aim at his likely democratic rival for the white house, accusing president biden with no evidence of weapon sizing the justice department for political purposes. >> every time radical left democrats, marxists, communists, and fascists indict me, i consider it a great badge of honor. i'm being indicted for you. these are not indictments in the traditional sense. these are biden indictments. this is just against a political opponent. >> again, there is zero evidence that the white house has anything to do with the indictments against the former president. despite his complaints, though, that he's being unfairly victimized, trump sounded like he is out for revenge, suggesting he would use a second presidential term to go after biden. >> he's opened up a pandora's box that may never let our country be the same. i only can say to joe is be very careful what you wish for because what you've done is a terrible thing. >> let's bring in former republican congressman adam kinzinger. he served on the january 6th committee. congressman, great to see you as always. dictator for a day. should the american people take trump at his word? >> yeah, you have to take him at his word. he loves this stuff by the way. it makes him feel powerful. you think about what that even implies. calling somebody a dictator makes them feel powerful, not ashamed. the problem is when people think of dictators, they think of saddam hussein in a military uniform. you can wear a suit and tie and be a dictator. trump has made it clear. he's not saying he's going to march armies into canada. what he's saying is he's going to get in there and do whatever he wants. he's said before -- he said, what, a year or so ago that we need to basically disregard the constitution in some areas. vivek ramaswamy, by the way, on that debate stage the other day made a big deal about saying he was going to ignore congress, saying that congress didn't matter. i mean this is where not just donald trump, but the party is trending, and you can see that by the cheers, the number of cheers after he said, i'll just be a dictator for a day. so eventually, as my colleague, liz cheney, said in her book, you know, eventually you got to start taking president trump at his word. >> yeah, but despite that, congressman, republicans are downplaying these anti-democratic comments. let's listen to this. >> it's entertainment. you know, we've been around him long enough. it's entertaining. >> i think it was a joke. >> i think that's probably just fairly kind of typical trump rhetoric. >> we all know trump uses unique expressions when he explains things. >> sometimes a little baby will spout off all sorts of words that you don't take him either literally or seriously, and that's a bit of what we're seeing, i think, from president trump and his campaign right now. >> what do you think, congressman? is some of this a little whistling past the graveyard? what do you think? >> i think a little bit of it is. i think a little bit is performative on trump's part. again, he loves this. the whole thing that unites the -- i won't say the conservative movement because there's nothing conservative about it. but the gop at the moment, the whole thing that yew unites is taking on liberals. we're going to take on the democrats. we're going to take on the media. we're going to say things to make them irate, nothing matters, lol. that's what you're seeing right now. i think some of it is performative. the things that he has very clearly said he will do, he said in his announcement speech, i am your retribution. i mean most people, when they run for president, go up and say, like, i have a vision for the future or i'm the way that we're going to get to a good economy. he is running on being the retribution of people that he's convinced he's spent his entire life convincing are imhvictims. to my colleagues, there may be some performative in there, but this is very serious. if donald trump wins, he's going to put people around him that aren't going to be like bill barr who is willing to say no for the sake of the constitution. he'll put people around him that say, you are the constitution, mr. president, and i'll do whatever you want. >> right. the other thing that he was talking about last night is going after joe biden if he gets back into the white house, if trump gets back into the white house. i mean despite the fact that he's claiming he's the victim in all this, of weaponization of the justice department, it sounds like that's what he wants to do if he gets back in the white house. >> well, of course. you know, i've tried to grapple with, you know, does truth for some of these folks matter? you know, do they care what the truth is or not? i think most americans do. there may be a certain group in the base that doesn't. but here's the truth. donald trump is not a victim of joe biden's department of justice. donald trump is a victim of launching an insurrection on january 6th, of trying to hide classified documents that frankly doj gave him ample opportunity to return, of paying hush money, of, you know, all this kind of stuff that he's on trial for is his own doing. so to say you're going to come in, that's how banana republics are made. when you just simply prosecute the last administration because you're ticked off. look, it is very dangerous to go after the last administration unless we have what we had over the last few years. in