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Three Israeli Hostages Mistakenly Killed By IDF; Hostage Families Demand Israeli Government Do More; Trump Repeats Anti- Immigrant Rhetoric At New Hampshire Rally. Interview With Representative Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) About Funding Foreign Aid And Border Deal; Uproar After Moms For Liberty Co-Founder Caught In Sex Scandal; Survival Is An Everyday Struggle For Parents In Gaza. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired December 16, 2023 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:10]

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

Good evening. We start this hour with the fallout in Israel after three Israeli hostages were mistakenly shot and killed by their own soldiers inside Gaza. Military officials say the three men came out of a building shirtless, waving a white flag when they were shot by Israeli soldiers. The IDF says those troops did not follow their rules of engagement and that this was a painful event for all service members.

Here's what the IDF spokesperson told me earlier tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. COL. JONATHAN CONRICUS, IDF SPOKESPERSON: We're telling our soldiers, do not lose sight of the aim. We're going to dismantle Hamas, we're going to bring back the hostages, and we're going to return safety to Israelis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Meanwhile, thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv tonight, including the families of hostages, pleading with the Israeli government to bring back their loved ones, bring them back to Israel. This as another hostage, 27-year-old Inbar Haiman, died while being held captive by Hamas, according to the Israeli prime minister's office. Her death means 21 hostages have now died inside Gaza, while 129 others remain held captive.

And CNN's Alex Marquardt has all the latest developments from Tel Aviv.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: In the wake of the tragic deaths of three Israeli hostages killed by Israeli soldiers in northern Gaza, a large crowd gathered in downtown Tel Aviv on Saturday night in what has become known as Hostages Square to demand that the rest of the hostages in Gaza come home, demand that the Netanyahu government does more.

I spoke with a number of relatives of hostages, some who have been released and some who remain in Gaza, who say that Prime Minister Netanyahu needs to be more proactive and put a plan on the table, prioritize the release of these hostages over the military operation. Here's what the cousin of one of the hostages have to tell me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIL DICKMANN, COUSIN OF HOSTAGE: But I believe that such a tragedy that could have been prevented by a deal between Israel and Hamas, they must change things now. They must pick a different course, and I think it's possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: We also heard from Prime Minister Netanyahu express much of what the country is now feeling, that the three men were so close to being free after more than two months in captivity. Netanyahu saying that we were so close to embracing them, but we cannot turn back time. He again argued that it is the military operation that led to the initial wave of hostages who are freed, and it is the military pressure that will help get more hostages released.

But I spoke with the daughter of a hostage who was released several weeks ago who said that in light of what happened on Friday with the killing of those three hostages, they are now afraid for the lives of those who remain in Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAAYAN SIGAL KOREN, FAMILY MEMBERS HELD HOSTAGE: They heard all the bombing and they were very, very frightened. The bombing will be falling on them, that they will die from the army and missiles.

MARQUARDT: The shelling.

KOREN: Yes. And they told us that they didn't believe that the army really knew where they are because they were shooting very, very close, and they heard all the loud noises of that bombing. And I really think that we should do anything to stop the war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: The IDF is taking full responsibility for the deaths of these three Israeli hostages, all men in their mid to late 20s. They say that the hostages did everything right to prove that they weren't militants, and that the soldiers violated the rules of engagement. At the same time, the IDF was saying that this is a very chaotic tense situation with lots of terrorists trying to attack IDF troops wearing civilian clothing.

The three Israeli hostages emerged from a building near the soldiers' position. They had no shirts on. They were trying to show that they didn't have any explosives. They were waving a white flag. And in firing on the hostages with a white flag, that's when the troops violated the rules of engagement. Two of the hostages were immediately killed. A third was killed later after he had run into a nearby building and was shouting in Hebrew. Their bodies were taken back to Israel and they were confirmed to be the bodies of the hostages.

Now this raises all kinds of questions about whether the IDF is being careful enough and about their rules of engagement. There have also been a number of friendly fire deaths among the Israeli troops who have been killed so far. And then of course the global outcry about the thousands of civilians among the Palestinian population of Gaza, who have also been killed, which has led the United States to put a lot of pressure on Israel to tell them to be a lot more surgical and a lot more precise generally in their military operations in Gaza.

