while there are candidates trading barbs right now, the former president is dredging up his lies about the 2020 election, handing out these signs. you can see it there. accusing his chief political rival, president biden, of subverting democracy. >> we have opponents. a lot of opponents. we've been waging an all-out war in american democracy. you look at what they've been doing and becoming more and more extreme and repressive. they have just waged an all-out war with each passing day. >> those accusations come after trump told supporters today, he wants to prosecute the results of the 2020 election and encouraged them, encourage his supporters to go into ballot counting facilities in 2024 to, quote, guard the votes. national correspondent kristin holmes is in cedar rapids. we have to keep pointing out, while they're handing out these signs that says biden attacks democracy, it was trump who tried to overturn the 2020 election results. there is no erasing that fact. >> reporter: that's right. this is really a response to president biden. one of biden's main arguments against a trump second term is to say that donald trump would be a threat to democracy. and tonight, trump even referenced the speech in which biden said that maga republicans and trump were a threat to american institutions, and again, to democracy. and essentially, his argument was no, you are. donald trump saying that it was actually biden who was a threat to democracy. listen to some of what he had to say. >> joe biden is not the defender of american democracy. joe biden is the destroyer of american democracy. so if joe biden wants to make this race a question of which candidate will defend our democracy and protect our freedoms and i say to crooked joe, and he's the most corrupt president we've ever had. we will win that fight and we'll win it very big. very big. >> reporter: and jim, another thing he said was that his campaign was a righteous crusade to liberate our republic from joe biden. so of course this begs the question as to why is it that joe biden is antidemocratic? his reasoning was that the biden administration is forcing people to drive specific cars. talking about electric vehicles. he said that they were rigging elections, going back to 2020. the main crux of his argument was what we have heard before. these investigations, these cases against donald trump are, quote, unquote, election interference, essentially saying that the biden administration is making a political argument that they have stepped in that he's facing these 91 criminal charges because they don't want trump running for president. this has been his argument. both legally and politically. i do want to point one thing out when we get to the politics. we are just about six weeks out from those iowa caucuses. we are here tonight before donald trump took the stage. another speaker asked the crowd how many people here had never caucused before. and about half the people in the room raised their hand. and i bring this up to show that despite his ongoing legal problems. donald trump not only has an enormous. a support. he's been leading in the polls in iowa. he has new support as well. that's important to point out when we're talking about this. that there is a chance that right now, he is leading and could win those iowa caucuses in about six weeks. >> all right. thank you very much. ron desantis completed the full grassley, as it is called, on the tour of iowa's 99 counties. he'll need more than endorsements. polls show trump's lead in the state has only grown. steve is in iowa with the latest from the desantis campaign. >> reporter: governor desantis just finished his campaign event hear moments ago. it was marking the 99th county he has visited in the state. that's every county he has checked off the list. it is known as the full grassley and it is something presidential contenders have been attempting for a deck axtd governor desantis is hoping it can be a spring board to helping him convince iowa republican that's he deserves to be their nominee. when he first set out to complete the full grassley, he was around 20% in the polls. he is about in the same spot since then. in fact, he's now facing additional competition from former governor nikki haley of south carolina who is making it more difficult and more complicated for him to challenge donald trump in the state. desantis spoke earlier about what it mean for him to have completed the full grassley and why he thinks it is so important to iowa republicans. >> i don't think doing the 99 counties is just about the caucus. yes, obviously, we're going to use that to win the caucus. i think it has significance beyond that. one, by the fact that i'm willing to do this. that should show you that i consider myself a servant. not a ruler. that's how people who want to get elected should consider. they. >> reporter: desantis has not just completed the full grassley. he also has the support of the governor, kim reynolds and many faith leaders. he's hoag that support will help convince iowa republican that's it is time to turn the page from donald trump and choose him on january 15th. >> all right. thank you. let's discuss more with senior political analyst and senior editor at the atlantic, ron brownstein. great to see you as always. let's talk about what trump has been up to on the campaign trail today, accusing biden of waging a war on democracy. there are signs that they were handing out at one of these trump campaign rallies. they say biden attacks democracy. all of this is very orwellian. and i suppose the i'm rubber, you're glue strategy? if you can boil it down to childish terms? what do you make of rarmts like this from the person who told countless lies about the 2020 election, continues to tell these lies, and courage supporters to march to the capitol on january 6th? >> i think that's an argument mostly at his supporters. two-thirds, the three quarters of republicans still say he was cheated out of the election and he's talking to them by making these accusations that were not referred to democracy. i thought the speech, i didn't see the first one. i watched the second one in cedar rapids. once again, so often he gets on the stage. it encapsulates his opportunity. . in speech is a critique of where things are in the country under biden that has resonance for a lot of voters. talking about high interest rates, talking about the border, talking about crime. the difficulty of buying a house. then you get, with donald trump, as always. you get all the other obsessions that he really won the election. that it was stolen from him. the