united states, around the world and streaming on cnn max. i'm rosemary church. just ahead, donald trump changes his mind when it comes to plans to appear in court today. we'll look at how that will affect his new york civil trial. i want to be a dictator for one day. >> the republican front-runner doubles down on a controversial comment. why he says it's a hoax. what the u.s. has to say about civilian protection in gaza. good to have you with us. just days ago, former president donald trump declared he would testify today in his $250 million new york civil fraud trial. but a few hours ago, he changed course, announcing on his truth social platform, that he will not take the stand after all. new york attorney general letitia james said her office had proven he had years of fraud and unjustly enriched himself. du trump, and his sons and company, inflated the value to get better loans and insurance terms. he testified once and his attorneys advised him not to do it again. hear litman explains why. >> most dangerously, he would face cross-examination, which is rules permit a probing yes or no set of answers. that could put him in hot water to tell the truth or commit perjury. this is a case he realizes he is going to lose. >> trump vehemently denies the charges the case has raised. secondly, the presidential front-runner has been taking heat for suggesting he would use a second term to exert executive power in unprecedented ways. and for his recent comments on whether he would be a dictator. but trump is trying to reframe the narrative that he would be a threat to democracy, using familiar accusations that it's all a hoax. >> reporter: well, donald trump speaking at an event last night, doubled down on comments he made with fox news earlier in the week. he essentially said he would be a dictator for one day if he reclaimed the white house to build a wall and, quote, drill, drill, drill. but trump attempted last night to undercut the narrative that he would be a threat to democracy by characterizing it as a new hoax cooked up by democrats. take a listen. >> and the past few weeks, the radical left democrats and their fake news allies have unveiled their newest hoax, that donald j. trump and the republican party are a threat to democracy. do you believe this? it's a hoax. we call it now the threat to democracy hoax. that's what it is. >> reporter: the former president repeated claims last night he thinks joe biden is the, quote, real threat to democracy. there's a couple things worth pointing out here. there's a concern and i have spoken about this with donald trump's advisers and other republicans, that some of the ramped-up rhetoric is not going to play well outside of his loyal base, especially if he were to go on and win the republican nomination and advance to the general election. i think that's why you're seeing donald trump, as we've seen him do time and time again, to reclaim the narrative on this. and that's essentially what he is doing. he is trying to flip the script and put this on joe biden. he is claiming this is an artificial narrative. being spread by democrats, when really, biden is the one who is using the government to go after him and his political enemies. pointing to the series of indictments. that's not an argument that seems to be resonating outside of donald trump's closest group of support. of course, there's no evidence that the white house has had any involvement in the indictments against trump. i do think it's very important for us to be clear about the greater context of this. that trump himself has said publicly if you were to reclaim the white house in 2024, he would use the justice department to go after his political foes. his team has been formulating plans to move the justice department under presidential control and try to strengthen the power of the executive branch. another thing i think is very interesting is the unintended consequences of donald trump to talk about this. it's giving joe biden and the democratic party an opening. what democrats have been trying to do, is frame it totalitarian. two of donald trump's biggest rivals in the presidential race are looking to boost their profiles ahead of the iowa caucuses. the attacks between ron desantis and former south carolina governor nikki haley are vet getting personal, with haley accusing desantis as being a phony, saying he was too close to donald trump in a political ad. >> we're going to build a wall. >> judges are a priority. >> made in china and rushed here. >> what a phony. >> meanwhile, desantis accuses haley of being two different candidates on the campaign trail. >> you can't have hawkeye haley here saying she is conservative and nuanced n d nikki appealin liberals in new hampshire. you have to have the same message everywhere. joining me now, senior editor for "the atlantic," ron brownstein. appreciate you being with us. >> hi, rosemary. >> you wrote about two theories for beating donald trump that concluded that neither one will likely dislodge trump from his commanding lead for the race to be president. why has nikki haley nor ron desantis found a way to challenge trump with just five weeks before the iowa caucus? >> yeah. they are common problems that neither is attracting a coalition broad enough to really threaten trump. they have alsoly jointly made the decision they are largely going to defer to another day, making the strongest possible case against trump and focus on trying to edge out each other to get them into a one-on-one race. you know? they are operating from different theories about what it takes to beat him. desantis is running to trump's right. trying to peel away core supporters. if he gets it to a one-on-one race, the voters in the middle will have no choice but to rally around him. but that strategy, rosemary, hasn't paid a lot of dividends. he's alienated a lot of the centrist voters in the republican party that are most resistant to trump. that's filled the vacuum for haley, that will pass him as the most viable contrast to trump. the last debate showed the limits of her approach, when desantis and ramaswamy came at her from the right and she didn't have the answer for the debates. >> how will the republicans looking for an alternative to trump, once the competitors are reduced to just one other. either haley or desantis, however that turns out. >> the question is if that happens earl enough to matter. haley and desantis are