right now on "ana cabrera reports," the largest ever recorded lead so close to the iowa caucuses. new polling this morning showing donald trump well out front five weeks from those caucuses, just as he doubles down on his vow to be a dictator on day one. plus, an 11th-hour reversal. the former president not taking the witness stand today in the massive new york civil fraud trial. what to expect as the case nears the end. later, at least six people killed after tornadoes ripped tlup tennessee. where this extreme weather is heading next. s heading next thank you so much for joining us. it's 10:00 eastern. i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. we begin with new polling out this morning showing donald trump expanding his lead in iowa five weeks out from the caucus, and more than 50% of iowa republicans now say trump is their first choice. this as the gop front-runner doubles down on his controversial comments about being a dictator on day one. >> i said i want to be a dictator for one, but "the new york times" said -- you know why i wanted to be a dictator, because i wall, right? i want a wall and i want to drill, drill, drill. >> let's bring in nbc's steve kornacki and vaughn hillyard with us. steve, break down this new polling for us. >> as you mentioned, ana, about a month to go. this is a poll we do in conjunction with "the des moines register." they're known for having the most accurate iowa polling. they do find donald trump with an outright majority among iowa caucus-goers here. 51%. you can see desantis, haley in double digits. way behind and just as discouraging if you're desantis, haley or any of the other candidates is the trend here. not only is trump up this big, but, as you mentioned, he has gained eight points since we last polled iowa in october. think about this from desantis' standpoint. he in particular has been trying to make a stand in iowa. since this last poll, he picked up the endorsement of iowa's governor. he picked up the endorsement of key evangelical leader in iowa. he had a nationally televised debate with the democratic governor of california that drew millions of viewers on fox, presumably many of them republicans who would have liked that performance. he participated in another debate that donald trump again boycotted. it looked like desantis might have some momentum. that was the feeling heading into this poll, but you don't see it at all. the momentum you see is with donald trump in this poll. you can break this down a little further. i mentioned evangelicals, a group obviously desantis is taking aim at, a group decisive in iowa caucuses. last time around two-thirds of iowa caucus-goers were evangelicals. you see the evangelical vote. he's getting 51%. in 2016 when trump ran in iowa, he came up third. now he's doubling up desantis when it domestic evangelicals. first-time caucus-goers, much younger than the overall republican electorate. look at the advantage trump has among them. 63 to 12 over desantis. finally, i think this question here about electability. when this campaign started that's what a lot of trump opponents were banking on. all the indictments, all the trials, all the legal drama and say it's just not worth it, he can't win. we asked republicans in iowa -- a lot of words on the screen here, but essentially do you believe trump can win despite all his legal challenges? 73% say they believe that. do you think the legal challenges are too much for him to win against widen? only 24%. that's a resounding majority in trump's favor on electability. we asked the same question in october, this is a gain of about eight points from where he was in october. as the campaign goes on, more republicans in iowa buying into the idea that trump can beat joe biden. >> steve, we're still more than a month out. a lot can still change. >> certainly. that's what desantis and haley are hoping for. we have seen surges in iowa in the past. we asked supporters of the candidates, are you extremely enthusiastic, highest level of enthusiasm about your support for the canned da? look at the gap. nearly half of trump's supporters aren't just enthusiastic, they're extremely enthusiastic. that's 3-1 better than desantis, more than 2-1 better than haley. you get to this question here, is your mind made up or is there room for it to change? look at this. seven out of trump supporters say mind is made up. desantis only 30, haley 34%. there are some voters still up for grabs here. we have seen late surges, but we haven't seen a lead this dominant this close to the caucuses on the republican side since george w. bush in 2000 and he did win the caucuses that year. >> let's turn to vaughn and these trump dictator comments. what was the context of him doubling down? how was it perceived when he said, yeah, i want to be a dictator on that first day? >> he hasn't run away from the comments. that was saturday night at a young republicans gala. he stood on the stage and with the teleprompter in front of him, repeated his comments. you heard him follow that up with a justification of why. why, because of policy. for his example, building a wall and for being able to drill oil. of course, this is the part of the american system here. there's a checks and balances. what donald trump is arguing to the masses is, if he were to get back into the white house, he would want to exert greater executive power and greater executive authority in order to accomplish the types of policies he wants to see put out. right now, there is nothing -- when you see the polling, there's nothing holding him back hire. he sees support, not only among republican voters, but also