"out front" next, trump's courtroom campaign. the former president lashing out as he appeared at his fraud trial in new york. now he's preparing to take the stand in his own defense. former trump white house counsel ty cobb is "out front" tonight. federal prosecutors have filed a new case against hunter biden. details ahead. kamala harris's husband doug emhoff lashing out about anti-semitism and genocide. al franken is "out front." good evening. i'm erin burnett. trump's court campaign. the former president was in new york to attend his new york fraud trial today. he's been at that one a lot. once again seizing the opportunity to make this about the election. >> this is a political witchhunt. this is meant to influence an election. this is third world country stuff. this is banana republic stuff. i should be in iowa, new hampshire, south carolina. i should be city -- shouldn't be sitting in a courthouse. >> it's all a distraction even though he did choose to skip another debate last night where the other candidates all appeared. he has chosen to skip the debates thus far. the truth is this trial along with the other four that trump is facing are central in his campaign for the white house. he has embraced them and made them the core of his campaign. his legal strategy and campaign strategy are one and the same. the new york fraud case, he's been there a lot, he's been in that courtroom nine times, a lot, and as i mentioned, he's about to take the stand in his own defense again but by calling the trial a witch hunt, saying it's election interference, that's what plays into what trump people believe. he claims to be one of the most successful business men, well, in the country. >> nobody's ever been more successful than me. i'm the most successful person to run. >> i'm much richer than anybody. i'm a great business person. i've made a fortune. i want to put that same thinking for the country. >> the trial in new york threatens that image and that image more than anything else has always defined trump to trump which is why this trial matters so much. it can cripple his ability to do any kind of business and to do business in his state of new york, his home state. that is huge because for decades new york was trump's home turf. it's made him. it's where he inked those deals. i spoke to gloria bern stein and listen to what she told me in our documentary we did about the trump family business. we were talking about one of trump's megadeals trump soho. watch this. >> when buyers discovered the sales claims had been grossly exaggerated, they sued. >> well, people ask, isn't that just new york real estate? isn't that just the way it works? and the answer is, there is ordinary real estate selling and then there's this, which is a persistent pattern of saying things that aren't true. >> a persistent pattern of saying things that aren't true. that's not new. it's gone back for decades, but that is at the very heart of this fraud trial. i want to start with brynn gingras "out front" outside of the courthouse. what did trump say ninth day preparing in that court as he prepares to take that stand? >> reporter: erin, you heard some of that sound. he called this whole civil trial a witch hunt. that's something we certainly heard before. he attacked the judge in this case, the new york attorney general who brought the civil fraud trial against him. if we go back a month or so ago, if you remember, trump was on the stand called as a state's witness in this case and he did some of the sort of same grievances airing them on the witness stand at that time, even lashing out at the judge as he was sitting next to him. the judge at that time asked his attorneys be to control the witness so it's very possible that's exactly what we will see again, sort of a campaign stop on the witness stand when he does take the stand again on monday. listen, today he was not on the witness stand. he was behind the defense table as a spectator of this witness who was quite honestly probably one of the best witnesses the defense has put forward to, you know, further their argument that the financial statements of condition that were prepared by the trumps and the other co-defendants, that they weren't out of the ordinary. they didn't violate any accounting principals and that there wasn't any fraud. even at one point the judge child in and asked his own question asking this expert witness, so in your expert opinion, the ag's claims have no merit? and he answered, that is absolutely my opinion, absolutely. now, listen, we know that the judge in this case has already ruled that there was fraud committed in this case. so it's very likely that this witness is just setting the stage for what we do expect an appeal to happen since we have certainly heard about that many times throughout this trial. so this witness will be back on the stand tomorrow but, again, the big day is on monday when the former president takes the stand in his own defense and this trial coming quickly to -- not quickly but coming to an end be, erin. >> that's going to be his last opportunity in this trial. brynn, thank you. so andrea bern stein is with me now. with repubblica, npr and you saw her in the documentary on the trump family business. andrea, you've been in the courtroom throughout this trial. it's interesting how brynn described it. he was there, not on the stand. he was there as a spectator, behind the defense table as a spectator. you were there. how would you describe his demeanor, how he carried himself obviously in this couple of days before he's on the stand again? >> it's so interesting because i've covered trump for so long and i have never seen him the way he is in this courtroom. he's always in command of the room. he was a real estate developer, apprentice, white house, campaign, post campaign, but now he has to sit there when the bailiff says all rise. he has to stand and sit and sit at the defense table. no one can see him. it's all for those moments where he walks out of the courtroom. he doesn't have to be standing behind that police barricade, but he does. it gives a look. he gets to say, i should be in iowa. he could be in iowa. i suspect if he thought it was bet jr. for his future to be in iowa, that's where he would be. >> for those moments, as you say? >> right. >> you can't see him. he's not participating. it's when he walks out, the brief -- it's the campaign. >> right. we had today a manual on generally