decision, how do you control so no one else that's not a human being can make those firing decisions. these are all things being developed as we speak. one consistent point, jessica, that age is already here. >> it is here now. and before we let you go, i also want to ask you about u.s. aid, both to israel and ukraine. but specifically the ukraine aid seems to be somewhat in limbo, both of them need to get over the finish line. what are you hearing on that front? >> yeah, the irony of this, and i hear this from lawmakers in both parties, is that large ma majorities in both parties, the senate and the house, want to pass both israel and ukraine aid. there is a small population, particularly among republicans in the house, who are standing in the way. the leadership won't bring this to the floor. so negotiations are under way to get over that. they've been focused in the senate where you would have a combination of things. ukraine, israel, but also new measures for border security. and that appears to be the price that democrats, the administration are going to have to pay in order to get both ukraine and israel aid together over the finish line. and we discussed this earlier, there's not necessarily broad democratic opposition to that. a lot of democratic border state democrats, they are for some changes, some increase in standards, restrictions at the border, particularly for asylum seekers, but those negotiations are still under way. it's happening with enormous urgency on the ground, certainly in gaza and around israel, but also in ukraine as well. because the prospects right now for major process for ukrainian forces, they don't look very rosy at this point. >> jim sciutto for us in simi valley. thank you so much for the reporting and the update. we appreciate it. let's go to our top story, israel's war against hamas, where negotiations to free more hostages have hit a, quote, dead-end, according to israeli officials. today israel recalled its team of negotiators from qatar, even though there are still more than 130 hostages still trapped in gaza. a short time ago, israel's defense minister blamed hamas for, quote, explicitly violating their truce agreement to return all women and children, saying there are still 15 women and two children being held by that terror group. with the truce now broken, israel has stepped up its attacks on gaza, saying it has launched more than 400 strikes on the enclave in the first 24 hours since the truce expired. israel is expanding strikes as well, hitting targets in southern gaza. we're going to take you there in just a moment, but first, we're going to stay here domestically, we will go back out to the middle east in a moment. we're going to turn to the historic expulsion of george santos, ousted in a vote yesterday, and it's leaving some people wondering what happens to santos now. he's still facing criminal indictment, which includes allegations of defrauding his constituents, using campaign funds for botox, designer clothes and luxury trips. now democratic new york governor kathy hochul says she's prepared to name someone to fill that vacancy for the rest of the term. joining me now is "new york times" reporter grace ashford and cnn senior political analyst, ron brownstein. it's great to have both of you. ron, let's start first with you. long island has evolved toward the republican party in the trump era, it's become a bit more red. can the democrats reverse that trend with the santos replacement, and help people understand why the republican leadership was very nervous about this because it makes their small majority even smaller. >> right, they have a small majority, they're down another seat. on paper, this is a district that voted for joe biden in 2020, one of the 18 districts held by house republicans that voted for biden. and many republicans are worried that if you kick out santos the democrats will pick up the seat. they may still be favored, jessica, but it is going to be tougher than i think kind of conventional wisdom has it. long island really is one of the few suburban areas anywhere in the country that is trending toward republicans in the trump era. crime, immigration, and affordability, 80% of this district is nassau county. biden won nassau county by 10 points, but lee zeldin, the republican gubernatorial candidate won it in 2022, and trump led biden in nassau county by 7. biden's approval is only 41%. democrats have an advantage in the former representative there, but this could be a rougher ride than generally assumed. >> grace, santos is still facing 23 felony charges to which he's pleaded not guilty. what's next for his court case? could he go to jail? what does it look like within the criminal justice system? >> sure, thanks so much for having me. so as you said, santos is facing 23 felonies, and up to potentially 22 years in prison. some serious charges, wire fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft, which has a two-year mandatory minimum. he is due in court in a couple of weeks, his trial date is set for september of 2024. that's obviously some time off. we could see a sooner resolution if he makes a deal with prosecutors. thus far he's seemed uninterested in doing that. beyond his criminal case, though, he suggested that we have not seen the last of him. he said that he wants to write a book. he has not ruled out some sort of political future, though he said definitely not in the state of new york. and he didn't even really rule out reality tv, at one point in a joking exchange with reporters said, maybe not now but maybe in the future "dancing with the stars." >> it is a remarkable story. ron, i would want to know, if you could help us zoom out for a minute, and it's a moment in time in the sense that we don't see -- expulsions are very rare, and especially in the era of trump, republicans are loathe to really punish their own or hold them accountable, and yet in this case many republican members did vote to expel him, including a lot of the new york republicans. but we did see the republican leadership trying to keep him. what do you make of this moment? honestly, the average american looks at the house of representatives and goes, what's going on up there? >> look, i think santos was so blatant and unrepentant in what he did. you saw yesterday, even a republican member of congress put on social media that santos had misused his own credit card and his mother's credit card to charge campaign contributions. i think he just offended at some level, just fundamentally offended the sensibility of his colleagues. and compared to trump, george santos