Alex Marquardt, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[19:05:02]

ACOSTA: And for more on this, let's go to my next guest, Aaron David Miller, formerly a Middle East negotiator for the State Department.

Aaron, just to pick up on what Alex Marquardt was saying at the end of that report, I mean, do you get the sense that the IDF will be more precise, be more surgical as the Biden administration has suggested?

When I talked to Jonathan Conricus in one of the previous hours on this program earlier today, I didn't get that sense from him at all. It sounds as though the Israelis are going to continue to wage this campaign the way they've waged it in Gaza, and that they will at least try to avoid the tragic mistake that took place with these hostages being killed.

AARON DAVID MILLER, FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT MIDDLE EAST NEGOTIATOR: Look, Jim, I think today -- yesterday and today raises two questions. Number one, will Israel be able to achieve its twin objectives, which is destroying Hamas' military infrastructure above and below ground, and kill its leaders as well as redeeming its hostages? Every day those hostages remain in Hamas captivity, Hamas is ultimately responsible for what happens to them. But every day they remain there, the risk to them grows. I mean, that's one issue.

Second, based on what I interpreted to be Jake Sullivan's meetings and his press -- his interviews seems to me that both Washington and Jerusalem have reached sort of a broad consensus. They use the term wide convergence. That probably early in the new year, Israeli tempo, the ground campaign, artillery air strikes, will transition to something much more intelligence directed with a lower intensity of operation tempo.

Whether that remains to be the case, whether that actually happens, the administration is going to be watching very carefully. And I think both sides right now to avoid what would be a major break or fracture between the two.

ACOSTA: So it's not possible -- I mean, it sounds like what you're saying, it may take some time for that transition to the next stage to take place, and that they are not going to change on a dime because of this tragic incident that just occurred.

MILLER: I mean, you know, the administration was thinking weeks, sometime mid-January, by the end of January. Perhaps the Israelis, obviously, have a different timeframe in mind. They are talking months. But I think what is absolutely clear, even if the tempo of the Israeli operations changed to a lower intensity form of combat, the Israeli military is going to be operating in Gaza for months and months to come, based on the fact that there is still no -- and it's unlikely to be quickly any sort of transition mechanism even if the Israelis can manage to accomplish their objectives in degrading Hamas and killing its leaders, which spark uncertain right now, as we enter the third month of this war.

ACOSTA: Aaron, do you think that we are on the verge of perhaps seeing some movement, some developments on hostages?

MILLER: You know, the head of Israeli Mossad reported yesterday was in discussions with the Qatari prime minister. So maybe. But, you know, with the hostage game, the cruel hostage game, and that's basically what it is on Hamas' part, it's impossible to know. The Israelis argue it's military pressure. Hamas clearly wants to trade hostages for time so that they can relieve the pressure that the Israelis are putting on them, as well as freeing hundreds this time of Israeli prisoners.

If the ratio of returns is 3-1 for the civilians during that seven-day humanitarian pause there's likely to be 100-1 with respect to Israeli soldiers that Hamas is holding.

ACOSTA: And as international support, as you know, has been waning for Israel in its war with Hamas, what do you suppose is being said behind closed doors between President Biden, Prime Minister Netanyahu, between Jake Sullivan and his counterpart? Are we hearing and do you think there's some pretty tough language being used behind the scenes to try to have Netanyahu dial things back a bit?

I mean, or are we -- I mean, what we're hearing earlier from Ambassador Michael Oren is that perhaps we're just hearing some of this out in front of the cameras for domestic political consumption. I mean, what's your sense of all this?

MILLER: My sense is that neither Joe Biden nor Benjamin Netanyahu right now can afford and want a formal break in relations or to create the sense that there are major differences between Israel's warring and America's, and the fundamental differences on tactic as well. It may well be, Jim, that Prime Minister Netanyahu in planning his reelection campaign, plans to run against Joe Biden on the grounds that the Americans are pressuring the Israeli government on the return of the P.A. and a two-state solution.