accepted accounting procedures that the defense witness went through in detail. that's what the former president had to sit there and listen to for that moment of press coverage. >> literally a lecture on gap accounting? >> yes. yes. >> it is an accounting professor. this is the most compelling witness that the defense has had so far could lead the way to their case for an appeal. this was an accounting professor and as the day went on i understand kind of his personal points of view in favor of trump became more and more clear in that courtroom. at one point there was an objection. he fires back. shame on yourself, talking to me like that. i'm here to tell the truth. you ought to be ashamed of yourself. >> i've never seen that. >> looking a the the assistant attorney general when he said that. he's this, you know, long-time professor of new york university. he has a lot of credentials. he's won awards. he's served on the editorial boards of accounting magazines, and he seemed like he was going to be a very sober witness. he started out saying i don't find any accounting fraud, but by the end of the day he began to say, well, you know, such and such is obvious. my 9-year-old granddaughter could understand it. a high school graduate could understand it impugning everybody. by the end of the day saying i've never seen as detailed and transparent a financial statement as this one. who does he sound like when he says that? >> right. >> he sounds like -- >> also that doesn't even pass the basic smell test. all right. andrea, thank you very much. she has, as i said, been in that courtroom day in day out. the latest podcast is we don't talk about leonard from pro publica and ny on the media. i want to go to ty cobb, the former trump white house lawyer. ty, you hear what happened today and the way andrea described it, that trump as the spectator was sitting there, no one could look at him, he couldn't do anything. he had to sit there and listen to a lecture on gap accounting all to get in front of that camera for the few moments when he came out and say, well, i should be in iowa. now he's going to take the stand on monday, again, for the -- this is now going to be -- again, because he did testify last month. it was nearly four hours that he testified last time. at one point he said, it is a terrible, terrible thing you've done. you believe this political hack back there, and that's unfortunate. now he goes back on the stand on monday. how do you think this is going to go, ty? >> well, first of all, erin, i would say nice to be with you. thanks for having me on. that i'm not sure he will testify. i'd say it's still 50-50 because as -- as the lawyer in me says, you know, why put him on? he's going to be subject to an eviscerating cross examination which won't focus on what trump wants to talk about, it will focus on every lie that he has told, you know, in the ten years that are relevant under these financial statements, and as we know, i mean, he told several more whoppers on the steps of the court today. there's a lot of material to work with. so i think a talented, skillful prosecutor could cross examine him in a way that would just eviscerate him. on the other hand, that's the legal. that's the legal side. as you all were discussing correctly, it literally isn't legal anymore. it's clear that his assets were inflated. it's clear that there are multiple misstatements, misrepresentations and lies on the -- on the numbers that were provided. and that's all the statute. statute doesn't talk about gap accounting. the statute doesn't talk about materiality. the statute says misrepresentations and omissions even without a materiality statement. that's why the judge was able to rule in advance of trial that trump was guilty to fraud and subject to penalties. this is really more about, you know, the disgoueorgement, the amount of money trump will have to pay. there is nothing that trump said on the courthouse steps today, you know, that's true, other than, you know, i'm happy to be here because he had a free microphone, which he wouldn't have had in iowa. >> that makes him look like everybody else who's running because he could have been at the debate, been in iowa. he seems to avoid where they are. when you talk about how this all comes down to the amount of disgeorgement, whether he would be able to do business and the way he defines it, how significant, how big do you think that number could be given what you've seen thus far? >> she's asked for $250 million. i think the evidence -- you know, the most compelling evidence on damages so far is -- was the evidence that came in that suggested that the trump organization had saved $168 million or received the benefit of $168 million it would not have otherwise been entitled to because of the documents provided. so i think that's -- i think $168 million is in evidence. i'm not sure what additional arguments will be made to enhance that figure, and then, you know, the real risk is, of course, the possibility of losing the ability to do business in new york, which as we know the court of appeals today said, you know, they were going to reserve decision on that until -- until they considered the entire appeal, which is -- which is the ordinary process and, frankly, the way it should be done. it's being treated by trump, of course, as a giant victory, but really it's sort of the only way the case could have pursued. >> ty, thank you. >> my pleasure. great to be with you. >> all right. you, too. we have some breaking news coming in here. first on cnn our evan perez is learning federal prosecutors have filed a new criminal case against hunter biden. we're just getting this news in now. i want to get straight to evan. evan, obviously a significant development here from what you're learning. can you tell us more? >> erin, right now we're waiting for the court documents to be unsealed. they're still under seal in federal court. we know prosecutors have now filed this new criminal case against the son of the president. we know that david weiss, the special counsel, had been using a grand jury in los angeles to gather evidence, to get testimony over the last several weeks and the anticipation certainly from the questions that those witnesses were getting when they did testify was that a case was imminent, that they were going to bring federal tax charges against hunter biden. we, of course, know that prosecutors have been investigating the president's