zelenskyy. the ukrainian president is set to meet with president biden and the entire senate in hopes of securing critical funding to fight off russian forces. plus, special counsel jack smith is taking his prosecution of donald trump all the way to the supreme court. we'll explain why smith is petitioning the highest court in the land. and also ahead we'll bring you the latest from the middle east. israeli troops continue to hunt for the leader of hamas in southern gaza, but top officials there are now signaling an escalation with another terror group. good morning and welcome to "way too early" on this tuesday, december 12th. i'm jonathan lemire, and thanks for starting your day with us. we'll begin in washington where today ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy is state side for the third time since russia launched its full-scale invasion back in february of 2022. zelenskyy will meet with president biden at the white house to discuss his country's needs on the battlefield and the importance of america's continued support. president biden has proposed just over $60 billion in new wartime funding for ukraine as part of a national security package, but republicans are saying that foreign aid must be tied to additional funding and policy changes at the u.s.' southern border. zelenskyy's trip comes on the back end of another diplomatic blitz. on sunday he attended the nugeration of argentina's new president. joining us now senior congressional reporter for punch bowl news. great to see you again. it is an important day for president zelenskyy there in washington. you've had a lot of reporting about what republican leadership thinks about the prospect of the deal. this is being pitched as sort of a last ditch sales effort for zelenskyy, but what we do we think? is this going to work? >> right, that's the big question, john. these are going to be the most important foreign engagements for president zelenskyy since the war began, and i think it's safe to say that the position that congress finds itself in is an extremely precarious one. what president zelenskyy will be walking into this morning when he meet with senators is probably one of the more impossible political dynamics that i've seen in my time covering capitol hill where you have an overwhelming bipartisan desire to send more money to ukraine, more military assistance to ukraine, but an insistence still from republicans that any money for ukraine must be tied to significant policy changes at the u.s.-mexico border. now, it should be pointed out, of course, many democrats agree with that, that many democrats agree that there should be policy changes in place to address the unprecedented volume of migrants we're seeing right now at the u.s.-mexico border. but there is really no movement on this. over the weekend alone senator james langford, the top republican negotiator, said that the white house didn't even reach out to him at all. this week is the last week the senate is scheduled to be in session until the holiday recess. so if there's no break through within the next 24 hours or so here, there's no reason for the senate to remain in town, and the house is already intent on leaving. the house obviously being the much bigger obstacle to passing more ukraine funding here. and, you know, right after he -- president zelenskyy meet with senators today, he's going to also have a one-on-one meeting with house speaker mike johnson, which is going to be an equally important meeting for him, but again he's walking into a really impossible political dynamic on the hill today. >> and then he'll head to the white house where he'll meet with president biden and we certainly can expect both men to pak an impassioned pitch for this aid. it seems like the clock is ticking. and those i've talked suggest this deal is really unlikely. if that's indeed the case, if they can't get something done this week, what does then happen? because it's the holiday recess, and when they come back to township in january, they have to deal with government funding. all the while that money to ukraine is about to dry up, and there's real concerns about how russia could take advantage. right. and if they don't get it figured out this week, to put it bluntly they're just going to go home for christmas. there really is no plan "b" here, and i think that's why zelenskyy feels the need to come to the capitol and say, hey, this is life and death for my skuntry. the problem is what he's walking into is just a really brutal, brutal political dynamic because you still have republicans insisting on these changes to policies that the u.s.-mexico border, and that of course stems from the political reality that republicans face right now, that they cannot go home to their voters and justify voting for money for ukraine while being unable to point to, you know, a vote to address the situation at the border. and that speaks to, of course, the declining support among the republican base for ukraine. and, you know, that's not really something that president zelenskyy have an effect on, real impact on at this point so him going directly to capitol hill, directly to the source here of the problem is the best he can do at this point, but really he's not going to have the power to change any minds on this because republicans made clear to us yesterday there's really no way -- there's nothing he can say that will change their minds about the need to address the crisis at the southern border. >> administration officials say they can stretch the money a bit at the southerner border but it will run out. give us the update on the latest four-star promotions still held up. >> you'll recall last week senator tuberville lifted his hold on the three-star generals and below. that basically close to 450 military promotions that were confirmed immediately. he is still holding around a dozen four-star promotion general candidates. if those not are confirm by the end of this calender year, they'll have to go through committee again, and there's kaern many of them could just choose to retire rather than going through that arduous committee process again. chuck schumer has said he wants to get this done before the end of the year. and after they pass the annual defense bill as soon as tomorrow here they could move immediately to that, but it'll probably take a couple of days. >> it'll certainly be a busy couple of days in the building behind you there. senior congressional reporter for punch bowl news, thank you for starting us off this morning. we really appreciate it. turning now to some of the morning's other top headlines, special counsel jack smith has asked the supreme court to immediately step in to decide whether former president trump has immunity from prosecution for his actions in trying to overturn the 2020 election results. in a filing with the high court yesterday smith stated that it was of imperative public importance that the court decide the question so that trump's trial can move forward as quickly as possible. for now, anyway, that trial is set to begin this coming march. under the time line proposed by smith, the court could hear arguments and issue a ruling in a matter of weeks if it does decide to step in. in a brief order issued just hours after smith's filing, the court asked trump's legal team to respond by december 20th. the court also said it would consider on an expedited basis whether or not to hear the case at all. earlier this month u.s. district judge tanya chutkan who was presiding over the election interference case denied trump's motion to dismiss