[19:10:05] But I suspect it's a very bad tactic. You have an American president frankly in the face of vociferous criticism at home and abroad stood by the Israelis in what had clearly their most traumatic moments in national security. So I suspect you -- last point. If there's a crisis in the Israeli-U.S. relationship, it's not going to come from Washington. It will come from Israel's policies and Prime Minister Netanyahu's campaign in election president.

ACOSTA: All right, Aaron David Miller. As always, we appreciate it. Thank you so much.

MILLER: Thanks for having me, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. In the meantime, former President Donald Trump is again making some very incendiary comments about immigrants, talking about immigrants poisoning the blood of this country. He used that kind of rhetoric earlier today in New Hampshire. Why it sounds like an appeal to white supremacist because in many cases, it is an appeal to white supremacists. That's next.

And the Republican sex scandal in Florida. What Florida's governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis is saying about it. That's also coming up in just a few moments.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:15:32]

ACOSTA: Another Trump rally, more attacks from former president Donald Trump on immigrants. Here he was earlier today in New Hampshire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They are poisoning the blood of our country. That's what they have done. They poisoned mental institutions and prisons all over the world. Not just in South America, not just the three or four countries that we think about, but all over the world they're coming into our country from Africa, from Asia, all over the world. They're pouring into our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Let's discuss more now with CNN senior political analyst and senior editor at "The Atlantic," Ron Brownstein and NYU history professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat. She's the author of the book "Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present."

Guys, thanks to both of you. Ruth, I'm glad to have you back on the program. Let me start with you. You've studied fascist rhetoric, autocrats, authoritarian leaders. You and I have talked about this subject many times. What was your reaction when you heard what Trump had to say earlier today?

RUTH BEN-GHIAT, AUTHOR, "STRONGMEN: MUSSOLINI TO THE PRESENT": This is, you know, this is fascist rhetoric. The worries about polluting the blood of the superior race go as a standard of Nazism. It's not just the Nazis. It's also fascists. In Italy Mussolini literally talked about killing rats, to go back to Trump's use of vermin in an earlier speech. He talked about killing rats who were bringing infectious diseases and communism into Italy.

So, you know, this is fascist rhetoric and he's using it for a very precise purpose. But we also want to, you know, ask why he's using it now so often. And unfortunately, the Trump campaign has made it very clear what they want to do to immigrants. You know, mass deportations, mass detentions, likely abuses and violence in those operations.

And, you know, dehumanizing immigrants, which is what this language does, is a way to get Americans prepared now to accept these repressions later on. That's what's so terrible, and that's also another thing that's so fascist about this.

ACOSTA: Ron, I mean, help us look at the big picture here if you can. I mean, obviously, the electoral concerns, I mean, for the Republicans. It's hard to imagine swing voters in places like suburban Philadelphia or Michigan, Wisconsin, gravitating to this kind of language after they've already rejected it before. I mean, this is something that asserted Trump in previous elections.

Why do you suppose, as Ruth was saying, he keeps going back to this? He's been doing a lot of this lately out on the campaign trail.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, well, first of all, it's great to be on with both of you. And like many people, I've learned a lot on these issues in the last few years from Professor Ben-Ghiat so I'm really glad to be here with you.

Look, the big picture is that the U.S. faces a situation that I believe we have not been in since arguably the two decades before the Civil War. I mean, you really have to go back I think to John Calhoun's dominance and the South's dominance in the Democratic Party in the 1840s and 1850s to look at the last time the dominant faction in one of our two parties was not committed to American democracy, as we have understood it and practiced it throughout our history.

And this is an extraordinarily challenging and in many ways, ominous situation for the country whatever happens in the 2024 election. Trump has shown there is an audience in the Republican coalition, in particular, for all of these kinds of arguments. You know, in polls while he was president 90 percent of Republicans said Christianity in the U.S. is under attack. Three-quarters said that discrimination against whites is now as big a problem as discrimination against minorities.

