piece of stripe gum. the situation room with wolf blitzer starts right now. see you tomorrow. happening now, breaking news. closing arguments just wrapped up in donald trump s new york civil fraud trial. the former president taking his campaign to the courtroom, launching into a rambling speech before being cut off by the judge who urged trump s attorneys to control their client. plus, we re now in the final stretch before iowa decides with the first in the nation caucuses just four days away. nikki haley and ron desantis trying to capitalize on last night s heated cnn debate and close the gap with republican front-runner donald trump. a key haley supporter, new hampshire governor chris sununu joins me live this hour. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world, i m wolf blitzer and you re in the situation room. announcer: this is cnn breaking news. and let s get straight to the breaking news. donald trump s new york civil fraud trial comes to
fewer than five hours out from the cnn republican presidential debate and nikki haley and ron desantis facing off five days before iowa voters set the race, is this a fight for second place? else on capitol hill when hunter biden shows up unexpectedly crashing a hearing holding him in contempt of congress. you are the epitome of white privilege, coming into the oversight committee and spitting in her face. we can hear from hunter biden. you should have the courtesy and don t act like nimrods. hunter biden abruptly walked out. a judge says not so fast on donald trump taking the stand. welcome to the lead, i am pamela brown, jake tapper is out, he will moderate the republican presidential debate with dana bash between ron desantis and nikki haley, the two candidates searching for a breakthrough that could position them to become the one and only viable challenger to donald trump who is the favorite to win his search straight republican nomination. nikki haley trails d
Two close trump allies, jim jordan and Steve Scalise announced theyre running for Speaker Of The House. Where this race could go as the house remains at a standstill. Ill talk to one of the eight republicans who voted Kevin Mccarthy out. What does he think about the accusations they were trying to burn down the building with no plan. Congressman ken buck is here. And a motion to vacate of a completely different kind. Nancy pelosi evicted from her private office during the turmoil on the hill. Ill get reaction from democratic Congressman Jason Crow. Our nbc News Reporters are following all of the latest developments. We begin with nbcs Garrett Haake who is on the hill for us. Now we know jim jordan, Steve Scalise both officially running. How is this race shaping up and what are you hearing on the hill . Reporter well, chris, we start with these two candidates, but i dont know that well end with just these two. These are perhaps the most well known members of the republican conference l