hunter biden indicted, again. the president son now facing nine charges, including a failure to file and pay taxes. prosecutors alleged engagement for your scheme to spend money on drugs, exotic cars, luxury hotels, quote, everything but his taxes. >> from subverting to cooperating. why an attorney at the center of donald trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election is now helping investigators in at least four states. well he cooperate with federal investigators, as well? and as the climate crisis touches every region of the globe, new cnn polling revealing americans worries about a warming planet and who they think should take action. we are following these major developing stories, and many more, all coming in right here to cnn news central. once again, the president son is being accused of breaking the law. this time hunter biden is facing serious jail time. the justice department said that he could get up to 17 years in prison if he's found guilty of these latest charges. three of them are felonies. a 56-page indictment, special counsel david weiss accuses hunter biden of abating one point $4 million in taxes over a four-year period despite the fact that he had the money. even when he did pay one year, prosecutors say he used false business deductions. this is hunter biden second indictment since his plea agreement with federal prosecutors fell apart in july. in that first indictment he was charged with several low-level gun offenses. cnn senior justice correspondent, evan perez, here following this for us. this indictment goes into pretty spectacular detail. >> right. there are some very salacious details in this indictment. 56 pages. the government makes the case, look, hunter biden had the money. he was making millions of dollars in his business dealings in ukraine and china. because of his own personal issues, he did not pay these taxes. we are talking about 20 $700 paid in pornography. $188,000 that they counted used on adult entertainment. things that, they say, instead he could've been doing to have his business be, pay its taxes that were due. we heard from the hunter biden's attorney who says that this is all a political indictment. i will read you part of what he said. hunter's last name was anything other than biden the charges in delaware, the gun charges, and now in california, would not have been brought. of course, the politics of this we cannot escape, obviously. we know the campaign is now in full swing. the president's son makes clear what he believes republicans are trying to do by going after him. listen. >> they are trying to, in the most illegitimate way but rational way, they are trying to destroy a presidency. it is not about me. their most bass way what they are trying to do is they are trying to kill me. knowing that it will be a pain greater than my father could be able to handle. >> look, breonna, as if to help make hunter biden's point, we heard from republicans on capitol hill who say they told the justice department that they want this investigation to now turn its attention to the president. i should know, in the 36 pages we do not see any evidence, any indication that money went to president biden. of course, that is something republicans are going to continue digging in on. they are due to try to get him to be deposed here in washington next week. we will see whether that actually happens. >> they are threatening contempt of congress if he doesn't agree to that closed-door deposition. who knows what will happen. evan, thank you so much. a very important report. boris? we want to dig deeper now with democratic congressman, robert garcia of california. a member of the house oversight committee. congressman, thank you so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us. these nine new charges are for more serious than what was in that plea deal that hunter originally agreed to. one that fell apart over the summer. republicans are arguing that this is happening because irs whistleblowers came forward saying the doj was taking it easy on hunter. do you think these new charges are proof that the justice department was trying to give the president son a sweetheart deal? >> a couple things are really important to know. first, although the country will be held accountable by the courts, by a judge, and he will be held accountable for all of these charges. he is a private citizen. he will go through the judicial process. it is also very clear that the accusations of the republicans, saying that somehow president biden controls or as weaponizing's justice department, is absolutely false. they are literally taking hundred through a judicial process through all of these indictments. what is happening right now is republicans are trying to turn all of this, particularly around hunter biden, into a huge political sham and impeachment. where there has been absolutely zero evidence. republicans have said so. republicans and congress continue to admit that there has been zero evidence with the president in hunter biden's business dealings. what you discuss right now, the document being presented now to the court, as well, there is zero evidence of the president doing anything to connect them to these business dealings. what this is, essentially, just a bag, political, sham. republicans and james comer trying to impose on president biden because they want to damage him, they want to get donald trump reelected. that is what this is all about. it is political. the oversight committee, we want hundred biden to come in and talk to us publicly. republicans refuse. >> the oversight committee chairman, james comer, says he is not satisfied with these new charges. he actually echoed claims from irs whistleblowers that investigators weren't allowed to follow evidence that they felt might lead them to president biden. you are saying that there is no evidence. these irs whistleblowers's are saying, potentially, that there is. they were not allowed to pursue it. that is why republicans won a formal vote on an impeachment inquiry. your response? >> look, what is really important in all of these proceedings is that we allow the justice department to do its job. the justice department has and should treat every person with the same level of due diligence. with the same level of inquiry. they are doing that right now with hunter biden, who is a private citizen. as far as james comer, every single investigation that james comer has brought before the oversight committee that i sit on has been completely political. he brought four witnesses who ended up being spies. he brought four witnesses that ended up having