will not be the final witness in the civil fraud trial against his business organization. we'll go through the last-minute reversal from the former president. also ahead, we'll bring you the latest from the middle east. israel continues to strike what it calls hamas strongholds in southern gaza. it comes as we are learning more about some of the hostages still held by the terrorist group. plus, a controversial ruling in the state of texas. that state supreme court is blocking an abortion for a woman whose fetus has a fatal diagnosis. ♪♪ good morning and welcome to "way too early" on this monday, december 11th. i'm jonathan lemire. thanks for starting your day and week with us. we'll begin here. former president trump will not, after all, testify in his own defense at his$250 million fraud trial. he was scheduled to take the stand today, but in a last-minute reversal, it was announced late yesterday he would not testify i his defense at all. he was previously called to testify for the prosecution. he did that a few weeks ago. a professor who has testified as an expert for the defense for two days already will be their final witness. that plan seems to have changed quickly. a trump lawyer said as recently as thursday after trump attended that day's trial that he was looking forward to testifying today. >> don't forget, though, he's going out on monday with the judge's gag order still in place. so he can't speak about certain things. he has to be so careful. that's a concern. we have . those are all being violated. and he still wants to take the stand even though my advice at this point is you should never ta stand with a gag order, but he's so firmly against what is happening in the cot. >> things he chand. chris kise says this. there is really nothing more to say to a judge who has imposed an unconstitutional gag order and thus far appears to have ignored president trump ice testimony and that of everyone. the judge who is overseeing the case has said he estimates it will take him a few weeks to issue a final ruling. remember, of course, this is the penalty phase. the organization was already meanwhile therump ornization and the trump's save america super pac are paying out serious legal fees for trump's courtroom battles. that same accounting professor revealed in court on friday that his $900,000 in fees was paid by the former president's company and super pac. according to campaign finance reports filed in july with the federal election commission, trump's save america super pac spent more than $20 million on legal fees in the first six months of this year. now, while it is not unusual for a defendant on trial to pay expert witness fees, the trump organization's use of campaign funds highlights the large amount of money being spent on trump's pac on legal battles. it accounted for two-thirds of his political operation's total spending in the first half of this year. joining us now to help make sense of it, former u.s. assistant attorney for the district of columbia, now an nbc news and msnbc legal analyst, glen kurkjiankurkjian. let's start with the breaking news. do you believe that's the right move for the defense? >> jonathan, i don't think i've said this much in recent years, but that was a smart decision by donald trump. th reason i say that, it's really two-fold. one, donald trump wouldow be in a position to be cross-examined by lawyers, even about some of his own witnesses. letitia james put out a statement saying some of trump's own witnesses supported her, letitia james' case. donald trump could be cross-examined on whether he, one, agreed with those concerns expressed by his own witnesses, which would kind of be an admission against donald trump's interest, or, two, disagreed with some of his own witnesses including expert witnesses which would undercut the credibility and relight of his own witnesses. he would be in a bit of a trick bag. the second part of why i think it's a smart decision, remember, his organization, the trump organization was criminally convicted of a 15-year-long criminal spree as was allen weisselberg. donald trump could be questioned about the relationship between his valuations, his assessments, his statements of financial condition and that 15-year criminal scheme to defraud. and anything he said p under oath while being cross-examined, could be packaged up, provided to district attorney alvin bragg, and could be used to investigate any further criminal exposure trump might have in relation to the criminal scheme to defraud. >> you've been following the trial very closely, and as you said, the judge said it would probability take him a few weeks to come up with a final ruling. based on the evidence and what you're seeing day in and day out on this trial, what do you think the decision will be? >> after judge engoron was able to resolve the reliability question, that is whether his sons engaged in long-term systemic financial fraud, once he could resolve that based on the papers in summary judgment before even a single witness testified, i suggest now that the witnesses have testified, you're going to hear about just how much trump and his sons should be made to disgorge, which is a fancy word for paying back some of their ill-gotten gains, and whether they should be barred from doing business in new york going forward. i think judge engoron has already tipped his hat when it comes to reliability and i suspect he's not going to be all that favorable to them once he issues the final decision in the case. >> glenn kirschner, thank you for joining us this morning. we will talk to you again soon. another development, rudy giuliani will appear in court to determine how much he'll have to pay after he was found liable for defamation earlier this year. the pair of women sued giuliani te the former trump lawyer amplified false conspirac