brings so much joy to your life. a family trip to the team usa training facility. i don't know how to thank you. i'm here to thank you. will he answer questions about his son? president biden is due to leave the white house shortly and this amid new indictments against his son with salacious details. and right now, new impact statements before a judge as he decides punishment for a michigan teenager who killed four of his classmates. and the pressure of the president of the university of pennsylvania to resign after her controversial comments on genocide. could this be her final day? kate and sara are off. i'm john berman in with fredricka whitfield. this is cnn "news central." all right. those are live pictures of the white house where shortly, it could be the first chance to hear from president biden since his son was charged with new counts of federal tax evasion, and charges that come with a litany of new salacious details. the president is leaving to campaign in nevada, and we will see if he stops to comment on the way to the helicopter. according to federal prosecutors, hunter biden engaged in a scheme to not pay $1.4 million in taxes that he owed from 2016 to 2019, and instead, he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for drugs, escorts and exotic cars. jessica schneider is following this for us. what is the latest here? >> yes, john. this is the second indictment against the president's son this year. and it is these charges out of california that are much more peril. he could face up to 17 years in prison if he is found guilty of these. it is including failure to file and pay taxes, and filing or a claiming a fraudulent tax return, and also engaging in a four-year scheme to aide paying $1.4 million in federal taxes that he owed for a span of several years. this is from the indictment, andly read it for you, and it says between october 2014 and 2019, he spent money on drugs, escorts and girlfriends and luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars and clothing and other items of a personal nature, and in short, everything but his taxes. he subverted the tax withholding process of his company when he withdrew millions of dollars to subsidize his extravagant lifestyle, and to pay various women, and nearly $200,000 in adult entertainment, and $70,000 in rehab and among other things. so hunter biden's attorney responded immediately, abbe lowell, and he said, based on the facts of the law, if his name was anything other than biden, the charges in delaware and california would not have been brought. now, president biden was asked about the indictment, john, and this what he is saying. >> while there is no ties to you, your son could be charged by your department of justice, and how is that going to impact your presidency? >> first of all, my son has done nothing wrong and i trust him and i have faith in him, and he impacts my presidency by making me feel proud of him. >> that is back in may. now, david weiss, the special counsel is investigating this case for year, and he has been investigating since august named special counsel to give him broader latitude. and so he is the same special counsel in that handgun case in delaware. so he is going to be fighting cases in delaware and california now while his father is going to be campaigning, and that is going to be call into the campaign claims that the republicans are claiming that he benefited from the deals from china and ukraine. we know that the gop is also pursuing more impeachment charges against the president as we move into campaigning season. >> and those comments from the president were in may, and we are waiting to see if he makes new comments in the next few minutes as he walks from the white house to nevada. >> and john, those comments were in reference to the delaware case, and they probably did not see this california case coming. and now, we will bring in caroline polisi, and how bad is this for hunter biden in your view? >> well, pretty bad, because that indictment spared no expense for calling him out for the embarrassing things that he spent the money on as opposed to paying the taxes. as you will recall and jessica laid out, there he could have avoided charges had that plea deal not fallen through many months ago in delaware, and david weiss alluded to the fact that the new charges were imminent and they are much more serious than the gun charges that he is facing in delaware, and you know, now he is facing multiple charges, multiple coasts, and abbe lowell, his defense attorney, and that statement that he made immediately following this indictment coming down, he didn't really defend the conduct, and he didn't say that he was innocent of the conduct, but he noted that this is essentially a political prosecution, and that were his name other than biden, they never would have been brought. >> so it is your view that earlier failed plea deal in delaware greatly influenced the pursuit of this california case? >> absolutely. many called that a sweetheart deal, and those charges in delaware which were brought after the falling apart of the plea deal, and many people criticized them for being sort of trumped up, if you will, in that many people wouldn't have, or many prosecutors wouldn't have brought those gun-related charges, and he could have pleaded guilty to simply misdemeanors, and instead, they bumped them up to felonies, but these tax charges are more serious, and i don't agree with abbe lowell, because i think they would have been prosecuted by any prosecutor for anybody not with the last name biden given just how egregious the conduct was, because it is fraudulent conduct. there is difference of the misdemeanor tax charges and the charges of this nature that there was a really a campaign to hide money so that he didn't have to pay the taxes. >> and you said that abbe lowell's first response didn't say much about defending the client hunter biden, and so how are they positioning themselves to defend hunter biden, given the new charges? >> look, i think that they have announced that they are going to make an argument both on the gun charges and likely now these charges that the original plea deal should have been on honored, and so that is not fighting the facts of the indictment. also, you know, abbe lowell has a reputation for being a real bulldog. he has represented jared kushner and ivanka trump, and so he does not discriminate in his clients. and so he has sent a letter noting that he had asked the prosecutors in these who brought the charges most recently to sit down with him, and they have denied that meeting, so he is going to