hamas war escalating just days after the u.n. approved a watered down resolution calling for aid to the embattled region as the toll of the war caused christmas celebrations to be canceled in bethlehem. and getting down to the wire in iowa where a gop presidential candidate spent the holiday weekend trying win over voters. did he make any headway? we re going to find out. and if you ve been dreaming of a white christmas, you re probably going to be disappointed. we re going to tell you why most people around the country will just have to keep dreaming. we begin this hour with the growing fight over whether former president trump can claim immunity to election interference charges. trump s legal team filed a brief with a federal appeals court in washington over the weekend asking it to toss out the federal election interference case against him. his lawyers arguing quote this. president trump has absolute immunity from prosecution for his official acts as president. so, they s
be 2024. and the president will be running for reelection in the face of some significant head winds that are turning into quite the hurricane. everything, everywhere all at once. you have wars in ukraine. israel. bombs, still raining down. hostages still desperate for rescue. some of biden s own staff members holing a vigil outside the white house masked to conceal their identities calling for a cease fire in gaza. the president giving a personal message to israel. i want them to be focused on how to save civilian lives. not stop going after hamas, but be more careful. well then there is ukraine. biden is trying to push his own party where they don t seem to want to go. he is open to changing border policy in exchange for the votes to pass the aid that ukraine desperately needs. but democrats have been balking. and the president s approval rating is underwater in poll after poll after poll. now he faces the biggest challenge of all, republican led impeachment inquiry wit
newsnight with abby phillip starts right now. israel is testing the limits of what the united states will tolerate. that s tonight on newsnight. good evening. i m abby phillip in washington. and today a not so gentle nudge from the leader of the free world to the only democracy in the middle east. watch where your bombs drop. i want them to be focused on how to save civilian lives, not stop going after hamas, but be more careful. today s warning from the president to his israeli counterpart makes what he told the world less than two months ago seem, frankly, a world away. i come to israel with a single message. you re not alone. you re not alone. as long as the united states stands, and we will stand forever, we ll not let you ever be alone. right now the two nations are no longer in lockstep. biden administration officials have advised israel that their campaign of overwhelming force needs to end and end soon, within weeks. it s not quite an ultimatum. sources
deliberates the cost of his election lies. if he had taken the stand, imagine what a catastrophe that would have been. this is an attempt to square people and rudy giuliani should pay a huge sum. the only republican woman in the presidential race, are women voters behind what nikki haley is selling? she has the demeanor and life experience. donald trump is still the commanding leader, but there is no doubt the enthusiasm is there. the debates don t make a big difference, but they did this time. the suburbs are trump s kryptonite. do enough people turn out in the suburbs to vote against donald trump? good morning. breaking overnight, ukraine s fight against russia, the european union agreeing to officially open negotiations for ukraine to join. it is a historic decision. one president zelenskyy is calling a victory for ukraine. a victory for all of europe, one that motivates, inspires and strengthens. but in a setback, hungary did block the eu from approving mo
hostages as a threat and shot and killed them during combaera. very heavy fighting between israel and hamas over the course of the last week. two of the three hostages have been identified. one of the families of the one of the deceased hostages asked their name not be broadcast, but the two that we can tell you are your time high and the summer is summer who was kidnapped from kibbutz near also on october 7th. israeli military effectively recovered the bodies in gaza, moved them to israel where they were taken to a forensic center, and then subsequently positively identified as the bodies of three hostages who have been kidnapped by hamas on october 7th. we should note amid all of this that it comes as the israeli military had loosened its rules of engagement as it began this war in gaza following the october 7th attacks. allowing israeli soldiers to fire up on suspected terrorists while kidnapped-ing fewer checks than they normally would have. the israeli military we ar