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Trump Pushes Election Lied During Iowa Campaign Event; Ron DeSantis In Dueling Campaign Events With Trump; Interview With Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) About Trump's Latest Rhetoric In Iowa And The House Push For Biden Impeachment; At Least A Dozen Rocket Intercepts Launched Over Tel Aviv Tonight; Rulings In 1/6 Case: Trump Doesn't Have Presidential Immunity; Santos Threatens Retaliation Over Expulsion Vote; Santos Expulsion Sets Up High-Profile Race To Fill House Seat; CDC: Flu, Covid, RSV Cases Continue To Rise; Pediatric Pneumonia Outbreak In The U.S. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired December 02, 2023 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[16:00:53]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

With less than six weeks until the Iowa caucuses, former President Donald Trump is campaigning in the key battleground state of Iowa, and he's back to pushing his lies about the 2020 election. The former president told supporters he hopes judges will let the 2020 election be prosecuted in court. The GOP frontrunner even encouraged his supporters to go into vote counting facilities in 2024, where ballots will be tabulated saying they need to watch the votes.

Let's go live to Kristen Holmes in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Kristen, you're there with the former president. Looks like he'll be talking there shortly. What can you tell us?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim, I mean, as you noted, right now, we are just about six weeks away from the Iowa caucus in 2024, and Donald Trump is still talking about the 2020 election.

Now, earlier today at another event in Iowa, he asked his voters, encouraged them, actually, to go into big cities, Democratic strongholds, and watch the vote. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The most important part of what's coming up is to guard the vote. And you should go into Detroit and you should go into Philadelphia and you should go into some of these places, Atlanta, and you should go into some of these places and we got to watch those votes when they come in, when they're being, you know, shoved around in wheelbarrows and dumped on the floor. And others saying what's -- we're like a third world nation. A third world nation. And we can't let it happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, obviously, as you know, Trump's own advisers have hoped and asked him to stop talking about the 2020 election, but that's something he remains fixated on.

Now for this speech here in Iowa today, we are told that he is going to attack President Joe Biden, shifting the narrative to a general election. While they didn't tell us exactly what he is going to say, they did have these signs made that they're passing out. I think we have a picture of them here that say "Biden Attacks Democracy."

Now, obviously, this has been a big argument of Biden's against Donald Trump, particularly pointing to Donald Trump's work to try and overturn the results of the 2020 election. Clearly looks as though former President Trump is going to try and flip the narrative there. This is also coming at a time when the Biden campaign has really ramped up its criticism of the former president.

We know last week there was mention of Donald Trump really fixating on overturning Obamacare, something that he failed to do when he was in office. That gave a lot of ammunition to Democrats, a lot of ammunition to the Biden campaign. They have released ads on that, talking about how Trump is planning on taking away health care for millions of Americans.

Obviously, Jim, we are in a different position now than when we were back in 2016 when Trump was elected to the White House. ACA, the Affordable Care Act, is actually increasingly popular, so this has given new ammunition to Democrats.

ACOSTA: Fascinating. And if we can show our viewers that image one more time that Kristen was just showing us of this sign they're handing out at the Trump rally. It says "Biden Attacks Democracy." That is some pretty Orwellian stuff. I feel like we're in the upside down.

Kristen Holmes, thank you very much. We'll get back to you.

I understand Steve Contorno might also be with us. Steve is covering things from the side of the Ron DeSantis campaign.

He has a lot of catching up to do in Iowa, Steve. Are they confident that this 99-county tour that DeSantis has been on in Iowa will pay off? We've seen other candidates do this in the past. I remember Rick Santorum doing this way back in 2012. It actually did help him out in that state. What about DeSantis?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, publicly, they have to be confident because almost all their eggs are in a strong performance in Iowa. This early caucus state is so important to the strategy. They've actually moved most of their campaign staff to Des Moines, Iowa.

Now, privately, his campaign and some of the advisers acknowledge that, look, six weeks is not a lot of time to turn this around, and they need to start seeing some movement in the polls. Something that shows that he is catching a spark.