is zero evidence linking the president to anything. i think what's really important is us, as members of congress, have not been trying to get involved in the justice department process. our job is oversight. we present information. oftentimes we work with committee members as well as committee staff to pass along information that we are able to give. at the end of the day the justice department has got to make their own decisions. james comer should get out of trying to be the judge and jury on hunter biden and certainly on president biden. >> do you think that this formal vote on an impeachment inquiry that his schedule to get introduced into committee next week, do you think it will succeed? to republicans have the votes? >> look, we don't know. what we do know is this is a extreme political stunt. marjorie taylor greene another extremist in congress have been trying to impeach president biden from day one. before he was even just barely taking office. their entire goal here is to damage president biden. not to work and focus on the what matters to the american public. we have a war on ukraine the needs are serious attention. we have a budget that we need to get past so we can actually fund the government. they want to take this time to focus on a sham impeachment inquiry. they want to take a vote. weather passes are not, it'll be up to the republicans. democrats are united to actually get to work trying to do the work for the american people. what we do know is there is zero evidence of a impeachment inquiry decision repeated by republican members of congress. witnesses that we've had, those who have been deposed, and those anyone following this case understands this is all political. >> i do want to ask you about something regarding ukraine. hunter biden is scheduled to appear for a closed-door deposition next week. you wanted to testify publicly. he has been threatened with a contempt of congress charge. would you counsel him to testify in private to not face that charge. what he wanted to ask the president son? >> look, i think he should testify publicly. we already know that there have been depositions that happened over the last year, year and a half, around different investigations, including this one. republicans have essentially twisted the deposition, put out their own information about what they want the public now. that is not actually lined with what happened in the room. republicans have been asking for a public hearing of hunter biden in front of the american people. hunter biden agreed to it. why do we have to do this in private and in secret? we can actually have a public hearing round-robin can into all of the questions that republicans have, the democrats have, the public can make their assessment that way. i think this is really unfortunate. james comer is going back and what he said he wanted. >> congressman, quickly, i do want to get to that question about ukraine. there is a battle on the senate side right now over a deal to pair israeli aid with ukraine aid. republicans want concessions from democrats on border security, potentially changes to immigration policy. have you gotten a sense of how much it would take to get health republicans to back whatever deal comes out of the senate, when it comes to immigration? >> first of all we know how republicans want to pass the most extreme anti immigrant, anti-asylum, laws around immigration in the country. things that demonize people who are here, working, serving, or our students. those who are here trying to be part of this country. we know that that is the republican proposal. this idea that we are going to politicize funding for ukraine, for israel, for humanitarian aid in gaza tie that to extremist policies across the border i think is crazy. but democrats are trying to do is be very clear that we are ready to pass a package that includes foreign aid. tying it to extreme republican proposals around the border is absolutely wrong. we are standing up and saying, that is not acceptable to us. we are hopeful that both the white house, our senate partners, certainly democrats announced stick to those principles. >> congressman, robert garcia, we have to leave the conversation there. i appreciate your time, sir. >> thank you. >> of course. breonna? we are learning new details about a former trump ally now cooperating with prosecutors in multiple states. sources tell cnn that kenneth chesebro, the pro trump lawyer who devised the fake electors plot to overturn the 2020 election is now working with prosecutors in wisconsin and michigan. cnn's marshall cohen is with us now on the story. we should mention, of course, he has already pleaded guilty to conspiracy in georgia. lies he now thing investigators in these other states? >> i think because he does not want to get charged again. we already knew, brianna, he was cooperating in georgia and nevada. the development here is that cooperation is more expensive than we knew. he is working with state prosecutors in michigan and wisconsin that are also similarly looking into the fake electors plot in their states. this news, brianna, is the first time that word has emerged. the first indication of a criminal investigation in wisconsin. that means that there are now criminal state investigations in six of the seven states where the trump campaign trying to pull off this caper. three of them leading to criminal charges. most famously in georgia with the sweeping racketeering case that went all the way to the top with donald trump. chesebro pleaded guilty there, is cooperating. there earlier this week nevada announced criminal charges against the six fake electors there. chesebro cooperated but was not charged in that probe. michigan was the first two announce criminal charges back in july against the fake electors there. indications including this cooperation from chesebro that the michigan probe is still active and may even be expanding. >> a hugely consequential cooperator. something to watch here. thank you for that. coming up, the 2024 candidates are out on the trail. they're hoping to crack into trump's huge lead in the poll. we will have their latest tragedy had. later, president biden on his way to nevada. why that state is crucial to his reelection bid. following breaking news just into cnn. the federal court of appeals in d.c. has maintained most of judge tanya chutkan gag order against them. trump cnn paul reid joins us now. paula, at the center this argument judge chutkan was concerned that trump's rhetoric could threaten witnesses or create more danger for federal ploys. trump's argument was he has the first amendment