that case, i think it's more dangerous for the country to not go after the last president that attempted a coup. all you have to do, jim -- and you know this well -- is look at the comments from people like kevin mccarthy after january 6th. look at the comments from all these people that say what he did was impeachable, what he did is beyond the pale. they may change what they're saying now, but they haven't changed the facts of what happened a few years ago. >> well, you just mentioned kevin mccarthy, and it sounds like the former house speaker is going to be supporting donald trump in this next election, and he has some advice apparently for the trump campaign. let's listen to this. >> will donald trump be the nominee? >> yes, and the republican party, yes. >> can he count on your support? >> yes. >> that's an endorsement? >> i will support the president. i will support president trump. >> would you be willing to serve in a trump cabinet? >> in the right position. look, if i'm the best person for the job -- this is what i tell president trump too. what president trump needs to do in this campaign, it needs to be about rebuilding, restoring, renewing america. it can't be about revenge. >> he's talking about retribution day in, day out. >> he needs to stop that. he needs to stop that. >> congressman, is kevin mccarthy dealing with reality? >> well, no. i mean he says he needs to talk about rebuilding and restoring. certainly donald trump is not going to be the face of restoring and rebuilding. yeah, he was right at the very end by saying that donald trump needs to stop that. but let's work in reality. he's not going to stop that. this is his whole campaign. the whole reason he's running, jim, is for retribution. it's for revenge. it's to stay out of jail. it's to be able to pardon himself if, in fact, he is convicted. it's the whole reason he's running. kevin knows this. and sadly, kevin mccarthy went from my friend and somebody who i think was the future of the gop, talking about things like climate change and how the republican party can do a better job in dealing with those issues, to somebody that made a deal with the devil to become speaker of the house with donald trump. he has sold everything out. so he has no choice now. i mean he has to support donald trump now because that's the only political future kevin mccarthy has. but it's sad in a way because i think kevin had so much potential that he kind of flushed for nine months of speakership. >> and it sounds like the speaker -- the new speaker, mike johnson, is going to be calling for a biden impeachment inquiry vote this week. what's your sense of it? >> well, it's zero surprise. i said at the start the only thing i'm surprised about is that they haven't impeached him already. this was a political promise made -- you know, marjorie taylor greene introduced articles of impeachment on joe biden's first day of the presidency, on nothing. this expedition -- so usually if you have an impeachment inquiry, it's because there's good grounds to believe you need to proceed with impeachment, not because you need to get more information to see if there's grouds for an impeachment. because if that was the cate, every president in history would have had an impeachment inquiry against them so the other side could see if there were grounds to impeach. it's really disappointing, and i think it's going to backfire on the republican party because they're going after hunter, who's got his own issues, but so far i've seen no evidence that this links to joe biden. >> congressman, i'm sure you just heard in the last couple of hours that the ukrainian president, volodymyr zelenskyy, will be visiting the white house this week, visiting washington, as these talks over ukraine aid have really stalled. and it sounds like they're going to get bogged down over whether this aid is going to be tied to, you know, something along the lines of upgrading security down at the border. what happens to ukraine if they don't get this aid? >> well, it's very simple. ukraine, who is winning this war, and frankly just simply by defending your own country, you're winning a war. but you can also take into account in this counteroffensive, they've shut down the black sea fleet. they've gotten back half the territory russia initially occupied in the early stages. it would be hard for ukraine to win if we don't keep up. europe will have to step up obviously as they have. they've stepped up significantly. jim, this is the fight of our generation. this is the one we're going to look back on. it's like 1938. what did we do? if we fail to follow through on this, it will be an embarr embarrassment. i'm bitter about afghanistan. you throw this on top of afghanistan, and there will not be a single country that's willing to trust the word of the united states of america again. they should separate this from the border. just get it done. but i also say to the white house, do some of the stuff on the border. you really need to because we have to do anything to get this aid package through because i really think it's that existential to the future of ukraine and the current world order to be honest with you. >> well, and speaking of ukraine, one of the things that president biden has done since he's been in office is expand nato. he's been able to help usher in the expansion of nato, and if trump wins re-election, i mean a lot of u.s. allies