donald trump back in court for new york civil fraud trial. plus, his latest delay tactics in the federal election interference case. and the new charges filed against hunter biden. then, a potential government shutdown looming, the house republicans move to formalize their impeachment inquiry into joe biden. and a judge granted in emergency abortion for a texas woman. the medical realities and consequences for women after roe as the 11th hour gets underway on this thursday night. good evening, once again, i'm stephanie ruhle live from cnn msnbc headquarters here in new york city. and tonight, the justice department has filed new charges against hunter biden, the son of president joe biden. he's facing nine tax related charges, including three felony counts that were brought by special counsel david weiss. the allegations include failure to file and filing a false return. if convicted, he could face a maximum of 17 years in prison. the white house has declined to comment. his lawyer said in a statement if hunters last name was anything other than biden, the charges would not have been brought. meanwhile, we're also following donald trump's legal problems. one day after skipping the latest gop debate, donald trump took his 2024 campaign message to a new york city court. the former president spun his civil fraud trial as a, quote, a political prosecution aimed at keeping him from returning to the white house. >> we're guilty of nothing. this is election interference at a level that has never been seen before. it comes out of the doj and the white house in order to heard a political opponent. and actually, it's driving up my polls because the people of our country get it. i should be right now in iowa and new hampshire, south carolina, i shouldn't be sitting in a courthouse. >> reporter: let's make one thing clear. for facts sake, there is absolutely no evidence that president biden was involved in donald trump's case. and this trial is in a new york state court brought by new york's attorney general. president biden and the feds had no power over this courtroom. donald trump is expected to testify as the final defense witness in the case on monday. trump, two of his sons and his business are accused of inflating the value of his assets to obtain favorable loans and insurance deals. new york attorney general test shames wants trump to pay a total of $250 million, and she wants the trump family to be barred from running any sort of business in the state of new york. meanwhile, trump is also trying to slow down proceedings for his federal election interference trial that is slated to start in march. he has filed notice that he plans to appeal judge tanya chutkan's ruling that he doesn't have immunity for prosecution in this case. the latest appeal could go all the way to the supreme court, which of course could mean a delay in the start of the trial and delay has been the name of the game for donald trump since the beginning. with that, let's get smarter with the help of our leadoff panel. we need him tonight, peter baker's here, chief white house correspondent for the new york times. katie benner, pulitzer prize-winning reporter also with the times and barbara mcquade, a veteran federal prosecutor and u.s. attorney for the eastern district of michigan. barb, i turn to you first, donald trump's lawyers made a significant move in trying to delay the federal election case. just play this out for us. how might this throw off the case because donald trump's whole game here is delay, delay, delay, try to get past the election, win the election, and make these charges go away. >> no doubt that's what's at work here, though there is a possible legal argument to be made based on what he filed today. so we know that last week, tanya chutkan ordered that he did not have an immunity defense. donald trump has appealed that. ordinarily, the defendant has to wait until the very end of their trial and until everything is over and group all of their appeals together than, it's referred to as the final judgment rule and the point of it is to prevent piecemeal litigation from delaying trials but there are a few issues that are permitted to have what's called interlocutory appeal. and one of those is immunity. another is double jeopardy. and that's because the argument is that the person should never have to stand trial whatsoever. and so before the trial may begin, the appeal must be taken. but donald trump is gone one step further and said not only do you have to complete the appeal before the trial should take place. there should be a stay not acing further no more motions numbered discovery. we should put a pause on this case until the courts can decide the issue on appeal. that is a legalargument that is not really supported by case law, at least not in the criminal context. and the judges asked for a briefing on that number 12 to make a decision as to whether she will grate that. >> reporter: katie, is he just throwing spaghetti against the wall? because he is trying to use some form of an immunity argument and it hasn't always been a success. >> >> it hasn't been a success, but it doesn't hurt him to try. there's no reason he wouldn't go this route. that said, it's unclear what's going to happen when this actually gets to the appeal court. because they ruled against him, who knows what could happen then. the supreme court, there's no guarantee they would take up this case. it really could end there with the appeals course. >> reporter: here is what i really want to know, peter. donald trump is running for president with 91 felony counts. he is claiming that this is political prosecution, its election interference because he's running for president. how different would these charges, these trials, these cases be if he wasn't running