donald trump jr. testifies for the defense in the new york civil fraud trial describing his father as a, quote, artist with real estate who sees things that other people don't. plus, a surprise dropout. senator tim scott calls it quits, putting an end to his 2024 presidential campaign, so which of the seven remaining candidates will his voters go to? or his donors? and side-stepping responsibility. benjamin netanyahu refuses to answer questions about whether he bears any blame of the hamas attack inside israel, the deadliest attack on jews since the holocaust. i'm dana bash. let's go behind the headlines and "inside politics." we start in new york city where donald trump jr. is on the stand as the first witness for the defense in the civil fraud case against his family and their businesses. cnn's brynn gingras is outside the courthouse. brynn, before we start about what's going on in that courthouse behind you, there's some sad news for the trump family today. >> reporter: yeah. that's right. the former president's oldest sister maryanne trump barry died today in new york. she was 86 years old. a former federal judge and prosecutor, appointed to the federal district court in new jersey in 1983, and then the third court of appeals appointed by president bill clinton in 1999, before retiring from the bench in 2019. she had a very close relationship at times with her younger brother, president donald trump, taking, you know, often having guidance for him, but they did have a sort of, you know -- their relationship was impacted, i should say, when their niece released some audio recordings of maryanne trump barry talking about her older brother in a bad way in his last year of his presidency, so they did have a bit of a falling out. the oldest sister of the former president dying today in new york, 86 years old. >> brynn, there is this trial happening as we speak in the courthouse there. donald trump jr. on the stand. what have we seen so far today? >> reporter: yeah. so it's been an interesting day there in the court because we have been seeing a summary of the assets of the trump organization playing out in a he promotional video, and we're still going through that video with don junior on the stand. he called his father an artist when it came to real estate, as they sort of go through each property that they own, and the state's attorney objected to this video saying, even jokingly, this was outside the statute of limitations in this case, but the judge did allow this video to continue to play, saying he's actually interested in it, but also he wants to make it clear that he's giving the defense enough time to present its case because he doesn't want a reversal in this trial and does not want a retrial. he wants to have sort of fair on both sides. that's where we're at right now with don junior, the first witness in the defense on the stand. prior to this video actually playing, though, we did hear about don junior's role within the trump organization. he said when his father became president he and his brother took on a role as sort of the asset managers. he took on the dealmaking of the bigger picture dealmaking in the trump organization while his brother handled sort of the day to day. it's been lighthearted inside that courtroom, dana, with jokes being made not only by don junior but also the judge, the judge saying welcome back, and don junior said he would say he's happy to be back, but he was worried about being sued by the attorney general for being -- perjury. there's been lighthearted moments. we vice phaven't gotten into thy gritty about the financial statements that state says they manipulated to get better deals with banks and lenders. we're learning more about the trump organization with don junior, the first witness for the defense on the stand. dana? >> thank you so much for that reporting. on the campaign trail, former president donald trump compared the political left to, quote, vermin as he promised to root them out of the country. the comment came during a veterans day rally in new hampshire on saturday. >> we pledge to you that we will root out the communist, marxist, fascist and radical left thugs that live like ver min within the confines of our country that lie and steal and cheat on elections and will do anything possible, they'll do anything, whether legally or illegally, to destroy america and to destroy the american dream. the threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous, and grave than the threat from within. >> joining me to discuss this and much more, our panel of reporters, carl halls of the "new york times" jackie cue sin niche of the boston globe and "cnn headline sports's" daniel straus. nice to see you all. let's starting there with where he is. the former president didn't just do it in a rally. he was very aggressive on his social media platform again through the prism of and in the context specifically of veterans day, attacking the, quote, radical left as ver min and comparing them to marxist and fascist. he has all sides of the spectrum there. >> no one can accuse him of hiding their plans, if he is going to be reelected. the "times" and others have done substantial stories on what their thinking is going forward. it was very out of the context of wrong in that moment, obviously, for him to speak like that, but i think we're going to see this ratcheted up more and more. >> that's such a good point is that they're not -- the former president is not hiding what he says that he wants to do, not just when it comes to rhetoric and his political opponents, but also about the substance. let's talk for one more second about his political opponents and the use of the term vermin. talk to historians like "the washington post" did and we just need to say for the record that term vermin was really effectively used by adolf hitler and by mussolini to dehumanize people anden courage their followers to go after their opponents. >> i mean, the truth is that trump has had a great deal of success in trying to rally anger and sort of other to his side and to use that as a tool to energize his supporters, and i think that's what we're seeing here. beyond that, though, his remarks, using the word vermin, and just the way he's run his campaign, underscores that this campaign cycle is one that's going to be very negative. it is not going to be one that is about hope and change and the political