really can't threaten them. what we've seen is this incredible deference to trump among republicans really up and down the ballot, and that is both because they feel they need his constituency, his ability to mobilize voters, but also because they fear what he can do to them if he stands up against them. and santos, i think, also has to be seen as part of what is a worrying trend of more members, particularly on the republican side, viewing a seat in the house less as an opportunity to make law or to represent their constituents, and more to establish a political brand, almost a showmanship brand, and treating it like a reality show, even while they are in office. and he's not the only one i think you could apply that characterization to, but he's certainly the one who combined that with the most overt law breaking. >> grace, to that end, santos said yesterday, to hell with this place, he said he's getting out of there. you mentioned he could be on "dancing with the stars," maybe he wants to write a book. does he still have congressional privileges? what comes next? to ron's pointe, it is the most direct example of people really making a seat in the house of representatives about them and how they can further their brand, as it were. >> right. so to answer your question, he could return to make use of those house privileges, i believe to use the gym. he's indicated that's not high on his list of priorities, understandably, perhaps. that said, i think he still has a lot of kind of unfinished business in the house. he made some threats as he was leaving, and in the days leading up to his expulsion, saying that he would be showing the receipts, as they say, about other members of congress. he's been tweeting allegations against some other members of the republican conference, saying he's going to be filing ethics reports against other people. but, really, his chief concern is going to be in the coming months, this criminal case. and i think that's really the place to watch. >> yeah. grace ashford and ron brownstein, we're going to leave it there. thanks to both of you. >> thank you. and we want to go now back to tel aviv, where cnn's matthew chance is standing by. matthew, you were just hearing sirens where you are there in tel aviv. tell us what you are seeing. >> reporter: yeah, within the past few minutes. we've been at a vigil for the hostages that are being held inside gaza. within the past few minutes t sirens in tel aviv started wailing and the whole area, i think we've got video of moments. i can play that. you can hear there's some police going past now as well. but, yeah, so i'm not quite sure what you're seeing. there you are. [ sirens ] [ sirens ] >> reporter: there you are. you can see that's the kind of nightly occurrence that's happening now. that's the sort of thing that's happening every night now in tel aviv as the military operation by israel inside the gaza strip continues. hamas and other groups have the resources, it seems, to fire rockets out of the gaza strip into israeli territory, and that's what that was a response to. as i say, jessica, i was here at a vigil for the hostages inside the gaza strip that are still there, some 130 or so israelis and other nationalities still held by hamas and other militant groups inside the gaza strip. this was a big deal to sort of make sure that everybody was doing whatever they could to get them out. and of course it's the priority of the families and many people in israel to get those hostages out as soon as possible. there's a bit of a difference of opinion in how best to do that. there are those that believe that negotiations and everything should be done as soon as possible to make sure those people come out alive, if possible. and there are others that think, well, maybe the current phase of negotiations has run out, and it may be better -- this is what the israeli government is doing, to put more military pressure on hamas, to hopefully get that to bear fruit and get hamas to release more hostages. there's a difference of opinion of how to get there. underlying it, a great deal of unity across israel. the country needs to do everything they can to get the hostages back alive, if possible. >> matthew chance, glad you were able to take cover and thank you for that reporting. we sure do appreciate it. coming up, officials say a protester is in critical condition after setting herself on fire outside the israeli consulate in atlanta. what we are learning about that incident next. officials say a woman is in critical condition after attempting to set herself on fire yesterday outside of an atlanta building that houses the israeli consulate. police are calling the incident an extreme act of political protest. officials say a security guard tried to stop the woman and received burns in the process. they say gasoline was used as an accelerant and a palestinian flag was recovered at the scene. cnn's rafael romo is joining us now. knowing all of that, what else are you learning in this investigation today? >> reporter: well, as you can imagine, jessica, the incident prompted a robust response not only from the atlanta police department, but also federal law enforcement agencies. the site of the incident, a building that houses the israeli consulate here in atlanta. first of all, in addition to the two individuals that you mentioned, the woman who set herself on fire and the security guard who tried to stop her, no one else was hurt. atlanta police say at 12:17 p.m. friday, the woman set herself on fire using gasoline as an accelerant outside the building located in the midtown neighborhood here in atlanta. the security officer rushed and tried to stop her, but was unsuccessful and suffered burns to his wrist and leg, according to police the woman suffered third-degree burns throughout her body and is now in critical condition at grady hospital here in atlanta. atlanta police chief darren schierbaum described it as an extreme act of political protest and wanted to make something very clear. let's take a listen. >> the community is safe, this department is aware of the tensions that are present right now in the jewish community and the muslim community. we have dedicated patrols occurring at this location and other jewish and muslim communities in the city. >> reporter: chief schierbaum wanted to make it clear that the incident appeared to be an isolated protest and that there was, quote, no nexus of terrorism. the chief also said the staff inside the israeli consulate were safe and did not appear to be in any danger during the incident. he added that at this point there is no