around the world are concerned that trump could just withdraw the u.s. from nato, that nato would just essentially cease to exist as it stands now. what do you think happens to nato? i mean do you buy into those kinds of scenarios? what's your sense of it? >> yeah, it's a real concern because, you know, john bolton told, i believe, in his book or in interviews after his time in the oval office that donald trump wanted to get out of nato. that wasn't performative. that wasn't just saying something so that he could get an applause line. he truly wanted out of there. he doesn't understand what nato is. he thinks the u.s. is paying all this money into nato when really it's just a commitment among allies and frankly has been the greatest thing to prevent war in the last 70 or 80 years. but take it very seriously. donald trump will withdraw from nato. and if you're somebody that doesn't want to get america embroiled in another war -- none of us want to get america in another war -- you get rid of nato, and i guarantee you that makes war very likely for the united states because the greatest security construct in the post-world war ii order will be shattered. >> all right. congressman adam kinzinger, thanks very much for your time this afternoon. appreciate it. >> you bet. coming up, at least six people were killed after tornadoes ripped through tennessee over the last 24 hours. we're live on the ground amid the devastating damage. stay with us. in tennessee, at least six people are dead and dozens injured after multiple tornadoes ripped through the state late yesterday. >> oh, my god! whoa! >> that transformer just blew. >> oh, my god. >> oh, no! >> some pield video there. cnn's rafael romo is in the hard hit neighborhood of madison, just outside of nashville. what a punch this area took from these tornadoes. what are you seeing? >> reporter: a tremendous punch, jim, indeed. what we have been able to see is the devastation caused by those 13 tornadoes, and the tennessee office of emergency management said that's how many tornadoes were spotted here on saturday. and what i can tell you is that in this particular neighborhood here in madison, on the north side of nashville, many homes are a total loss. there are many downed power lines and trees. total devastation here. authorities say 22 structures have collapsed, and governor bill lee has declared a state of emergency. i was talking to a gentleman who lives here on this block earlier, and he was telling me that him and his wife watching tv when they realized after listening to the forecast that their area was in the danger zone, and they ran to the kitchen. a decision that ultimately, he says, saved their lives. let's take a listen. >> devastated. a friend of mine lost his life last night down the street. don't think it won't happen to you because i thought that, but i was wrong. so when they say there's a storm coming, make sure you pay attention. >> reporter: jim, restoring power to this area is going to be another challenge for officials. 26,000 people remain without power this afternoon, and this after 18,000 were reconnected earlier today. so still many challenges, not to mention also the cleanup effort. jim, back to you. >> all right. rafael romo in hard-hit tennessee. rafael, thank you so much. in the meantime, trump was set to head back to a new york courtroom to testify in his civil fraud trial tomorrow. but he's making another plans. we'll talk about that next. the power goes out, and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book. who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up. plus, now through december 31st, eligible xfinity rewards members can get 25% off a storm ready wifi device. former president donald trump has had a change in plans, posting on truth social he says he will not testify tomorrow in his new york civil fraud trial. new york attorney general letitia james is shouing trump d seeking to bar him from doing business in the state. what's going on here? i thought there was all this talk that he was going to be there and charge in there and lay out his case, and not so much. >> reporter: pretty clear reversal here from the former president. in all caps, in classic trump fashion, posting today on the eve of his scheduled testimony that, "i will not be testifying on monday." his lawyer saying he's already testified once. he has no reason to speak to a judge who imposed an unconstitutional gag order, he calls it, in the case. now, look, that's not what we heard from trump's attorney a few days ago. on thursday, another one of his lawyers told reporters that, look, despite being advised by counsel not to testify again because of that gag order, trump was adamant he wanted to take the stand for a second time. take a listen to her explanation of why. >> he still wants to take the stand even though my advice is at this point you should never take the stand with a gag order. but he is so firmly against what is happening in this court and so firmly for the old america that we know, not this america, that he will take that stand on monday. he will open himself up to whatever they want because he's not afraid. people that are afraid cower. president trump doesn't cower. we'll be back on monday. >> people that are afraid cower. president trump does not cower, but in the spand of 48 hours, things have changed. but that doesn't stop him and his lawyers from