for president while facing -- what defense would he have? >> there's a lot of people who believe he decided to run for president specifically because he's been charged and could make the argument that, well, it's all political because they're coming after me because i'm on it against biden. it's a chicken and a thing, the fact of the matter is that he -- to argue against these charges regardless of he -- would still argue it's political. he would argue still that it's the democratic administration, as you point out correctly, it's a series of different organizations in these trials and different prosecutor or civil litigant. even so, he will make the argument that it's a conspiracy by the left to come after him in revenge. even if he wasn't running again he would make that argument. remember, there's two different audiences he's talking to. yes there's a legal argument to the judge in the appeals court. but he's also making the argument to his voters. he's making the argument that this is illegitimate. whether he wins this motion or not it doesn't matter in some ways. because the argument that he's making to the people who are about to go to the polls in iowa and new hampshire and so on those don't pay attention to this, don't think i'm a criminal, don't think i'm guilty of anything. it's all politics, as i just told you in this motion. >> reporter: then katie, how much of these charges against a hunter biden are a gift to trump? just a moment ago, i read the statement from hunter biden's lawyers saying if his name weren't biden, he wouldn't face these charges. team trump says the same thing. is donald trump just loving these charges because he can grate also given c here? reminder to our audience, under is not running for everything that he doesn't work for a government. >> not just a false equivalence, but again created entire narrative out of these charges and. and if you read the indictment, the indictment itself is exactly the kind of thing that most americans just, buys right? there is no fair charge, there's no foreign spying charges. it's this wealthy person didn't pay taxes and they get a lot of jobs working foreign governments because his last name is biden. so he's extremely privileged, he made a lot of money and he didn't pays taxes. those are the charges that are really distasteful to most american. so trump doesn't have to try very hard to spin that into a narrative that works for him, even though the white house is not involved, it's still the president son. but i saying people we were speaking to before, trump has two opportunities. one is to use the biden news against the current white house, and to, he's going to also start using what he used before the end of. right after the 2020 election right before. lies, threats, even violence to get what he wants. we saw the doj prosecutor say just a little bit ago we're going to show that kind of behavior because it's so important, it gives us a view into donald trump's mentality when he tried to basically steal an election. we are actually watching him on the campaign trails try to do the same thing in realtime, using lies and threats. it will be interesting to see how that plays out. >> reporter: barb, he is taking the stand on monday in a civil trial heal in new york. what should be watching for, besides the impromptu campaign rally that will take place on the courthouse steps any chance you can get? >> i imagine that his testimony is going to sound like a lot like the testimony of donald trump jr.. remember how he talked about how his father was the greatest genius the world has ever seen, about how his properties are like no other. he showed photos of them, a powerpoint show. i imagine that donald trump will try to tell a similar story about how these properties are worth more than what meets the eye on paper because of these intangible qualities and of the trump name being attached to it. that's what i look for. now, of course, donald trump often engages in what we call word salad, talking to stream of consciousness. and i can be very dangerous for somebody under oath, so i imagine the skilled cross examiners will be very careful to block out and try to hold him to one story as opposed to allowing him to meander all over the place. >> reporter: let's go on to that other store, a bar. these charges against hunter biden. explain them to us. how big a deal are they? >> i think it's a big deal. these are serious charges. he's been charged with three felonies and six misdemeanors for tax evasion, filing false returns, and willfully failing to pay his taxes over a period of time. and if this was not unexpected because when that plea deal fell apart, i think the prosecutor who offers a plea deal sort of has to stand behind it and bring charges afterwards. but one thing about these charges, and as katie said, they're really quite agree just, talking about having money to spend on lavish lifestyle, but not pain's taxes. the one thing i would point out though is that he's paid back all the taxes and penalties. at least in my former office, we would not bring a criminal case under those circumstances. certainly, it's not illegal to do it. the law is there. but prosecutors exercise discretion because they have finite resources as to where they can use their cases and they want to get the biggest bang for the buck that they can get. when somebody is already paid back the taxes, it doesn't seem that the prosecution really brings back that much in the door. so this idea that he would've been charged if his name hadn't been hunter biden actually has a little bit of -- okay, but what the trump team make the argument that they've been making over and over about the fraud trial in new york, that if -- didn't lose money, no, harm no foul. >> well, that's not the