you've live in the "cnn newsroom." i'm jim acosta in washington. former president donald trump is campaigning in the key battleground state of iowa, and he's back to pushing his lies about the 2020 election. the former president told supporters he hopes judges will let the 2020 election be prosecuted in court. the gop front-runners encouraged his supporters to go into vote-counting facilities in 2024, saying they need to watch the votes. let's go live to kristen holmes in cedar rapids, iowa. kristen, you're there with the former president. looks like he'll be talking there shortly. what can you tell us? >> reporter: yeah, jim, i mean, as you noted, right now, we are just about six weeks away from the iowa caucus in 2024, and donald trump is still talking about the 2020 election. now, earlier today at another event in iowa, he asked his voters, encouraged them, actually, to go into big cities, democratic strongholds, and watch the vote. take a listen. >> the most important part of what's coming up is to guard the vote. and you should go into detroit and you should go into philadelphia and you should go into some of these places, atlanta, and you should go into some of these places and we got to watch those votes when we come in, when they're being, you know, shoved around in wheelbarrows dumped on the floor. we're live a third world nation. a third world nation. we can't let it happen. >> now, obviously, as you know, trump's own advisers have hoped and asked him to stop talking about the 2020 election, but that's something he remains fixated on. for this speech here in iowa today, we're told he's going to attack president joe biden, shifting the narrative to a general election. while they didn't tell us exactly what he's going to say, they did have these signs made that they're passing out. they say "biden attacks democracy." now, obviously, this has been a big argument of biden's against donald trump, particularly pointing to donald trump's work to try and overturn the results of the 2020 election. clearly looks as though former president trump is going to try and flip the narrative there. this is also coming at a time when the biden campaign has ramped up its criticism. donald trump really fixating on overturning obamacare, something he failed to do when he was in office. that gave a lot of ammunition to democrats and the biden campaign. they have released ads on that, talking about how trump is planning on taking away health care for millions of americans. obviously, jim, we are in a different position than when we were back in 2016 when trump was elected to the white house. aca, the affordable care act, is actually increasingly popular, so, this has given new ammunition to democrats. >> fascinating. and if we can show viewers that image of the sign they're handing out at the trump rally, it saieally, it sails s it saiays "biden attacks democracy." i feel like we're in the upside down. kristen holmes, thank you very much. we'll get back to you. i understand steve might also be with us, he's covering things from the side of the ron desantis campaign. he has a lot of catching up to do in iowa, steve, are they confident that this 99-county tour that desantis has been on, will pay off? we've seen other candidates, i remember rick santorum doing this in 2012. it did help them out in that state. what about desantis? >> reporter: well, jim, publicly, they have to be confident. all their eggs are in a strong performance in iowa. this early caucus state is so important to the strategy. they've actually moved most of their campaign staff to des moines, iowa. now, privately, his campaign and some of the advisers acknowledge that, look, six weeks is not a lot of time to turn this around, and they need to start seeing some movement in the polls. some thing that shows that he's catching a spark. and they also acknowledge that nikki haley is posing a challenge for them. that she's a wild card in this race, they didn't expect her to be so well-funded going into this part of the election. but they also believe that six weeks is still enough time to turn things around, and that blanketing the state with appearances is one of the ways they're going to make headway into trump's lead. listen to what governor ron desantis had to say earlier today in sioux city, iowa, about how his campaign is reaching as many people as possible. >> the cumulative effect of all this is, there's one candidate that showed up to your community, asked you for your vote and told you what he's going to do for america. and that's me. people are not eating and breathing this until it gets cl closer. you're going to see a lot of the support break our way over the next month and a half. >> reporter: now, governor desantis is about to hold an event right behind me, you see them getting ready for it. this is to celebrate the fact they have hit 99 counties out of 99 in iowa. as you said, jim, this is sort of a storied tradition in iowa. you try to get to every corner of the state, try to will yourself momentum and victory. it has some successes, some not so much, however, they believe this is the best path they have, and look, they don't just have the many appearances here, they have the support of kim reynolds and some of faith leaders who have been critical in influencing the caucuses here in the past. this is how they believe they're going to win this thing. they're going to win over as many as they can, and try to tap into those networks to convince people it's time to move on from president trump. >> sounds like campaign season where you are right now, steve. kristen, thank you both. thank you for getting us off to a strong start. let's discuss more now with democratic congresswoman jasmine cr crockett of texas. thank you so much for joining us. you serve on the house oversight committee, member of the house p progression office. kristen holmes was showing some of the signs that are being handed out at this trump rally in iowa, and one of the signs says "biden attacks democracy." just want to get your reaction to that. >> yeah, when you said that we were living in the upside down, i was like, oh, thank goodness, it's not just me. absolutely. that's everyday in congress for me, though, unfortunately right now. you know, there is only one team that has fought for democracy, and this isn't just in words, but this is actions. we know that we don't have a strong voting rights act right now, simply because the twice impeached former president made sure that he installed three very far-right supreme court justices that gutted that. that was one of the many steps that he took as it