you are live in the "cnn newsroom." i'm jim acosta in washington. good evening. the 2024 election is heating up as we mark one year until voters cast their ballots in the race for president. a fresh set of polls from "the new york times" and sienna college show troubling signs for president biden at this stage in the campaign. hypothetical matchups in four key swing states show trump taking the lead. but it's not all good news for the former president. in just 14 hours, trump is expected to take the stands in a trial that could help decide the fate of his business empire in new york. this comes on top of the 91 criminal charges he's facing in other cases. meantime, president biden is facing growing pressure here at home. this was the scene at the white house last night, some of the gates covered with handprints after a pro-palestinian rally. over in the middle east, u.s. secretary of state tony blinken is in turkey for another key diplomatic meeting. earlier today, he made an unannounced visit to baghdad to meet with u.s. troops and the iraqi prime minister. blinken's stop in turkey comes as police there were used to deploy tear gas and water cannons to stop pro-palestinian protesters who tried to storm a u.s. air base. meanwhile, the israeli military is conducting what it calls a significant strike on gaza. the izf says it's targeting hamas militants and senior commanders. an idf spokesman today said the current count of hostages being held by hamas is 240. that number can fluctuate based on updated intelligence. former israeli prime minister naftali bennett joins us. mr. prime minister, thank you very much for joining us. we appreciate it. what is the latest, do you think, on the hostages? and these numbers are fluctuating from time to time. that's to be expected. but i know that the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, has said there's not going to be a cease-fire unless more hostages come out. do you think we could see that in the coming days? >> i don't know. it's tough. we have to apply tremendous pressure on hamas. they're holding 240 hostages, including young babies, for exa exa example. one child lost her mom and dad who were murdered by hamas. her two brothers were hiding in a cupboard. she's there alone. imagine a young girl alone after knowing her parents are dead. so we have to do everything and increase the pressure in order to get hamas to release these hostages. >> and you're in the u.s. right now meeting with members of congress. what are you planning to tell them? what are you talking about? and what about some of the pressure that is starting to make itself very apparent in the u.s. domestic political scene where you have democrats, obviously a significant number of democrats in congress, who are concerned about the humanitarian toll in gaza right now? >> i understand that. but we're going to have to follow this through. we don't have any choice. we really don't have a choice. the situation is fairly straightforward. we have a next-door neighbor who just sent 3,000 murderers to kill our children, to rape our daughters, is holding hostage 240 of them. it's clear that we cannot live with this nazi-type state on our border. so we have no choice but to eliminate it, and we're going to have to eliminate hamas, and it will take time. and i understand the domestic pressures all across the world. but really you'd do just the same thing if that were the case. we just have to do it. >> and what do you make of the biden administration calling for a humanitarian pause? it's not going as far as what many arab leaders would like to see. they've been calling for a cease-fire. there have been lots of calls internationally for a cease-fire. the biden administration is not going that far. president biden has really been standing shoulder to shoulder with the israelis throughout all of this. why not give the biden administration a humanitarian pause to relieve some of that domestic political pressure? >> because what that pause is, is we cease, and they fire. i have a lot of experience with hamas. i've been fighting them as a soldier, and i was in the security cabinet, prime minister, you name it. when we cease, they build up and fire at our people. we can't. we have to eliminate hamas. we have to follow through. we can't just stop again and again because each time, they rebuild, and that just lengthens the whole process. this is going to be a very painful process. it's not easy. we're losing boys and girls in battle. i'm losing some of my own friends and my friends' children. it's horrible. but when you have an al qaeda-like state on your border, we just have to clean it up and make sure this can never, ever happen again. that's the fundamental duty of its stated citizens. >> the idf has said repeatedly they're not targeting civilians in gaza, that they're taking every step they can to avoid civilian casualties. and yet civilians are getting hit. over the weekend, as you know, a u.n. school was struck where refugees were taking shelter. there were civilian casualties there. do you agree with the israeli government's approach here to continue with these bombardments, with these very devastating strikes on targets inside of gaza where civilians are being killed? >> well, that's an inevitable consequence of war. we're not targeting civilians. we're targeting hamas, but you are right that civilians are dying. that's because hamas hides behind the civilians at places. it's shooting rockets at my children behind its own children. so i do just what you would do and what any other country would do. what america did to germany and japan. we have to eradicate this regime. only when hamas gets out will all of this suffering stop, suffering for us and for the palestinians. there's no other way, and there's no quick or simple answer here. it's going to be tough, tough for everyone. that's why we need the backing to follow this through. otherwise, it's going to go on forever. >> and as you know, opposition to what your country is doing in gaza right now is building. there was a pro-palestinian rally in washington, in london, other parts around the world. it got quite heated outside the white house yesterday. i'm sure you saw some of that footage. obviously those kinds of things are going to continue to happen here in the united states and around the world. amnesty international has said that israel has waged a, quote, campaign of violations of international law. what do you make of the stepped-up international criticism of what israel is doing? >> so these pro-hamas rallies, are they pro-raping