future. this is going to be one that is about attacking opponents, highlighting and making voters feel that you are on their side. >> it's classic donald trump. he gets people motivated through grievances, through anger, through other, and all of the above. i should say that the trump campaign through a spokesman said, quote, those who try to make that ridiculous assertion about the notion of the word vermin and what it means, are clearly snowflakes grasping for anything because they are suffering from trump derangement syndrome and their entire existence will be crushed when president trump returns to the white house. he's deflecting and confirming at the same time -- >> that last part of the sentence i think tells you everything you need to know. we've just seen his rhetoric get worse throughout this cycle. there was a thought that maybe after january 6th he would moderate that. that's long gone. that is so far in the past, and the politics of retribution are really a hallmark. you've seen his political opponents, even on the right, try to say he's about the past, we're about going forward, but that message isn't seeming to land with the republican base, which is continuing to fuel his rise, you know, to the nomination. >> i asked the republican national committee chair ronna mcdaniel about these comments. i did it on "state of the union" yesterday. let's listen to that. >> how is that different from the now infamous, deplorables comment that hillary clinton made? >> i'm not going to talk about candidates in a contested primary. >> you can talk to him about what he's saying. i haven't seen the whole speech. >> how many republicans have you talked to in the hallways over the past, what, how many years is it now, eight, nine years, where you said president trump said "x" do you agree or not agree, and -- >> i haven't read it, i haven't heard it. look, i mean this is going to be legitimately so the question that every republican is going to have to answer for if donald trump is -- he's the frontrunner, but becomes the nominee. >> trump does this stuff because it works. >> it does. >> if it didn't work he wouldn't do it. he has said as much, you know, that he likes to stir things up. i think that there are a lot of republicans, especially after last week's election results, nervous about this kind of language and some of the issues and -- but he is not going to stop because it's not -- he's solidifying his hold on the base. it's not hurting him. >> as we kind of get closer to the first nominating contests and see what really happens as we eventually get to a general election, we're going to kind of just put a flag down now and say, that nothing that donald trump says should surprise us at this point, and it doesn't. this doesn't surprise anybody. it's just a fact, and it's -- we're reporting it as fact. something else that maybe not is surprising beyond the rhetoric, are the plans and you were alluding to this, carl, a little while ago, which is, let's just focus on immigration. his immigration plan that was first reported by the "times," cnn has confirmed, i'll give you examples, large-scale arrests of undocumented immigrants, detention camps for migrants awaiting deportation, reinstate the travel ban on predominantly muslim countries and bring back covid-era policy title 42 an immigration policy that was lifted because the biden administration didn't see any health reasons not to. >> i mean, these are -- these all harken back to the darker points in american history, but one thing we should always, always remember is that what we've learned since 2016 is that trump laid out what he wanted to try to do as president, and he's doing that again here. shame on anyone who doesn't take him seriously or say that they are surprised by what he would do in office because the voters believed him and knew, warts and all, what they were voting for in 2016 and he's making clear now what he would do in office again. >> what carl said is so key, which is it works. there is a very large part of the electorate for whom this appeals to, not just the rhetoric, but the policy ideas. >> well, right. we also -- we should mention that his -- the escalation of this rhetoric is proportional to the amount of legal jeopardy he is in and there is a means to an end, degrading the judiciary, which he has done throughout his first term and also going into this. so you -- that's just -- i don't want to start the conversation without you can't separate that and that is very much a part of the plan here as well, and the other, you know, to make sure his base is solidified against the fact that he is in deep legal jeopardy and he's just a victim here is what he's trying to present. >> we're going to take a break and when we come back we'll expand the conversation about the 2024 race. senator tim scott, stuns republicans, including and especially many on his own staff, by abruptly announcing he is spending his -- suspending his presidential campaign. which candidate will likely be his recipient of his support and the donors giving to him? that's coming up. i love america more today than i did on may 22nd, but 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're telling me not now, tim. >> and then there were seven as you heard. tim scott dropped out of the 2024 republican primary for president. he did that last night. that announcement you heard surprised his donors and stunned many, i would say most of his staff, want to bring back our panel in on that. carl, it was interesting he did it with trey gowdy. >> south carolina. >> two besties from south carolina, two very close friends. what do you make of the fact that he decided to do it now? let me say as you answer that question, i was in miami last week for the debate, which turned out to be his last debate, there was no questions in most people's minds, including privately, people who work for him, that that would be his last debate. maybe the timing of him doing it so quickly after that debate. >> the endorsements in iowa were going against him, didn't leave him much chance. the truth is he was never going to be the nominee. he started out, and know, it was about raising his profile and honestly running for vice president if that is a possibility f he could be that kind of candidate with trump and trump never really went after the senator, did he? maybe he kept that open. he'll be back in the senate voting