near the southern gaza strip where palestinians say they have nowhere else to go. and now, one blast is blowing out the windows as police are trying to serve a warrant. what led up to this. i'm skate bolduan with sara sidner and john berman, and this is cnn "news central." so what is chris christie going to say on the debate stage tomorrow night now that he knows that at of people don't want him there? according to "the new york times," republican donors, strategists and pundits are publicly pressuring mr. christie, to end his campaign and many want him to support nikki haley, and many want him to quit not only yesterday, but a month and two months ago. and liz cheney has said that she has not ruled out a third-party run, and this is as donald trump prepares to hold a solo town hall and ditch the debate tomorrow and head back to court thursday. kristen holmes and alaina treene joining us. now, where is donald trump seeing things? >> well, john, donald trump continues to run a campaign unlike anything that we have ever seen, and not only is he under four indictments, but he is not playing by any of the rules. we are six weeks out of the iowa caucuses, and the gop rivals are doing what we usually see at this point in the campaign. they are barnstorming the state of iowa and trying to woo the last-minute voters and preparing for the debate to make the lasting impressions ahead of the iowa caucuses. tr trump, himself, he is not. he is doing a town hall in iowa and then heading to florida to do a fund-raiser, and then going to go back to give testimony in a fraud trial thursday and he is expected to testify himself monday, but despite all of this, he is still leading in the polls in the gop primary and not only in the state of iowa, but nationwide. it is likely because of that, that you have started to hear these amplified focus on what a trump second term would look like when it comes to democracy, and one of the loudest critics has been former republican congresswoman liz cheney. as you mentioned, she has been essentially not ruled out with a third-party run, and she has pledged to do anything that it takes to make sure that donald trump does not make it back into the white house. this is what she said about the state of the republican party. >> i don't know if our party can be saved. maybe it is that we need to build a new party, but those issues have to come after the 24-hour cycle, and we have to make sure that trump does not return to the white house. >> these warnings are coming after donald trump's conspiracy and fringe theories are moving from the political space to the legal space, because there is a lawyers asking for information on some of the fringe conspiracy theories that it was a government job or conducted by the deep space and not sure how it is going to be playing out long term on any legal strategy, john. >> and now we will bring in alayna treene, and the calls for chris christie to drop out are very specific and focused all of the sudden here. what is going on here? >> well, one is that if you are thinking of chris christie, he is the republican candidate who is the most directly going after donald trump, and he is not afraid to attack the frontrunner head-on, but you know that a lot of the republicans and particularly those who don't want to see donald trump to win the nomination want there to be a consolidation around one trump alternative, and you have heard that for months now, and it is increasing as we are gettingr t that pressure is increasing. chris christie says he is doing very well in new hampshire and that is where his campaign has focussed a majority of the campaign's efforts, but we will see, you know what shakes out as the primaries are coming closer. looking to debate tomorrow night, you have the smallest debate stage yet, and four candidates, chris christie, ron desantis, nikki haley and vivek ramaswamy all going to be on the stage tomorrow night, and this is that opportunity for them to continue to try and capitalize on any coverage they can get as we close in on the primaries. but, of course, the front runner is not going to be there, donald trump, and he is instead going to be attending front raiser that kristen mentioned, and that is frustrating his opponents, and especially ron desantis who attacked donald trump monday asking why aren't you showing up. take a listen. >> donald trump is not willing to debate. i mean, you have to ask yourself why? why can't you just stand up on the stage for two hours and articulate what is different this time than what happened in 2020. how is he better candidate? will he admit any mistakes? i don't think so. >> and now, john, i have talked to many of the advisers and those in the inner circle about this, and they argue that the reason that he is not showing up to answer ron desantis' question is because they believe that debates are beneath him, and make like it like donald trump is in a league of his own, and the other candidates cannot compete, and again, that is frustrating a lot of the candidates, because they want that opportunity to try to attack donald trump on stage directly, but they are also losing out on the pro-trump viewers that they want to win over, because many of those people are not tuning into the debate. >> alayna treene and kristen holmes, thank you. and now, let's bring in some more debate on this. and rodney, i have to ask you, do the debates matter when the frontrunner does not show up, and you heard alayna treene say most people are not watching. >> well, we have to see after the iowa caucuses. and clearly the republican structure for the presidential nomination will be going by the wayside, but if a ron desantis or nikki haley or even if a chris christie can come along the catch fire, then the debates are justified. >> it is interesting, because there is a big push publicly to get chris christie to jump out of the race and support nikki haley. and john, talking to you about a serious matter, democracy, itself, and we have been hearing from liz cheney, the former congresswoman who is a very vetted conservative republican, and she has the new book out "oath and honor" and she has been warning about what is happening with the republican party and their allegiance to donald trump as she says it is marching towards a dictatorship. this is what she said. >> house with republicans like mike johnson, and a senate with people like josh hawley and mike lee, they won't stand up to him. and what is also important in this regard is that he is not going to abide by the rulings of the court, and people need to pause and think about what that