attacking the judge and prosecutors in this case as we've seen repeatedly, not just in new york but also across the various investigations and cases that he's involved into too. it remains to be seen how this case will shape up. the new york attorney general saying this is a distraction. trump was offering to testify again to distract from the facts and the fact they've proven he engaged in widespread fraud and his kids engaged in widespread fraud as part of the trump organization. we'll have to see what the judge ultimately imposes. it's just a matter of how much damages the judge decides trump needs to pay. >> do you know if he will still show up and just not testify? >> that's a good question. we have seen trump show up at the court and speak outside the courthouse even when it's not his day to testify. that is a possibility. >> easier to speak outside the courtroom when you're not under oath and so on. >> and no gag order. >> zach cohen, thank you very much. joining us now with more, cnn senior legal analyst elie honig. elie, you never cower. that's why we like you here at cnn. but it sounds like trump is backing down from fighting this out on the witness stand. what do you think? >> yeah, jim. this is the smart move, or i guess i should say the least self-destructive move for a couple reasons. first of all, as zach just said, trump has already lost a piece of this case. the judge has already ruled against donald trump for the a.g. on one of the causes of action. it's not as if donald trump's testimony was going to get the judge to reverse himself. the other thing is donald trump already testified in this case. he was called to the stand as one of the a.g.'s witnesses. that did not go well for donald trump. his testimony was all over the map, was nonresponsive, as timed was self-contradictory. so looking at this from a lawyer's point of view, there is no reason for him to get up on the stand. politics and p.r.-wise, that's not my area. but legally here he's done the least dangerous thing by deciding not to testify. >> one attorney said thrump woud testify despite the gag order, another attorney blaming the gag order for the reversal. they're not on the same page, it doesn't sound like. >> i'm mystified by the attorneys blaming the gag order. it applies no matter where donald trump is. it applies to anything he might say on his social media feed, anything on the street, anything from the witness stand. he's not allowed to criticize the judge's staff. it's a very narrow gag order, and it doesn't matter whether he's on the stand or not. to me, that is a bogus excuse that i'm not buying at all. >> and if trump did violate the gag order again, zach and i were just talking about this. maybe he'll show up tomorrow and speak outside the courtroom. i suppose if he were to violate the gag order in that kind of a setting, could he get in trouble, and what kind of trouble would that be? >> sure. donald trump has already violated this specific, narrow gag order twice, and he's continued to comment about the judge's clerk, which by the way, to me, is completely out of bounds by donald trump. that is something no one should be allowed to get away with. the thing is the penalties thus far have been minimal. he was fined $5,000 the first time, $10,000 the second time. for donald trump, he could care less about that. if he continues to do this, the judge is going to have to decide how to actually enforce some discipline. so there's a little bit of a staring match going on here. we'll see if trump has the gall to do it again. if he does, the judge really has to stand up for his staff in a firm way. >> trump's legal team also blasted the attorney general, letitia james. on friday, she posted this video on social media. let's listen to this and talk about it on the other side. >> donald trump can continue to try to distract from reality. he can continue to call me names. but as the judge said today, the standard is truth, and the truth is on our side. >> she says trump's experts in his earlier testimony actually helped her case. what do you think about that? >> she might be right about that. i think there were definitely some question marks about the experts' testimony. butvy i have to say this. that video is wholly inappropriate. her conduct throughout this trial has been wildly inappropriate. she has been making public comments outside of the courtroom, attacking donald trump, saying he's a liar, saying his family members are liars. whether one believes that is true or not, that is inappropriate for an attorney general handling a case. this is not a criminal case. i'd be disciplined. it is just inappropriate for an attorney general to make ongoing public commentary about the substance of the case, to comment on the truthfulness or lack of truthfulness of a witness while they're testifying. we would not accept that in any other context. prosecutors like to say we do our talking in court, and i think the attorney general ought to abide by that. >> do you think, elie, it's because she has been attacked so much by donald trump that she feels like she has to respond, that there has to be some kind of response? >> that may be what's in her mind, but i don't think that's an appropriate response. prosecutors get attacked all the time. you keep quiet. you take it. you develop thick skin. look at jack smith. he's getting attacked every day. he makes responses in