>> carolyn, thank you very much. thanks to all of you for joining us. don't go anywhere. i'm monday morning. we're so glad you're with us. hope you had a good weekend. we have a lot of news to get to. five things to know for this monday, november 13th. breaking overnight, senator tim scott has dropped out of the republican presidential primary. the sudden announcement stung his own staff and donors. gaza's largest crisis says it's of the of fuel with three newborns dying as a result. israel says it offered to provide fuel, but hamas blocked the delivery. also the pentagon say it is carried out new deadly airstrikes against facilities in syria. donald trump's legal team set to begin its defense in the high had-stakes civil fraud trial here in new york. first, the witness stand, donald trump jr. >> and house lawmakers returning to d.c. to consider mike johnson's plan to avert a shutdown. major questions remain with four days left until funding runs you. "cnn this morning" starts right now. certainly a prize when i woke up, senator tim scott suspending his run for the. he made the announcement during a live television interview. we're told it caught many of his own staff members and donors by surprise. you can see it caught the tv host off guard too. >> when i go back to iowa, it will not be as a presidential candidate. i am suspending my campaign. i think the voters who are the most remarkable people on the planet, have been really clear that they are telling me not now, tim. don't think they are saying no, but i think they are saying not now. >> i just to frame trey gowdy's face. they are very good friends. here's a look at the gop field now. scott is dropping out two months before the iowa caucuses. sources close to his campaign says his team was worried about qualifying for next month's debate and leeing the race allows him to return to the senate without an embarrassing finish in iowa. let's bring in eva mcend. the timing was a surprise to trey gowdy, including some of his staff. why did it happen now? >> surprise to many of us. i was speaking to those close to the campaign last night, and they said they were finding out on television just like we were. his team had been worried about qualifying for the fourth republican debate next month. he was the last candidate to meet the donor and polling thresholds to meet last week's debate, and that really spelled trouble. the thought is by leaving the race people say he can return to the senate without an embarrassing finish in iowa. he preserves the possibility of a future political run and leaves without getting in the cross hairs of the former president. that seems to be what went into the calculation. >> he's not going to endorse. >> it seems like he doesn't think that's going to be particularly helpful at this time. let's listen to his reasoning. >> i'm going recommend that the voters study each candidate and their candidacies and frankly their past. and make the best decision for the future of the country. the best way for me to be helpful is not weigh in on who they should endorse. >> what's interesting now is to see where all of the donors go. i was speaking to a prominent donor last night. and he told me he's disappointed, not surprised. i spoke to him on friday just a few days ago, and he said the team was telling him they were all in on iowa. so he was really surprised at how quickly things changed. he did also tell me now he's shift issing his resources to nikki haley. it seems as though other donors are going in the same direction. >> thank you for the reporting. bring it up. bring up the clock. there you go. four days left to prevent a government shutdown. apparently we didn't get very far this weekend. mike johnson pitching a two-step plan to fund part of the government until january 19th, the second part would fund it until february 2nd. neither includes additional aid for ukraine or israel. johnson already has his work cut out for him. some republicans have already stepped out against this bill. lauren fox joining us on the hill with an update. >> reporter: good morning. this is really now a question for what house democrats are going to do. that is because there are already a number of conservatives who do not like the plan that johnson unveiled on saturday on a private conference call with his members. that's because there are no spending cuts in either short-term spending bill. this would be a two-part staggered, short-term spending process. something unlike anything we have seen in washington before. a lot of carrots see it as gimmicky. they argue it's overpolice indicates something that could be much simpler. and yet one notable thing over the weekend with so many democrats holding back their fire, remaining open to the idea, in part because there aren't spending cuts included. that was a red line for many democrats. we're keeping an eye on how house democrats proceed over the next couple days. the first test is going to be passing a rule that tick indicates the rules of the house floor for any legislation that comes before that body. and it's really important because typically it's the majority party that gets the rule over the finish line. but it's very possible that conservatives could vote against that rule. that would obviously be a major problem for johnson because then he either has to turn to democrats to help with the rule or he has to try to pass this bill under a suspension of the rule, which means you need two-thirds majority. so there's a lot of remaining questions for how johnson gets this over the finish line. >> you zeroed in on the key. where are democrats on this? there are no spending cuts. it's that far off. we'll have to see. new overnight the u.s. carrying out a new round of airstrikes in eastern syria. lloyd austin says it targeted a training facility and a safe house. officials believe iran is responsible for 46 rocket and drone launches against u.s. troops in iraq and syria since october 17th. the u.s. has been trying to send a message of deterrence to iran through strikes like these and the military presence in the region. but the attacks have persisted. at least 56 u.s. troops have been hurt ranging from minor to traumatic brain injuries. fighting continues in gaza where the medical system is literally collapsing. we want to warn you some of these images we're about to play are veries disturbing. hospitals in gaza are running out of fuel and supplies. doctors are just overwhelmed as thousands of people pack into these pl centers seeking refuge from the airstrikes. a hospital director says newborn babies have been taken off