republican members of congress. nikki haley only has one congressional endorsement, just one. you also heard donald trump on the stage when he talked about joe biden and if he were to get back in the white house. i want to read you that quote. he said, quote, they've opened up a man dora's box. i can only say to joe, be very careful what you wish for because what you've done is a terrible thing. right now the republican electorate is backing donald trump, and there have been no consequences to any of his statements, including his "i want to be dictator for a day." joining us to talk about all this is professor of history at new york university and author of strong men, mussolini to the present. trump isn't trying to clean up his comments. he's doubling down, getting reinforced. as someone who studies strong men. is this kind of rhetoric familiar to you? >> he is. he's making being a dictator his brand. violence is his brand, after he incited a violent coup attempt that many seem to be forgetting about. he's been educating the american people to want an authoritarian leadership for a very long time saying force is the way you decide things, demonizing those who don't think like him or support him. admiring putin and xi and orban. it's always autocrats. this is his brand now. he's going to double down. >> going back to the way he explained his comments, dictator on day one. he says it's because he wants a wall. he want to drill, drill, drill. what do you make of those issues specifically? >> it's pretty sad that his policy is at the time of the climate crisis, that his policy is plundering the earth. that's what he's advertising he wants to dorks plunder the earth and demonize immigrants. we know -- i know from my studies of authoritarianism, successful leaders always have to have powerful partners, and those would be the people in the fossil fuel industry which he privileged in his first administration, and all those that are eager to have an enemy. that's always immigrants. in fact, keeping immigrants out and talking about you need national security measures and repression because immigrants are flooding across the border has been used by everyone from mussolini to pinot shea in chile up to trump. >> trump keeps gaining support. a lot of republicans aren't worried about this. they clearly don't see him as a threat to democracy. as "the new york times" writes, former president donald trump j. trump and his allies are not doing much to reassure those worried about his autocratic instincts. if anything, they seem to be leaning into the predictions. does that frighten you? >> it's very alarming because the gop is now, in my opinion based on my years of study, it's an autocratic party. this is hard for many in america to accept. it's a party now dependent on violence, on the threat of violence, on corruption because election denial is a form of corruption and lying, the big lie. it's a party that revolves around the priorities of his leader who is leading as a cult leader. steve kornacki's statistics that showed the base, 7 of 10 have their minds made up. that's because trump has appealed to them as a kind of demagogue who will solve all their problems. i alone can fix it. history shows this is a very dangerous kind of leadership and leads to the ruin of countries. >> this is a guy, though, who already lost the white house. his party also lost the senate and the house when he was president. he's currently facing all these criminal charges. why do you think trump still has the kind of pull he has with the republican party? >> in part because he's a superb propagandaist. he knows how to tell stories. one of the biggest stories which again dates back to mussolini and hitler, is he's the victim. once they present themselves as the victim -- in this case it's the deep state. in other cases it's other persecutors. everything that happens to them, every legal charge becomes proof of the witch hunt. if we look at the people who used the words witch hunt to describe their persecutions, mussolini, erdogan in turkey, sylvia bar scone any in italy. he had dozens of indictments and remained enormously popular. we're not the only nation to go through this, but because of the power their ka has in the world, it would be catastrophic if trump comes back to the white house. >> ruth, thank you for sharing your expertise with us. really appreciate this discussion. when we're back in 60 seconds, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu claims, quote, it's the beginning of the end for hmgs. what does that look like? plus, donald trump's 11th hour decision not to testify in his civil fraud trial. what it means for the case against him. also, tens of millions under flood alerts after a deadly string of twisters in tennessee. we're tracking a dangerous weather system. bronny james, son of basketball legend lebron james is back where he belongs after going into cardiac arrest. belor going into cardiac arrest. (mom) please forgive him. (carolers) ♪ it's all good - just a little awkward. ♪ (soloist) think we'll wrap this up. (vo) it's your last chance to turn any iphone in any condition into a new iphone 15 pro with titanium and ipad and apple watch se - all on us. that's up to $1700 in value. only on verizon. ing . breaking news on the israel-hamas war. israel's prime minister says hamas is losing its grip on gaza. benjamin netanyahu calling on hamas fighters to surrender, claiming israeli forces have secured the heart of gaza city calling it the beginning of the end. inside gaza more than half of all families are now believed to be starving. the u.n. relief and works agency describing the