court through his attorneys, through his filings, through his motions. it would be perfectly appropriate for attorney general james to do that, to put in motions, to make arguments in court. what's inappropriate is for her to take to twitter, for her to make extraneous videos like this, for her to be making comments outside on the courthouse steps. >> elie honig, thank you very much. coming up, ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy set to visit the white house this week as the fight over funding for ukraine continues. we'll talk about that next. with the emergency funding for ukraine stalled in congress tonight, we have learned that ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy is coming to boston. the white house will host the leader on tuesday. he will also meet with senators up on capitol hill. joining me now to discuss, retired army colonel eugene vindman. he's also running for congress in virginia's 7th district. what do you make of this visit from zelenskyy? it sounds as though, to borrow the expression, they're bringing in the heavy artillery to try to get this funding through congress? >> absolutely. frankly his last visit here was not successful. he did not get to address a joint session. it was disappointing from our perspective, so he hope he can address the folks that he needs to address, make his case. it's critical that ukraine is funded. they're an ally, and they're in some trouble right now, and they need our support. >> yeah, what's the fallout? what happens if ukraine doesn't get this funding? >> well, ukraine is not going to give up, so what this does is it increases the bloodshed on the battlefield. it increases the risks to the united states, our own national security interests. but i don't see ukraine folding in the short run. the europeans won't stand for that. and frankly our eastern flank nato partners, so countries like poland, romania, and the baltics. this actually increases the risk that they may send troops or they may take more vigorous action. they don't want russia to win and have russia on their doorstep. >> if these talks break down and congress leaves for the holidays at the end of the week and that's it, there's no aid for ukraine, is this a win for putin? >> it's absolutely a win for putin. and, frankly, what really bothers me is that it's dysfunction in congress, dysfunction in the house that's leading to this point. national security has always trumped other political -- domestic political concerns, and here that's not the case. we think about what are the impacts? what are the pimpacts in virgina and nationally? when russia attacked ukraine last year, gas prices spiked. why is it important that we support ukraine? it's not only values, but there are also sort of national security interests and local interests, domestic interests. food prices spiked as well. so you're paying more at the grocery store. we're an interconnected world. we can't forget about our obligations to our allies both from a values perspective but also from a national security perspective. >> i want to ask you about something that senator j.d. vance, ohio republican, said earlier this morning on cnn about russia's war against ukraine. let's listen to this. >> what's in america's best interest is to accept ukraine is going to have to cede some territory to the russians, and we need to bring this war to a close. when i think about the great human tragedy here, hundreds of thousands of eastern europeans have been killed in this conflict. the thing that's in our interest and in theirs it to stop the killing. >> there you have a united states senator saying the ukrainians will have to cede some territory to russia. what do you think of that? >> he's absolutely wrong. if you cede territory to russia, they're like a boa constrictor. they will digest the portion they have. they'll rebuild, and they'll continue to do this in 10, 15 years. we'll be facing a russia that is starting to rebuild an empire, potentially absorbing countries like belarus, and it is the absolutely wrong perspective. and to have the ukrainians live under authoritarian regime, does he think the bloodshed will stop? no. it's never going to happen that way. so it's a false argument. it's just absolutely not true, and it's the wrong perspective. >> somebody that you and your brother tangled with not that long ago, president trump, now former president donald trump, has a history of dismissing the nato alliance, the importance of it. he's obviously running again. he's probably the very likely the nominee of the republican party at this point. as you know, there are allies across the world who are concerned about what happens to nato if trump gets back in the white house. your thoughts? >> yeah. so, i mean, i think trump and his allies in congress are providing aid and succor to dictators around the world. and trump this week talked about being a dictator for one day. well, guess what? as a student of history, it only takes one day to install yourself as a dictator for life. so i think one-day dictator is one day too many, and the american people just won't stand for it. >> yeah, are you shocked over the lack of outrage in the republican party over these dictator comments from donald trump? i guess you had a bit of a front row seat to the impeachment process when he was impeached over holding up funding to ukraine to get dirt on joe biden. that's all