decide whether to restrict abortion pills, a decision that could come down in the final months of the race for president. good day to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm kasie hunt. it is thursday, december 14. and it is 5:00 a.m. here in washington where republicans are now under pressure to show results after the house voted narrowly to authorize an impeachment inquiry against president biden. the move came just hours after hunter biden defied a congressional subpoena for closed door testimony saying he is only willing to testify publicly into the investigation into his father. >> republicans do not want an open process where americans can see their tactics. expose their baseless inquiry or hear what i have to say. >> republicans will move to hold him in contempt. and president biden accuses republicans of wasting time to a baseless stunt. dan touted the . >> the house loss nohas now spo i think clearly with every single republican voting in favor of moving into this official impeachment inquiry phase. >> but even some swing district republicans are careful to tell cnn that the vote for an actual impeachment is still far from a sure thing. >> i'll let the committees continue their work, develop their articles if they develop articles on impeachment, show their evidence. and then we'll make a separate choice. >> let's bring in so sophia kye. did the vote play out as expected and what is your sense of the political ramifications for some of the mod republicans who decided to open the investigation formally? >> yeah, this vote came along party lines. i think for months republicans doesn't have the votes needed for this. but moderate republicans finally came on board after the white house told these committees that their subpoenas had less legitimacy. and so, you know, in terms of the political ramifications, you have these what we call biden districtth district republicans, republicans in districts that biden won in 2020, who may be up for re-election and i think that they have to answer to their voters why they voted this way. and so that is why they are clear in saying that this just opens the inquiry. and impeachment vote is long far away. >> and ken buck is leaving congress. he was on with our colleague here at cnn erin burnett earlier in the week and he had this to say about the impeachment inquiry. watch. >> this is not the way to run a congress, this is not the way to run a house. we should not be engaging in retribution politics and retribution impeachments. >> he of course ultimately went along with opening this inquiry. but it does seem to be saying the quite part out loud. >> yeah, absolutely. and this impeachment is objectively almost set to fail. and that is because, you know, even if the impeachment hooves through the house, there is no way that it would pass through the senate.hoovesthrough the ho is no way that it would pass through the senate. are not senators are a lot more conservative. you even had someone like j.d. vance who is a loyal trump ally tell me earlier this year that an impeachment could really backfire on republicans if republicans go further than the evidence takes them. and that is where a lot of moderate republicans are as well in the house. >> yeah, it is a good point and of course the senate controlled by democrats. and as we saw, very difficult to get a conviction in the senate that did not happen twice under donald trump when there was considerable more pressure and support for it. so let's talk a little bit about hunter biden. he of course really dramatic day yesterday honestly where he showed up at microphones to make a statement defending himself, he ultimately though did not sit for the closed door deposition that he had been subpoenaed to attend. and this is what jim jordan had to say after that. take a look. >> lawyers for the district committee will move in that direction. but look, congress asked you to come. supposed to come and testify. >> so they are promising to hold hunter biden in contempt. that pointing out jim jordan was subpoenaed to testify last fall by the january 6 committee and he ignored that subpoena. what are the chances here that hunter biden is actually held in contempt of congress? >> you know, it is very much possible, but remember, the contempt also has go through the committee as well as the full house and after that, they move it to the u.s. attorney and doj which really decides on prosecution. so that too is a long ways away. but i think house republicans have signaled that they really want to hold hunter biden accountable. but hunter, you know, it was really remarkably scene. he was on the house steps, he usually lays fairly low the past couple year, but he was out there on the steps where most lawmakers give their pressers outside. and he said look, for years we've been hearing from republicans where is hunter. they have been shouting that. and he said look, here i am. so he too is making a very strong statement there. >> yeah, his appearance crystallized the new confrontational strategy that his lawyer abbe lowell has been leading. reminds me of the way trump frankly handles some of the controversies. the other major issue working either way through congress is this national security supplemental that would provide aid to ukraine, aid to israel and it is hung up on border security negotiations. my colleague manu raju spoke with senator tom tillhom tillis this. take a look at what tillis had to say. >> it really is the first time it has kind of defined the framework, and so now it is more a matter of the specific language behind it. >> so that framework of course is what the white house says that they are willing to do on changing u.s. asylum policies and procedures, something that many progressive democrats are quite frankly not very happy about. but it does seem to have potentially dislodged -- or, you know, the fact that this national security supplemental was so stuck. do you think that there is going to be any additional progress here before the holidays or is this something that we're still wait until january to see? >> i think that things are moving, but timing is certainly an issue. and you see that senate republicans are like itching to go home for the holidays. and so that is not a good sign for congress especially since, you know, over in the house, you have the chc, congressional hispanic caucus, making a lot of noise about how they are not happy about this. actually republicans are taking some of that as a good