[16:05:01]

And they also acknowledge that Nikki Haley is posing a challenge for them. That she is a wild card in this race. They didn't expect her to be so well-funded going into this part of the election. But they also believe that six weeks is still enough time to turn things around, and that blanketing the state with appearances is one of the ways that they are going to make headway into Trump's lead.

Listen to what Governor Ron DeSantis had to say earlier today in Sioux City, Iowa, about how his campaign is reaching as many people as possible.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON DESANTIS (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The cumulative effect of all this is, there's one candidate that showed up to your community, asked you for your vote and told you what he's going to do for America. And that's me. People are not eating and breathing this until it gets closer. So I think you're going to see a lot of the support break our way over the next month and a half.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Now, Governor DeSantis is about to hold an event right behind me, you see them getting ready for it. This is to celebrate the fact that they have hit 99 counties out of 99 in Iowa.

As you said, Jim, this is sort of a storied tradition in Iowa. You try to get to every corner of the state, try to will yourself momentum and victory. It has some successes and some not so much. However, they believe this is the best path that they have. And look, they don't just have the many appearances they've had here, they also have the support of the state's popular Republican Governor Kim Reynolds.

They also have the support from some of its faith leaders who have been very critical in influencing the caucuses here in the past. So this is how they believe they're going to win this thing. They're going to shore up as much as possible, win over as many endorsements as they can, and try to tap into those networks to convince people it's time to move on from President Trump.

ACOSTA: All right. It sounds like campaign season where you are right now, Steve Contorno. Kristen Holmes, thanks to both of you. Really appreciate it. Thanks for getting us off to a strong start.

Let's discuss more now with Democratic Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett of Texas.

Congresswoman, thank you so much for joining us. You serve on the House Oversight Committee, you're member of the House Congressional Progressive Caucus. But I did want to ask you about what we just heard a few moments ago from our Kristen Holmes traveling with former President Donald Trump. I don't know if you heard the report, but she was just showing some of

the signs that are being handed out at this Trump rally in Iowa, and one of the signs says "Biden Attacks Democracy." Just want to get your reaction to that.

REP. JASMINE CROCKETT (D-TX): Yes, when you said that we were living in the upside down, I was like, oh, thank goodness, it's not just me. Absolutely. That's every day in Congress for me, though, unfortunately right now. You know, there is only one team that has fought for democracy, and this isn't just in words, but this is action. We know that we don't have a strong Voting Rights Act right now, simply because the twice impeached former president made sure that he installed three very far-right Supreme Court justices that gutted that.

That was one of the many steps that he took as it relates to democracy. In addition to his own legal troubles that he has right now, that have him in hot water, as it relates to January 6th, as it relates to, honestly, you know, his phone calls that he wanted to make about overturning the election and calling down to Georgia. So we know that there's only one person that actually has a track record when it comes to harming democracy, and that's Trump.

ACOSTA: And Congresswoman, not to belabor the point, but I did also want to ask you about what he said, what Trump said at this event earlier today, telling his supporters that they should be going into places, election centers, vote tabulation centers, in places like Detroit, Philadelphia, to, quote, "guard the vote." When you hear the former president use that kind of language what goes through your mind?

CROCKETT: It was dog whistle, again, for me. He loves to rile up the racists that love to support him. And, you know, I went through this in the Texas House, where last session they decided to go through this process of making sure that there were people that could observe and guard the vote, so to speak. And there was an article that came out and there was this audio of this recording, saying, we've got to go into Houston.

There's always a target seemingly on majority-minority cities for this former president, and it is still dumbfounding to me how minorities are starting to flock to him more, considering the fact that he always says the quiet part out loud.

ACOSTA: Yes, and I do want to ask you about something that -- headline coming out of Capitol Hill today, the Speaker Mike Johnson saying he thinks he has the necessary votes to launch a formal impeachment inquiry into President Biden. Let's listen to this and I'll ask you about it on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): Formal impeachment inquiry vote on the floor will allow us to take it to the next necessary step, and I think it's something we have to do at this juncture.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Congresswoman, your reaction to that. What did you think of that?