relates to democracy. in addition to his own legal troubles that he has right now, that have him in hot water, as it relates to january 6th, as it relates to honestly, you know, his phone calls that he wanted to make about overturning the election and calling down to georgia. so, we know that there's only one person that actually has a track record when it comes to harming democracy, and that's trump. >> and congresswoman, not to belabor the point, but i wanted to ask you about what he said, what trump said at this event earlier today, telling his supporters that they should be going into election centers, vote tabulation centers, in places like detroit, philadelphia, to, quote, guard the vote. when you hear the former president use that kind of language what goes through your mind? >> it was dog whistle, again, for me. he loves to rile up the racists that love to support him. and, you know, i went through this in the texas house, where last session, they decided to go through this process of making sure that there were people that could observe and guard the vote, so to speak. there was an article that came out and there was this audio of this recording, saying, we have to go into houston. there's always a target on majority minority cities for this former president, and it is still dumbfounding to me how minorities are starting to flock to him more, considering the fact that he always says the quiet part out loud. >> yeah, and i do want to ask you about something that -- headline coming out of capitol hill today, the speaker mike johnson says he thinks he has a necessary vote to launch an impeachment inquiry into president biden. >> formal impeachment inquiry vote on the floor will allow us to take it to the next step and i think it's something we have to do at this juncture. >> congresswoman, your reaction to that. what did you think of that? >> i mean, you never know what you're going to get out of the house republicans at this point. they were arguing that we didn't need a vote, they said, nancy said she didn't need a vote, so we don't need a vote, so we're not going to do a vote. kevin mccarthy said it was good enough, that he as speaker decided there was going to be a formal impeachment inquiry, my chairman has made it clear that he had gotten all the documents that he requested, and speaking of documents, we know there's been over 30,000 pages worth of banking documents that have been turned into this committee, and what's so interesting to me is that they started by going after hunter biden, they've been going after hunter biden since the trump administration, and we've still note r gotten very far. they don't feel like they can connect the dots to say that hunter has done something wrong and that wrong has implicated the president. what is funny about this, they collected tubs of documents on george santos, and they were able to decide that there was enough there. not only in the house, but they were able to decide that when it came down to prosecuting george santos. this is much to do about nothing. they have been embarrassed over and over and over. hunter, just this past week, said, hey, i will come in, i will testify in a transparent way. we know comer invited him to testify before. he just didn't realize that hunter would take him up on it. he said, never mind, i don't want to do this this is a bad move for them. it's missed up their pr, and it has messed them up, and the american people are still saying what we want is lower gas prices, what we want is lower food prices, what we want is access to health care. they are not saying, go and impeach joe biden, but the republicans, they don't want to do the work of the american people. >> let me ask you about george santos' expulsion from the house. i knknow you went on x, formerl known as twitter, writing that if the republican party does not change coursange course, the ne santos will only be one election away. what did you mean by that? >> yeah, i mean, if he's allowed to get away with this flagrantly violating every rule, every ethic, every law, and still stay in his seat, that means they're rewarding the bad behavior, and we've seen them consistently reward the bad behavior when it comes to trump. the difference between trump and santos is that trump has a lot more powerful and so, they wanted to say, hey, we took the high road, we got rid of the bad guy. but to be honest, santos was the low man on the totem pole. they are trying to score a few points to save some of those republicans in new york that are in biden's seat, in fact, there's republicans, i believe, in 18 biden seats, not just in new york, but throughout this country, and right now, they don't -- they know they can't hold onto the majority unless those in biden's seats win, as well. so, this was one of those things, like, hey, we've got to do it, but only because they're looking out for their own hind parts, not because it was necessarily the right thing to do. in fact, the speaker at the last minute said, hey, vote no. initially, he said vote your conscience. but once he realized that that meant that santos was about to be kicked out, he and other members of leadership decided, never mind, we need him here. especially since they don't know if they're going to be able to hold onto that seat. >> all right, congresswoman crockett, thank you for your time this afternoon, really appreciate it. >> absolutely, jim. >> all right, thanks. coming up, being a president doesn't mean a get out of jail free pass. we'll break down the scathing ruling from a federal judge about trump's election subversion case right here in d.c. plus, what we're learning about why the negotiations between israel and hamas broke down and the fighting is back on. and later, the cdc says flu levels are rising fast across the u.s., and rsv is in, quote, full swing. should you be concerned about than? we'll talk about that a little bit later on. stay with us. now to the latest in the middle east. last hour, our teams on the ground saw rocks intercepted over tel aviv. cnn's matthew chance is live for us with the latest. matthew, you witnessed the sirens going off just moments ago. what's the latest? >> yeah, absolutely. we're actually attending a vigil in support of the hostages that are still being held inside the gaza strip, and it had just come to an end when those sirens went off and there were thousands of people in the street and everybody sort of scattered to various shelters, but take a listen to that scene now, it just shows you, the militant groups inside gaza still have the capability to fire rockets into israel. take a listen. [ sirens wailing ] yeah, the iron dome intercepted it shortly after that went off, and i think, you know, struck those rockets, because we didn't hear any further explosions. at the vigil, interesting, thousands of people attending it in the center of tel aviv, showing support for the hostages that are still in the gaza strip. everybody, of course, jim, agrees that -- everyone here at least that those hostages should be released as soon as possible. there is a division about how best to achieve that. there are those that think the government isn't focusing enough on getting those hostages released, and the fact that the negotiators from qatar have been withdrawn by israel over the past several hours, you know, isn't helping with that sentiment. others think, you know, and agree with the government that now is the time to put more military pressure, more military pressure on hamas. in the hope of getting more hostages out in the future, jim. >> all right, matthew chance, thank you very much. as israel continues its air strikes on gaza, the u.s. is doubling down on the need to protect civilians. >> as israel defends itself, it matters how. the united states is unequivocal. international humanitarian law must be respected. too many innocent palestinians have been killed. frankly, the scale of civilian suvering and the images and videos coming from gaza are devastating. >> and joining me now is michael oren. thank you for joining us, ambassador. what is your response to what vice president kamala harris had to say there? >> good to be with you, jim, as always. but of course, these images are painful for us, as well. israel doesn't want to see palestinian suffering. and it's important to note, and i wish the vice president had noted, that we're dealing with an enemy that's hiding behind these civilians all the time and using them as human shields. even as palestinians have fled the come babat zones, hamas hasd with them and continues to use them as human shields. so, israel will continue to exercise extreme caution. i think it's further than probably any army on earth, whether it be sending text messages, leafletting, it is extremely difficult. for hamas, they are moving targets. and i know there are people in the administration who do appreciate that, and we will continue to exercise that caution to the greatest degree possible. keep in mind, we also have to guard the lives of our soldiers, precious to us. >> and ambassador, i do want to talk to you about, i guess some of the, i guess the lengths that you're going to try to get palestinians out of harm's way, but i guess first of all, there was a collapse in the talks that were going on between israel, hamas, other parties, with regard to the plight of the hostages that are still being held in gaza. what is your sense of where things stand right now? how do we get those talks going again? so we can see more hostages coming out? >> well, the one key issue is the women and children. israel claims -- they still have at least 13, as many as 17 women and children are held hostage. hamas says they have no more. i would doubt that. i'm not an official spokesman, jim, but i heard there's a fear that hamas won't let out women that have been raped multiple times. so, that's going to be very, very painful. israel has to maintain the pressure on hamas. these negotiations happen to begin with for only one reason, because israel ramped up the military pressure on hamas. to be able to get the hostages out so far successfully because of that pressure. we have to continue it, and meanwhile, we're witnessing these surreal situations, you know, the rockets that you just saw, have just been several of more than 10,000 rockets that have been fired at israel. many in those rockets go over my house in southern tel aviv, we have an ishe dome just to the east othos those take out the rockets right over our head. iron dome is 90% effective. ten break through 100, and they land. they knocked down an entire apartment building next to my house awhile ago. and then you have people protesting and demonstrating in favor of the hostages, that encapsulates all the horror of this war and the terrible decisions that the israeli government has to make. >> yeah. israel's military says it's carried out more than 400 strikes in the first 24 hours since the truce with hamas ended. we know that hamas ministry of health is not exactly your most trusted source, but they say since friday, close to 200 people have been killed. hundreds more wounded. if you are telling people -- if you told people at the beginning of all this to move to the south to get out of harm's way and now you're trying to send texts and drop leaflets to get people out of harm's way in the south, isn't there the likelihood that civilians won't get those messages or may not have somewhere to go, because they've already relocated to the south and will be in harm's way when that dom bardment starts in that part of gaza? isn't that just something that's likely to take place? >> well, we're doing our best. again. it is -- it is a complex combat situation, where hamas is using these people as human shields. we're trying to move them away from places where the air force is liable to strike or the ground forces are liable to intervene. hamas has used these pauses, these cease-fires, to move terrorists from the north to the south, to keep them behind the human shields, as it has moved, as well. and keep in mind, for israel, this is an existential battle. it's not as if we really have a choice, jim. we have 250,000 people who are homeless tonight. they can't go back to their homes along the border, as long as hamas can reorganize, rearm, and restage another raid such as that, the attack of october 7th. that is precisely what hamas leaders say they're going to do, they're not goguise their intention. we have to stop them. and -- release the hostages. there's not a lot of wiggle room here, and, you know, you know that in my background, i can't think in history any government that had to make decisions like this. there's no short cut. there's no easy way, but israel has to defeat hamas, it has to do its best to retrieve the hostages, all the while, and i stress, all the while, trying to minimize civilian casualties. >> ambassador, i have to get your response to the "new york times" article that israel knew of hamas' plan to attack, the date was not known, but there were a great number of details in that planning information that went to -- or that was obtained by israeli intelligence officials. what -- what was your response to that? i mean, did you hit the roof when you sa