betting on different states to use as a spring board to eclipse the other. desantis has put all of his chips into iowa, like the last three winners of iowa, mike huckabee in '08, rick santorum in '12, and ted cruz in 16'16. the problem is all three of the predecessors with the same strategy weren't able to parlay an iowa win into a full-scale challenge to the front-runner because they got pigeon holed. the religious right fell off the rails in new hampshire. haley is focusing more on new hampshire,electorate. allows independence to vote. and she is hoping that the strong performance in new hampshire will allow her to eclipse desantis and get the one-on-one race in south carolina. the problem they've got is it's possible that both of them may be viable after new hampshire. if that's the case, it's obviously going to be hard to overtake trump, given the breadth of his support in the party. >> if it is inevitable, this becomes a two-man race between trump and joe biden -- it certainly looks that way right now -- democrats usually win the popular vote in u.s. presidential elections. that's not how elections are won. the electoral college system puts the happeneds in a few hundred thousand voters residing in the smaller swing states. what might that mean for the outcome of the 2024 election, aslings look right now, the numbers? >> first of all, democrats have won the popular vote in seven of the past eight presidential elections. that's something that no party has done in the history of the modern party system in the u.s. since 1828. no party has won the popular vote in seven of eight times since 1828. right now, joe biden would like to have that problem of leading in the popular vote but having an electoral college puzle, because he is trailing consistently in polling at this point to donald trump, which is something that was never the case in 2020. there was no point, in which biden was trailing trump. we continue to see polls, with biden at a low ebb. and those polls do reflect a lot of dissatisfaction with him. his approval rating is stuck around 40%. it's sinking lower. cnn and others have him at 37%. but i don't think the polls at this point register fully the resistance that trump may face, if he emerges as a phenonominee. biden will be, where the last few points he needs to win, if he can win, will have to come from voters that aren't wild about his performance but reluctant to turn over the reins to trump. 40 states have voted the same way in the past four elections. that's the highest share of four times in a row. we're talking about wisconsin, pennsylvania, arizona, nevada, georgia, maybe michigan, as our true swing states. and only a handful of voter in them. you see enormous effort in few places that will decide how 330 million people go forward from here. >> all right. >> ron brownstein, thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. ukrainian president zelensky is wading into one of the biggest debates in u.s. politics right now. he's set to meet with president biden. he is expected to go to capitol hill, where aid for ukraine is bogged down, amid divisions of u.s. immigration policy. >> reporter: president zelensky's visit to washington will come at a critical time as lawmakers are working on a package that could include aid for ukraine and rules on migration in the united states. the fact that president biden invited zelensky to washington tells you the administration is looking for a way to break the impasse on capitol hill. while he is in d.c., he will meet with president biden at the white house, to discuss what president biden's aides say is vital support for ukraine. he will be on capitol hill. he will meet, as well, with the republican house speaker, mike johnson. his challenge will be in convincing that the $60 million that president biden is requesting for ukraine, on the battlefield, as ukraine is bogged down in a counteroffensive that hasn't changed the battle lines so far. you're hearing republicans oppose j.d. vance. zelensky will come to washington and demand that congress care more about his border than our own. our talks are tied together with the conversation of tightening the rules of migration into the united states. we heard sunday from the senators that are leading the discussions. it did not appear as if they were any closer to an agreement. listen to what they said. >> this is one of the most dangerous moments i've ever faced politics. i wish republicans weren't holding israel aid and aid to ukraine hostage to the resolution of immigration reform. >> can you get ukraine aid passed, separate from this? >> no. the focus is, why would we deal with other people's national security and ignore american national security. why would we allow people across our southern border, this administration. we have individuals that are labeled national security risks in the country. >> reporter: president biden said he was open to significant compromise when it came to border provisions. he is caught in a bind here, feeling pressure from both sides. from republicans and democrats that want to do more. also on the other side, worried they could amount to some of the restrictive policies that president trump enacted in office. it remains unclear whether presidential involvement will break tim pass. mr. zelensky spent sunday in argentina, congratulating the new president on his election. the two held a bilateral meeting after the swearing-in ceremony. the argentinean president posted that argentina and ukraine are united, saying we stand ready to strengthen it together. zelensky made time to meet with the presidents of ecuador, par paraguay and uruguay. urgent calls for more humanitarian aid for gaza as the war intensifies and expands in the south. details just ahehead. welcome back, everyone. israeli forces and hamas fighters are engaged in intense battles in gaza, as israel expands operations in the south. the palestinian news agency says dozens of civilians were killed in air strikes sunday across gaza, including in the southern city and in the jabalya refugee camp in the north. we want to warn you, the next video shows images that are disturbing. medical sources say those arriving for treatment are having to lay on the floor because there's no beds or medical supplies available. the palestinian crossing authority says 100 aid trucks arrived in gaza from egypt. that's consistent with the allowed average of the last