standard in a fraud case, in a fraud case it is the person's representations and, in fact even though the bank may have not suffered any harm all the other people are competing for loans and did suffer some. so it isn't like already paid it back the way hunter biden's. in fact, that's what he's insisting on doing. that's what he's trying to extract from him in -- >> competing for, loans, also all of the new developers out there that might have wanted to win the projects that trump did. but, they didn't. because they didn't get the loan terms that he did. katie, remind us, there was this other federal case against hunter with the plea deal that collapsed, what happened there? what -- how do we get? there >> he's also being charged with gun crimes, for lying when he applied to buy a gun saying that he was under the influence of drugs. at that, time he was a drug addict. a lot of this stuff is really in spirit, and you wrote about, this from his own memoir. not a huge surprise. but, again this is illegal. his own lawyer, hunter biden's own lawyer has noted that it's very unusual for the federal government to bring this kind of charge and believes he's doing it, he claims that the special prosecution investigating hunter biden is doing so under political pressure. that is going to be hunter biden's team legal defense going forward, particular to leave these charges back. >> peter, no surprise, the white house is not commenting tonight. but, you have covered hunter extensively in the past. this has to be difficult for the biden family what are they likely thinking tonight? >> i think it's the cost of a missed opportunity. the plea deal that one away wouldn't dispose both the tax on the gun charges without any prison time. and they walked away from the deal in fact because they were arguing over whether that deal would get him immunity over other potential charges he might face down the road about lobbying and administration and so forth. so instead of getting rid of these relatively straightforward charges and exposing them in a way that would potentially be that much of a penalty including in the rearview mirror for both hunter biden and for his father, who are now looking at the possibility of two trials makes two with the president son. well they're nothing like what trump's been charged with, and obviously it's a false equivalency, as you said. it doesn't really matter because it's just something that the biden house would presume not be happening in the middle of an election. they want up a clean contrast between a president who is, you know, seen us at the cool and model of integrity. versus another former president who was charged with 91 felonies. >> katie, how is it that republicans, specifically trump will continue to make the argument that joe biden is trying to corrupt and use the department of justice for his own benefit when, tonight, the presidents only living son was just charged again and could face 17 years in prison? >> you would think that's the kind of fact that would stand in the weight of that argument. but i think, of, course the recent book from mick romney, coming up from liz cheney, we've seen these two republican leaders talk about how members of their own party have been private and talked about how they hated dom -- defending him in any way that they, could because they felt there was their way to cling to power. it was their way to seize their bags and stay elected. so i think we're seeing that some of that hypocrisy. again described by the two lawmakers. and this is just part of the course. >> peter, what should we expect to hear from house republicans? hunter biden has taken a more aggressive tone lately, saying he would test -- testify publicly. they wouldn't take up on him. what police say next? >> well they're heading down the road for an impeachment vote. first, they have the vote whether to officially authorize the investigation that has already been started by kevin mccarthy while he was speaker, before he was ousted by his own party. and this vote would be a real test of whether or not the republicans are going ahead in that direction. and they're going to use this to talk about how the full biden family needs accountability. nothing is charge that came out today, even the gun charge but it had anything to do with the president other than the blood relationship with his son. a lot of family members over the years have been caught up in the scandal, or that scandal. this one doesn't involved anything with the president himself doing anything wrong. and, so the charges, the house republicans are trying to pursue have to then take it to the next level. and somehow the president was involved illicitly in his sons born business deal. and they had a hard time finding evidence to back it. up even though the republican say, there is no there there. so they're going to try to use this to build their momentum. even though it doesn't directly brown the president himself. >> peter baker, katie benner, barbara mcquade. every time you come you helped break down a complicated day. you certainly had one earlier. well, when we come, back in the, house republicans are teeing up a vote on impeachment inquiry for president biden while in the senate, there is still no deal for funding on israel and ukraine. robert gibbs and michael shield will be breaking down what is going down in congress. and, later, we're going to take you to texas where a judge has granted a woman's request for an emergency abortion. doctor patel is here on what the historical means for women health care. on the 11th hour, just getting underway on a thursday night. he thinks his flaky, red patches are all people see. otezla is the #1 prescribed pill to treat plaque psoriasis. 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