and he's running for political office. ultimately, the appeals court appearing to side with judge chutkan. >> that is right. here the federal appellate court has largely affirmed this gag order that limits former president trump's ability to publicly criticize court staff, prosecutors, and potential witnesses in the election subversion case. the gag order had been suspended while this appeal was working its way through the courts. in oral arguments right before thanksgiving these judges expressed some skepticism over whether this gag order really interfered with trump's first amendment right. as he noted, these restrictions were put in place by judge tanya chutkan. she is the judge overseeing the election subversion case here in d.c. scheduled to go to trial here in march. she said she believes trump's public statements about witnesses, members of the court staff, those could, potentially, impact the case. also opening these people up to threats. she has, in fact, received threats to her office that she is not covered by this gag order. we would expect the former president's lawyers likely will try to appeal this issue to the supreme court. they insist that the former president should be allowed to speak freely with no restrictions about this case. they have argued that this is political speech, because he is, of course, the leading candidate for the presidency. they argue that that enjoys the highest level of protection. judge tanya chutkan has repeatedly said that his first amendment rights, his status as a candidate, all of that yields at her courtroom door and the quarterly administration of justice. that has largely been offered by federal appellate court. >> paula reid, thank you so much for that report. breonna? in the meantime, former president trump is set to testify in the new york civil fraud trial against him and his business empire. while he prepares to take the stand the rest of the republican field is looking ahead to 2024. weeks to go until the first presidential contest in iowa and new hampshire, the republican candidates are flocking to those states. they are hoping to gain a boost following the fourth gop debate this week. cnn chief national affairs correspondent jeff zeleny joining us. nikki haley's campaign looking, of course, to gain strength and financial support from some major donors, like the coke network. what is her strategy really hoping to become the trump alternative? >> our strategy now as she's making her first visit iowa now after that debate. she has been spending her time between iowa and new hampshire more than most of the candidates. for strategy right now is to try to continue some of that upward swing she have seen from debate to debate to see if she's still alive. a lot happened at that debate. ron desantis, the florida governor, certainly was talking about his conservative record. getting into a bit of a-for-tat for her on who is the most socially conservative. every interesting thing happened this morning her super pac that is supporting her decided to, the most aggressive way yeah, going directly after iran desantis. >> judges are priority. >> honestly, made in china, -- what >> a phony. rhonda santas, too lame to lead, too weak to win. >> those are some pretty strong words there. two lane to lead, too weak to win. not from the haley campaign but from her super pac. comparing the two saying that desantis is a mini me, a mini trump, if you will. really going after those voters looking to turn the page from the former president. a little risky, i think. trump remains pretty popular with the republican base. >> lane? lane. i don't know. that is just mean! i thought iowa was nice. jeff? >> i don't know. going that works. >> they sure do. even an iowa nice. let's talk about chris christie. obviously very focused on new hampshire. he is all about going after trump, for sure. is it working? >> he had a very strong week. a strong debate performance. decided to reengage after the third debate where he did not get into any back and forth. this week he did. defending nikki haley but also talking directly about donald trump saying that he is unfit to lead at the president. he has been campaigning aggressively in new hampshire. he talked about the age and fitness of both of the older candidates. >> trump is a liar. he has been lying his whole life. in his private life what he does is, he lies to borrow money from people. then he goes bankrupt. sticks them with the bill, and moves on. you cannot do that when you are president of the united states. joe biden is 81 years old. let me tell you who is not worried about paying the bill, the guy who is about to leave the table. >> wow. some strong words from him there, as well. former new jersey governor, chris christie, is doing trying to make the pace appeal to independent voters they are trying to move on. the question is, is there a lane or space for him? he is vowing to stay around until the convention. we will see if that happens. he does have support any hampshire, no doubt. but that is where his entire campaign strategy is rooted. >> even if he is not going to really give them a run for their money, he can still impact the race. he makes headlines. we will see. jeff, thank you so much for that. boris? president biden is heading west, dropping in on the key battleground state of nevada today, which helped secure his white house victory in 2020. he does so amid a mixed bag of headlines. another strong jobs report released today. unemployment down 3.7%. polling shows that voters remain concerned about lingering inflation. then there is a new charges against his son, hunter biden, and his ongoing federal tax case. notably, a recent new york times sienna poll shows that 48% of nevada voters strongly disapprove of biden's job performance. polls show that latino voters, a critical part of his coalition, and a dim democratic in nevada, appear to be turning away. we want to bring in the league of latin american citizens, domingo garcia. domingo, thank you very much for being with us from dallas. cnn's latest poll shows only a 4% gap among latinos between president biden and republican front runner, donald trump. you think that joe biden can win reelection with the margin that slim? >> no. he's going to have to up his game. for too long he has taken latino issues and latino voters for granted. i think voters in nevada are up for grabs. what are you gonna do about jobs? what are you gonna do about inflation? what are you gonna do about education for our children? these are tamale and talk of issues russ. bread and butter issues for us. not only in nevada but arizona and o