means. >> what does that mean? i mean, it sounds like a full blown constitutional crisis if the former president says i will not abide by the courts. >> that is the definition of a constitutional crisis, and liz cheney says you can't be for trump and the constitution, because they are in opposition to each other, and for a party priding itself on constitutional conservatives, and that should be more than enough reason to pause, and not only the praise for dictators and the reason to have a stronger revenge on the political enemies, but that prospect of the constitutional crisis and the fundamental disrespect for law and order, and for good republicans to stand up like liz cheney has and too many of them drummed out, and too many of them by cowardice and careerism, and too many cowing to him, because it is good for the short-term politic, but it bad term not only for the republican party, but the republic itself, and that is what liz cheney is asking for the broader coalitions to stand up to be counted, and now is the time, and especially for republicans in iowa and new hampshire to take a stand and to feel the courage that comes from the convictions, because simply going to donald trump out of party loyalty is a path to disaster. >> and you are saying that people are picking trump over party and country at this point in time, and some of the republicans in the republican party? >> yes, that is the slippery slope to rationalization, and structurally, the problem is that because of the threat of primary is used as the congressman knows, the threats of the structural incentives end up empowering the worst instincts as opposed to the best impulses. >> and now, rodney, you served with liz cheney and she did not rule out a third-party run when she was asked by the washington post. do you think that liz cheney would be a spoiler for donald trump or actually have a shot at the office of the presidency? >> look, i have not seen recent polling on a what a third-party candidate would pull from trump or president biden, but i would say that liz who is more polarizing as a republican right now, i think that she becomes an alternative choice for many republicans who would hold their nose and vote for joe biden. she might become more of a spoiler for joe biden and give donald trump the nomination. or give donald trump the presidency. >> rodney, that is interesting, and john wants to jump in on that point. >> well, look, we are dealing with so many factors with all of the independent candidates running right now, and it is hard to see how the ball bounces, but many of them have been to the left of joe biden and liz cheney is to the right, and you might head to the place where, nobody gets to 270, and it goes to the house, and this is where somebody with 30% approval rating gets to presidency, but one of the causes that she is making and approaching it that after the election, there is a place for a new party and center right, and center left party, with a lot in common, and the folks on the far right and the far left, and those things are not working out in rationalist ways right now. >> rodney, i am curious from you and you, john, reporting from the "atlantic" from those in the trump camp are saying that they are hearing from trump that he is going to be prioritizing obedience over credential, and what does america look like if that is the case, because we know that in some cases in the past term that it was those with credentials who stood up who said, no, you did not win 2020 and we won't do that and go after this person or that person to make your dream come true, and what does america look like if he serves another term? >> well, america is going to be the greatest country in the history of the world, and that is going to continue no matter who is our president, but in the end, this should concern people. if donald trump and the people he is putting in charge of personnel decisions are going to focus on loyalty alone rather than competence, then you are not going to have a government that is going to be as effective, but again, divided government which this may be under a trump presidency is designed to not move policies is forward in a legislative manner, because the american people chose a different party to lead different institutions. i would not put too much credibility on this destroying our democracy, but it is a concern, and i would hope that the republicans are going to stand up and say that we need to govern, because country comes first, and that is not how liz cheney sees is it or you, john? >> well, trump has been putting party over country, and so the challenge is not whether the divided government will work, and particularly if the executive branch goes on a retribution bender especially over the courts and constitution, and that is not a system that aligns with the founders' visions. but american exceptionalism is dependent on america being a beacon of democracy and to the extent that he degrades it through the damaging of the constitution, is a reason for people to unite across party lines. >> rodney and john, thank you both so much for being with us here this morning. kate? also this morning, the israel defense forces are saying that the troops are moving further into southern gaza, and in the heart of khan younis, one of the largest cities in southern gaza. one person is describing it as the most intense day since the israeli offensive. there is also imagery of israeli tanks gathering near the city. and so, what are we learning about these operations in southern gaza now? >> well, kate, this is indicating that israel is truly operating in the southern part of the gaza strip. khan younis is the biggest city in southern gaza, and where many of the refugees fled from northern gaza after the officials told them to leave northern gaza after the initial phase which is focused on the north and now we are seeing the operation moving from the north into the south, and it has not completed yet in the north, israel says, but the operations are moving to the south, and much of the focus is around khan younis, and the general in charge of the southern command said that this is the most intense day yet since israel's ground incursion launched in late october, and the most intense in terms of the number of hamas militants killed, the number of firefight, the amount of firepower used. over the course of the past few days, we have seen the extraordinary number of air strikes all over the gaza strip, but what israel is going to be focusing on next is khan younis, and where they believe there is command and control of the hamas, and hamas