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Trump Arrives for Closing Arguments in Fraud Trial; South Africa Presents Genocide Case against Israel at ICJ; Palestinian Red Crescent Society Accuses Israel of Targeting Ambulance in Gaza Strike, Killing Six; Secretary of State Antony Blinken Meets with Egyptian President, Wraps Up Middle East Tour; Ecuador Vows to Catch Escaped Gang Leader "Fito"; Haley and DeSantis Spar in Last Debate before Iowa Caucuses; Bill Belichick, Nick Saban Leaving Coach's Bench. Aired 10-10:45a ET
Aired January 11, 2024 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
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MISTY MARRIS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: First of, all as a New York lawyer, it is unusual for a client for the defendant to speak directly in the courtroom.
Generally, that type of thing is done through the attorneys.
However, in this particular, case this is what is called a bench trial. That means there is, no jury the judge ultimately makes a determination and
the judge has a great deal of leeway over any procedures in the courtroom, including this request by Donald Trump and his team.
But it's important; I think what he is saying on the courthouse steps is being misconstrued a bit. What had happened is, his defense team said to
the judge in an application to the court, meaning asked the court's permission, for Donald Trump to be able to speak at the closing arguments.
The judge said, OK, I will entertain that.
However, there are certain parameters. He has to abide by the rules of court that would apply to lawyers, to judges, to anybody. And those rules
are, in a closing argument, that only the --
(AUDIO GAP)
-- extraneous, anything that is not in evidence. It has to be directly related to the case with the evidence that was presented in the courtroom.
There could be no attacks on court, staff, on judges and it cannot be a political speech.
The defense team said, we can't agree to those parameters.
The judge said, well, that's it.
Then yesterday, there was a deadline set for the defense team to say whether or not Donald Trump agrees. And they blew the deadline and they
never responded. So that's how we got here with respect to whether Donald Trump will speak in the courtroom.
He is certainly going to be speaking outside the courtroom, as we just heard. We're going to hear the press conference again, it sounds like, at
40 Wall Street later in the afternoon. But that, I think, is an issue to be cleared up, why he's not able to speak in that closing argument and how
unusual of a request it is just in general.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST: We've been explaining to our viewers what an unprecedented situation this is, just days out from the first real contest
of the election year in Iowa.
And the schedule for Donald Trump in court stacks up significantly and looks extremely busy when you look at the schedule that he has on the
political campaign trail.
Misty, when we look at the orbit of Trump's legal cases at this point -- I want to bring up a graphic for a viewers to see -- it could get very
confusing.
Just how important is this case?
Remind our viewers where this case sits within the body of the wider story here of the multiple cases against Donald Trump.
MARRIS: Absolutely. This case is different, significantly different than the other cases that have been brought against Donald Trump. There is other
pending criminal cases, two in the federal court system, two in the state court system.
All of those are criminal in nature. This one is civil in nature. This one is very, very different. And, ultimately, the result of this case will be
whether or not the Trump Organization and Donald Trump himself can continue to do business in New York, probably the biggest implication.
The other piece of it is a significant financial component. The attorney general in this case is seeking $370 million in damages. That's a
significant amount of money. Whether or not that will be awarded, it could be, less, it could be zero, it could be anything up to that amount.
So really, this is more about money where the other cases have much more significance in the grand scheme of not only developing constitutional law
relating to a president and potential for criminal liability but also in the grand scheme of whether or not there will be a criminal conviction of
the leading Republican presidential candidate.
So if I had to rank them, I would say this one has less importance in that sphere of what it means moving forward for the presidency. But of course,
think about the financial implication here, Becky, I mean that's -- $370 million is a lot of money, a lot of money in a campaign season.
ANDERSON: You, know under normal circumstances, you'd expect that to be reputationally rather damaging for a potential candidate for president. But
these aren't normal times.
Thank you. I just want to reset you for in this our second hour. It's just after 7 o'clock here in Abu Dhabi. And we're covering two major stories on two
different continents for you, both consequential, both high stakes and both in courtrooms.