conditions there as hell on earth. let's bring in nbc news correspondent hala gorani in israel. where does the find for control of gaza stand now, with netanyahu claiming they're nearing the beginning of the end? >> reporter: it's difficult to assess. we know hamas is still able to launch rockets. we know hamas is still holding 137 hostages. they're saying they won't release a single additional hostage unless there's a negotiation for the release of some of their prisoners. we do know the northern part of gaza has been really damaged beyond recognition. most buildings are gone. there's no medical infrastructure. but hamas is still a fighting force. we know this because the israeli military is reporting on a daily basis the loss of some of its soldiers. and we know that there is still some fighting going on. so as a military force inside of gaza, obviously eventually the stronger of the two sides which is the israeli military, a regular army, is likely to prevail. the question is longer term what are we looking at? the destruction of hamas in its current form, perhaps. down the line there might be another group emerging with similar aims. now, as far as the situation on the ground, we as independent journalists are not allowed in. the israeli military and government won't allow independent journalists in. neither, in fact, will egyptian authorities from the souchlth we rely on very courageous reporters on the ground including an nbc crew there that was able to film one mother -- to give you the sense of the humanitarian despair some people who are feeling. one mother whose disabled son is not able to access basic medical care. take a look. >> translator: my son's condition, diarrhea and stomach poisoning, flu-like symptoms because of the cold as you can see. we don't have shelter nor life. we came from gaza. we're looking for medication we can't find. my son needs medication, injections. we can't find treatment. >> reporter: so you're seeing that very basic medical conditions beyond this mother and her son. diarrhea, skin conditions, chest infections, that type of thing. people are not able to get some of the most basic care, ana. >> some sad news about the hostages. we're learning 20 hostages have died in hamas captivity. that's according to israel. what more do we know about them and this new warning from hamas to israel not to try to rescue hostages. >> reporter: the names and the number of whose stajsz that the israel government say have died in captivity, we have their names. this is not al month the 137. it's important to note that. this is 137 hostages still detained, and 20 others have been confirmed killed including, added to that list, the young 25-year-old solder who we believe was killed in an attempted rescue attempt a couple days ago. we have the names of people suspected killed, the young woman taken hostage from the nova music festival. just a host of others. i'm looking at the list. when you see the list and see the names, it really gives you a sense of how many families are grieving for their loved ones today. >> our hearts are with them. hala gorani, thank you very much for your reporting. back here in the u.s., new fallout from that congressional hearing on anti-semitism in the u.s. university of pennsylvania president elizabeth magill resigned over the weekend after an outcry following her testimony. and now growing pressure on the other college presidents who testified to step down as well. nbc's stephanie gosk is standing by with more. >> reporter: the criticism is getting sharper even as the school leaders tried to clarify the comments they made regarding free speech on campus and how far it should be allowed to go. over the weekend the president of the university of pennsylvania stepping down, calls for the presidents of m.i.t. and harvard to follow suit getting louder. pressure is munting on the presidents of m.i.t. and harvard less than a week after they testified before congress about rising anti-semitism on college campuses nationwide. >> does calling for the genocide of jews violate the policies of harassment and bullying? >> it depends on the context. >> it doesn't depend on context. this is why you should resign. >> reporter: the president of the university of pennsylvania liz magill resigned on saturday. republican elise stefanik who questioned the three university leaders questioned, one down, two to go. >> the answers wreaked of anti-semitism. >> calls for genocide against the jewish community or any religious or ethnic group are vial. they have no place at harvard. more than 500 faculty members have asked the governing body not to remove president gay. it comes as communities across the country cope with rising tensions as the war in the middle east continues. now an arrest in a case that gained nationwide attention back in october when samantha woll, a well-known rabbi in detroit was found stabbed to death outside her home. this morning police confirming a person of interest is in custody. police say there's no evidence of a hate crime. in california, a couple speaking out after an attack this weekend police with calling a hate crime. >> i decided we can just let it go. >> reporter: both in their 70s, the couple say they were walking to synagogue when a man ran up behind them. >> all of a sudden i saw a guy hitting my husband with the belt and screaming, um -- sorry -- give me you're rings, jew. >> reporter: they chased the man off and he was later arrested by police. the interim chair will serve until a replacement is chosen. meanwhile m.i.t.'s governing board released a statement last week standing behind its president sally kornbluth