the president made clear he does not think ukraine is ready for nato membership. i don t think it is ready for membership in nato. holding nato together is critical. i don t think there is unity in nato about whether or not to bring ukraine into the nato family now at this moment in the middle of a war. biden s view on the ukraine nato question is not necessarily widely shared by other allies and international leaders. lastly, dozens of experts signed an open letter arguing ukraine needs a roadmap to nato membership now arguing any delay will invite more aggression from russia. biden supports ukraine and other ways. his administration is announcing the u.s. will send cluster ammunitions to ukraine. the president defended that decision calling it a difficult one. there is pushback from congressional democrats and u.s. allies including the united kingdom who are concerned vital tools could increase civilian injuries and casualties. joined by william taylor, former u.s. amba
new york city in court for the first day of the damages trials in e. jean carroll s case against him. this morning all eyes are on new hampshire now after iowa casts the first ballots in the race for the 2024 republican presidential nomination. former president donald trump cruised to victory in the iowa caucuses winning by nearly 30%. and you can see ron desantis came in a distance second, narrowly edging out former u.n. ambassador, nikki haley. and then vivek ramaswamy came in fourth and dropped out of the race. and asa hutchison just announced he was dropping out of the race. 100,000 iowans turned out, much lower than in 2016. so it s now off to new hampshire. great place. we won it last time, and we won it both times, and we love it. the people are great. we thank you for your effort and we thank you for your support. you helped us get a ticket punched out at the hawkeye state. our campaign is the last hope of stopping the biden/trump nightmare. and stev
liable for everything he did while he was in office. didn t get away with anything yet. we have a criminal justice system in this country. we have civil litigation. and former presidents are not immune from being accountable by either one. even mitch mcconnell knew back in 2021 that trump can face criminal charges. well, now, trump s lawyer is making the absurd argument that a president can commit all kinds of heinous crimes and remain immune from prosecution forever. unless he s impeached and convicted. also tonight, trump s rhetoric is having dangerous consequences. as both special counsel jack smith and judge tanya chutkan are targets of swatting. and trump s big hope for 2024, he says he hopes the u.s. economy crashes some time soon. which of course, would leave huge numbers of his maga supporters jobless and broke. but we begin tonight with a hypothetical question. could a sitting president sell pardons or military secrets or order the navy seals to assassinate a
hunter biden on capitol hill, pushing back on house republicans aiming to hold him in contempt of congress and calling him out from the committee room. coming into the oversight committee, spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed, what are you afraid of? you have no balls. five days from the iowa caucuses, with front-runner donald trump going from the courtroom to the campaign trail and back again to potentially speak at his civil fraud trial tomorrow during closing arguments. all as ron desantis and nikki haley go head to head in a gop debate tonight. and our andrea mitchell joining us from tel aviv this hour, with more of her exclusive interview with secretary of state antony blinken. with 90% of gaza s population struggling for food and growing concerns of a broadening conflict. it is 11:00 eastern, i m ana cabrera reporting from new york. thank you so much for being here. jose diaz-balart will be up next hour. we begin with breaking news
as millions gather for new year s eve celebrations. preparations are underway in some of the nation s biggest cities, with the fbi warning of increased risks of attacks. tonight, we speak with the nypd about keeping the ball drop safe. and a new year means new laws. for half the country, that means minimum wage is going up. we ll take a look at how the increase impacts workers and businesses. but we begin with the weather, and millions of americans bracing for rain, wind, and possible flooding. there s also a risk of more massive waves like the ones that slammed the california coast, some as high as 25 feet, damaging homes and prompting evacuations. cbs s reed cowan will start us off tonight from northern california. reed, good evening. reporter: good evening, major. well, communities all up and down the california coast hit hard by this powerful storm, arguably some of the worst damage here in the coastal community of aptos. they really got hit hard. a lot of people who li