In The Hague, in the Netherlands, the world court hearing arguments from South Africa, which has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza.
[10:05:03]
And across the, Atlantic former president and presidential candidate Donald Trump back in court in New York for closing arguments in the civil fraud
case against him.
Well, flattening blocks of homes, cutting off food, water, electricity and communications, South Africa says Israel is conducting more than a hunt for
Hamas. South Africa says it is a genocide in Gaza.
Laying out its arguments earlier at the International Court of Justice at The Hague, it warned that, unless the court acts, there could be, quote,
"the total destruction of the Palestinian people in Gaza." Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TEMBEKA NGCUKAITOBI, LAWYER AND LEGAL SCHOLAR: Israel's political leaders, military commanders and persons holding official positions have
systematically and in explicit terms declared their genocidal intent, as these statements are then repeated by soldiers on the ground in Gaza, as
they engage in the destruction of Palestinians and the physical infrastructure of Gaza.
BLINNE NI GHRALAIGH, LAWYER, SOUTH AFRICA: Despite the horror of the genocide against the Palestinian people being livestreamed from Gaza to our
mobile phones, computers and television screens, the first genocide in history, where its victims are broadcasting their own destruction in real
time in the desperate, so far vain hope that the words might do something, Gaza represents nothing short of a moral failure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Supporters of both Israel and the Palestinians turned out outside the courthouse. Israel will lay out its defense on Friday. It calls
the case a show in hypocrisy, dependent on false and baseless claims. CNN's Melissa Bell filed this report earlier to tell us more about the case and
what could be at stake.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Three months after Israel launched its military campaign targeting Hamas in Gaza, South Africa is taking on Israel
at the International Court of Justice in the Hague, accusing it of genocide in urging the U.N. body to order Israel to stop the war.
RONALD LAMOLA, SOUTH AFRICAN JUSTICE MINISTER: South Africa cannot stand idly and watch when a genocide is being committed by the state of Israel in
full view of the international community, clear acts that they aim to annihilate the population of Palestine.
BELL: Allegations that will be refuted by Israel when it takes the stand on Friday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will be there at the International Court of Justice and when we present proudly our case of using self-defense under our most
inherent right, under international humanitarian law, where we are doing our utmost in under extremely complicated circumstances.
BELL: In its 84-page application to the court, South Africa accuses Israel of breaching the 1948 Genocide Convention by engaging in acts with the
intent to destroy in whole or in part the Palestinian people, including through killings, the causing of serious bodily and mental harm and other
measures.
The petition claims that Israel's actions are rooted in what it calls a 75- year-old system of apartheid. It also draws on the rhetoric of Israeli politicians since the war began.
YOAV GALLANT, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER: We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.
MAJ. GEN. GIORA ELLAND, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: Can we have such a huge pleasure on Gaza, that Gaza will become an area where people cannot live.
ISAAC HERZOG, ISRAELI PRESIDENT: It's not true, this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved, it's absolutely not true. And we will
fight until we break their backbone.
BELL: U.S. secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders this week, dismissed South Africa's case as a
distraction.
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We believe the submission against Israel to the International Court of Justice distracts the world from all
of these important efforts. And moreover, the charge of genocide is merit- less.
BELL: The public hearings begin on Thursday and whilst a ruling on genocide could take years, a possible injunction on the Gaza war that
Pretoria has asked the ICJ for could come much sooner.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Melissa Bell joins us now from The Hague.
There will be people watching this who may have listened to the opening arguments by South Africa and said there's a very compelling argument here.
[10:10:02]
Just explain further why it is that South Africa has taken up the mantle on this case and just how consequential this could be.
BELL: The question of why South Africa goes to the very heart of the ANC liberation struggle. Becky, something we heard from the South Africa
justice minister when we interviewed him yesterday.
He quoted the words of Nelson Mandela, who said "South Africans will not be free until every Palestinian has been free."