amid the backlashover her testimony. so far harvard's board has not done so for its president. back to you. up next on "ana cabrera reports," an aboutface as donald trump decides not too take the stand in his civil fraud trial. how it could impact the case. plus, devastation in tennessee after a string of tornadoes ripped through that state. >> the next thing we know, it just sounded like an explosion. stuff flying everywhere. stuff flying everywhere. it was crazy.mercials. after a short amount of time taking prevagen, i started noticing a difference-- that i'm remembering this, i'm remembering that. i stopped taking prevagen and i found myself slacking back so i jumped right back on it. prevagen. at stores everywhere without a prescription. ♪ [man struggles] i need some sleep. ♪ [man relieved] if you struggle with cpap, you should check out inspire. inspire. sleep apnea innovation. learn more and view important safety information at inspiresleep.com ♪♪ lowering bad cholesterol can be hard, even with a statin. diets and exercise add to the struggle. the effort can feel overwhelming. but today, it's possible to go from struggle to cholesterol success with leqvio. taken with a statin, leqvio is proven to lower bad cholesterol by 50%. so, if you feel like you're getting nowhere go with 2 doses a year of leqvio and keep bad cholesterol low. common side effects were injection site reaction, joint pain, and chest cold. when you're ready to go from struggle to cholesterol success talk to your doctor about twice-yearly leqvio to help you lower your cholesterol. lower. longer. leqvio® my frequent heartburn had me taking antacid after antacid all day long but with prilosec otc just one pill a day blocks heartburn for a full 24 hours. for one and done heartburn relief, prilosec otc. one pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. you're probably not easily persuaded to switch for one and done heartburn relief, prilosec otc. 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? 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>> reporter: you can imagine a lot of this is people trying to not only pick up the pieces, salvage what they can, but protect their very exposed homes. you can see one of those homes behind me, people trying to board up the window or put some sort of protection over the windows. as you can see, these homes took a heavy hit. this is nesbitt lane in madison, tennessee. this is just one of the communities in tennessee hit very hard. remember, this is multiple tornadoes. there was another in clarksville, tennessee. i want to show you details, ana. it's in the details you see the devastation. right here in this push, this is part of a roof that was just flung here. you see it almost looks like this is ribbon. this is actually metal it came from someone ice roof. there's pieces of clothing in the trees. you can see right in that person's living room, their bedroom. anna, it was just down the street near the mobile home community we had three of the six fatalities including a 2-year-old, the mother was still holding the 2-year-old when they were both found. we were just hearing from someone who knew the adult man inside one of those mobile homes. i want to take you to the emotional moment when he found out about the victims. >> he was 31 years old, got a 10-year-old boy. that's another reason i didn't sleep last night, too. i'm thankful that we're all alive, but he lost his life last night. that's what hurts more than anything. it's not -- all this material stuff can be replaced, but my friend can't. >> reporter: i want to show you a couple more things, ana. you can see these power lines. obviously they have been turned off. they are scattered across not just lawns, but the streets. we have crews here working to restore them. there's still roughly 15,000 people without power. i want to point out two things. this tornado hit when it was dark outside. it also his in december. that's something unfortunately familiar for people in tennessee. it is very cold here. so it's a difficult time to not have power, to not have shelter. we know the red cross is, of course, helping out. of course, hitting just before the holidays. just a tragedy all around, ana. >> it really is. those images are powerful. thank you, marissa parra, for your reporting. michelle, what can we expect throughout the day? >> hi there, ana. this was a very strong cold front. the good news, we're seeing it exit off the coast. we're seeing improving conditions. we're seeing improving conditions in terms of the weather. it's still cold for cleanup and they do have power outages. look at radar. we're clearing out through the northeast and mid-atlantic, portions of the southeast. now the main event is in portions of northern new england. where you see the rain here, the brighter colors, the reds, oranges, yellows, that's where we're seeing the heaviest rain falling. we can pick up rain in northern new england, in maine, because we're looking at heavy downpours. that's going to lead to flash flooding in addition to snowmelt. on the back side of the system is where the cold air is filtering in. we're looking at lake effect snow showers and snow in portions of upstate new york and new england. that will be the big story throughout the day. for the most part, we're mitch quieter in terms of radar. this is a six-hour loop. you can see on the last frame, this is the most recent time. looking at the heaviest rain falling throughout maine and portions of northern new england. we still have millions under winter alerts, flood alerts, winter winter weather advise ris. the flood watches will continue through the afternoon and evening. in terms of any storm totals going forward, we're not talking about a who lot of rain. notice the rain corresponds from a quarter inch, maybe a half inch in some spots. we're going to add in some wind, too. winds will be howling, 60 miles per hour, maybe 70 miles per hour in some spots. that can lead to downed trees and power lines, power outages. even in the northeast, new york city, about 20 degrees cooler than we were this time yesterday. we could see snow adding up here. it's heavy, wet, difficult to shovel. keep that in mind as you head out today. in terms of the wind, looking at winds gusting up to 3 miles per hour. looking at long island, portions of the coastal parts of new england where we'll see the winds gusting. 