And in multiple polls, Jim, 55 percent to 60 percent of Republicans said the traditional way of American life is disappearing so fast that true patriots may have to use force to preserve it. So there is an audience for this. But as you know, there is also a substantial audience that's been mobilized in three consecutive elections to prevent this vision from being implemented. And you know, we are in a position now where a majority of voters are unhappy about the economy, discontented about Biden, maybe think he's too old to run for another term, but it's a very different proposition to say that most Americans in the end will be able to -- would be willing to empower someone talking so explicitly as the professor said echoing fascist leaders from the darkest moments of the 20th century.

[19:20:04]

I've said to you before and I believe again, Trump throws Biden lifelines every day. Voters are unhappy with the way things are going in the country, but that doesn't mean they are willing to go in this direction either.

ACOSTA: Well, and Ruth, I wonder, do you think there's a chance that Trump understands that this really doesn't get him to 270 electoral votes, but that there is a utility in keeping his base amped up on these issues, amped up with this kind of rhetoric because of whatever else he has in store for the country?

BEN-GHIAT: I do. I think he -- you know, the Republicans like, you know, Matt Gaetz, is also always talking about how force is how we're going to bring change to Washington. They are not really thinking inside the democratic box anymore. And he's more concerned, which he has been since 2015, he's just hugely accelerating it now, with reeducating Americans to want violence, to be OK with violence.

And before, you know, he managed to make January 6th into a patriotic event. Now he's dehumanizing targets that will be people who will be the state enemies, who are already state enemies in Trump 1.0. But now it's a whole other scale.

I do want to tell your viewers that if anyone who thinks this isn't going to bother them because they are not an immigrant. They're not going to stop with immigrants. I'm quite concerned that he is mentioning what he calls mental institutions and prisons so often, in another speech he actually talked about, you know, the need to expand psychiatric institutions to confine people, and he mentions Special Prosecutor Jack Smith as someone who should end up in a, quote, "mental institution."

This is what fascists and especially communists used to do to critics. They used to put people who didn't believe in the propaganda of the state or who are trouble makers into psychiatric institutions. So the kind of swath of people, the amount of people who are going to be targeted certainly doesn't stop with immigrants.

ACOSTA: Yes. And Ron, I mean, today, Trump also vowed to investigate prosecutors, I mean, as Ruth was just talking about Jack Smith there, indemnify police officers as they crack down on crime. He called January 6th prisoners, quote, "hostages" again. And he went out of his way to say that people are going to start leaving the country in droves if he gets elected.

It's almost as if he has this sort of crisis scenario that he is going to bring about in this country, that's playing out in his head. He's sharing that vision with his supporters. BROWNSTEIN: Well, you know, when he was president, I often said that

he governed as a wartime president for red America, with blue America rather than any foreign country as the adversary. And you see that even more explicitly this time. You know, in our "Atlantic" special issue on his second term, I wrote, you could look at the variety of his plans, he's been talking about some of them, that he's put forward that would involve projecting federal forces into blue states and cities.

He's talking about mass door-to-door deportations. He's talking about rounding up the homeless. He's talking about sending the National Guard into blue cities in unspecified ways to fight crime and restore order, and some people around him had talked about invoking the Insurrection Act against protesters. So I mean, what we're talking about is someone who sees himself as using national power to advance factional ends, to impose the agenda that is settling over red states onto blue states and cities.

Whether that's on voting, whether that's on LGBTQ rights, whether that's potential likely on abortion. So -- and in many cases with the use of force behind it. So we are, as we've been saying, we're seeing escalation of this. There may be a majority of Americans who are willing to accept this but that is a much more difficult proposition than asking whether there a majority of Americans who are unhappy with the way the economy is going and are willing to just make a change on that front.

I think Trump is making this, if he is the nominee, much harder on himself than you would expect given the level of dissatisfaction with Biden. The start of 2022, Jim, there was an unprecedented number of voters who said they were unhappy about the economy, dissatisfied with Biden, still voted for Democrats because they view the Republican alternative as too extreme.