This goes back historically to Israel's long-standing support for what had been the apartheid regime at the time. Again, Nelson Mandela and the ANC
placing their liberation struggle on a par and a link to the struggle of the Palestinians.
In fact, when you look at that 84-page document that was their initial petition and when you listen to the words of so many of their barristers
today, what they said was not simply going over the facts of what happened over the course of the last three months in Gaza.
But really putting this in a historical context of what they describe as a 75 year-long apartheid in Israel and the Occupied Territories. So there are
extremely strong political ties between them.
And yet the point of this case, the point of this petition, the point of the testimony that you heard here today -- this is something else the
justice minister told us -- is to get the politics out of this, the emotion out of this and to get to the bare facts of what has gone on in Gaza.
And to put that in front of the U.N.'s highest court, to see what international law has to say with all of the weight of the fact that the
Genocide Convention, of course, Becky, was drawn up in 1948 in the wake of the Holocaust.
And I think that has cast a long shadow as well over what we've heard from the South Africans and what we are likely to hear from the Israeli side
tomorrow. Do have a listen to what the South African justice minister had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RONALD LAMOLA, JUSTICE MINISTER, SOUTH AFRICA: No armed attack on a state territory, no matter how serious, even an attack involving atrocity crimes,
can provide any justification for or defense to breaches to the Convention, whether as a matter of law or morality.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BELL: Their point there, Becky, clearly laid out, that there is never any justification for genocide. Clearly, the Israeli defense tomorrow will come
that it is not genocide that is being -- that they should be accused of. Their defense will be one of self-defense. They're trying to take on Hamas.
What South Africa was trying to do today was lay out, according to the U.N. rapporteurs, the U.N. agencies, the facts of the matter so far. And it made
for fairly chilling and sobering listening for much of the course of the day, Becky.
ANDERSON: On that issue of self-defense, Israel, South Africa says, is still the occupying power in Gaza. So Israel cannot argue it is acting in
self-defense over territory it controls. But even if it could, self defense can never take the form of genocide. So that's how that is baked into the
prosecuting arguments here.
What can we expect to hear from Israel tomorrow, Melissa?
BELL: Again, I think what you heard today, because of the nature of these proceedings, the hearings of the South Africans in three hours rather than,
two as it was meant to be initially at the request of the Israelis, an extra hour.
Their three hours today ahead of the Israeli defense, was very much about South Africa preempted when it expects Israel's defense to be. So that
question of self-defense was tackled head-on as was the question of what the court will be told.
At one point you heard one of the barristers representing South Africa, look, we're not here to do theatrics. We're not here to show you to many
videos. We're not here to do spectacle. We are here to consider the facts. We're here to lay it out before the law.
And their case, they believe, is unanswerable. They've set the low bar relatively low, Becky. They're not asking the court at this stage to
consider the question of genocide. They're asking the court to accept that there may be the possibility that genocidal acts are being committed.
And that that is reason enough to order in their favor that these provisional measures be ruled upon, which would demand that Israel pauses
hostilities. And that they believe is a fairly strong case they've outlined today, Becky.
ANDERSON: Yes, and that was very much part of the ambition of this case as much of the world, certainly much of the part entirely around the region
where I am, of course, calls still for an intermediate cease-fire.
[10:15:00]
And I'm, of course, in the Gulf region, in the wider Middle East. Wrapping up the genocide case in South Africa, says The Hague must order Israel to
halt this war.
Melissa, it is always a pleasure. Stay warm.
Melissa Bell in The Hague for you.
Still to come, while, the nature of the war in Gaza is up for a serious debate at The Hague, on the ground, there is no end in sight. We have the
latest as the Palestine Red Crescent Society accuses Israel of targeting an ambulance.
Plus a manhunt is on for this notorious gang leader, who escaped from prison in Ecuador. More on the man known as Fito, blamed for triggering
this week's wave of violence in Ecuador.
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ANDERSON: It's 17 minutes past 7:00 here in Abu Dhabi, you are watching CONNECT THE WORLD with me, Becky Anderson. The second hour of the show
broadcast to you from our Middle East programming hub here in the UAE.