now, snoi guess. >> you see, donald trump, are vivek ramaswamy, haley, trump would have made the debate stage put didn't want go, so there are now four on the debate stage and look at where the polling is. we kept tim scott in there so you say where he was. 3% higher, although within the margin that chris christie and asa hutchinson, so he does have some support that is for the taking. >> true. however -- >> doesn't add up to donald trump's -- >> if you add everybody else up on the screen doesn't add up and that is the same. it's still very much a fight for second place. you saw that on the debate stage last week, and it looks like that going into this next debate in alabama. until someone can -- it doesn't seem like someone is going to be able to boost themselves 20, 30 points, to even get close to trump. even the consolidation theory is going out the window. >> yeah. >> and what needs to happen next, i mean, until these candidates start missing the debate stage, what tim scott was headed for. >> i went into journalism, so i didn't have to do math, but even that math is pretty easy to me, add those up, doesn't come close to where donald trump is, meaning all of his opponents. let's listen to what he said about endorsements. >> i'm going to 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. i was not called to win, but i was called to run. i will say this, that being vice president has never been on my to-do list for this campaign, and it's certainly not there now. >> but if he's asked. >> we've heard that before. look, the -- i find it interesting that he said that he's refraining from endorsing because there is a former governor on that stage who did give him his job as senator initially and appointed him -- >> nikki haley. >> and what's clear coming out of this primary for senator scott, there is no love loss between those two after the fact, which is very strange because scott is generally a friendly person be but generally universally loved on capitol hill, and, you know, this is politics. >> that might be true, that things got icy between the two of them, but reuters had a story that includes some reporting about the fact that his supporters, 3% or whatever they are right now, are likely to go to haley in the moments after scott dropped off two major donors to his campaign told reuters they would switch their support to haley, who like scott, hails from the state of south carolina, among the donors that supported scott but are now switching to haley's camp are andy [ inaudible ] and new york based litigator eric levin, planned to host a fundraiser for haley, and that is even before what we're seeing nikki haley plan for now a-10 million ad buy campaign in iowa and new hampshire. some of the money people who were behind scott certainly helped. >> they were looking for an alternative to trump and somebody with a different manner. made sense they would go somewhere else. i was thinking about endorsements. scott was a handy person to endorse for people on capitol hill who didn't want to get into the middle of this and like i'm endorsing my colleague, tim scott. can't do that. >> that is such a good point, yeah. he was an easy way out. of course, i'm going to endorse the guy we all like, my colleague, tim scott. up next we're going to talk about your beat, your beat, probably for a time your beat, capitol hill. certainly mine. how lawmakers are back in d.c. house speaker mike johnson's two-step plan to avert a government shutdown. there's the clock. the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. the all too familiar countdown clock you see it right there, ticking down to zero, as the gop-controlled house, will they pass a must pass stopgap funding bill before friday at midnight? there is again interparty division over how to deal with a government shutdown, whether to even allow one. some are saying yes. manu raju is live on capitol hill with the latest. where is speaker johnson's efforts right now when it comes to his own party? same kind of challenge that kevin mccarthy had, little more than a month ago. >> yeah. look, this is his first major decision as speaker, and that decision would essentially take on his right flank because he put out this spending bill that would not include any spending cuts. that had been demanded bay number of members on the right and that's one reason why we're seeing opposition growing on the right flank. now this is the question at the moment. how many republicans in the house will vote against it, and then how many democrats will vote for it? >> democratic support will be essential here. the question that remains whether or not they will accept this approach that johnson has proposed. it's an unconis vengsal way. he decided to do it in two steps, fund part of some of the agencies until mid-january and other parts until early february to advance their legislative goals. that approach has been blasted by the white house, which calls it extreme and a recipe for more chaos and not saying if they would sign this into law if it lands on joe biden's desk. senate democrats are sending a different message, more openness to this approach because of the fact that it does not cut spending. then the big question, what will hakeem jeffries do, in the house, remained quiet on this issue so far. will they supply the votes to carry it across the finish line? one big test will be tomorrow when they vote on the first procedural vote to set the parameters. democrats would vote against that procedural vote and typically republicans vote for it. if more than three republicans vote against that rule on the floor of the house, then it would require democrats to carry it across the finish line. those are the questions that are still remaining. at the moment because of the decision not to include spending cuts, the expectation is they will get this over the finish line and it will be bumpy but they could get there. the question is what will the white house do and democrats ultimately do and how big is that opposition on the right? dana? >> we've seen this movie before, manu. thank you so much for that reporting. just want to put up some of the opposition that we are already seeing from within his own ranks. johnson's own ranks. chip roy, bob good, warren davidson, george santos, marjorie taylor greene. that's six. he can't afford to even lose that and not have democratic support to get this. how do they avoid