son for now more than five years and a lot of it has centered on his failure to file his taxes on time. we know that there was an effort to try to put this entire issue to bed with a plea deal which fell apart spectacularly just a few months ago. we know the president's son is also facing gun charges in the state of delaware, erin. >> evan, you've got all that context around it and hunter biden obviously also under pressure on capitol hill. he has the subpoena from the house oversight committee. this all seems to be ramping up now in a significant way. obviously now just weeks ahead of, you know, voting beginning in the primary process. >> right. exactly. this puts the president's son really squarely in the political calendar, erin. now we're looking at a possible trial, a trial in delaware on those gun charges in the next few months possibly. we also know, of course, once we see these charges that we expect to be unsealed in los angeles, that he might be facing a second trial on those tax charges as well. so that's what we are -- he's now going to be dealing with. of course, as you pointed out, republicans have subpoenaed him and he's due to show up to be deposed in the investigation led by house republicans next week, next wednesday, as a matter of fact. so we don't know whether he's going to show up because he's offered to show up but only if he testifies publicly. there's a bit of a standoff between the two sides on that, erin. >> well, as we get more information, we're waiting for that to unseal, we'll bring that to everyone. thank you very much breaking that news here. next, tonight israel is claiming that it has taken out a number of hamas leaders. we have terrifying new video of gunfire erupting, meantime, at a refugee camp and we are live in israel. plus, former democratic senator al franken and why george santos will not go away. plus, chilling details emerging tonight. we are learning more about the former professor behind the mass shooting in las vegas. >> announcer: erin burnett "out front" is presented this thursday evening by chase. stay tuned for anderson 360 0 follllowed by ththe sosource by kaititlyn collinins presenteted chchase. tonight hamas leader's dead according to the idf. they have showed five hamas officials, as they say, who were, quote, eliminated in the tunnel where they were hiding. that's according to the idf. they identify each of the individuals who they say were killed. israel saying two senior hamas officials were killed in another attack on an intelligence center. sinwar is still free tonight. violence gripped a refugee camp in gaza. chilling new video in to cnn. you can take a look at this. relentless gunfire. these are people in the refugee camp, everyone just running. gunfire just continues again and again and again. looking for safety and shelter. alex marquardt is on the ground "out front" for more. >> reporter: this video which was released by the militant group shows not only how intense the battles are, but was a propaganda message that they are still fiercely resisting two months into this war. israel's stated goal of eradicating hamas has driven them straight into humunis where they believe the leaders may be. mohamed daef, the shadowy head of the wing is still alleged to be alive. prime minister benjamin netanyahu said the idf surrounded sinwar's home. the idf says he's hiding out underground. the response has led to a colossal humanitarian catastrophe. experts and officials say hamas has been degraded but israel still has a long way to go to achieve its goals. >> what the idf has been tasked with is disabling hamas as a military threat to israeli people by killing terrorists, by destroying infrastructure and by eventually getting to the leadership of hamas. >> reporter: that effort is still very much underway. the idf released this photo of leaders of hamas's northern gaza brigade circling five commanders that the idf says it killed in a tunnel. cnn reached out to hamas for a comment. israel claims to have killed other senior mid-level leaders and commanders which is a fraction of what the idf estimates is 30,000 fighters. >> i think there are -- there have been some successes, but my point is there's still going to be a lot more ground combat to come and i think you'll see over the coming weeks more precision targeting going after hamas leaders as they show themselves. >> reporter: in the next month or so u.s. officials say israel is expected to lower the intensity of the operations which have killed thousands of civilians, so many of them children, and displaced more than 80% of gaza's population. israel hears the international pressure and global calls for a cease-fire but insists there's so much more to root out before the diplomacy starts. >> we're getting to a tipping point where the major question will no longer be how many people we killed, it will be what happens in gaza so that the situation there becomes different and nothing like hamas can grow again to be effective against israel. >> reporter: erin, also in gaza, today we saw some pretty stark images on social media of dozens of palestinian men who had been detained by israeli forces. it shows them stripped to their underwear sitting on the ground, sometimes kneeling, blindfolded, sometimes in the back of a trump. it is unclear when they were taken, how many are militants, when they were taken. they have geo located them to the northern part of the gaza strip. we are told several of these men have no ties to militant organizations. new arab said that he spotted the director of their gaza bureau in one of the images. we at cnn spoke with a man in the united states who recognized his brother and a cousin in the images saying they're just a shop keeper and work in construction. erin, we did ask the idf for comment. they did not get back to us, but the main spokesman for the idf, daniel hagari, say they generally do check who has ties to hamas and who does not. we arrest them all and question them. lots of questions of the idf. >> those pictures are disturbing. thank you very much in tel aviv. next, the husband of vice president harris slamming the presidents of m.i.t., harvard. al franken, he went to harvard, he's next. plus, was the wife of the spy chain poisoned through her food? this is one of the leading theories tonight. fingngers pointeted directlyly rurussia.. there's a a special rereport ah. 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