girls? are they pro-severing arms of an 8-year-old boy until he dies? are they pro kidnapping 84-year-old women and babies? is that what this, you know, movement of pro-palestinian is about? is it pro-killing gays? pro-putting women -- not allowing them to go out and work? against free press? what is the pro? i don't really understand this. i think it's either flat anti-semites or people who are ignorant, who just don't know what they're out there demonstrating for. they're demonstrating for a nazi-like regime, and i'm sure one day they'll be very sorry about that. >> what does it look like when israel achieves its military objective? gaza? what does that look like? >> we have 240 hostages released, and we have either killed all hamas operatives and the terrorists or expelled them from gaza. >> and at some point, do you think this military campaign has to shift in terms of tactics away from these devastating air strikes on targets in gaza to perhaps a more surgical approach on the ground? does that need to take place? it sounds as though from what we are hearing, the american government has been urging that behind the scenes, behind the scenes with israeli officials. do you think at some point it's going to switch to that kind of an operation? >> you know, we're bending over backwards to prevent or minimize the number of casualties. but when you have an enemy who is hellbent on killing its own people in order to kill jews, it's very difficult. we know as a fact that they've been shooting and bombing humanitarian corridors as to prevent their own citizens from moving away. the only way to stop all this death is to eliminate hamas, and then it will all go away. again, just like the nazi regime, there was no way to surgically do away with the nazis and the japanese. you have to defeat them, unconditional surrender, and only then all the carnage stops. >> all right. former israeli prime minister naftali bennett. thank you very much for your time. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> and we'll be right back. more now on these new polls from "the new york times" and sienna college that show some warning signs for president biden's re-election bid. these are from "the new york times" and sienna college. hypothetical matchups in four key swing states that show trump taking the lead. let's delve in with obama senior adviser david actixelrod. david, thanks for being here. i know you started a stir this morning for some democrats when you questioned whether it's wise for president biden to continue as a candidate in the 2024 race. you wrote on social media, "if biden continues to run, he will be the nominee of the democratic party. what he needs to decide is whether that is wise, whether it's in his best interest or the country's." that's -- i know david axelrod. i've talked to david axelrod a long time. that's david axelrod sounding worried. >> yeah. well, i mean, i think there is reason to be worried. there's not reason to panic because i was involved in a campaign in 2011 when, in fact, just around this time of year, there was a series of polls that gallup did in battleground states that showed obama trailing both mitt romney and newt gingrich, and we ended up winning that race by a substantial electoral margin. but there were things in this poll that were concerning, and i think people should be -- should not be pollyanna-ish about it. people should not be in denial about it. one of them was that biden was basically running even with trump among voters under 30. he carried them by 2 to 1 in 2020. that is one sign of concern. another was that he is -- that trump was carrying, in this particular poll, in these battleground states, 22% of the african american vote. that's 10% more than he did nationwide in 2020. and the hispanic vote was relatively even, and that's a vote that biden won handily in 2020. so these are warnings. but the biggest one obviously has to do with age and how people view it. i believe, jim, that joe biden has been a fine president, even a great president in many ways, and i think history is going to record that. and he's done things that have some generational importance. that said, he is not great in front of the camera anymore. there are signs of age. and he's going to be 81 this month, and people know that. and that's shot through this poll. 71% of people said that they thought he was too old to be president. a majority said trump is not too old to be president even though he's just 3 1/2 years younger than biden, and the same kind of numbers relative to their mental acuity. i don't know. i don't think that reflects the reality, but i think it reflects their performance in front of cameras, and it fits into the larger republican narrative, which is that things are out of control, and biden's not in command. again, i think it's more about performance in front of cameras than performance on the job. and i think his experience has shown in many ways, you know, including globally. but all of these things are warning signs, and the stakes are so large. >> yeah. >> you know, because you covered donald trump. he's not someone who believes in rules or laws or norms or institutions that are central to our democracy. his whole candidacy now is predicated on tearing those down, whether it's free and fair elections or the rule of law. and so there are real consequences to the outcome of this. and all i was saying is think carefully about this. no one's going to -- i don't believe anybody is going to take this nomination away from joe biden. if he wants to run and he says he's running, i think he will be the nominee of the democratic party. but the whole party needs to be cognizant that this is going to be a major challenge. and one last point, jim. i think that if he is going -- if the president is moving forward, and i expect that he will, they very quickly have to turn this into a comparative race. they spent a lot of the fall trying to sell people on the president's economic achievements, and there are major economic achievements. but that's not where the country's mind is at. the economy was very lowly rated here. and they need to get into a much more comparative mind-set vis-รก-vis trump on every issue. >> right. >> and force people to make a choice and not turn this into a referendum. >> so, david, that leads me to this question. do you think joe biden should consider not being the nominee, not running? >> i think joe biden, like i said, i think that's up to him. and i'm not going to tell him what to do. i don't think anybody can tell him what to do or should tell him