61 miles per hour in nantucket, boston 43 miles per hour. this is goinlly going to exit and we're looking at much better conditions but still impacts as we go throughout the afternoon and evening hours. >> sounds miserable to be outside. nker down, everyone, stay safe. back here in soggy new york, donald trump was supposed to be back on the stand in his multimillion dollar new york fraud trial. in an 11th-hour reversal, he announced he wouldn't testify a second time writing he had, quote, notngore to say and, again, calling the case total election interference. trump was suppose to be the final defense witness. instead, the court is dark today and is expected to resume tomorrow. new york attorney general letitia james brushed off trump's decision not to testify again saying, no matter how much he tries to distract from reality, the facts don't lie. let's bring in our legal analyst, criminal defense feern danny cevallos and former manhattan district attorney katherine christian. we saw his son eric was supposed to take the stand and backed out as well. what do you make of it? >> when you're on trial, particularly the defense, you line up all your witnesses, travel them out there, put them in the hotel. but as the case goes on, it's a bit of improv. you may decide, do we get this evidence in? do we really ned this? >> the major balancing test and risk with a witness like trump is, is the risk of putting him on the stand outweighed bithe benefit? they may have, his defense team, arrived at this point and said we had really good testimony from the deutsche bank executives. maybe we like what we heard from our nyu tax expert, we don't need to put our client on the stand. i bet they let out a sigh of relief. i always thought putting trump on the stand at the end was not a great idea. i suspect it was trump himself who probably wanted to do that. with the fact-finder being the judge in this case, you've had some witnesses so far that have been not antagonistic. why end your case with the most antagonistic witness, one who has already irritated the judge in ts case. >> they got atrong witness out of the accounting professor at new york university. he said he personally found no evidence whatsoever for any accounting fraud. but katherine barring the an nunsed he has been paid $875,000 to date by the trump organization and trump's save america pac for his work on the case. he said whether that affects his testimony, but almost a million dollars. >> well, experts get paid and some have very high fees. this particular expert has a high fee. trump would have only hurt hifl sem if he testified. why would he even have to talk about the judge's law clerk during his testimony? an expert making a lot of money, they make a lot of money. >> there is still about a month left before they wrap everything up. sounds like there might be a little bit of a pause after tomorrow, the defense rests its case and then on january 11th, the closing arguments will come forward. in the meantime, there's still this unresolved gag order issue. you referenced it. trump's team still appealing it. how does that impact the case as the case wraps up. >> there are gag orders everywhere, not just in new york. there are gag orders and i expect there will be more in the remaining cases involving trump, both criminal and civil. in this case, this particular case, yeah, the gag order is significant but at the same time so, too, is when trump it was on the stand. arguably the gag order doesn't always apply when he's testifying in court. when he's in court, he's subject to the rules of contempt. again, another reason it was a good idea to not call donald trump, because he would get on the stand and likely try to exceed, not just the boundaries of the gag order, but court decorum. that's the kind of thing that would have gotten him in a lot of trouble. just a thing on the experts, it's really interesting. not only was the defense's expert paid around $900,000. the government's expert was paid around $350,000. i would bet catherine, your experts, if it's a ballistics guy, he gets paid his salary because he's in house. it is interesting how much is being spent on experts on both sides. as catherine said, experts are really expensive and they're worth it. if you have a weak case, you turn it into the battle of the experts and you might pull victory from the jaws of defeat. involving rudy giuliani, jury selection is under way in his defamation trial. this was solving the defamation against -- which has already been found to be against between ruby freeman and shaye moss, what's happening is the decision on damages at this point. freeman and moss seeking up to $4 million. that sounds like a lot. is that a lot in your opinion? >> their lives were threatened because of what rudy giuliani has said. he has conceded what he said was defamatory and false. this was a mother-daughter