sign that, you know, this is a solid offer and all of those conversations are continuing to happen. but the clock is ticking. and, you know, you hear some senators say, well, you know, why should we hang around if this is just going to sit even if it passes the house. >> yeah, never underestimate we call it the jet fumes, right, in the halls of congress getting people anxious to go home. i will say though, it is a pretty significant offer from the white house and i wonder if they do go home whether that oppo opposition from progressives couldn't get the white house to be a little nervous about this. sometimes you have to seize the moment. sophia cai, thank you for being up with us. >> thanks. republican presidential hopeful vivek ramaswamy raised several conspiracy theories during last night's cnn town hall in iowa. he suggested the federal government has lied systemically to the american people and pointed to what he claims are several examples. take a look. >> we do have a government, first of all, we have technology that has lied to us systemically about the origin of covid-19. about the hunter biden laptop that we were told was false. by 51 cia experts and otherwise and now we know it was you troo 3678 go down the list. trump russia disinformation collusion hoax, all of it. now we come to january 6. the reality is that we know that there were federal law enforcement agents in that field. we don't know how many. >> he was not able to offer any evidence particularly about that last claim there. ramaswamy also turned a question about medication abortion into a critique of the federal bureaucracy and he staked out hard right positions on immigration enforcement and railed against affirmative action efforts. still ahead here, the supreme court set to make another major decision on abortion and it is set to take place right in the middle of the 2024 campaign. plus cnn exclusive, what is u.s. intelligence finds out about gaza and what it means for civilians. and the election interference case decision that could work in n trump's fafavor. new u.s. intelligence assessment has found that nearly half of the air it ground munitions israel has drop order gaza since october 7 have been unguided, known as dumb bombs. three sources tell cnn that up to 45% of the almost 30,000 of the munitions have been unguided. rest were precision guided. max foster is joining us from london. s dumb bombs, smart bomb, let's be clear to what the difference is. >> well, if you have a bomb that you can guide, you'll be more precise and there is a certain level of civilian casualties. but if you drop an unguided bomb, you can't be as precise. i mean, there are certain techniques in the way that the fighter jets drop these to make them more precise, but they will never be as precise as a guided bomb. so that then does create more risk to civilians and creating casualties. so it is significant and when we look at some of the numbers involved here, about 40% to 5% -- 45% of the 29,000 israeli has used has been unguided. >> so what does it tell us that we're learning about this now? i mean, like what is the political significance of the disclosure? does it serve to try to put more pressure on israel to make sure that more of its strikes are more precise? >> all we've heard from israel repeatedly is this is a war against a hamas, not against the people of gaza. in response to this report, we heard from an rd reallily spokesperson saying bwe're devoting vast resources to avoid harm to civilians. but if these are being used, that goes to the argument that there is indiscriminate bombing and civilian casualties are not taken into account enough. that is a narrative for those who oppose the war obviously. and there is some evidence for them to base that on. but the israelis have their own reasons for using different types of bombs and they are very skilled and they would argue that they can be very precise. certainly the intention is not to take out any civilians. >> perhaps it also provides cover for president biden with who said that they were doing this indiscriminate bombing. >> yes, and the intel comes from the u.s. >> all right. max foster, thank you very much. really appreciate it. see you tomorrow. still ahead here, police say that they have cracked the case of a detroit synagogue leader who was murdered in front of her home. and it will be a very white christmas at least in the rocky mountains.s. 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? did we peak your interest? you can get two unlimited lines for just $30 each a month. 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. welcome back. quick hits across america. is that the has passed a sweeping legislation that funds the defense department and authorizes a pay raise for members of the military. now it awaits a vote in the house. detroit man facing murder charges in connection with the death of samantha wahl during a home invasion. authorities say there is no indication it was a hate crime. tesla is recalling almost all of its 2 million cars about concerns about the autopilot feature. federal safety regulators say it can be easily misused in dangerous driving situations when the tesla technology may not be able to safely navigate the road. now to weather. heavy rain is heading into texas and florida today. millions under severe flood threats in southern florida and winter storms set to bring more snow to the southern rockies. let's get straight to our weatherman derek van dam. fresh powder? >> yeah, if you are seeking the magical winter wonderland type christmas, every flake that falls from the sky counts. so we want to see this. just north of albuquerque and southern california, this matters because people who seek this out are going to be jumping up with joy, right? because this is going to be accumulate a few inches, up to a foot in some locations. especially higher elevations. of course on the warm side we talked about this yesterday, this is where it will be all rain. so we're decreasing those chances of a white christmas where it is just simply too warm for that and we don't really have many opportunities for snow left in the final run up to the christmas season. 