And we're keeping a close eye on a Manhattan courthouse for you. At the time, it's 17 minutes past 10:00 in the morning. We have new video to show
you. Donald Trump in the courtroom for what are closing arguments in a civil fraud trial against him.
Before entering this room, he railed against the judge and prosecutor in the case. The New York attorney general alleges that Trump and his sons
inflated assets for personal gain. The judge barred Donald Trump from speaking inside court after he refused to agree to conditions on what he
could say.
We don't know that he won't talk. Donald Trump certainly said before he went, in and he did speak outside of his courtroom, suggesting he hoped he
would be allowed to speak. We will be following the closing arguments throughout the day.
A member of Israel's war cabinet says Hamas is no longer controlling large parts of Gaza. It comes as the IDF say they knocked out an alleged
terrorist cell, as they call, it killing at least 18 militants in central and southern Gaza.
In one video here, released by the IDF, they say an Israeli aircraft opened fire on terrorists carrying weapons as they emerged from a tunnel.
Separately, the Palestine Red Crescent Society is accusing Israel of targeting an ambulance on Wednesday, a strike that killed six people,
including four Red Crescent staff. CNN's Jeremy Diamond was in Gaza recently, he joins me now from Tel Aviv. Jeremy.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Becky. The Israeli has indicated in recent days that its military operations in central and
southern Gaza are at a lower intensity than what they were carrying out in northern Gaza. But at the same time, they are touching nearly every part of
the Gaza Strip.
[10:20:02]
Impacting Palestinians, who had fled other areas, such as fleeing to Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. That is where, yesterday, we saw strikes hitting
just 200 feet away, less than 200 feet away from Al-Aqsa hospital, where displaced Palestinians, thousands of them, have been seeking shelter in
recent days.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DIAMOND (voice-over): (voice-over): They emerge from the dust screaming. Another Israeli airstrike, this time hitting a market less than 200 feet
from the largest hospital in central Gaza.
Here even the injured must dig themselves out of the rubble. Piece by piece, bloodied and covered in dust they emerge from their brush with
death. Doctors say at least 70 people were injured.
Some carry to the hospital amid tense for the thousands of displaced Palestinians who have sought shelter here. At least six were killed
including two men working at this falafel stand.
DR. MOHAMMAD RAYYAN, AL-AQSA MARTYRS HOSPITAL (through translator): The street was full of people and many of the injured had arrived to the
hospital. There were many, many injured and marches on the floor.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Hours later first responders turn casualties of war. Four members of an ambulance crew dead after the Palestine Red Crescent
Society says the Israeli military targeted their ambulance. Two patients were also killed.
The Israeli military did not respond to CNN's requests for comments. 121 ambulances have been struck during the war, according to the Palestinian
Ministry of Health.
Inside the hospital, Fuad Omani (ph), a paramedic could do nothing to save Fadi (ph), the son who followed in his footsteps can only say goodbye.
After three months of horror, these first responders are inconsolable. Unable to put into words, the unending nightmare they cannot escape.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DIAMOND: And in just the last few hours, Becky, the Israeli military actually got back to us on the request for comment about that strike on the
ambulance, the Palestine Red Crescent Society ambulance.
They say that an alleged IDF strike, during which the IDF Red Crescent staff were hit, they say they conducted a review based on the details
provided to the IDF, which shows that, quote, "no strike was carried out in the described area."
And they maintain that the Israeli military is committed to international law and taking all feasible measures to mitigate civilian harm -- Becky.
ANDERSON: Well, as described by those at the end of your report there, many, many people in Gaza living in "an unending nightmare" that they
cannot escape. And I quote those in your report there.
And that is a nightmare that is being discussed by Antony Blinken on what has been this crisis tour, this multileg crisis tour of the region. He has
left, the U.S. secretary of state, on his way back to Washington.
What did he achieve?