threats against his political opponents. you kind of get the feeling there are republican strategists everywhere saying, if you can just stop with the critique, that would be fine. except trump, inevitably is a bigger part of the it. every time he gets on stage why there are potentially millions of vote here's are uneasy about biden who may still not vote for trump. >> and he is a candidate also facing multiple trials, ron. in part for his actions on january 6th and what the government alleges to be his actions. is part of what trump is up to out there, is he just trying to turn reality on its head? when he gets his supporters into these auditoriums and arenas and so on, just pull the wool over their eyes, accuse joe biden of doing what trump himself tried to do, and see if he can get away with it? >> yeah. look. i think the real challenge we face as a country, he doesn't have to pull very hard. there's a substantial share of the electorate that, he's pushing on an open door. he doesn't have to be enormously convincing. they want to believe that all these institutions are conspiring against them. that'll are marginalizing them and disparaging them in american society. and he has been, as we saw, enormously consistent in identifying any time he is held to account for what he did after 2020. or in other cases, like the classified documents. that it is really an attack on them. i am your sword and your shield. i am your retribution. all of that kind of language. to me it is a remainder. maybe no one else can push these buttons but it is a reminder that isn't likely to go away in 2024. certainly he's been effective saying they're going after me because they really want to silence you. polling tells us, it is potentially different in a general election. and there are still potentially a meaningful slice of voters who would be very reluctant to vote for someone convicted of a crime and reinstall them in the oval office. >> let's talk about some of the bread and butter issues where there might be some resonance with voters in iowa. trump is reviving his push to repeal obamacare if he wins the 2024 presidential race. i'm old enough to remember. i covered the trump white house. he never came up with a plan to replace obamacare. we never got that. he seem to be repeating himself in what he said back when he was president. the problem though, ron, this time around. please correct me if i'm wrong. is that obamacare has become increasingly popular over the years. and there aren't a lot of republicans stampeding to get lind the former president when it come to repealing obamacare this time around. >> no. obamacare is more popular. and it became more popular in the 2017 fate than it was in the 200n 2009, 2010 clrg i'm old enough to have covered. it shifted in the 2017 fight from originally, it was seen primarily as something that benefitted the relatively smaller number of americans without insurance. in 2017, americans came to see it as something that benefitted even the vast majority, 85% or so, with insurance. because of people with preconditions. and trump going back is really indicative of this with the first answer. there's a lot of dissatisfaction with joe biden's record. we see it over and over again in various angles from polls. but trump is running on an agenda that is more aggressive and militant than he ran on in 2016 and certainly than he ran on in 2020. he's talking about obamacare, about mass deportation, internment camps, sending go the national guard into blue 60s. vast trade wars with china and other countries. maybe he can sell those policies. but in many ways, you look at this and the aca repeal is another example of this. every day he throws joe biden a life line. right? rather than -- he's talking about high interest rates and how hard it is to buy a home. that is difficult terrain for democrats. when he talks about repealing the aca and setting up internment camps and what a second term might mean. that's the most plausible way for biden to get beyond the circle of vote here are satisfied with him into a winning dmcoalition in 2024. and let's talk going george santos and the the open seat ahead. do democrats have an uphill battle to win back that seat? could they flip a seat here? >> that is really interesting. that was a biden seat. but nassau county and suffolk county, one of the few suburb anywhere in the country that have been moving toward republicans in the trump era. biden won that county by 10 points. nassau county, the heart of district. 2020. but the gubernatorial candidate won it in 2022. trump leads biden there. biden's approval is only 41%. there's a lot of concern about immigration and crime which dominate the news in the new york media market. you have the new york mayor eric adams out there making arguments that in many ways, echo the republican criticism of biden. so this terrain is more difficult than it might appear from the fact that i said biden. the advantage is the former, the person who formerly held that seat. the former nasa executive. he's much better known than the other republicans. he could win the seat if an off, off, off year election. i think this is indicative of the kanld of issues they'll have to figure out a better answer for between now and next november. it is the kind of thing that republicans who saw the desantis debate against newsom will really want to stressful. >> thanks so many for your time. >> thanks for having me. coming up, back to back legal setbacks for donald trump. we'll discuss it next. and what was it like working for excongressman george santos? his former communications director will join us. plus, a mystery illness has sickened more than 200 dogs in the u.s. what can you do to help your dog stay safe? i'll be taking a particular interest. my little dog duke at home, i want to keep him safe as well. out in to the latest in the war between israel and hamas. negotiations appear to have fallen apart. intense fighting continues inside gaza. cnn matthew chance has more details from tel aviv. >> reporter: israel is still pounding the gaza strip, hitting as many as 400 hamas targets, according to the israeli military. it is also taking a heavy human toll. with the hamas-controlled palestinian health ministry in gaza saying nearly 200 people have killed since the israeli strikes resumed. this is u.s. defense secretary warns that israel risks a strategic defeat unless it protects civilians in gaza. a possible sign of growing u.s. concern about the mounting casualties. back in israel, thousands of people have turned out to support the 130 more hostages who are still being held in