go to route of selective prosecution, vindictive prosecution, and tha >> trying to undermine the case in that way. caroline polisi, thank you. donald trump is set to take the stand in the civil fraud suit against him. his attorney says that he tried to dissuade him from taking stand, but says that he insisted. kara scannell is outside of the courthouse, and what can we expect monday? >> well, john, donald trump is taking stand in his own defense, and as you remember, he already testified in the case, and then called by the state attorney's lawyers, but this time, he is going to be questioned by his own lawyers, and they will be setting the table about what he wants to talk about and he will have latitude of what he wants to talk about. and his attorney elena habba has said that he just can't make comments about the judge's staff with that gag order, and so we might see a repeat on the witness stand when turned that into a campaign event, and when the judge was right there and the attorney general letitia james was in the courtroom, and the judge even turned to his attorneys and said, you need the rein in your client, and so we will see if there is any new explanation of the allegations in the case. this case is about him inflating the property values to get better loan rates, and the last time he said that he did rely on the bank statements and accountants. >> and so, a big week on the way there, kara. >> indeed. happening right now, the victims of the 2021 oxford high school shooting in michigan are getting a chance to address their killer for the first time in court. lis listen. >> in my family, we can't say that we miss hannah even though we feel it in every atom of our body, because we love her too much, and the words are too hard, because if we say it out loud to each other, we have to face the fact that we miss her forever. it is not an instance to wait for her to come back, but it is the rest of our lifetime without her. >> all right. soon a judge will decide the fate of the teenage shooter, ethan crumbley who plead guilty to killing four of his classmates, and the 14-year-old could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. we go to jean casarez from pontiac, michigan, and what is the sense inside of the court, and these are incredibly moving impact statements. >> reporter: well, the defendant in this case actually killed four victims and injured seven. what we are hearing right now are the immediate family members of those who died and we are hearing from the mothers and fathers an sisters and brothers and technically, these are the family mothers of the crime victims, but as you are listening to what they say, that they don't want to get out of bed in the morning, and wake up everyday thinking about their loved one, and fear that if they go outside something else is going to happen to one of their loved ones, and you can hear the post-traumatic stress of every family member, they are crime members, and under the michigan crime victim act they are allowed to speak in court at sentencing for as long as they want to, and this is what we are hearing right now, and the first time we have been hearing from the victims' families, because they have been in court through all of the hearing, and they have been silent, and they have cried in court, because i have witnessed it. they have a room outside of the courtroom which is interest, because it is a room they can go to for peace and solace, and they have had it in the beginning along with a therapy dog if the family members have needed it. but the other aspect today is that this is the formal sentencing of ethan crumbley, and this is the person who confessed to 24 counts, including terrorism-causing death. he is going to have the possibility of life without any possibility of parole which is extraordinary punishment for a juvenile. he was 15 when he committed this mass shooting. and he is 17 years old right now, but the court determined that under the supreme court precedent of "miller v. alabama" he is potentially irreparably corrupt, and will be sentenced parole, and we don't know they final outcome, because it is coming after the final arguments of both sides, and we are listening to the family member, and the judge must take into consideration what the family members are saying, and they are asking for life without any possibility of his freedom. >> very power 678. all right. jean casarez, keep us posted, because the impact statements are ongoing today. john? >> under pressure, the growing calls for the president of the university of pennsylvania to resign after her remarks on genocide, after her answers about genocide, and this is after the house opens up an investigation about the university's handling of the matter. so what is the one thing that the presidential candidates keep on doing that may make no difference at all? we have surprising new data coming in, and a big jobs report in this morning beating expectations, and it is the economy that just keeps on giving. all right. developing this morning, the leaders of three prestigious universities, will they have their jobs at the end of the day? the universities of harvard, pennsylvania and m.i.t. are facing backlash after saying that the call for the genocide of jews would not violate their code of conduct. so now, there is subpoena power into the investigation of all three schools, and now, the wharton board of advisers is urging liz mcgill to step down according to the board of trustees. and so now, do you think that the presidents of these universities should step down? >> john, without a doubt, they should step down. this is a horrific week to be an american jew and horrifying week to be an american and watch the failure of the leaders in the face of the scourge of anti-semitism to rise in front of all of us, and saying, it is okay to see the language that can target jews and language that makes jews fear for their lives on campus, and maybe that is okay given the context. imagine if the russian americans were targeted repeatedly because of the invasion of russia or imagine if chinese students, chinese american students were targeted because the chinese government suppression of the uighurs. it is unacceptable, and un-american, and i can't believe we are having this discussion, and it is a horrifying failure of leadership, and they do not deserve to stay on with these jobs. >> and so you are saying that in these universities with the way they talk, they are speaking differently about the way things are said about jews than other minority groups? >> yes, john. let's be very clear about what is happening right