DIAMOND: Specifically, on the front of Palestinian civilians, the only concrete achievement is to get a United Nations team into northern Gaza to
be able to assess how soon and what would be needed for Palestinian civilians to return to an area that has been absolutely devastated by three
months of bombardment by the Israeli military.
But beyond that, it's not clear what concrete steps the Israeli government is going to take, beyond what they say they've already been doing, to
further protect Palestinian civilians, to get more humanitarian aid into Gaza.
I think for me, perhaps the most interesting takeaway was the extent to which the secretary of state was really focused on longer-term regional
issues, talking about the possibility of integrating Israel into the region, normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia.
That was an issue that we thought was effectively taken off the table, at least temporarily, after those October 7th attacks happened, launching this
entire war.
But the secretary of state got word from the Saudi crown prince that he's still interested in normalizing relations. But critically, it would require
Israel to take concrete steps toward a Palestinian state. It's very interesting to see that's a notion back on the table and one that the
United States seems to be actively pushing -- Becky.
ANDERSON: The problem for this region is that they simply do not see an end game, either from Israel or, by default, explained on Israel's behalf
by the American administration.
[10:25:03]
That is what you hear when you speak to people around this region. And there is a real sense of frustration and concern, particularly about the
spillage of this conflict into a wider regional war.
And we know the activity in the Red Sea and the threats from Antony Blinken yesterday, at a press conference in Bahrain, that, should the Houthis
further attack, particularly strikes on U.S. assets, that they really need to understand that the U.S. will respond.
So a real concern still and certainly no comment in the region. It's good to have you, thank you.
In Ecuador, prison officials say at least 139 guards and staff are being held hostage by gang members inside five prisons right now, as drug gangs
wage a war against the government.
Ecuador's president, Daniel Noboa, says that the nation is fighting more than 20,000, quote, "terrorists," after a wave of violence, kidnappings and
prison riots. He's vowing not to give in to terror.
Military and police operations are underway nationwide to root out those gangs behind this week's attack. CNN's Patrick Oppmann, closely monitoring
the latest development. And he joins us now.
Oh, but no. Let me do this. He filed this report.
No, he didn't, he's joining us now.
PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Becky.
So there has been some advancement in Ecuador's war against terror, against these gangs, these very violent drug gangs.
They say they have arrested 329 people, who were members of various gangs, and recaptured at least 28 people, gang members who had escaped from
prison. But of course, the gang member, the gang leader that they are most searching for, remains at large.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OPPMANN (voice-over): He should have been Ecuador's most closely guarded prisoner. So how was it that notorious gang leader Adolfo Macias alias Fito
was able to escape from prison?
Ecuador's government can't say how or even when Fito who was serving a 34- year sentence for drug trafficking, murderer and organized crime escaped from this prison Guayaquil.
His disappearance was discovered Sunday just as he was about to be transferred to a maximum security facility. Officials vowed to catch him.
ROBERTO IZURIETA CANOVA, ECUADOREAN GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON: Whole forces of this date are after him and I am convinced that we will catch him
because he does not have the protection that he has from the old system.
OPPMANN (voice-over): It is the second time the burly and bearded leader of the notorious Los Choneros gang has slipped away from officials. In
2013, Fito escaped from another prison in Guayaquil and was on the run for three months before police recaptured.
For years, many of Ecuador's prisons had been under the control of drug gangs, as the South American nation increasingly became a key conduit for
cocaine trafficking. More than 400 inmates have been killed in drug gang violence in prison since 2021.
As the groups battle for valuable turf and smuggling routes, Los Choneros have been linked to Mexico's brutal and powerful Sinaloa Cartel, once led
by Joaquin El Chapo Guzman.
In 2023, presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio ran for office on a platform of confronting the gangs that he said were corrupting Ecuador's
political system. Villavicencio said he was threatened by the gangs for speaking out.
FERNANDO VILLAVICENCIAM, FORMER MEMBER OF ECUADOR NATIONAL ASSEMBLY (through translator): I was told that if I keep mentioning Fito's name and
the Choneros they will destroy me.