what to do. but i think he needs to consider carefully what these and other numbers and data he's getting suggests and make a judgment as to whether he, in fact, is the best candidate to take on trump. there was a, you know, matrix in this poll, a chart that reflected the fact that trump lost to a generic democrat by 8%. kamala harris even did a little better than the president against trump. and i think age has a lot to do with it. and one thing we know for sure, he's not going to be younger a year from now. so i do think there are serious things to consider, including his legacy, which should be strong. but obviously will be impacted if he runs and doesn't win this race. so he needs to just consider, am i the strongest candidate to defeat donald trump? and if he thinks the answer is yes, then start running against him every single day. >> yeah. well, david, some democrats are saying there's no cause for concern here. obama, as you know, was in this place 2011. bill clinton was trailing in 1995. if you take a look at this "washington post" poll from 1982, it showed a majority of voters did not want ronald reagan running for a second term. i mean that was something "the washington post" reported way back in 1982. so, i mean, it is different, though, when trump is the nominee. reagan, obama didn't have to run against donald trump. the stakes are much higher. >> the stakes are higher. trump, for all we know about him, you have to give him -- you have to acknowledge his feral genius for this kind of political warfare, this media environment. the fact that he is in the position he's in right now is quite remarkable. so he needs to be taken very, very seriously, and it's also true that biden -- that both obama and clinton were, you know, about 50 years old when they were running for re-election, and they were running against bob dole and mitt romney, not donald trump. so i don't know that that is a -- those are apt comparisons. there's no point in trying to talk yourself into thinking that this isn't a real challenge. so, you know, and that's really my message to democrats is, stop talking about bed wetters. it's not bed-wetting to be concerned. you may want to turn that concern into action, and the campaign itself may want to get into a different gear. but it's not bed-wetting. these are real fundamental challenges. >> and do you think it's because joe biden has said, you know, i got ukraine to deal with. i've got the middle east to deal with. the campaign will come, and perhaps a rose garden-style re-election campaign is just not what's in the cards for joe biden this time around and that this may just be a brass knuckles brawl with donald trump? i mean donald trump is only three years younger than joe biden. we've been showing in recent days all of his verbal slipups out on the campaign trail. he's not exactly batting a thousand when it comes to reading the teleprompter himself. yet biden is the one with this perception problem and not donald trump. >> yeah, no, i know. that's the narrative. and i think partly because trump, even though some of the things he says are just lunacy and, you know, references to wrong countries and, you know, we've seen those serially, but he is very energetic, and nobody doubts that, you know. and sometimes biden's presentation is less than energetic. i think that is part of the -- part of the contrast. but, you know, and the president is doing what the president should. we've got tremendous challenges right now, foreign and domestic, and he's attending to them. but that doesn't mean that his campaign can't be engaged every day in drawing the contrasts between biden and trump and really taking the case to trump. i mean trump's the nominee. i think that seems pretty clear. it's very unlikely that he's not going to be the nominee. so start framing the case against him. i wouldn't wait. >> and what do you say to -- i'm sure you've taken a lot of incoming today from fellow democrats and progressives when you tweeted this, put this on x, whatever you want to call it, earlier this morning. it sounds as though there are folks on the left who just don't want to have this conversation. and what is your message to them to say, you gotta have this conversation? >> well, my message is that the stakes couldn't be higher. this is not a normal election. i mean it will be a fundamental event if donald trump were re-elected because of the thing i said earlier, because he is not the pro-democracy in this race, although one of the alarming things in this poll, the question was asked, who do you think would do a better job on a serioes of issues? on democracy, biden only had a three-point advantage. now, i don't know if people knew what democracy exactly meant in that context, but, you know, people should not be confused about this. i mean there's one candidate who is committed to the institutions of our democracy and the norms and rules and laws of our democracy, and there's another candidate who flouts them and disdains them and is overtly running against them, the rule of law, the sanctity of free and fair elections and so on. so, you know, i just think that the stakes are so large that to pretend -- the idea that, well, let's not talk about these challenges because maybe people won't notice them. well, guess what, what these polls say is, yeah, people are noticing them, and we better have a strategy for dealing with them if you're a democrat because this election could be lost. >> yeah. i mean it's very much a race between a democrat and a wannabe dictator. and if anybody wants to read this "washington post" story that's out this evening, talking about how aides and people around donald trump and donald trump himself have been talking about a campaign of retribution if he is elected president again. david axelrod, thank you very much for your time. we appreciate it. i know it was a little bit of a close shave getting you on this evening. no pun intended. thank you for coming on. >> always good to be with you, jim. thank you. >> all right. we we'll be right back. here in ths and all of our stuff where we want to go. but, our cars can't take us e with unpaid tolls. vehicles with overdue, unpaid tolls may not be able to renew their registration until outstanding balances are paid. payment assistance is available. visit bayareafastrak.org/ase so go pay your unpaid tolls y and keep your wheels on the ! nice footwork. man, you're lucky, watching live sports never used to be this easy. now you can stream all your games like it's nothing. yes! 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