now. there has been a strategic political choice by activists who hate israel to be blunt, and who really want israel to disappear, to try to intimidate american jews into silence and in particular those jews who speak out in support of israel. i, myself, and look at my twitter feed. the anti-semitic attacks against me for expressing a modicum of empathy for israel are outland ish outlandish, and this is to intimidate through verbal violence, and the threat to become real, because it is the single worst environment for jews in terms of our threat level here in the united states since prior to the tree of life massacre, and that is frightening. these are moments that leaders need to step up, and the leaders that we saw this past week of these universities that failed the test, and they are now allowing the hate speech to flourish as a result. >> gap,-- again, calling for genocide is protected on campus is one thing, but if you are supporting the palestinian cause irrespective of october 7th, but if you are supportive of palestinians, what type of demonstration do you believe should be permitted on campus? >> this has been a journey for me personally and professionally. i was the founder of the jewish director for the bernie sanders presidential campaign in 2020, and i have been a long time voice for middle east peace and even throughout this period of israeli and hamas war, and calling for a two-state solution, but voices like mine are getting destroyed by the people in the hard left who don't want my voice, and the broad middle, and those of us who are fighting for peace. they want elimination strategy. so we have to call for peace and partnership, but we have to push those voices outside of the tent of normal dialogue. they are not looking for dialogue, they are looking for elimination. and it is depressing as an american, and american jew who has been fight for peace for years to have to say this, but this is what we are looking at right now. i think that this is a moment of decision for leaders, and they have to decide what side are they on? on the side of peace or on the side of hate? in this past week what we saw on capitol hill with that testimony showed the latter one with these presidents. >> joe rubin, thank you. and now, we are showing that the joe biden is on the campaign trail, and so are all of the progress translating to the polls. and we are showing a 35th straight month of gains in jobbings. we will have the acting secretary join us live. all right. today, the 2024 gop presidential candidates are on the sale. nikki haley and vivek ramaswamy and ron desantis are in iowa, and are they wasting their time? but going on the campaign trail, how important is it really? and we have data reporter harry enten with us, and i love this top topic, because it comes to how they run their campaign, and does it matter? >> the voters, look, it seems they don't seem to care. you can see where it is up in the campaigning, and the one who has campaigned least, 45 days on the campaign trail, and yet he leads nationally, and vivek ramaswamy the most on the campaign trail of 145 is at 5%, and so it is an inverse correlation. >> what does matter? >> what does matter. how about media mentions, and that is what donald trump does so well, and this is the fox news mentions in 2023, and look at that, over 22,000, and nearly 23,000, and then that correlates far better with the 61%, and the fewest media mentions on fox news, and look at that with vivek ramaswamy with more than 2,000. and now, there is a question if this is correlation or causation. >> yes, correlation or causation? >> who knows, but donald trump's media mentions have climbed farther, and it used to be that he and desantis were closer, but he is getting three times the media mentions on fox than ron desantis. >> and so, do debates matter? it used to be that if you were in a debate, you could make a dent in the lead, but now is it what they choose to talk about? >> well, it is not donald trump. and so 87 times they have attacked other gop candidates, and joe biden is coming in second place at 62, and 34 time they have attacked donald trump, and maybe they want to get on the one-on-one, and that is not going to work, folk, because the gop nomination came down to trump and desantis, and trump with the 34-point lead, and trump and haley, and look at that, a 40-point lead, and whatever the gop candidates not named trump, john, simply put, it ain't working. >> harry, thank you. with us now is former obama campaign manager, and also joining us is former assistant to george bush. so now, looking at that, if it is not moving the needle, why do you keep sending candidates out there to do it? >> what else do you do? two things to do in a campaign. you can campaign and raise money and buy the advertising bush a problem for the republicans right now, is that no matter how well they do at either one of the things, the thing sitting on top their head like an anvil is dr. he is sitting at 60% nationally, and the republicans by and large like him and even the ones who want to vote for someone else say they like donald trump. so campaigning and fleshing the flesh does not change the thing that is the guy leading the race by a wide margin. >> and so, now, changing the subject, but forgive me, you are an adult diper for the democratic party, and you say that the democrats occasionally talk themselves into bedwetting themselves into the state of the race, correct? however, as you are looking at the polls right now. >> correct. >> and president biden is, you know, sagging in the polls at 37% approval rating and as low as it has been, and what worries you the most? what presses on your bladder the most, jim? >> third-party candidacy, and some of the third-parties out there like no labels talking about running, and harry and i have talked about it a lot. the polls are garbage and too far out, and the voters are not thinking of it, and they are not determinative of the election. i believe in the bottom of my heart, when it is between donald trump and joe biden, joe biden is narrowly going to inwb the choice, but third parties like no label, and people are sigh s- siphoning off votes is what keeps me up at night. >> and what about you, scott? >> well, he could be a convicted felon by next november, and if he is a convicted felon by next november, there is a cohort of republicans and other, you know, centrists or the center-right independent voters who don't want to associate their franchise with a convicted felon. i doubt that the republican party would take him out of the nomination, if he has secured it by t