OPPMANN: Villavicencio was gunned down while campaigning in November. The alleged hitmen arrested for the candidate's killing were themselves
murdered in prison and officials have yet to determine who masterminded the assassination plot.
Following Fito's escape and ensuing violence, Ecuadorian officials said gangs would be treated as terrorists.
ADM. JAIME VELA ERAZO, ECUADORIAN ARMED FORCES (through translator): From this moment on, every terrorist group identified in the affirmation degree
has become a military target.
OPPMANN: Fito is sure to be at the top of the government's list.
Officials say thousands of police and military personnel are searching for the fugitive and another gang leader who also escaped from prison.
Ecuadorians are reeling from a wave of gang-related violence on Tuesday, including the brazen attack on a TV station that was carried live.
Ecuador is a country in shock as their government hunts for its most wanted fugitive who fights a war on all fronts.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OPPMANN: Ecuador's president said that the gang leader had help from inside that prison, where he was being held, to escape and those who helped
him will face prosecution.
[10:30:07]
Obviously the corruption inside these prisons, the official corruption in Ecuador's government caused by these drug gangs remains a major problem.
OPPMANN: Patrick Oppmann on the story.
Patrick, it's always good to have you. Thank you.
The gloves were off Wednesday night when Nikki Haley took on Ron DeSantis in Iowa. Coming up, we have the biggest moments from what was their final
heat before the caucuses. That is after this.
And Donald Trump may not have been at the debate but he did take aim at both of his rivals from his own town hall. More on that, after this.
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ANDERSON: Welcome back. You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD, with me, Becky Anderson. It's 7:30 or just afterwards, here in the UAE.
Republican presidential candidates Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis went one- on-one in last night's CNN debate. They got into heated exchanges over the economy, over immigration and conflicts happening across the world; not
least here, in this region.
DeSantis went after Haley, saying the only people she is fighting for are the people donating to her campaign.
And Haley continue to accuse DeSantis of lying about her simply because she is the candidate with momentum. CNN's Eva McKend has more on the last
debate before the Iowa caucuses.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley and Governor Ron DeSantis taking center stage in the
final debate before the Iowa caucuses. And the gloves were off.
NIKKI HALEY (R-SC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If he would spend as much time trying to prove why he thinks he would be a good president, he would be
doing a lot better in the polls.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is the U.N. way of thinking, that we are somehow globalists. You can take the ambassador out
of the United Nations but you can't take the United Nations out of the ambassador.
MCKEND (voice-over): While the front runner was absent, Trump chose to attend a separate FOX News town hall event and teased a possible vice
president.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: I mean, I know who it's going to be --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give us a hint.
TRUMP: I'll give you one.
[10:35:00]
We'll do another show sometime.
MCKEND (voice-over): The dueling events taking place as one of Trump's biggest critics steps aside.
CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Anyone who is unwilling to say that he is unfit to be President of the United States is unfit
themselves.
MCKEND (voice-over): The former governor of New Jersey also found himself in a hot mic moment, criticizing Haley.
CHRISTIE: She's going to get smoked and you and I both know it. She's not up to this.
MCKEND (voice-over): Trump seizing on it.
TRUMP: I know her very well and I happen to believe that Chris Christie is right. So I am not exactly worried about it.
MCKEND (voice-over): Haley and DeSantis reminding voters of Trump's absence from the debate stage again, something they both agreed on but
which voters don't seem to mind.
HALEY: I wish Donald Trump was up here on this stage. He needs to be defending his record.
DESANTIS: Donald Trump should be on this stage. He owes it to you here in Iowa.
MCKEND (voice-over): But neither took the opportunity to strongly denounce him or argue he is unfit for office.
HALEY: So when you look at Donald Trump, I have said I think he was the right president at the right time. I agree with a lot of his policies. But
his way is not my way.
DESANTIS: If Trump is the nominee, it's going to be about January 6th, legal issues, criminal trials. The Democrats and the media would love to
run with that.
