-year-old opposition leader has been missing since december 11th and his team said he was never hidden for so long. he missed two scheduled court appearances last week. his protest of vladimir putin
smart and sensible and will work, because it s not right to have a porous southern border in this country. but i want you to remember something. those people who are coming over that border, many of them are walking hundreds if not thousands of miles to get there because here the where they see hope. here is where they see freedom. here is where they see success. here is where they see that flag, which means for them, thousands of miles away in other countries, all of those principles. we are still the indispensable nation to the rest of the world. we need to be the indispensable nation once again to each other. we need to believe in america as much as they believe in america.