[16:10:04]

CROCKETT: I mean, you never know what you're going to get out of the House Republicans at this point. They were arguing that we didn't need a vote. They said Nancy said she didn't need a vote, so we don't need a vote, so we're not going to do a vote. So Kevin McCarthy said that it was good enough, that he as speaker decided that there was going to be a formal impeachment inquiry. My chairman, Chairman Comer, has made it clear that he had gotten all the documents that he had requested.

And speaking of documents, we know that there has been over 30,000 pages worth of banking documents that have been turned into this committee, and what's so interesting to me is that they started by going after Hunter Biden. They've been going after Hunter Biden since the Trump administration. And we've still not really gotten very far. We have not gotten to the point that they feel like they can connect the dots to say that Hunter has done something wrong and that wrong has also implicated the president.

What is funny about this, though, is that they collected tons of documents on George Santos, and they were able to decide that there was enough there. Not only in the House, but they were able to decide that when it came down to prosecuting George Santos.

This is much to do about nothing. They have been embarrassed over and over and over. Hunter, just this past week, said, hey, I will come in, I will testify in a transparent way. We know that Comer had invited him to testify publicly before. He just didn't realize that Hunter would take him up on it. And so therefore he said, never mind, I don't want to do that.

This is a bad move for them. It has messed up their PR, and it has messed them up, and honestly the American people are still saying what we want is lower gas prices, what we want is lower food prices, what we want is access to health care. They are not saying, go and impeach Joe Biden, but the Republicans, they don't want to do the work of the American people.

ACOSTA: Let me ask you about George Santos' expulsion from the House. I know you went on X, formerly known as Twitter, to explain why you voted to remove him, writing that if the Republican Party does not change course, the next George Santos will only be one election away. What did you mean by that?

CROCKETT: Yes, I mean, if he's allowed to get away with this flagrantly violating every rule, every ethic, every law, and still stay in his seat, that means they're rewarding the bad behavior, and we've seen them consistently reward the bad behavior when it comes to Trump. The difference between Trump and Santos is that Trump has a lot more power, and so they wanted to say, hey, we took the high road. We got rid of the bad guy. But to be honest, Santos was the low man on the totem pole. So they're

really just trying to score a few points, hopefully save some of those Republicans in New York that are in Biden seats, in fact, there's Republicans, I believe, in 18 Biden seats, not just in New York, but throughout this country, and right now, they don't -- they know that they can't hold onto the majority unless those in Biden seats win as well.

So this was one of those things, like, hey, we've got to do it, but only because they're looking out for their own hind parts, not because it was necessarily the right thing to do. In fact, the speaker at the last minute said, hey, vote no. Initially, he said vote your conscience. But once he realized that that meant that Santos was about to be kicked out, he and other members of leadership decided, never mind, we need him here. Especially since they don't know if they're going to be able to hold onto that seat.

ACOSTA: All right, Congresswoman Crockett, thank you very much for your time this afternoon. Really appreciate it.

CROCKETT: Absolutely, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, thanks.

Coming up, being a president doesn't mean a get-out-of-jail-free pass. We'll break down the scathing ruling from a federal judge about Trump's election subversion case right here in D.C. It's coming up.

Plus, what we're learning about why the negotiations between Israel and Hamas broke down and the fighting is back on.

And later, the CDC says flu levels are rising fast across the U.S., and RSV is in, quote, full swing. Should you be concerned about that? We'll talk about that a little bit later on. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:18:27]

ACOSTA: Now to the latest in the Middle East. Last hour, our teams on the ground witnessed at least a dozen rockets intercepted over Tel Aviv. This is the second time the Iron Dome has been used since truce with Hamas ended on Friday.

CNN's Matthew Chance is live for us in Tel Aviv with the latest.

Matthew, you witnessed those sirens going off just moments ago. What's the latest?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. We're actually attending a vigil in support of the hostages that are still being held inside the Gaza Strip, and it had just come to an end when those sirens went off and there were thousands of people in the street and everybody sort of scattered to various shelters. But take a listen to that scene now. It just shows you that the

militant groups inside Gaza still have the capability to fire rockets into Israel. Take a listen.