theories that they were atng to change ballots in the 2020 election. "the new york times" reports after fighting the case for months, giuliani reversed himself this summer, and seeking to avoid crippling legal fees, abruptly acknowledged his serial attack against the two georgia women were false. we should be clear. giuliani appears to be on the edge of ruling. they're asking up to $43 million from the former new york city mayor. he's also being sued by dominion voting systems and a previous attorney. he's not allowed to work as a lawyer himself. he's likely to be disbarred and has been indicted in the fulton county election case. still ahead, we'll turn to some of the morning's other top headlines including a subtle hint that another democrat might jump in to the 2024 presidential race. plus former house speaker kevin mccarthy seems to think he can get donald trump to stop focusing on revengerevenge. good luck, kevin. those stories and a look at sports when we come back as we take a look at a predawn capitol. dawn capitol. remember the things you loved... ...before asthma got in the way? fasenra is an add-on treatment for asthma driven by eosinophils. it's designed to target and remove them and helps prevent asthma attacks. fasenra is not for sudden breathing problems or other eosinophilic conditions. allergic reactions may occur. don't stop your asthma treatments without talking with your doctor. tell your doctor if your asthma worsens. headache and sore throat may occur. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. get back to better breathing. ask your doctor about fasenra. - bye, bye cough. - later chest congestion. hello 12 hours of relief. 12 hours!! not coughing? hashtag still not coughing?! mucinex dm gives you 12 hours of relief from chest congestion and any type of cough, day or night. mucinex dm. it's comeback season. 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(smelling) ew. gotta get rid of this. ♪tell me why♪ because it stinks. ♪have you tried downy rinse and refresh♪ it helps remove odors 3x better than detergent alone. it worked guys! ♪yeahhhh♪ downy rinse and refresh. first time i connected with kim, she told me that her husband had passed. and that he took care of all of the internet connected devices in the home. i told her, “i'm here to take care of you.” connecting with kim... made me reconnect with my mom. it's very important to keep loved ones close. we know that creating memories with loved ones brings so much joy to your life. a family trip to the team usa training facility. i don't know how to thank you. i'm here to thank you. welcome back. we turn to politics now and new polling from "the wall street journal" finds that former president donald trump is beating current president joe biden in a hypothetical 2024 election matchup. according to these latest number, trump leads biden by four points, 47% to 43% among registered voters nationwide. now, let's be clear. that is within the poll's margin of error. but when third-party candidates are included, trump's lead grows to six points, which is just outside that margin. it's unclear, though, if all of those candidates will be on the ballot next november, and one of them, democratic senator joe manchin has not even entered the race. and finally, 49% o those surveyed say they have been personally helped by trump's policies while 37% say they have been hurt by them. for biden, however, just 23% say they've been helped by his poli policies, while 53% say they've been hurt. again, it's a national poll 11 months out. there's a limit we can read into it. but again it's a hint the survey will be very, very close. meanwhile senator mitt romney of utah criticized both president biden and former president donald trump while on "meet the press" yesterday. however, he made it clear who he'd like to vote for in 2024. take a listen. >> when he called people together on january 6th, that was not a random date. he called that on purpose. there's no question he has authoritarian rulings and interests and notions he will try to impose. that was dangerous for the country. it was dangerous then. lives were lost. we were embarrassed around the world. i mean this was a tragedy, and a number of things he did in the last months of his presidency suggests what he would do if he were elected again. i would like to vote for joe manchin, but i'm not going to tell you who i'm going to vote for. >> do you think joe manchin is going to run? >> i don't think so. but there are a number of others who would be better than president biden. >> just to prove a point, you're not ruling out voting for president biden. >> i'm rule out. you have a setting where you have someone who's too old and someone else who's a little too nutty, and where are you going to vote on that basis? and, by the way, in my view, bad policy we can overcome as a country. we have in the past. >> yeah. >> bad character is something which is very difficult to overcome. a line of severe storms swept across tennessee over the weekend, bringing deadly tornadoes and causing significant destruction across the region. nbc news correspondent marissa parra has more. >> reporter: shrouded in darkness, tornados twisted their way through tennessee neighborhoods. >> oh, my god! whoa! >> reporter: sparking violent explosions. >> that's a tornado because those are power lines. >> reporter: taking down power lines with it. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: he took video as the night sky lit up. >> i heard a winl tunnel, something like a train, and then a big explosion happened. i couldn't believe i saw that. >> reporter: the twister spinning up as a line of severe storms ripped through the southeast friday night. emergency officials say six people were killed, two of them young children. this twister, a powerful ef storm with winds of 150 miles an hour hit clarksville, tennessee. and at the local post office, workers running for cover as an apparent tornado swept through the parking lot. >> close the door. >> i hope nobody was in those houses. >> reporter: daylight lays bare the destruction from overnight that left 60 people in the hospital, this mayor getting emotional saying the response he saw was nothing other than heroic. >> i've never been so proud to be mayor as of right now. >> reporter: this woman was lifted into the air. >> i was trying to go to the closet when i got the alert. i remember opening the closet door and turning around. the wind just took me and i remember waking up on this side of my house. >> reporter: in madison, another hard-hit town near nashville led to tragedy. a child was killed and a mother as well, throwing the mobile home. he's left without a wife and son, and as he tells us in spanish, big pain in his heart. just down the street, misty saw her neighbor buried under the roof. >> she was screaming, help, help. >> reporter: as first responders check the rubble for anyone trapped, homeowners look through their houses for anything they can carry. >> we'll have to rebuild one step at a time. >> that was nbc's marissa parra reporting. >> still ahead here on "way too early," we'll bring you the highlights from an entertaining sunday of nfl football. plus the wide-winning play that didn't count and has one of the best quarterbacks absolutely livid on the sideline. we'll bring you those highlights and a check of your weather forecast straight ahead. your w forecast straight ahead. reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. i'm under 7. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults also with known heart disease. i'm lowering my risk. adults lost up to 14 pounds. i lost some weight. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't share needles or pens, or reuse needles. don't take ozempic® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop ozempic® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. gallbladder problems may occur. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking ozempic® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. living with type 2 diabetes? 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even a term policy! find out if you're sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com. there's something going around the gordon home. good thing gertrude found delsym. now what's going around is 12-hour cough relief. and the giggles. the family that takes delsym together, feels better together. browning dumps it off underneath. he's the speedster. he's got daylight. inside the 30. one man to beat. oh, he makes a move into the end zone! touchdown! they're going to snap it. flacco throws. open man. could go. david bell, touchdown! 35 seconds, mayfield, to the end zone. it is caught. touchdown! third and goal. and caught for the touchdown! they get good field position here. wallace from the 25. he breaks out of a tackle. takes it down the sideline. he stays inbounds. he stays on his feet. he takes it all the way and ends the game! there are no flags. blitz coming. picked up. has samuel wide open. he's got it, touchdown! wilson has all day here. now he's going to take a deep shot sudden in the end zone, and cortland sutton with a flag down makes the catch. second and goal to go empty. designed play and spinning, driving, turning those legs into the end zone for a touchdown. >> some highlights from the winning teams across the nfl yesterday including a walk-off punt return for the baltimore ravens in overtime and a new york jets win that was stunningly good. everybody's talking about the buffalo bills' win over the kansas city chiefs which had this wild finish. the chiefs were down three when patrick mahomes completed that pass to travis kelce. as buffalo defenders swarmed him, travis kelce laddered the ball across the field in what appeared to be a game-winning touchdown. but hold on. take a look. it turns ought tony was clearly offside when the call was made. then the touchdown was taken off the board. the bills would stop the chiefs on the drive to win the game. after the possession you're seeing here, mahomes was really heat odden the sidelines, yelling at the refs. he and the coach andy reid whined afterward. folks, i know it's disappointed, but he was clearly offside. a penalty. not a great look for the chiefs. let's go to texas for the sunday night matchup between the philadelphia eagles and the dallas cowboys. >> prescott looking, escaping. throwing it down. it's caught. takes it to the end zone for a touchdown. >> an early touchdown from dak prescott and the cowboys never trailed in this highly anticipated show down. prescott threw for a pair of touchdowns and brandon aubrey had a big night for the cowboys including four field goals. they rolled over their rivals. we have a "monday night football" doubleheader, but we do. time now for the weather, and let's go to meteorologist michelle grossman, an eagles fan. i saw you avert your eyes. >> thumbs-down. it was a tough one. thumbs-down for the weather in the northeast. we're already seeing an improvement. we had rain up and down the eastern seaboard. into new england, that's where we're going to see this area of low pressure as we go throughout the day, and we're going to see gusty winds, heavy rain, and also heavy snow. this is what it looks like on radar. you see most of the heavy rain moving off the coast. it's going to be a few more hours. boston, you're seeing reds, yellows, oranges. behind it, you're going to see cold air. there will be a temperature drop, 20 degrees compared to yesterday. we're seeing snow in the interior parts of the northeast into new england. we're going to see heavy snow into portions of maine. still 25 mill uppeople impacted by flood