election workers in georgia. he made horrible statements about them, said they should be prosecuted. so they started, particularly the mother, started getting hate emails, threatening calls, had three of the defendants in a fulton county, georgia case, they're charged specifically with harassment intimidation of them. so what he did, is it worth that much money? we'll find out. the jury will decide that. what he did with his statements caused them a lot of harm. >> our understanding is that july giuliani has been struggling under all the legal bills. >> when lawyers like us get calls about deaf nation p! cases, 90% of the time it's a pass. here is why. defamation is usually expensive because you have to prove how this person's false statements hurt you economically. while the plaintiffs may be asking for multimillions of dollars, they have to demonstrate what the harm was. while you can imagine it being the amount they're demanding, you can expect the defense is going to fight that issue. the second, more important reason is that most defamation defendants are judgment proof. they're angry people sitting in their mom's basement on the internet. to some degree, rudy giuliani is kind of in that judgment-proof category. i would expect after all this, all the reports about him having to raise money, maybe he doesn't have money. i don't know. but the bottom line is this may be only a symbolic verdict at the end. that's why defamation cases, most of them, hard pass. >> thank you, guys, so much for being our experts on all things today. trump, giuliani and much more to come. up next on "ana cabrera reports," an urgent mission, ukrainian president zelenskyy heads back to washington making his case for more aid. will his visit be enough to convince lawmakers? 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( ♪ ♪ ) start your day with nature made. the #1 pharmacist recommended vitamin and supplement brand. we're back with more breaking news, this time out of capitol hill. you can see a group of protesters and some security officials there forcibly removing some of these protesters moments ago at the hart senate office building. they were calling for a cease-fire between israel and hamas as the tensions over this war are reaching a boiling point here at home. we'll bring you more details as we get them. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy will be back in washington tomorrow. he's set to meet with president biden at the white house and will speak with groups in the senate as well tomorrow in a renewed push for more aid in ukraine's fight against russia. let's bring in nbc's aaron gilchrist. aaron, what can we expect from zelenskyy's visit and what is the general consensus now in washington forgetting more aid to ukraine approved? >> reporter: it's going to be a busy couple of days for president zelenskyy. we understand he might already be in washington. the pentagon letting our team know that zelenskyy will be speaking this afternoon alongside defense secretary lloyd austin. tomorrow will be his day to speak to lawmakers and to president biden. we've gotten confirmation that zelenskyy has been invited to speak at an all senators meeting tomorrow on capitol hill. that will likely happen before he goes to the white house at the invitation of president biden. really the white house has indicated that meeting is an effort by the white house to demonstrate what they call an unshakeable commitment to supporting ukraine in its fight against russia and an opportunity for the president to stand side-by-side with the ukrainian president to indicate the u.s. does support them. there will likely be a news conference that follows that bilateral meeting tomorrow. we also understand republican speaker mike johnson has invited zelenskyy to meet with him tomorrow. it will be his opportunity to make the case for why the u.s. government should continue to support ukraine. of course, the president trying to push through this $60 billion request for ukraine aid in combination with a larger national security package that includes israel and border security, which republicans say needs to be a more robust part of this request in order for them to really get on board which has to happen, ana, within the week, before the christmas holiday rolls around. >> aaron gilchrist, keep us posted. more breaking news from russia this morning. aides for jailed opposition leader alexey navalny say he has gone missing. his lawyers say he was going to be moved from one prison colony to another. now they've been told he's not at either prison and they don't know where he is. navalny is argue bli putin's fiercest domestic critic. his disappearance comes after putin announced on friday he'll run for another six-year term. next on "ana cabrera reports," after a texas woman was granted an abortion for her high-risk pregnancy by a lower court, the state's supreme court is now halting it. why, and the implications for other women. plus, the state seeing high levels of respiratory illnesses. are you in one of them? ses. are you in one of them sometimes, the lows of bipolar depression feel darkest before dawn. with caplyta, there's a chance to let in the lyte. caplyta is proven to deliver significant relief across bipolar depression. unlike some medicines that only treat bipolar i, caplyta treats both bipolar i and ii depression. and in clinical trials, movement disorders and weight gain were not common. call your doctor about sudden mood changes, behaviors, or suicidal thoughts. antidepressants may increase these risks in young adults. elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. report fever, confusion, stiff or uncontrollable muscle movements which may be life threatening or permanent. these aren't all the serious side effects. caplyta can help you let in the lyte. ask your doctor about caplyta. find savings and support at caplyta.com. 