(SIRENS WAILING)

CHANCE: Yes, the Iron Dome intercepted it shortly after that went off, and I think, you know, struck those rockets because we didn't hear any further explosions. Anyway, the vigil, interesting, thousands of people attending it in the center of Tel Aviv, showing support for the hostages that are still in the Gaza Strip.

Everybody, of course, Jim, agrees that -- everyone here at least that those hostages should be released as soon as possible. There is a division, though, about how best to achieve that. There are those that think the government isn't focusing enough on getting those hostages released.

[16:20:03]

And the fact that the negotiators from Qatar have been withdrawn by Israel over the past several hours, you know, isn't helping with that sentiment. Others think, you know, and agree with the government that now is the time to put more military pressure, more military pressure on Hamas in the hope of getting more hostages out in the future -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Matthew Chance, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

As Israel continues its air strikes on Gaza, the U.S. is doubling down on the need to protect civilians.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As Israel defends itself, it matters how. The United States is unequivocal. International humanitarian law must be respected. Too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. Frankly, the scale of civilian suffering and the images and videos coming from Gaza are devastating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And joining me now is former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren.

Ambassador, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it as always. What's your response to what Vice President Kamala Harris had to say there?

MICHAEL OREN, FORMER ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: Good to be with you, Jim, as always. But of course, these images are painful for us, as well. Israel doesn't want to see Palestinian suffering. And it's important to note, and I wish the vice president had noted, that we're dealing with an enemy who's hiding behind these civilians all the time and using them as human shields. Even as Palestinians have fled the combat zones, Hamas has fled with

them and continues to use them as human shields. So Israel will continue to exercise extreme caution. I think it's further than probably any army on earth, whether it be sending text messages, leafletting, urging these Palestinians to get out of the way of fire. It is extremely difficult. They are literally, for Hamas, they're moving targets.

And I know that there are people in the administration who do appreciate that, and we will continue to exercise that caution to the greatest degree possible. Keep in mind, we also have to guard the lives of our soldiers that's precious to us.

ACOSTA: And Ambassador, I do want to talk to you about I guess some of the -- I guess the lengths that you're going to try to get Palestinians out of harm's way, but I guess, first of all, there was a collapse in the talks that were going on between Israel, Hamas, other parties, with regard to the plight of the hostages that are still being held in Gaza. What's your sense of where things stand right now? How do we get those talks going again so we can see more hostages coming out?

OREN: Well, the one key issue is the women and children. Israel claims that -- we think that they still have at least 13, as many as 17 women and children are held hostage. Hamas says they have no more. I would doubt that. You know, I'm not an official spokesman, Jim, but I heard from official sources that there's a fear that Hamas won't let out women who have been raped multiple times. So they won't come out and tell about the rapes. And that's going to be very, very painful.

Israel has to maintain the pressure on Hamas. These negotiations happen to begin with only for one reason, and that's because Israel ramped up the pressure, the military pressure on Hamas. So we've been able to get these hostages out so far successfully because of that pressure. We have to continue it, and meanwhile, we're witnessing these surreal situations, you know, the rockets that you just saw, have just been several of more than 10,000 rockets that have been fired at Israel.

Many of those rockets in Tel Aviv go literally over my house in southern Tel Aviv. We have an Iron Dome just to the east of us. Those batteries take out those rockets right over our heads. Iron Dome is 90 percent effective. That means every 100 rockets that go through, 10 break through that net, and they land. They knocked out an entire apartment building next to my house a while ago. So it's quite deadly.

And then you have these people protesting and demonstrating in support of the hostages. I think that encapsulates all the horror of this war and the terrible decisions that the Israeli government has to make.