leadership, but in terms of the humanitarian implications, this is where so many gazans fled to, and now israel is telling gazan, civilians, to leave khan younis, and go farther south. there is a lot of confusion. there is a lot of disarray of, you know, 1.9 million people displaced so far according to the united nation, and the u.n. says that so many of them have nowhere to go and nowhere to find shelter, and they say that nowhere is safe. kate. >> alex marquardt, great to have you there. john? the fbi is working to disrupt possible attacks in the u.s. for those sympathetic to hamas. and christopher wray is on capitol hill right now. and atf is investigating after huge house explosion, and new information about who might have been inside. all right. happening now, you looking at live pictures of fbi director christopher wray testifying on capitol hill saying that agents are working around the clock to disrupt potential attacks by people inspired by hamas. director wray is warning the senate panel about the troubling trend of anti-semitic threats since october 7th. evan perez is with us this morning, and what else are we hearing from the fbi director, evan? >> well, john, a lot of the fbi's concern is certainly surrounding the events of october 7th and sort of the aftereffects of it. and of course, that includes the threats to jewish people of course and institutions in the united states as well as some of the threats that you are seeing in the muslim and arab communities here in the united states. the big concern for the fbi though is the idea that after, after octoberp 7th, you have groups like hamas who have sort of put out a global call for people to put out attacks against the united states and other countries, and that is what is keeping him busy with over 2,700 domestic terrorism cases in the united states that they are investigating, and a number of people are anti-government and now there are people who may be trying to heed the call by those terrorist groups to carry out possible attacks here in the united states. but a big portion of his testimony today is trying to urge members of congress to renew a surveillance law 702 which is due to expire in the next few weeks which he says is very, very important to keep an eye on the terrorist groups which are trying to pose a threat to the united states as well as iran and china. and so what he says if you don't renew the authority, it is a form of unilateral disarmament, and that is what he just talked about in his testimony. john, you know of course, it is a congressional hearing, and so these members can go anywhere they want, and few of them have brought up some of the investigations, including the ones relating to the biden family, and hunter biden and of course investigations related the donald trump. we are keeping an eye on the hearing for the next couple of hours. >> thank you, evan perez. thank you very much. sara. today, volodymyr zelenskyy is expected to make a direct appeal to senators as the clock is ticking down for approving funding for ukraine. he is going to urge them to pass the $106 billion funding bill. and the white house is saying that the money is running out, and ukraine will be kneecapped on the battlefield if that happens, but the house is tying the money to aid on policy change 230s the u.s./mexico border policy and insist on voting against the aid package before them. manu raju is joining us from capitol hill this morning. manu, what are you learning about who is going to be doing what and how far apart are the party right now from coming up with a deal? >> yeah, they are having real fears that congress is going to leave for the christmas holidays without any action to aid ukraine, to aid israel, amid this bitter part san dispute over immigration and border policies. these are issues that have divided parties for decades. there is a fear if there is a deal to deal with the migrant surge at the southern border and something to satisfy the democrats and republicans, and there is nowhere near the agreement on that, and they say that must be reached first in order to get a deal to allow for the ukraine aid to pass, and democrats are saying they want to tie all of issues together, and not just pass israel and ukraine, but move it altogether, and the house says to move israel first and deal with ukraine later, and so you can see it is a total mess right now, but in talking to the republicans this morning and including those on the senate and the house side, i asked them directly about the administration's warning that without action to help ukraine by the end of the year, ukraine could be kneecaped in the war against russia, and some brushed off the warning. >> look, it is 40, 50 people in the house, and it is not a majority of the house republicans, but because the house republicans are divided, the senate can have a louder voice here, and this is what is going to happen here. >> i mean, i would say, listen, first of all, they have been managing the war, joe biden, into a proxy war, and they have managed it catastrophically. >> so, speaker johnson this morning responding to the white house's warning from yesterday, and the warning of course that if they don't act on the ukraine aid, that it could essentially collapse if there is no action from congress before the year's end, and johnson responded that there needs to be a significant immigration and policy measures not unlike the bill that passed earlier, and something that the senate democrats call a non-starter, and you can see the divide that continues at that urgent time for ukraine even as zelenskyy is prepared to talk to the senators and not house, but the senators in the classified briefing, and this is the difficult time ahead with israel and all of the rest to raise concerns if any of it can be done. >> and yes, as all of the americans have seen, and manu, you of course, the immigration battle has been going on decades and decades, and the system is broken and they have never found out how to fix it, and this is going to be a tough fight there on capitol hill. thank you for your reporting there. >> and another mess up there on capitol hill for sure. coming up for us, what caused a massive explosion in virginia? that is what the local, state and federal authorities are now trying to answer after the officers watched a home essentially blow up as they were trying to serve a warrant at the residence, and the federal authorities are now getting involved. and now, a federal ambassador accused of spying and why the attorney general of the united states is causing it the longest lasting infiltration of the