ACOSTA: That's right.

BROWNSTEIN: And that is the door that Trump is opening almost every day.

ACOSTA: Yes. Fascinating discussion. I wish we had more time. We'll get back to this issue again and again. But in the meantime, Ron and Ruth, thanks so much for your time this evening. Really appreciate it.

All right, in the meantime Senate negotiators are working through the weekend to put together a deal on aid to Israel and Ukraine plus U.S. border security. Will they come to an agreement? We'll talk about that in a few moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:29:13]

ACOSTA: Tonight Senate negotiators report they are making progress on a deal that would deliver military aid to Israel and Ukraine, and fund security at America's southern border with Mexico.

And joining me now is Democratic Congressman Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts.

Congressman, thank you very much for being with us this evening. Do you think that we might see a deal?

REP. JAKE AUCHINCLOSS (D-MA): I do. I'm optimistic that the Senate is going to get to a deal. The president has been directly involved because of moved talks along considerably. I've been saying for months that Democrats should be negotiating on border security. The border is not secure. It's not sustainable. And a deal could be a triple win for the country, for the president, and for migrants themselves because the trafficking happening at the border right now is a human rights violation there.

The real question is what happens in the House. Speaker Johnson, since taking the gavel, has woken up every morning with a different opinion about Ukraine, about immigration, about FISA authorization and FAA. He can't make up his mind.

And this is a momentous issue on which he is going to have to be decisive. I heard him speak a couple of weeks ago, on the Hill about Winston Churchill. We were unveiling a bust in honor of the prime minister and Speaker Johnson spoke so eloquently about the leadership and moral courage that Winston Churchill demonstrated on behalf of Great Britain and Europe in its darkest hour and some of that same weight now is on his shoulders.

And the question is, does he rise to the occasion? Or does he shrink back to his MAGA form?

ACOSTA: And what are your concerns if this deal does not go through? If Ukrainians don't get the aid that they need? And I suppose to some extent, if aid to Israel gets held up, that might not be as likely a scenario, but what's your sense of it?

AUCHINCLOSS: I expect this is going to be the defining vote of this 118th Congress because it answers whether the United States can be counted on to support fellow democracies overseas, in Israel as it fights against terrorism, in Europe as Ukraine fights against tyranny and in the Indo Pacific as Taiwan prepares to defend itself against totalitarianism.

The United States since World War Two has tried to uphold the rules- based international order, and this is a clarion moment for whether the United States can be counted on in the 21st Century.

I think the votes are there. I don't think it's a math problem. I do think it's a MAGA problem. Unfortunately, Donald Trump has riled up House Republicans so that they are afraid to take a vote for democracy.

ACOSTA: And it is the aid to Ukraine that's really the sticking point here.

AUCHINCLOSS: Yes, that's right.

The aid to Ukraine is deeply unpopular within a large segment of the House Republican Conference, and I am also concerned that they are not willing to take yes for an answer on border security reform, that they may be more inclined to campaign on that issue than to govern on that issue going into an election year.

As I said, I'm optimistic that the Senate is going to put pen to paper on something that can get 60 votes. The question is whether Speaker Johnson has the moral courage to meet this moment and force it to the floor and then whip the MAGA base in support of it.

ACOSTA: And, Congressman, I wanted to get your reaction to something that former President Donald Trump said earlier today at a campaign event in New Hampshire. Trump was repeating some anti-immigrant language that he has used before, and that is, frankly used by White supremacists, that immigrants are poisoning the blood of this country. What's your reaction to that?

AUCHINCLOSS: It's despicable, and it is of a pattern for the last eight years from the former president.

I represent Massachusetts, Jim. We've been welcoming migrants and refugees for 400 years since the Puritans came fleeing persecution in England, and just this week, I'm going to go visit some of the migrant families to wish them Happy Holidays and to see how they're doing.

We are made immeasurably richer both culturally and economically from welcoming newcomers to this country. It's who we are as a nation, and this kind of language from Donald Trump is a dark harbinger of how he would govern should he take back power.