ACOSTA: Yes. Israel's military says it's carried out more than 400 strikes in the first 24 hours since the truce with Hamas ended. We know that the Hamas Ministry of Health is not exactly your most trusted source, but they say since Friday close to 200 people have been killed. Hundreds more wounded. If you are telling people -- if you told people at the beginning of

all this to move to the south to get out of harm's way and now you're trying to drop leaflets and send texts and so on to get people out of harm's way in the south, isn't there the likelihood that civilians won't get those messages or may not have somewhere to go because they've already relocated to the south and will be in harm's way when that bombardment starts in that part of Gaza? Isn't that just something that's likely to take place?

OREN: Well, we're doing our best. Again, it is a complex combat situation, where Hamas is using these people as human shields. We're trying to move them from safe areas away from places where the air force is likely to strike or the ground forces are likely to intervene. Hamas has used these pauses, these cease-fires, to move terrorists from the north to the south, in order to keep those terrorists behind the human shields, as it has moved as well.

[16:25:09]

And keep in mind, for Israel, this is an existential battle. It's not as if we really have a choice, Jim. We have 250,000 people who are homeless tonight. They can't go back to their homes along the border, as long as Hamas can reorganize, rearm, and restage another raid such as that, the attack of October 7th. That is precisely what Hamas leaders say they're going to do. They're not even going to disguise their intention. We have to stop them and release the hostages.

There's not a lot of wiggle room here, and, you know, you know that in my background, an historian, I can't think in history any government that had to make decisions like this. There's no short cut. There's no easy way, but Israel has to defeat Hamas. It has to do its best to retrieve the hostages, all the while, and I stress all the while, trying to minimize civilian casualties on the Palestinian side.

ACOSTA: Ambassador, I have to get your response to this "New York Times" report that says that Israel knew about Hamas' plan to attack more than a year ago. Obviously perhaps the date was not known, but there were a great number of details in that planning information that went to -- or that was obtained by Israeli intelligence officials. What was your response to that? I mean, did you hit the roof when you saw this report? Did that just --

OREN: No, I wasn't --

ACOSTA: What did you make of that? Did it surprise you at all that some of these warnings were dismissed?

OREN: No, it didn't. I'll tell you the truth. There was an interesting report, and having been in government in a long time and the military a long time, I know that military intelligence is an imperfect science. There are many, many estimates. I'll never forget in 2011, our intelligence and American intelligence said that Bashar al-Assad would only remain two months in power and he's still around today, 12 years later, or when America recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital, all the estimates was that the Middle East would go up in flames, and in fact nothing happened.

So it's an imperfect science. And it is very important to check and certainly investigate later who was the highest-ranking officer to read this report? And if it wasn't passed on, why it wasn't passed on? It could be that people said, well, this is an interesting report, we really don't think Hamas has this type of capability to mount this, this is -- as they say it's aspirational, it's a dream.

I think what's more disturbing for me reading it is why it was leaked and who leaked it. And already we're seeing the beginnings of political struggles in Israel about who was responsible for October 7th, whether it be the government, particularly the prime minister, and/or the army. And I asked myself, OK, whose interest was it to leak this document? Who's it trying to make look bad? And I haven't come to a conclusive answer about that.

But certainly when you leak a document of this type of sensitivity, highly classified document, to a news organization like "The New York Times," there's got to be a reason behind it. The rest of it will be investigated, as will many other failures of October 7th.

ACOSTA: All right, Ambassador Michael Oren, thank you for your time. We appreciate it.

OREN: Always, Jim. Good to be with you.

ACOSTA: Thank you.

Coming up, former President Donald Trump is racking up more legal losses, including two in the same day. We'll break down the rulings just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:32:31]

ACOSTA: Now to a legal double whammy for former President Donald Trump. A federal appeals court ruled Trump can be sued in civil court over the January 6th capitol riots and in the separate criminal case for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election.

A judge ruled that Trump may not claim presidential immunity, because the president is not a king.

Judge Tanya Chutkan in that case writing, "Trump's four-year service as commander-n-chief did not bestow on him the divine right of kings to evade the criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens."

CNN's Marshall Cohen joins us along national security attorney, Bradley Moss.

First to you, Marshall.