his indictment on presidential immunity and constitutional grounds prompting trump to appeal and ask for the case to be put on hold. smith is seeking to bypass the appeals process by asking the supreme court to take up the case and decide the issue on an expedited basis to prevent a delay. we know the trump team has been trying to delay all his legal troubles. the trump campaign put out a statement about this accusing smith of trying to interfere in the 2020 election. okay. trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. meanwhile, nbc news has learned that the gop controlled house is expected to vote tomorrow to formalize its impeachment inquiry into president joe biden. but first the resolution to authorize the probe is set to go before the house republican rules committee today evenny those in the party have failed to come up with any direct evidence of wrongdoing by president biden. hunter biden's lawyers yesterday argued federal gun charges against the president's son should be dismissed. they say prosecutors violated promises they made as a part of a past deal that would have had hunter avoid felony charges. in a court filing biden's legal team says the agreement is still in effect. "the washington post" reports as part of the deal he said he would enter a diversion agreement, something often used among defendants with substance abuse issues. hunter abiden agreed to certain conditions including not purchasing a firearm and not using drugs to avoid the gun charge. biden's lawyers say that part of the deal should remain in place even if the rest of the agreement does not. last week hunter biden was indicted in california on tax charges, three of them are felony counts. these new charges coupled with the ongoing gun case in delaware, could mean that hunter would need to go to trial twice as his father runs for re-election next year. still ahead here on "way too early," the ron desantis campaign is finally attacking donald trump. the criticism comes in response to some of the former president's outrageous comments over the past weekend. plus george santos still has some serious legal issues to deal with even though he's not in congress anymore. we'll have an update on the charges that got him expelled from the lower chamber. those stories and a check on weather and sports when we come right back. when we come right back (carolers) ♪ iphone 15 pro, your husband deserves it! ♪ (mom) carolers? to tell me you want a new iphone? a better plan is verizon. 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claimed that back in 2016 a military general praised him for his bravery for his decision to debate hillary clinton shortly after the infamous "access hollywood" tape was released. take a look. >> we were doing really well, but this one particular event came up, and i said if we get out, it's historic. i went onto that stage just a few days later and a general who's a fantastic general actually said to me, sir, i've been on the battlefield, men have gone down on my left and my right, i stood on hills where soldiers were killed, but i believe the bravest thing i've ever seen was the night you went onto that stage with hillary clinton after what happened. sure. in response to those comments desantis who is a military veteran, accused trump yesterday of denigrating military service. he added this. debating isn't brave, it's the bare minimum any candidate should do. hiding from debates, on the other hand, is an example of cowardice. still ahead on "way too early," we'll bring you the hoy 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election workering in the 2020 election as a favor to her daughter. her daughter's name is shaye moss had worked for the fulton county elections department for years. she loved heifer job, great at her job. she loved helping people cast their ballots. in 2020 because of the pandemic fulton county wiz short on election workers so she asked her mom, her 62-year-old retired mom if she could come help out as a temp worker for the election, and the two of them worked that election they worked together through election day and the election night and the following days and they showed up and they did their work. but a few weeks after the election trump lawyer rudy giuliani concocted a story. he started claiming that ruby he said video from the state farm arena which he said was running on a loop showed them acting as drug dealers. those were the words he used. she said the tape somehow showed them stealing votes. after that ruby freeman and her daughter and even her teenage grandson were inundated with vulgar and racist harassment and death threats. one of the people who showed up at her house was part of team of trump allies who prosecutors say tried illegally to coerce ruby freeman into falsely confessed she had committed election fraud. ruby freeman had to leave her home for weeks for her safety. her mom was right there sitting behind her as she testified about all the threats and harassment had done to her, how they made her regret even becoming an election workering in the first place, that job she loved. none of what was said about the two women which resulted in their lives being turned upside down, none of it was true. ruby freeman and shaye moss sued rudy giuliani for defamation. and giuliani admitted in the course of that case what he said was false, and therefore a federal judge found rudy giuliani liable, literally liable as in he has to pay for his lies about these two innocent women and today in federal court a damages trial got under way in which jurors will decide how much money rudy giuliani has to pay ruby freeman and sheae moss for what he did to them. that comp scission could reach as high as $43 million. additional punitive damages could amount to -- the sky's the limit. one way to look at what happened today as the latest chapter of rudy giuliani's descent, the judge in the defamation case has already rebuked rudy giuliani for failing to show up in court last week. today he showed up to court 20 minutes late and then forgot to rebuckle his belt after he'd taken it off to go through the metal detector, and his unbuckled belt hung there at his waste for a few minutes before the trial got started. hey, howdy, counselor. check your barn door. the other way to look at this trial today is ignore rudy giuliani and look at ruby freeman and shaye moss. americans who were doing the right thing, doing their civic duty and were attacked for absolutely no reason and attacked in a merciless and very high impact way. and they have not only been victims in that way, they have displayed bravery and an important kind of civic virtue in the way they have not let this go. because they didn't just suffer these attacks. they testified about what happened to them. they showed their faces, explained who did it and what effect it had. they did not let this get forgotten. and this trial is part of what justice for them is finally going to look like. ruby freeman and shaye moss also make an appearance in the case what is the biggest threat to former president trump where he may be held accountable for what he did. where he may be held accountable for what he did in the effort to overturn the election. trump's attacks on ruby freeman and shaye moss are cited by jack smith in his federal indictment of trump for trying to overthrow the u.s. government. and in that case, a major super interesting legal gambit by prosecutors today, one that was a little bit of a surprise, happened this afternoon. we have that story next. stay with us. ok. hey, you should