incubators, kept in foil and placed next to hot water to keep them alive. >> gaza's largest hospital where patients and staff report being trapped inside because of fighting nearby. the hospital director telling cnn that all essential units have collapsed saying, quote, there's no more water, food, milk for children and babies. the situation in the hospital is catastrophic. the israeli prime minister says the hospital is being used as a command center for hamas, something hamas has denied. >> this is no reason why we can't take the patients out of there instead of letting hamas use it for a command center for terrorism. even though they tried to prevent the civilians from leaving, hundreds of thousands have left. >> let's go straight to jerusalem. the very pressing and urgent question, is there any pathway to get assistance to the hospital that will work? >> reporter: we have been hearing from the medics on the ground. we heard from the hospital's director, who has described the situation there as catastrophic. this is amongst the latest of gaza's hospitals, which are facing collapse. this is the largest hospital. as we have been hearing from teams on the ground, they are running out of supplies and medication. crucially, they are running out of fuel in order to be able to provide that care in order to be able to operate on patients. the hospital's director saying now when they are receiving wounded patients, they are only able to provide first aid. all the rooms are out of service. and as we know, there are hundreds of patients inside altogether with the medical staff, we're talking about 1,500 people. and that's in addition to the thousands of estimated hospital officials of civilians who have flocked in the hope this will be some sort of sanctuary amid the ongoing airstrikes and fighting. we have heard from medical teams on the ground, who have urged for more fuel supplies we have been hearing from one doctor who has been describing the devastating situation, a warning to our viewers, some of this footage is extremely distressing. take a look. >> there was a direct injury in the head, internal bleeding. we can't do surgeries. no surgeries, no oxygen, no electricity. we work manually. it is a clear injury. it needs an urgent surgery, a life-saving one. he's less than a year old. >> reporter: as you mentioned, we heard from the prime minister benjamin netanyahu yesterday saying there's to reason for people to not be able to evacuate. they have an evacuation oneaste soid of the hospital, but have been telling us it's near impossible to evacuate this hospital safely because of the constant bombardment they have described. >> even to the fact that some of the fuel that israel delivered and left outside the hospital, some of the doctors were too concerned to go outside to get it given what has happened. thank you for the reporting. hours from now, donald trump's legal team is set to launch their defense. first up is don jr. getting ready to stake the stand. also eric adams saying heavy will cooperate with the fbi after his phones were seized and details is have maergeed about what f federal invnvestigatorsr lolooking at.. couldn't be at at the debate because i'm very v busy. i'm going from trial to trial. i'm basically doing house hunters, but with courtrooms. but these trials making all my children testify against me, my sweet little middle-aged criminal children. so awful to bring in the family. it will be very sad when i pin it on all of them. probably eric. >> it's funny because it's true. donald trump's legal battles getting the "saturday night live" treatment this weekend. in just a few hours, his team will be launching their defense in the civil fraud trial. the attorney general's case rested last week. prosecutors called don jr. to the stand and denied having any role and said he consulted with lawyers before he signed off on them. joining us to discuss is erroll lewis and elie honig. from the legal perspective, why do you bring in don jr. first? >> i think he's going to be a spoke spokesperson. he's going to be a lead-off hitter. they want the to come out strong and want attention and our cameras on what is happening today. if they led off with an accountant, someone from the banks, i don't think it gets as much attention or as much of a splash. so this is a conscious, strategic decision to call don jr. first. what he's going to try to do is maybe to some extent justify the over valuations, but he's also going to try to explain the way they do business and explain why the banks were willing partners here and not victims. >> it seems that the lur is talking about the political and the public opinion argument, not the legal argument, this is a bench trial. you could argue the judge would rather hear a defense from the accountants and the banks. >> ab the salutely. the judge said he's going to let them sort of make a political case. he's already ruled on much of what i expect to hear from donald trump jr. today. what he's likely to say is that this is the way we do things. the valuation of mar-a-lago, it's clearly worth a billion dollars and nobody got hurt. so the judge has already ruled on all these things. but he doesn't want to get reversed or feel like he's being unfair to them. he's going to give them every opportunity to do this. so i think we're going to hear this over and over and over again. from my opinion, we have given it good tv coverage when there's a trump in the witness stand. not because there's some accountant there. they are going to be talking outside of the courtroom, where it's important to emphasize they have already lost a lot of this case. >> it's really bumming out accountants right now in terms of their self-worth there. >> they will get their day on the stand. >> i want to get to this. what we have seen with the mayor of new york, what happened on friday, explain to people because when i saw it, i don't know if there's any precedent for what happened and what it means. >> it's a big deal to execute a search warrant on the sitting mayor of the city where you operate. this is being run by the southern district of new york. this is the feds. this is the united states department of justice. here's the textbook version of it. textbook says in order to get a search warrant, you need probable cause that a crime was committed and you'll find evidence of that crime in whatever it iss you're seizing. in this case, eric adams' cell phones you're always careful when you do a search warrant, but you're extra careful when you sign off on a search warrant as the u.s. attorney, as main justice on the sitting mayor of