ACOSTA: All right, Congressman Auchincloss, thank you very much for your time this evening. We appreciate it.

AUCHINCLOSS: Good evening.

ACOSTA: All right, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:37:53]

ACOSTA: In Florida, a growing scandal for state Republican's Christian Ziegler, the chair of Florida's Republican Party has been accused of sexual assault -- sexually assaulting a woman with whom he and his wife previously had a sexual encounter.

His wife, Bridget Ziegler is the co-founder of the conservative group, Moms for Liberty and a member of the Sarasota, Florida County School Board. The Board wants her to resign and CNN's Carlos Suarez has more details on this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDOLPH LUCEK, SARASOTA RESIDENT: Having sex with another woman in a threesome with her husband is not the issue, but when you claim the moral high ground and then you attack the moral integrity of others, the blatant hypocrisy of Mrs. Zeigler and how it reflects on the credibility of this board is a significant concern.

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Rudolph Lucek is talking about this woman, Bridget Ziegler --

BRIDGET ZIEGLER, CO-FOUNDER, MOMS FOR LIBERTY: Know who their candidates are for school board, know where they stand, and hold them accountable.

SUAREZ (voice over): She's a co-founder of the conservative group, Moms for Liberty, and on Tuesday was asked to voluntarily resign from the Sarasota County School Board.

TAMARA SOLUM, SARASOTA COUNTY SUBSTITUTE TEACHER: If you were in support of everyone having, you know, these illicit type of relationships, then that wouldn't matter.

SUAREZ (voice over): Ziegler, a close ally of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, helped author Florida's Parental Rights in Education Law dubbed by critics as the Don't Say Gay Bill.

It removed discussion of sexual orientation and identity from public schools curriculum. DeSantis also appointed her to the board that manages Disney's special taxing district.

KAREN ROSE, SARASOTA COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD CHAIR: The resolution recommends that Bridget Ziggler immediately take all steps necessary to voluntarily resign.

SUAREZ (voice over): Now, she is under intense criticism for a sex scandal involving her husband, Christian Ziegler, the chair of the Florida Republican Party and a woman accusing him of rape.

According to an affidavit, the woman told police that there was a planned at sexual encounter with both Christian and Bridget Ziegler in October.

Bridget canceled leading the other woman to also cancel, but Christian still showed up at the woman's home.

Bridget, who hasn't been accused of criminal wrongdoing admitted the couple had a previous three-way sexual encounter with a woman "over a year ago" and that had only happened one time.

[19:40:11]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mrs. Ziegler, you have tarnished the soul of the school board here with hypocrisy and duplicity.

SUAREZ (voice over): Ziegler sat stoically through the three hours of public comment at a school board meeting Tuesday night and gave no indication of stepping down from the school board as her husband is being investigated.

B. ZIEGLER: As people may know, I serve on another public board and this issue did not come up and we were able to forge ahead with the business of the board. SUAREZ (voice over): Still, she got an earful from the community.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Resign.

SUAREZ (voice over): The majority of those that showed up criticized her, though she did have some support.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What an adult does in her private life is hers. It's not for you to judge.

SUAREZ (voice over): But some in the community are pointing to Ziegler's hypocrisy in passing judgment on others.

TIMOTHY WAGNER, SARASOTA RESIDENT: We hear about all of those hypocrites for my entire life, it is always do as I say not as I do.

SUAREZ (voice over): The fallout from the sex scandal and the criminal investigation has been swift, a Moms for Liberty chapter in Pennsylvania split from the national group and top Republican officials in Florida, including Governor DeSantis have called on Christian Ziegler to resign.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know that you have any real standing with that hanging over you.

SUAREZ (voice over): In a statement, Christian Ziegler's attorney said: "We are confident that no charges will be filed and Mr. Ziegler will be completely exonerated."

SUAREZ (on camera): The Board does not have the authority to remove Bridget Ziegler, only Governor Ron DeSantis can, and so far he has not called on her to step aside.

As for Christian Ziegler, the Executive Committee of the Florida Republican Party will meet this weekend to decide whether they are going to suspend Christian Ziegler and take up a vote of no confidence.

