absolute even if ordering a political rival assassinated. and the u.s. repels one of the larn hgest attacks yet in t red sea and as we get new information about the cancer fight of the defense secretary. this hour starts now. good morning. so glad usyou re with us. it is the final republican debate before the iowa caucuses. and it is tonight for the first time nikki haley and ron desantis will go head to head alone just the two of them on stage in des moines. and this is their last chance, probably the biggest chance to close a huge gap with donald trump and change the dynamics of this race with only five days left until iowa voters pick their nominee. hail sli going into the debate with a surge of momentum after she cut trump s big lead in new hampshire to single digits. and we start with eva mckend. what is on the line tonight for these two candidates? well, believe it or not, phil and poppy, there are still undecided voters here in iowa. so this 2forum allows the opp
She didn t just ask do we open the floodgates, she said how do we write an opinion that doesn t open the floodgates on political prosecution. here is the answer given by the assistant special counsel james pierce. this notion that we re all of a sudden going to see a floodgate, i think again the careful investigations in the clinton era didn t result in any charges. the fact that this investigation does doesn t reflect that we re going to see a sea change of vindictive tit for tat prosecutions in the future. i think this reflectses unprecedented nature of the criminal charges here. reporter: so this case is paused as we wait for the appeals court opinion. but trump has a lot of other things going on including showing up in new york at his civil fraud trial tomorrow for the closing arguments. thank you for the reporting. pentagon reveals the defense
i ask you a yes or no question. could a president who ordered s.e.a.l. team 6 to assassinate a political rival who was not impeached, would he be subject to criminal prosecution? if he were impeached and convicted first. so your answer is no. my answer is qualified yes. there is a political process that would have to occur under our constitution. and katelyn polantz is joining us. it was completely riveting. you were there. talk to us about what happens now. how soon could we hear which way the judges go? reporter: yeah, first big question is how soon indeed. we ll be waiting to see how quickly the judges move because timing in this case means a lot. it means a lot to donald trump. and it clearly means a lot to the justice department. they want a quick trial. trump doesn t want a trial before the presidential election. and so right now the case is paused as the judges are
Absolute even if ordering a political rival assassinated. and the u.s. repels one of the larn hgest attacks yet in t red sea and as we get new information about the cancer fight of the defense secretary. this hour starts now. good morning. so glad usyou re with us. it is the final republican debate before the iowa caucuses. and it is tonight for the first time nikki haley and ron desantis will go head to head alone just the two of them on stage in des moines. and this is their last chance, probably the biggest chance to close a huge gap with donald trump and change the dynamics of this race with only five days left until iowa voters pick their nominee. hail sli going into the debate with a surge of momentum after she cut trump s big lead in new hampshire to single digits. and we start with eva mckend. what is on the line tonight for
Weighing it. they are looking at a couple things and we re expecting in that opinion for them to address a lot of different issues. can they even be hearing an appeal before trump face as jury. it is very unusual to have an appeal at this stage of a criminal case, so they are going to have is to come to a determination on that among the three judges on the panel. and they also are going to have to figure out the immunity around the presidency. where is that bible, what are tare the double, where rts lines, what is the test that they creative or perhaps borrow from other opinions out there in the law where they say this is what is part of the presidency and this is what is not. this is where the protections lie and not, if former presidents can be protected. one of the things that speaks to how they are thinking about what they do next, judge henderson asked about opening the floodgates on political prosecution, and she asked it of a justice department lawyer, but