sort of in the rear-view mirror. but when you hear him say what he is saying now, what goes through your mind? >> yeah. so i'm not shocked frankly. i'm not shocked by anything the republican party does. i mean they've sacrificed their values in support of national security. they're supporting, by their lack of action and the fact that they're wreaking chaos, dictators around the world. just a few weeks ago, our credit rating was reduced in the united states for no other reason other than the chaos in the republican party, the fact that we're not able to govern ourselves. we faced a series of government shutdowns. there are more likely to come. and that's why the 2024 election is so critical. that's why i volunteered again and decided to take action personally and run for office because i think democracy is at stake, and we have to defend democracy in 2024, maintain virginia 7, the race that i'm in, and also win back the house. >> all right. colonel vindman, great to see you as always. appreciate it. as the war between israel and hamas intensifies, u.s. secretary of state tony blinken is forcefully condemning the atrocities that took place against israeli women on october 7th. >> atrocities that we saw on october 7th are almost beyond human description or beyond our capacity to digest. and we've talked about them before, but the sexual violence that we saw on october 7th is beyond anything that i've seen either. >> but blinken is also warning israel to do more to protect civilians and provide humanitarian aid in gaza. the idf says they've struck more than 250 targets in just the last day. the israeli prime ministers office says 137 hostages remain inside gaza, including 20 who are believed to be dead. let's go live to tel aviv where cnn's alex marquardt has the latest on the fighting. alex, what's the latest? >> reporter: well, jim, it's clear that israel is still battling to take full control of northern gaza. they are facing what they're calling strongholds of persistent resistance. one of those is the jabalia refugee area. today there were strikes on a home according to a palestinian news agency that left several dozen people dead, others trapped beneath the rubble. so much of the focus has been on southern gaza, particularly around the biggest city in southern gaza, hahn khan younis where israel is trying to encircle the city and go after hamas leaders they believe to be there. but as they move south, there are also reports of dozens of palestinian civilians who have been killed in the northern and the eastern parts of the city. israel on saturday night issued what they called an urgent appeal for civilians in very specific areas of khan younis to flee to an area near the coast. it is unclear whether the civilians there got that message because it was posted online, and it's unclear whether there are actually shelters there that they can flee to as israel has asserted. and you're absolutely right, jim. secretary blinken speaking out again today, saying there continues to be what he calls a gap between israel's intent to try to keep civilians safe and what's actually playing out on the ground. jim. >> and, alex, qatar's prime minister is giving an update on how negotiations are going. what's he saying? >> reporter: frankly that they're not going very well. i mean he didn't hold back. there was no spin there about the ability to get the parties back to the negotiating table. u.s. officials have been telling my colleagues and me that they're trying to resurrect the hostage deal that would see hostages released and perhaps a military pause resume. qatar, of course, has been at the very center of these mediation efforts. here's what the prime minister said earlier today. >> it always takes two parties to be willing to such an engagement. unfortunately we are not seeing the same willingness that we had seen in the weeks before. >> reporter: so qatar, the u.s., egypt, those main three mediators, will continue to try to get israel and hamas to negotiate, but for now, those talks are not happening. israel says 137 hostages remain inside. 20 of them, however, are dead, and we believe one of them is sahar ba autoouk. that was announced by hamas the other day, that he was killed in an overnight raid to rescue him by the idf. his death confirmed by the kibbutz where he lived and was kidnapped from on october 7th. jim. >> all right. alex marquardt, thank you very much for that update. we appreciate it. still ahead, why elon musk is now allowing the disgraced conspiracy theorist alex jones back on his social media platform. that's next. one of the world's leading voices of disinformation, alex jones, is back on x, formerly known as twitter. the conspiracy theorist was taken off the social media platform five years ago by twitter management after jones repeatedly broke its rules prohibiting harassment and hate speech. cnn's senior media reporter oliver darcy joins us now. oliver, i think i know what's changed, but what's going on? >> reporter: well, jim, there was this right-wing pressure campaign after alex jones did an interview with fellow extremist tucker carlson, and elon musk has basically given in to it, and he's decided to restore the account of alex jones. look, elon musk is free to do so. you know, he's free to saturate x, his social media platform, with as much hate and conspiracy theories as he wants, and he's clearly going to continue to