MCKEND (voice-over): But DeSantis and Haley spent most of the debate going after each other and trying to prove who can be the toughest on stage.
DESANTIS: Do not trust Nikki Haley with illegal immigration. That is like having the fox guard the henhouse. Nikki Haley also opposed the border wall
in 2016. She said that -- she ridiculed it when Donald Trump was for it. I'm telling, you need a wall.
HALEY: Go to desantislies.com. I said you can't just build a wall. You have to do more than build a wall. It was having the wall and everything
else. You can't trust what Ron is saying.
MCKEND (voice-over): DeSantis arguing Haley's record as South Carolina's former governor proves she isn't ready for the White House.
DESANTIS: She said she has always supported school choice and she failed to deliver. She blames other people. Leadership is about getting things
done. Stop making excuses. It could happen.
MCKEND (voice-over): Haley firing back in a blistering takedown of his campaign.
HALEY: If leadership is about getting things done, how did you blow through $150 million in your campaign?
We went and saved our money. We made sure we spent it right because you have to understand, it is not your money. It is other people's money. And
you have to know how to handle it.
If he can't handle the financial parts of a campaign, how is he going to handle the economy when it comes to the White House?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, that is last night in what was the last debate without Donald Trump, of course, ahead of the Iowa caucuses. Let's get you back to
New York, where Donald Trump's courtroom drama is playing out. CNN's Brynn Gingras is outside the courthouse.
Brynn, we heard from Donald Trump as he went in. He said he hoped he would have a chance to speak at the back end of proceedings today. That is
unlikely, at this point. The judges told him no can do. They can't trust him, effectively. That's what the judge is saying.
What can we expect?
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the judge didn't want to make Donald Trump's time in a courtroom a campaign stop, if he were to take part
in closing arguments. But I can tell you, Becky, court started right at 10:00.
There was little hesitancy there to see if there would be a delay because of a bomb threat that was made against the judge in this case. But it did
start right on time. The judge, in fact, didn't even address the fact that there was a bomb threat this morning.
And he said that the defense will have until 12:45 Eastern time to give its closing arguments. So that's what we are listening to right now.
It was the lead defense attorney, Christopher Kise, laying out his arguments as to why, in their terms, no victims in this case. And he
basically said that this case that was brought against (sic) the New York state attorney general, he says it's a manufactured claim to serve a
political agenda.
It has always been press releases and posturing but no proof at all. So that is basically the heart of the defense's claim here. Once this wraps
up, probably after the lunch break, we will hear from the state's attorney's office for their closing arguments.
And then we expect in this case the judge to make a decision about any damages by the end of this month.
ANDERSON: Good to have you, Brynn. Thank you.
And in sports, as if that wasn't like a sports report, the head coach with the most Super Bowl titles in history is leaving the NFL's New England
Patriots. Details on Bill Belichick's looming departure, are after this.
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ANDERSON: In the span of little more than 12 hours, news broke that the two men widely considered the greatest college and pro football coaches in
the United States are leaving their jobs.
The big news today, Bill Belichick ending his decades-long, record-setting run with the NFL's New England Patriots. Just one of those. Amanda Davies
joins me now,
This is big news, Amanda.
AMANDA DAVIES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Becky. Like buses you wait ages for one and then a host of exits come at the same time. Just 12 hours after 72-
year-old Nick Saban was announced he was leaving Alabama, having led them to six college national titles, we have this news very much coming.
In the next hour or 20 minutes or so, officially, we expect, the "will he, won't he" debate that's been going on in terms of Bill Belichick and the
New England Patriots. This news conference being held with Robert Kraft and Belichick, both expected to be present.
We don't expect a retirement announcement from Belichick but we don't think we will find out where he's going next. But a lot of questions still to
come.
What happens next for him?
Who do the Patriots bring in?
We might well get some answers. But certainly, a huge week for two of football, both college and professional footballs, biggest names, coming
your way in a couple minutes, Becky.
ANDERSON: Yes. Excellent, that is "WORLD SPORT," up after this short break today. Stay with us.
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