Carlos Suarez, CNN, Sarasota, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And in the meantime, CNN has learned that Florida's GOP leadership plans to meet behind closed doors tomorrow to take steps toward ousting Christian Ziegler, and just a short time ago, Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis weighed in on the scandal as he campaigns in Iowa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DESANTIS: I've called on Christian to step down as the RPOF Chairman. My understanding is he is the one that's under the criminal cloud.

Clearly, I think Bridget, and this is somebody that I've worked with, and have really liked the work she's done. I mean, you know, she's going to have to look to see how effective that she is going to be able to be in those circumstances.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And joining us now with more on the story is Marc Caputo, national political reporter for "The Messenger" and a specialist on Florida politics.

Marc, you know, what do you make of what's happening here? I mean, this is just building up to kind of an implosion here of sorts -- political sorts, in the Sunshine State. What about what Ron DeSantis had to say there?

MARC CAPUTO, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, "THE MESSENGER": Well, it did sort of surprise me in that DeSantis had been avoiding talking about Bridget Ziegler, and now he does have the power to suspend, but the Florida Constitution says he can only suspend certain constitutional officers, that could include Miss Ziegler as school board member, but for matters of criminal issues -- drunkenness, inability or refusal to perform a duty -- she doesn't really fall into that category.

Like, she is essentially, as you heard, her critics say, is accused of rank hypocrisy, it is her husband who is accused of the sexual assault.

But nevertheless, DeSantis didn't give a full-throated backing of her and said, no, she shouldn't step down; no, she shouldn't step aside. He said, that is kind of that's her decision. I thought that was kind of interesting.

On the other hand, Christian Ziegler has had his resignation called for by every top statewide or every statewide elected official in Florida, now they're all Republicans. The only one who has been quiet so far has been former President Trump, who is a Florida man. He is Florida's top Republican or best known. And so far, he stayed out of it, former President Trump.

ACOSTA: Right.

CAPUTO: And Christian Ziegler in private conversations with various Republicans on the Republican Party of Florida Executive Board who want to oust him, he said to them, when they said, look, you need to step down. He said, well, why don't you call on President Trump to step down? You guys are being hypocrites, and that's annoyed some of them.

They say that the situations between the rapes that or the rape that Donald Trump was found liable for recently for a 1996 alleged sexual assault is different than the one, and in the quantity of the time in reporting than the one that Christian is accused of, but he started to really kind of raise that issue and it's just put Republicans in a very uncomfortable position.

ACOSTA: But it sounds as though there's going to be this emergency session tomorrow with the Florida Republican Party and Christian Ziegler might be out. CAPUTO: Yes.

ACOSTA: What is your sense of it? What does your reporting tell you? Or is this -- or might this be close?

[19:45:07]

CAPUTO: Oh, yes, It's not going to be close. It's just a question of when and how. Now the Republican Party of Florida rules doesn't specifically say, here's how you kick out a chairman. It says you have to default to Robert's Rules of Order and there are all of these various hoops they have to jump through. They would have to have a special event, an Investigative Committee, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Some of the members are just saying, look, let's just kick him out anyway, and let him sue us. So, it's either going to be tomorrow that he actually gets removed, and then he decides to sue, or they're going to go through this longer process, and then he'll be removed.

But they're saying, look, we don't care about whether or not the sexual assault happens. That's them talking. They're saying just the matter of him being involved in a threesome relationship with his wife, the hypocrisy issue, the man who had campaigned governed and consulted as a family values conservative isn't, he can't lead the Republican Party of Florida.

Now, that's the executive board talking and that's probably what's going to happen or you're going to hear about when he gets booted?

ACOSTA: I mean, is this damaging for the Moms for Liberty? I mean --

CAPUTO: Clearly, yes. I mean, Moms for Liberty on the night that this all broke a few weeks ago by an investigative group kind of headquartered in Sarasota where they live. Moms of Liberty had put out a statement in the defense of Christian or pardon me, of Bridget Ziegler. They then struck that statement off of social media, I haven't checked to see if they put up a new one.