If you can lay out what the judge had to say. She didn't hold back. MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: No, she did not. And she knows that

everyone is going to be reading this ruling. You, me, journalists, historians, law students, and, very likely, the Supreme Court one day, as this thing moves its way through all of the expected appeals.

But a very notable ruling. The former president was making the case that because everything in this indictment covers things that happened while he was president, he can't be prosecuted.

The only problem with that theory, Jim, was that the judge completely disagreed with it. She said, it's not supported by the text of the Constitution. It's not what our founding fathers had in mind when they wrote the Constitution.

She quoted George Washington's Farewell Address and Alexander Hamilton's Federalist Papers. And she said there's no Supreme Court precedent for it.

So in addition to that divine right of kings quote, I've got another one for you from Judge Chutkan. She said, quote, "Whatever immunities a sitting president may enjoy, the United States has only one chief executive at a time, and that position does not confer a life-long get-out-of-jail-free pass.

So, no free pass for the president. But he will appeal. And the trial is scheduled for March, so, he will probably try to get this before the Supreme Court at some point before that.

ACOSTA: Yes, and I -- I supposed the appeals will continue, and that has the potential to delay things further.

Brad, let's pick up on what Marshall just laid out for us.

What stands out to you? I mean, it sounds as though what Trump is trying to get is just immunity, no matter when he did it and -- or when he's being held accountable for it.

BRADLEY MOSS, NATIONAL SECURITY ATTORNEY: Yes, this is the political talking points that Trump has been pushing for a couple years, masquerading as legal theory. This is the rubber finally meeting the road.

When it gets into a court of law, when you get it before judges and they rule as a matter of law on these arguments, they go nowhere.

[16:35:03]

This argument went nowhere. The one in the civil case for immunity went nowhere. The one in Florida, if we ever get to pretrial motions in that case, where he's arguing he's immune under the Presidential Records Act, will go nowhere as a matter of law.

He doesn't have legal defenses. He's got political talking points. And he's got an ability to drag out the process. That's his only hope here.

He's going to obviously appeal this. If he loses it at the circuit, he'll appeal up to the Supreme Court.

His only hope is to get this pushed off until after the election in the hopes that he somehow wins next November.

We saw some of that, preview of that in the Georgia hearing yesterday where they said, even if there's the Georgia case still going on, it would have to wait until after he would serve his second term.

ACOSTA: Right, and that's the question that I have, to follow up on what you were saying.

If a lot of this is just sort of injecting political speech into legal arguments that his team is making, is it not really about the arguments that they're making and whether or not there's any kind of legal ground for a judge to rule on?

Is it really just more about delaying. And -- we're just going to keep trying whatever we can, throw whatever we can against the wall, see what sticks and see if it just buys us enough time to get to the election, get us past the election.

And if Trump wins, they think maybe all this goes away. What do you think?

MOSS: Yes, I think that has to be their primary approach. They are just playing for time and trying to delay.

These aren't entirely frivolous arguments. Let's be clear. There was certainly anyone who was prosecuted in this context who was going to raise the issue of immunity.

Anybody gets indicted, tied to use of classified information, is going to raise a question like Donald Trump is expected to raise in Florida. So these weren't unanticipated.

But we all knew, every competent legal analyst knew these arguments weren't going to fly. But they take time to resolve.

And that's why I think Judge Chutkan, recognizing the circuit and the Supreme Court are going to have to look at what she did, took the time she did to craft this ruling. It's very well done.

As Marshall said, it went back to what the founders were saying when they were crafting the Constitution and addressing these issues, that the idea of the president is not a king.

That's why the ruling says what it says and how it framed it out. I think it will hold up under scrutiny.

ACOSTA: And, Marshall, I mean, just to follow up on that, I mean, what is the likelihood that -- I mean, because this is going to continue. As you said, this could go all the way to the Supreme Court, and they'll have to decide on it.

That he could push all these trials, some, if not all of these trials, until after the election. COHEN: It's possible. Judge Chutkan, in the federal election

subversion case here in D.C., has been steadfast in terms of her desire to hold steady on that March trial date, March 2024, right in the middle of the Republican primaries.