do so. i think the question here, jim, now is are others going to feel comfortable continuing to associate with this platform given the amount of hate speech and conspiracy theories and misinformation that has surged on the platform since elon took over and since he started making these decisions. you have companies like the nfl that have business relationships with x. are they going to feel comfortable associating with this platform as elon musk goes, you know, further into the fever swamps. you have entertainers like taylor swift who posts updates to fans. is she going to feel comfortable associating with this platform. you have news organizations on there. the white house is on there. i think the question moving forward as elon musk pushes this platform further and further to the extreme is, is everyone else, all the normal people going to feel comfortable posting content and just kind of hanging out there? >> oliver, another thing i wanted to talk to you about out of the world of media over this past week is what former trump official kash patel said about the press in recent days. let's play that and talk about it on the other side. >> we will go out and find the conspirators not just in government but in the media. yes, we're going to come after the people in the media who lied about american citizens, who helped joe biden rig presidential elections. we're going to come after you. >> yeah. i mean, oliver, patel is being touted by trump as a possible acting attorney general or high-level administration official if trump gets back into the white house. what is your sense of things? i mean is this -- obviously the tendency for a lot of folks is just to pass this off as bluster? but we know what trump has done in the past, going after the prosecute es and so on. what do you think? >> yeah, jim. it's extremely disturbing. i think you saw a lot of people say that. hearing someone talk about weaponizing government to overtly target critics in the press is frankly un-american. so you're seeing a very forceful reaction from people who are opposed to this. you know, you saw the biden campaign refer to these people as a cabal of snowflake henchmen, and you're seeing a lot of alarm elsewhere. what's really disturbing and unnerving about that clip is earlier, steve bannon, who is trump's former top political strategist, he clearly states, he says this is not just rhetoric. this is actually what we want to do. he asked patel if he can get it done, if he can prosecute some of trump's critics. and he answers in the affirmative. and, of course, jim, donald trump himself has made it very clear he wants to do this. he's posted about investigating comcast because he doesn't like coverage he's gotten from nbc news and msnbc, and he's not denouncing these sort of comments. so very, very alarming, and it should really send a chill through anyone that cares about a free press when they hear those remarks. >> absolutely. all right. we've seen this film before. i think we're going to see it again. oliver darcy, as always, thanks so much. make sure take a look at oliver's column, his nightly column, "reliable sources." it's a must-read. tonight, find out who will be the 2023 cnn hero of the year. join anderson cooper and laura coates for the celebration. it begins tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern. in the meantime, coming up, trump doubles down on his vow to be a dictator for one day while also insinuating he will come after joe biden if trump gets back into the white house house. we'll talk about that in just a few moments. stay with us. first time i connected with kim, she told me that her husband had passed. and that he took care of all of the internet connected devices in the home. i told her, “i'm here to take care of you.” connecting with kim... made me reconnect with my mom. it's very important to keep loved ones close. we know that creating memories with loved ones 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. you are live in the "cnn newsroom." i'm jim acosta in washington. good evening. we begin this hour with former president donald trump doubling down on his vow to be an american dictator. he maintains for only one day. >> baker today in "the new york times," he said that i want to be a dictator. i didn't say that. i said i want to be a dictator for one day. but "the new york times" said -- and you know why i wanted to be a dictator? because i want a wall, right? i want a wall, and i want to drill, drill, drill. >> that dictator talk came during an 80-minute airing of grievances last night at a soiree of trump diehards on capitol hill. many are downplaying the former president's draconian pledge. >> it's entertainment. we've been around him long enough. it's entertaining. >> i think it was a joke. >> i think that's probably just fairly kind of typical trump rhetoric. >> we all know trump uses unique expressions when he explains things. >> sometimes a little baby will spout out all sorts of words that you don't take them either literally or seriously. that's a bit of what we're seeing, i think, from president trump and his campaign right now. >> we should also note trump's comments last night included another anti-democratic admission when the former president suggested that during a second term, he would weaponize the department of justice for political purposes

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