So this is not something that the Moms for Liberty want to deal with either. It's just a very, very messy situation. And let's not forget, there is a woman out there who has accused this man of committing a sexual assault, of raping her, and she hasn't spoken publicly. She obviously wants her privacy and that is a very delicate and difficult situation, certainly for her and for the media to report on.

ACOSTA: Absolutely. No question about it.

All right, Marc Caputo, always great to have you on. Thanks again. Appreciate it.

CAPUTO: Thanks, Jim. Appreciate it.

ACOSTA: All right, also making some headlines today, an aid to Democratic Senator Ben Cardin has been fired following reports linking the staffer to a purported sex tape filmed in a Capitol Hill hearing room.

Capitol Police are looking into the incident and are reviewing the footage first obtained by right-wing media outlet "The Daily Caller." CNN has not independently obtained the video and cannot confirm the identity of anyone involved, but that staffer has apparently been fired and we will keep on top of that and bring you the latest as it comes in.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:51:56]

ACOSTA: Every parent wants to keep their children safe in war-torn Gaza. It's an endless struggle.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh reports after two months of bombardment, parents are doing everything just to keep their children alive and we should warn you, the story is incredibly difficult to watch and has graphic content, but it's important to see.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(ABU MOHAMAD speaking in foreign language.)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): These are the desperate cries of a father left with nothing but his voice, a father who can no longer protect his three vulnerable children.

"I can't survive. They've destroyed my house," Abu Mohamad (ph) says. "I can't get food. I have no one to support me. I spent the night moving from tent to tent."

For more than 60 days, he has tried to stay strong, until he could no more.

His disabled children, homeless, hungry, hurting from Gaza's war. What do you do when your child needs you, but you've got nothing left to give?

(ABU MOHAMMAD speaking in foreign language.)

KARADSHEH (voice over): "Have mercy on us," Abu Mohammad says.

No mercy for the people of this besieged land it seems, rain a blessing, they used to say, now it only brings more despair.

For those forced out of their homes, life has become this miserable existence as rains flood their makeshift camps. It's a harsh winter that's only just beginning.

(AMALI speaking in foreign language.)

KARADSHEH (voice over): Amali (ph) shows us the tiny tent she lives in with 11 others, her two daughters and grandchildren. She spent the night trying to catch the rain that dripped through the roof of their flimsy shelter.

"This is humiliation," Amali says. "I have these children without a father. I can't take it anymore. Even children now hate life," she says.

It's just too much for parents to bear when you can't even keep your children dry, warm and clean as diseases start to spread and the aid they so badly need now a weapon in this war.

(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE speaking in foreign language.)

KARADSHEH (voice over): "I want to protect my children," this mother says. "The bombings and destruction are not enough. On top of that, now we have the rain, cold, and illnesses."

To be a parent in Gaza is a blessing turned into torture for those who no longer wonder if, but how they and their children will die.

(ABU MOHAMED speaking in foreign language.)

KARADSHEH (voice over): Abu Mohamed (sp?) says he was sitting thinking of how he will feed his children when an airstrike hit.

(ABU MOHAMED speaking in foreign language.)

KARADSHEH (voice over): "Where do I take my children?" He says. "I fled and came here to die. I gave my children my everything. Who will take care of them if I die?"

Like many in Gaza, it is not only Israel they blame, they want Hamas to stop a war for which they paid the price, abandoned alone as the world won't stop their pain.

[19:55:05]

(LANA speaking in foreign language.)

Six-year-old Lana (ph) was under the rubble of her home for three days. "Mommy and Daddy are underneath it," she says.

(LANA speaking in foreign language.)

KARADSHEH (voice over): "I just want Mama. I want Baba. I want my family," Lana cries.

To be a parent in Gaza is to live in the fear of this, that you no longer are there when they need you the most.

Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Thank you for joining me this evening.

Reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. See you again tomorrow night starting at 5:00 Eastern. "The Whole Story" with Anderson Cooper, "AI and the Future of

Humanity" is next.

Goodnight.