ACOSTA: Yes.

COHEN: But it may not be up to her. If the Supreme Court gets involved, that could slow things down.

He's got a very different judge down in Florida, who is one of his own appointees, who has given him some favorable rulings over the last year.

So, different cases, different judges, maybe different outcomes.

ACOSTA: Brad, what do you think?

MOSS: Yes, that Florida case is a wild card. If that ever gets to trial -- I don't care who the judge is, I don't care who the population for a jury pool is, he loses at trial.

His only hope with that one is to delay that off until after the election, which, at the moment, given the delays that Judge Cannon has permitted, is certainly a possibility, given his tray of other cases coming up on his schedule.

ACOSTA: All right, Marshall and Brad, thanks a lot guys. Really appreciate it.

MOSS: Absolutely. Have a good one.

ACOSTA: All right. You, too.

Coming up, after getting booted from Congress, what is next for George Santos? We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:40:02]

ACOSTA: Expelled Congressman George Santos is vowing revenge against several of his congressional colleagues, or former congressional colleagues, I guess we should say, saying that he plans to file ethics complaints against them.

This is, of course, after he was tossed from the House of Representatives in a bipartisan vote on Friday. This comes after the Ethics Committee in the House found overwhelming evidence of unlawful conduct against Santos.

He is also facing 23 criminal charges, all of which he denies.

After the vote, the locks on his office door were changed. The name plate there by his door was taken down.

CNN's Polo Sandoval is live in Santos' home district in Douglaston, New York.

I guess we should add former, it's not his district anymore, right? Polo, what's the latest? What are you hearing?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim. Add "former" to what you see behind me. This is all going to have to change eventually here at the now former Congressman George Santos' district office.

The big question here about what happens next. And the thing here is the process that's in place that will allow the constituents in New York's third congressional district to essentially turn the page on what was a very complicated chapter.

The process is fairly simple. It will now be, by state law, New York Governor Kathy Hochul that will announce a special election that we're told will likely happen in February.

Now, the parties wouldn't actually hold a primary for candidates, so, instead, what we'll see take place, those county party leaders will get together, hold a vote, and then put forth a candidate.

Already, the pool of potential candidates include everyone from a retired New York police detective, a war veteran, even the man who used to hold that seat before he pursued unsuccessfully a bid for the governorship.

ASo, certainly questions about what's going to happen to what is a critical, politically critical seat here.

And when you look at the layout of the House of Representatives here, and a reminder that Santos was just one of four Republicans that actually flipped districts that were traditionally blue.

So, certainly Republicans would have a lot riding on this.

[16:45:01]

In terms of what we have been hearing if the last several days, really since yesterday from residents here, I want you to hear from one of them, who is quite grateful that they're turning that page on what was just a very dark period for this -- for this district.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't like him, because he's a crook, because he's a liar. Because I just don't like him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think the people on Long Island made a mistake at the beginning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: So, a couple of other things that I heard from constituents today. I asked what they want in their future representatives, Jim. They said transparently, competency, professionalism, and finally, one that I kept hearing over and over again, honesty -- Jim?

ACOSTA: Yes. It was certainly lacking with George Santos.

Polo Sandoval, thank you very much. We appreciate that report.

Still ahead, it's getting colder and it seems like a lot of people are getting sick. What you need to do to keep yourself safe, your family safe and healthy. That's next.

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[16:50:24]

ACOSTA: Now to a CNN health alert. The holidays are right around the corner, and cases of respiratory illnesses are on the rise. Eleven states, plus New York City and Puerto Rico are seeing high or very high levels of respiratory illness activity, which can include Covid, flu and other viruses.

Here to talk about the spike, CNN medical analyst, Dr. Leana Wen.

Dr. Wen, great to see you.

I hope we're just talking about your garden variety cases of the flu and maybe some Covid mixed in. But what is different about this flu season? What's your sense of it right now?

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, Jim, it's important for us to reset and say that it's actually not out of the ordinary.