week. it's less than a quarter of the aid that was going into gaza before the war. that's according to the u.n. the world health organization says the lack of basic supplies is allowing diseases to spread and warn that gaza health care system is, quote, on its knees and collapsing. >> as more and more people move to a smaller an smaller area, overcrowding, combined with the lack of adequate food, water, shelter and sanitation are creating the ideal conditions for disease to spread. the capacity of the health system has been reduce d to one part of what it was. >> clare sebastian is joining us live from london. good morning, clare. what is the latest on the fighting across gaza, the loss of civilians and the dire humanitarian situation right now? >> yeah, rosemary, this phase of fighting here in, the second week after the week-long truce, shows no sign of winding down. the key focus in the north is the jabalya refugee camp. 45 civilians were killed in an attack on a house on sunday. another nine in a square. israel says the social security adviser says they are closing in on a command and control center. the idf this morning saying they have uncovered stores of weapons, including ak-47 rivals. the u.n. relief works agency, in a civilian residence, a launch sight, they say containing 50 projectiles. they made it clear that the key focus is to root out hamas infrastructure and officials however they can. they are claiming they have killed some 7,000 hamas militants over an overall death toll we're getting from the palestinian ministry approaching 18,000. so, that is up in the north. separately, we're seeing very intense fighting in the south. that is an area where there was an urgent appeal by israel, civilians to evacuate on saturday. they published a map. it shows very specific areas that civilians were told to evacuate from. you can see them highlighted in orange. they were told to evacuate to shelters in the west without being specific about where. this is something that the international community is watching very closely. this tactic to see if there's a sign that israel has somehow changed its tactics and is doing more to protect civilians now that it's operating in the south, where many civilians from the north have evacuated to. this is something that secretary blinken spoke about on sunday, choosing his words carefully, but saying that israel is not doing enough. >> i think the intent is there, but the results are not always manifesting themselves. we see that in terms of protection and humanitarian assistance. as israel has taken steps to designate safe areas in the south, to focus on neighborhoods, not entire cities in terms of evacuating them. >> he said he wants to see more pauses in fighting for civilians to get out. more than one route out, which is something they are not currently seeing. the u.n. coordinator went one step further saying, designated the patches of land, where there's no infrastructure, food, health care or hygiene as safe zones, she really questioned the validity of that. as for what comes next, secretary blinken said, once the military operation is over, this is not over. there has to be discussions on a durable, lasting peace, that should include a palestinian state. we don't see any sign of this operation winding down. the prime minister saying on sunday, he says there is less willingness on both sides than before the truce. rosemary? >> clare sebastian, joining us live from london. many thanks. still to come -- a show of support for harvard university's president, as she faces pressure to step down after her testimony to congress on anti-semitism on campus. 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(♪♪) (♪♪) the new festive family meal. starting at $24. now celebrating at el pollo loco. welcome back, everyone. at least 600 members of harvard university faculty signed a petition, urging officials to resist calls for the removal of college president claudine guy. she was among three university leaders who failed to say unequivocally that calling for genocide against jews would violate the school's code of conduct. the harvard petition urges individuals to defend the independence of the university and resist political pressures. meantime, the university of pennsylvania has apointed new leadership, after its former president, liz magill, resigned on saturday, after her testimony before congress. the chairman of the school's board of trustees also resigned. julie platt the board's interim chair, said the change of leadership was necessary and appropriate. cnn's paula sandoval reports. >> reporter: the university of pennsylvania will begin final exa exams this week, after new leadership controversy resulted in the resignation of two officials. among them, liz magill, the former university president. she along with the heads of harvard and m.i.t. have been criticized since last week, for failing to recognize that calling for jewish genocide is a direct violation of the university code of conduct. here on campus, we have seen reaction and heard reaction from one student who was the vice president of the jewish heritage program. who told cnn over the weekend, who said he felt it was a step towards accountability for the university administration. separately, we heard from the governor of pennsylvania that spoke at a local synagogue joining jewish and non-jewish community leaders. strongly condemning violence against all faiths. >> in whatever form, anti-semitism, islamaphobia, racism, homophobia, it has no place here in pennsylvania, in a place founded on the promise of william penn. we will not tolerate it. >> reporter: the governing organizations of harvard continues with scheduled meetings. the president has issued an apology recently. a harvard spokesperson declining to comment. much more to come here on cnn. we'll go live to beijing for the latest on a string of confrontations between china and the philippines in the south china sea. back with that in a moment. welcome back, everyone. tensions between the philippines and china are flares once again in the south china sea. both nations are accusing one another of dangerous maneuvers and a collision that happened this weekend in the contested waters. the philippines has summoned the chinese ambassador to complain about what it calls aggressive actions. it is the latest in a string of maritime confrontations between the two countries that have heightened regional