credible threat against the building, the israeli consulate or its staff, jessica. >> thanks so much. still to come, former president donald trump and ron desantis both hittinthe campaign trail in iowa today. our team is there and we will take you there next. you're probably not easily persuaded to switch mobile providers for your business. but what if we told you it's possible that comcast business mobile can save you up to 75% a year on your wireless bill versus the big three carriers? it's true. plus when you buy your first line of mobile, you get a second line free. there are no term contracts or line activation fees. and you can bring your own device. oh, and all on the most reliable 5g mobile network nationwide. wireless that works for you. it's not just possible, it's happening. countdown to the iowa caucuses, with both former president donald trump and governor ron desantis holding duelling campaign events in the state today, but with different objectives. iowa serves as the republican party's first presidential nominating contest. it's a spot that can often launch or even end a campaign. cnn's steve contorno is following the desantis campaign, kristen holmes is with the former president. what are you hearing both from the president and his campaign today, and also voters? >> reporter: jessica, what i'm hearing from the president's team is that they are feeling an increased level of confidence. donald trump has been leading in the polls in the gop primary for quite some time, but now, with roughly six months to go until the iowa caucus, i am hearing them start to embrace those numbers. senior advisers say that iowa could be a wild card, but we are expecting to hear donald trump really taking that confidence and pivoting to a general election. we are told by a senior trump adviser he's going to be focused on attacking president joe biden, and this really is just the latest signal of a pivot to the general election. trump's team just launched a six figure ad here in iowa, a television ad, and one of the ads focuses almost exclusively on attacks on p president. now, donald trump's criticisms come at the same time that president biden seems to be ramping up his criticisms of donald trump. both of them looking at these poll numbers clearly, and looking toward a general election. last week, trump started this renewed interest in overturning obamacare, something that democrats seized on. the biden campaign seizing on that and releasing an ad, as the affordable care act has grown more popular. even though donald trump is looking at the general election and planning on attacking president biden, i just listened to him speak across the state, and that speech was focused on mostly iowa governor kim reynolds, and he has not gotten over that she enforced ron desantis here in iowa. >> let's go now to steve contorno, with ron desantis, who now completes the the full grass, he's visited all 99 iowa counties. it's a big deal for that campaign that's going all in on iowa, at least that is the place where it can launch desantis forward as not only the trump alternative, but the candidate to watch who can win the nomination. what are you hearing from his team as they cross this 99 county threshold? >> reporter: well, jessica, right now we're hearing a lot of credence clearwater revival because the event is about to get started. we're at a venue called the thunder dome, which is perhaps a fitting place for a candidate in the fight for his political life. they're setting up for what is going to be his 99th county visit. this is something they've been embarking on for months now, trying to blanket the state with appearances, hoping to generate some momentum for this candidate. but his support in this state has not really moved very much since this 99 county tour began. he's still well behind former president donald trump, he's now also facing competing pressure from former south carolina governor nikki haley. so it's additional competition for him in the state that is just going to complicate the math for him. but his campaign tells me they have not only done a lot of appearances here, but they are doing the work of building out a large ground campaign. here are some of the stats they have been pushing out in the last couple of days. they have 41 endorsements from state lawmakers, they have 120 county-level chairs. he has the support of 100 faith leaders and 26 iowa sheriffs and 30,000 iowans have committed to caucus for him. this is what they have built and what they're banking on. they still need to get some momentum going into the final states, and wondering if now is the chance to catch a spark before the final six weeks of the iowa caucuses. >> steve contorno and kristen holmes, the countdown is on. january 15th is when the iowa caucuses will happen. thank you so much for that reporting. meanwhile, florida governor and 2024 republican presidential candidate ron desantis taking the stage in a prime time debate against someone not running for president. california governor gavin newsom. things got messy as they went toe to toe on issues like president biden's age, immigration, and even human waste. >> yes, he's in decline, yes, it's a danger to the country. he has no business running for president. and gavin newsom agrees with that. he won't say that but that's why he's running a shadow campaign. he should not be running, he is not up to the job, and it is dangerous for this country. >> i'll take joe biden at 100 versus ron desantis any day of the week. i think the asylum system is broken. >> i understand that. >> i'm the only guy here that's the border state governor. you're trolling folks and trying to find migrants to play political games and get news and attention so you can out-trump trump. by the way, how is that going for you, ron? you're down 41 points in your own home state. >> you have the freedom to defecate in public in florida. there's a san francisco map. this is an app where they plot the human feces that are found on the streets of san francisco. and you see how almost the whole thing is covered, because that is what has happened in one of the previous greatest cities this country has ever had. human feces is now a fact of life. >> there's one thing in closing that we have in common, is neither of us will be the nominee for our party in 2024. >> all right, so now that we've seen all of those highlights, we have cnn senior political analyst and senior editor at "the atlantic," brron brownstei back with us. this was dubbed the red versus blue state debate, but, really, it was a look ahead to what we could see in the future. gavin ne