So, normally at this time, we have a confluence of viruses. We have the common viruses that cause the common cold. And you also have influenza, the flu, and also RSV, the respiratory virus, which is also very common. Nearly every child gets RSV before they turn two.

On top of that, we now also have Covid. And so, we're seeing this confluence of viruses. Not out of the ordinary, though.

And actually compared to last year at this time, exactly one year ago, pediatric hospitals were so overwhelmed that the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association were calling for President Biden to declare a state of emergency, because the hospitals were so full. We are not at that level.

And so, what we're seeing is expected. It doesn't look like there's a new pathogen. And we just have to get through the winter, as we get through all winters.

ACOSTA: OK, that is encouraging news.

And, I mean, tell us, is it too late for folks to go out there and get their flu shot? I did this. I got my Covid update. I don't know why people don't get these shots. I wish they would. It would certainly tamp down on things.

Is it too late at this point to get vaccinated on those fronts? WEN: It's not too late. I also have my Covid booster, as well as the

flu vaccine. My husband does. People that we know, our patients do. And I would highly recommend that people go and get it.

Ideally, you have gotten those shots by now. But we know the uptick of the Covid booster is still pretty low, even for nursing home residents. Only 25 percent of nursing home residents have gotten the updated Covid shots.

So, especially if you are 65 and older, if you are somebody with chronic medical conditions, if you live in assisted living, a nursing home, you need to have your flu vaccine and your Covid booster.

And you should also, if you are in -- if you are an older individual, also consider getting the RSV vaccine, because we need every protection we can get.

You don't want to get sick. You don't want to end up in the hospital. And vaccination helps to prevent that.

ACOSTA: Yes, it was a little annoying at first to get that Covid booster when it first came out. It was tough to get an appointment. But it's fairly simple to go do. So people should definitely go do it.

And, Dr. Wen, what about childhood pneumonia? That is making some headlines. Apparently, we have an outbreak among some young children in Ohio. What do we know about that?

WEN: Yes, it's important to emphasize there is no new pathogen that's been identified. What's going on in Ohio appears to be probably due to what we always see.

So pneumonia could be due to viruses, bacteria, and fungi. It's very common for there to be pneumonia due to these substances, due to these organisms.

And so I think it's important for parents to watch for concerning signs, for example, a cough that just doesn't go away, a persistent fever for more than five days, a -- if a child starts developing shortness of breath.

Young kids in particular, kids under the age of 2, especially newborns who are particularly susceptible to having ill effects from pneumonia. They should contact their provider as soon as possible.

But know that this is something that we see every respiratory season, even before Covid. And so, it's something that we can manage.

What we're seeing also in China, also appears to not be a new pathogen, but due to an increase in viruses and bacteria.

So, be on the lookout, health systems should be prepared, but not time for panic or alarm.

ACOSTA: Yes. And a little prevention goes a long way.

All right, Dr. Wen, great to see you as always. Thanks so much. I see the tree behind you. Happy holidays. Thank you.

WEN: You, too, Jim.

ACOSTA: Appreciate it.

Tomorrow, we're bringing you the all-new CNN film, "CHOWCHILLA," which tells one of the most shocking true crime stories, about the 1976 kidnapping of a school bus full of children and their driver. They were buried underground for more than 12 hours before orchestrating their own dramatic escape.

Here's a preview.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chowchilla was a wonderful place to grow up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were little innocent children.

[16:54:57]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Never did I think something like this could happen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How does a school bus show up missing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I did not want to go down there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was like somebody just took them off the planet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was it a thrill crime?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your guess is as good as mine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a mystery. You had no answers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They recovered a journal, encrypted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had never seen anything like that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The kidnappers hit this town right in its heart by taking those children.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the way through, they thought they had thought of everything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We would have been buried alive. And I thought to myself, if we're going to die, we're going to die getting the hell out of here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When we got home, I thought life would be OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The kids were not OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God forgive them, because I won't. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was possibly the story of the century.

ANNOUNCER: "Chowchilla," tomorrow at 9:00, on CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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