gaza and to demand that the government prioritize their release. calls to free the hostages and unite the israelis. there are differences in how that may be achieved. the israeli government which has recalled negotiators from talks in qatar says military pressure on hamas will force them to release more. many hostage family members and their supporters say negotiations should be resumed so that their loved ones can be brought home if necessary at any cost. back to you. >> matthew chance, thank you for that. would a trump presidential win keep him from facing trial in georgia? what list lawyers are arguing in court. john dean joins me next. two court rulings yesterday really underlying the tough legal road ahead for donald trump as he tries to avoid prosecution related to the events of january 6th. in both cases, judges pushed back on trump's claim that presidential immunity prevents him from facing civil and criminal trials. the judges' response was especially harsh. cnn's marshall cohen has been following all this for us. >> reporter: hey, jim, good evening. a very consequential ruling last night in the federal elections subversion case right here in washington, d.c. that was brought by special counsel jack smith. now, trump and his team are fighting against this case because it is currently scheduled to go to trial in march. they are trying to get the charges dismissed. and the most recent attempt by trump and his team was to claim that he had absolute immunity, protection, because everything in the indictment happened while he was the sitting president, and in their eyes, that means he cannot be charged with any crimes. the only problem with that theory is that the judge completely disagreed. district judge tanya chutkan overseeing this case resoundingly rejected those arguments. she said it did not fit with the text of the constitution. that there was no supreme court precedent backing that up. she even quoted some of our founding fathers, folks like alexander hamilton and george washington from his farewell address where they made clear that the founding principles of this nation were that the president is not a king. the president is not above the law. let me read for you one of the quotes from this ruling. it was a 50-page ruling. there was a lot in there. judge chutkan that, quote, whatever immunities a sitting president may enjoy, the united states has only one chief executive at a time and that position does not confer a life-long get out of jail free pass. those are some strong words from the judge. it won't be the final word. trump and his lawyers are definitely going to appeal this. they might even take it all the way to the supreme court, which probably will want to weigh in on this critical question of presidential immunity. jim? >> all right. thank you so much. let's dig deeper on this with cnn contributor john dean, former white house counsel to richard nixon. what do you think of all this? nixon tried and failed to shield himself from being held accountable. trump is trying to do something similar. what is your sense of how this might play out? >> well, we never got that far with nixon, of course. he was never indicted, although they drafted one. it never appeared publicly. it was in the prosecutor's office. here we have a public indictment and it is very clear, he faces criminal liability. his effort to have absolute immunity was baseless. it was arguments. it was, he relied on a clause in the constitution that relates to impeachment that he tried to put a spin on that nobody has ever done before. no president has ever been indicted before. so that was one of his problems. the judge, judge chutkan, wrote really a, quite a an opinion. she knew it would be reviewed by the supreme court ultimately. this is an historic writing. she engaged in. and it's well done. i don't think it is reversible. >> and i was going to say, how do you see this playing out, if this goes all the way to the supreme court? do you think it will go to the supreme court? >> the question on the court is, of course, trump's tactic is to try to delay. i don't think she's given him much room to delay. to delay, they have to get a stay from the court of appeals in the district of columbia that says, hey, you have to halt the criminal trial. i think the opinion is strong enough that they might deny his effort to get a stay and discovery will go on in the case. the proceedings will go on. and so it will not tie, it won't tie the case up as it goes forward on the appellate process. you know, a president, any defendant is entitled on a fundamental issue like immunity to actually go to appeal and see if indeed that is the case. i think it will be expedited in this case as well. >> yeah. what about this concept of presidential immunity? it sounds the way trump is throwing it around, it is almost echoing nixon and the ultimate expression, when the president does it, it is not illegal. what is your sense of it? >> well, there's no basis in law for criminal immunity. there is a case called nixon versus fitzgerald that they tried to draw on where there is civil immunity. when a president is carrying out his functions in office and he is indeed engaging in decision-making relating to the presidency, there is a civil immunity. trump tried to spin that out to make it apply in a criminal context. it doesn't. it doesn't also apply in a civil context for trump because them his behavior at the court of appeals, at least based on the information that was before them at this time, shows he wasn't engaged in presidential conduct. he was engaged in political conduct. trying to language on to an office when, trying to language on to an office when he lost the election. >> they're trying to push this, as you were alluding to. this tactic of delay, delay, delay. one would have to think all the judges, judge chutkan seems to be aware of this. do you think trump might be able to pull this off? that they might be able to because of the way our legal process works? because you have the right to appeal things and take to it a higher court and there are some weighty issues at court here. could trump pull it off? >> it's possible. i can't say it would be impossible. the fact that judge chutkan has written such a strong opinion gives the court every reason to let the criminal trial proceed in its discovery and phases, deciding what can be admitted into evidence and motions and you. all that sorted out. while they're looking at this appellate issue which i think they're going to affirm her judgment. and the question is, will conservatives on the supreme court play this politically