new york. worth noting a federal judge also has to agree. >> but it doesn't have to be that person's crime. >> that's true. technically, if i robbed a bank and buried the money in his backyard, it wouldn't mean he's in trouble for it. >> he's a former police chief. he goes so far above and beyond to follow the rules that he says some of his staff call it is annoying. that is sort of the context here. >> that's what he says. and being i have covered the last five mayors. if i say don't blaek the law, at some point you say why do you have to tell them every day? are they forgetting? so he's got a real serious problem here. frankly, his reaction to it has really sort of engendered a lot more yosty about this. this has never happened before. it happened on monday. hen didn't tell anybody about it. even though he had a full 45-minute televised press conference that was supposed to be dedicated to this subject is. he never breathed a word about it. he doesn't have to do that, but by the time it came out on friday, you're thinking you were okay with this. you just thought it was normal you gay over your phones and had all your electronic devices for a couple days. and you have nothing else to i say about it. so we're very curious to hear what he has to say about it. the story set involving. reporting from the "new york times" is painting a picture here of something that, frankly, sounds plausible. it's this murky dividing line between a cant, even a donor, asked you to do something on the the government side, and you do that for them. it's very fact specific. if you do it and say, i'll only do this if you give me money for my campaign, you have probably broken the law. if you're just doing it because there's a coincidence, they happen to be a constituent and a donor and happen to have a l legitimate need that you helped them with, the same way you would with with anybody else, it's probably not. so it's a murky, sticky situation. >> we're talking about a manhattan big building. >> it was the election year. once you become the democratic nominee, you're the mayor-elect. >> the mayor has not been accused of any wrong doing or he says he has not done anything wrong. i wake up with the baseline of don't break laws today. i don't feel like you have to say it, but i love the mayor of new york. >> good on you. bad traffic in los angeles is about to be a lot worse. this is a huge fire that shut down part of the buzziest freeway. an eruption nin iceland lacs more likely after 1,000 mini earthquakes were reported in 12 hours. we'l'll have a l live reportrt,. c'mon, we're right there. c'mon baby. it's the only we need. go, go, go, go! ah! touchdown baby! -touchdown! are your neighbors watching the same game? yeah, my 5g home internet delays the game a bit. but you get used to it. try these. they're noise cancelling earmuffs. i stole them from an airport. it's always something with you, man. great! solid! -greek salad? exactly! don't delay the game with verizon or t-mobile 5g home internet. catch it on the xfinity 10g network. a state of emergency in iceland as there's significant likelihood of cannic eruption. >> police officials are urging residents to evacuate after a thousand earthquakes have been reported in the region in the last 12 hours. eric van dam is following all this. i have always wanted to go there. a thousand earthquakes? what's the risk? >> blue lagoon is actually closed to anyone, so that's not an option right now. but iceland authorities actually believe that an eruption is eminent. not in a matter of days, we're talking about hours. take for instance a town that's currently evacuated. this is located in southwestern iceland, where this flurry of earthquakes caused the damage here that you see. and that is from what people believe the authorities and researchers believe that is called a mag ma court doer that could be floating underneath the town. that's causing some of the damage here and the flurry of activity. if we do get an eruption, there's concerns for the worldwide iowauation industry, not just for iceland. so that's a broader scope than just this. but the thousands of earthquakes that have occurred since friday, some of which have been noted offshore, there's been a brief lull, but what is concerning scientists and researchers is the earthquake activity is very near the surface, a shallow earthquake represents this mag ma corridor that's getting closer and closer to the surface of the earth. so concerns that this could spew out causing the eruption. that volcanic ash does not mix well. >> keep us posted. this is very serious potentially. thank you. tim scott's donors are lieng up behind a new candidate after the senator dropped out of the primary. and dean phillips vows to spend as much of his fortune in his primary challenge to president biden, but he claim it is won't be necessary. >> do you have a top dollar figure you're willing to invest? >> no, because this is so important. i will not be self-financing my campaign. i won't need to because we're drawing wonderful. i love america more today than i did on may 22nd. but when i go back to iowa, it will not be a as a presidential candidate. i i am suspending my campaign. >> that was now former 2024 presidential candidate tim. if you're waking up this morning kraching your head, a lot of people are surprised he decided to leave the race. it took his aids by surprise, even as the republican faced an uphill battle trying to breakthrough. joining us now is chief national affairs analyst kasie hunt and erroll lewis is back at the table. kasie hunt, let me start with you. i went to bed before this happened. >> me too. >> we wake up and see the headline. why now? >> i think i don't know if i can do the trey gowdy face, but the note worthy thing to me, it was pretty clear that tim scott's campaign never took off the way frankly a lot of people in washington thought it might. he had all the ingredients to be really successful in the traditional republican party. he had a lot of backing. honestly, he wasn't public about it it, but the people working against donald trump for more traditional candidates like mitt romney were work ing on his operation trying to figure out how they could make that happen. but when i talked to source, i did a lot of this on election night last week, they keep saying to me that there's just no appetite in the republican base right now for someone who is happy and sun isny. they are angry. the base is angry. that's a big part of why donald trump has had such a durable lead. he campaigns in a much different way. tim scott tried to be the morning in a