3 to 12 inches of snow northern new mexico, extreme southern colorado. this will advance eastward and we expect a line of showers to impact dallas and austin by the end of the work week. and you can see the wet weather including oklahoma city and wichita, kansas as well. but you have to see the evolution of the storm system. south florida, a stalled out frontal boundary meaning basically it doesn't move anywhere, is producing a significant amount of rain and then we're going to get some of that energy from the storm we talked about to act as kind of a rainmaker through the course of the weekend for the florida peninsula. flood watch miami, ft. laud lauderdale, much of the eastern peninsula of florida. but look at the advancement of the low pressure system. it will join up with the energy from the storm creating the snow and rain across the southern plains and into the southern rockies. and then it will turn into a full-on nor'easter. but this storm system will be a rainmaker, not a snow maker, for the majority of the east coast this weekend. and look at saturday for the carolinas and into florida peninsula, a significantly wet weekend could cause some flooding concerns for this area as well. >> we'll keep an eye out for that for sure. derek van dam, thanks very much. see you tomorrow, when it will be friday. happy thursday. up next here, house republicans say that they will hold hunter biden in contempt for defying their subpoena. and the judge puts the brakes on donald trump's election interference case at least for now. good thursday morning. thanks for being up early with us. republicans and democrats in washington are reacting this morning to yesterday's vote in the house officially authorizing an impeachment inquiry against president biden. the probe so far has focused on claims the president was involved in his son hunter's allegedly corrupt foreign business dealings. the probe came hours after hunter biden defiled a congressional subpoena. he told reporters that he'd be willing to testify in public where he says republicans couldn't cherrypick his words. and he said his father had nothing to do with his business dealings. >> in the depths of my addiction, i was extremely irresponsible with my finances. but to suggest that is grounds for an impeachment inquiry is beyond the absurd. it is shameless. >> republicans now say that they will move to hold hunter biden in contempt of congress. let's bring in mychael schnell from "the hill." always great to have you on the show. so the investigation has not yet shown any proof of wrongdoing by the president specifically. house republicans are saying that they need this inquiry in order to find the evidence. what happens next? >> yeah, like you mentioned, we haven't seen the smoking gun conclusively connecting president biden to the allegations against hunter biden. but essentially what house republicans had said is that they needed to hold a vote on authorizing the impeachment inquiry at this point to bolster the investigative effort and as they head into a more combative phase of the impeachment inquiry which includes trying to enforce subpoenas, land high profile witnesses. they say they need more legal weight behind the inquiry. and this is after the white house responded to subpoenas essentially saying that -- arguing that the impeachment inquiry was not legitimate. because it hadn't been backed up by a formal house vote. you remember back in september then speaker kevin mccarthy opened the impeachment inquiry on his own accord directing house gop chair men to continue their investigations. so yesterday we saw that vote ultimately come to the house floor, pass in a party line vote, all republicans lining up behind this inquiry. and i'll note, a lot of the republicans are saying this was just a vote to expand the investigative powers, this is by no means a vote on impeaching the president. >> right. and moderate republicans -- i think the question i have is just kind of what changed their minds because there had been this reticence to do it because they were worried about the political implications. jamie raskin, a top democrat on the oversight committee who is very involved in the democratic impeachments, he had this warning, he said once you get on the train at the first stop, you are pretty much going to take the whole ride. what do you make of this? >> yeah, this is something that we've been asking the moderate republicans and quite frankly all republicans, the idea that thunde taking this vote, if they don't vote on impeachment articles, it is kind of saying hey, we did this investigation, we didn't find anything, he is off the hook. let's move on. and republicans have been insisting that there is some wrongdoing, they are just looking to find it. essentially these moderate republicans have said this is not a vote on impeaching the president. they have really been trying to differentiate between voting to authorize the inquiry which is bolstering the legal weight behind the probe, expanding their investigative powers saying this is by no means a vote on impeaching the president, this is a step that comes far before voting on impeachment articles. they are really trying to draw a line in the sand between voting on the inquiry and voting on articles. but you see democrats are saying look, if you take this first vote, it is probably likely that we'll see votes on articles later on. >> so i want to put up a handy little graphic that we made of all the times that there have been impeachment inquiries throughout american history. as you can see, many of them are in black and white minus the portrait of thomas jefferson. but it shows you how rare this has been really until recently. obviously watergate in 1972. but i think one of the things that we're seeing here is something of a normalization of the use of impeachment as, you know, a political tactic or tool. is there anyone on the hill that you talk to a regular basis who is kind of warning about that? >> look, kasie, it is a rarity using impeachment. and something speaker johnson has said time and tile me again impeachment is one of the most important powers that the house has. so ste know that there is significant weight behind the powers of impeachment that congress has. but as that graph shows, it is becoming much more frequent. and i think that this just comes along with this increase in polarization and partisanship in washington. quite frankly, across the country. we're seeing more of the bitter political battles, the fights break out between republicans and democrats. lawmakers are escalating their tactics and that includes an increase in the use of impeachment as we've seen in recent years. if we zoom into the house this year, we've seen increased number of censure resolutions, increased number of trying to