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(vo) it's your last chance to turn any iphone in any condition into a new iphone 15 pro with titanium and ipad and apple watch se - all on us. that's up to $1700 in value. only on verizon. the winter play was really coming together. until... disaster struck. luckily, replacement costumes were shipped with fedex. which means mr. harvey... could picture the perfect night. we're delivering more happy for the holidays. we're going through the loss of a child. there's no outcome here that i take home my healthy baby girl. so it's hard, you know. just grief. i think forcing me to continue the pregnancy, the pain and suffering, put me through the risks of continuing the pregnancy, the risks of childbirthagain, especially given how my last two went, i think it's cruel. >> that is texas resident kate cox talking to us last week just hours after a state court ruled she could have an emergency abortion in an exception to the state's near total abortion ban. but now the state supreme court has put a hold on that decision after the texas attorney general, ken paxton, threatened to prosecute anyone who helped her get an abortion. nbc's senior legal correspondent laura jarrett is joining us now. laura, kate cox has been told her baby is not likely to survive and that her future fertility is at risk here, and she's stuck in limbo. what's next? >> she's waiting to hear from the texas supreme court because even though they put a hold on this case essentially to press pause, by doing nothing in this case, you are actually doing something, right? by just saying let's read in so we're just going to put in a stay. every day that passes, her health situation grows even more dire. she has been to the emergency room four times in the last month alone because she's having symptoms. she's having cramping. she's leaking fluid. she doesn't know why, so she's in sort of an emergency situation by all sort of objective measures. her doctor is the one who told her you need this right now for your own health, and especially if you want to get pregnant again. >> doesn't this texas law have exceptions for medical situation? >> yes, and i think a lot of people when they hear about these abortion bans it's also followed by a medical exemption. i think what this case underscores is how hard it is to qualify for those exemptions. kate herself was shocked to learn what the rules are. let's listen to a little bit more from her in her own words. >> i love texas and i was, you know, shocked when i found out i would not be able to get the medical care that i need here in my home state. >> the idea of being there, of course, ana, if going to the er and being in that sort of, you know, emergency situation isn't a medical exemption, then it makes you really wonder how bad does it have to get? texas is saying, yeah, there's a medical exemption. she just doesn't qualify for it. >> she doesn't qualify. i guess the other option for her would be to go to another state to have this procedure, right? >> yeah, but remember, the whole south is sort of an abortion desert at this moment, and she's at 20 weeks. she's not at 8 weeks. a lot of these states have bans that kick in as soon as there's a heartbeat, which is back down at six weeks, so even the idea of traveling to another state, it's not that simple for her, not that simple for anyone really. >> it's so complicated. and again, this is an eye opening situation. the consequences of the dobbs decision. thank you so much, laura jarrett. this morning, the cdc is reporting the surge in respiratory illnesses across 15 states with high or very high numbers of people heading to the doctor with symptoms of the flu, covid, rsv, and even just the common cold. covid hospitalizations have also hit highs that we haven't seen since february. it's still notably lower than they were this time last year. doctors say if you haven't gotten your flu or your covid shots, you still should. there's still time especially for the youngest and oldest americans who are more likely to experience severe illness. next on "ana cabrera reports," back where he belongs, a return to the court for bronny james, son of basketball legend lebron james since going into cardiac arrest. plus, some sad news to report about tennis legend chris evert and her brave battle. le ea, but i want to stay in my home, where my family visits often and where my memories are. i can do it with help from a prep cook, wardrobe assistant and stylist, someone to help me live right at home. life's good. when you have a plan. ♪ ♪ welcome back. we're learning a tennis hall of famer has another battle ahead. chris ert revealing that her ovarian cancer has returned after being initially diagnosed tw years ago. this means she will miss her gig announcing the australian open in january. evert released a statement to espn on friday saying, quote, while this is a diagnosis i never wanted to hear, i once again feel fortunate that it was caught early. bronny james is on the rebound. last night the son of basketball legend lebron james stepped back onto the court for his first game since a mid workout cardiac arrest sent him to the hospital in july. nbc's kaylee hartung has more. >> hey there, no matter when it happened, bronny james taking to the court was going to be one of the most highly anticipated debuts in college basketball history. but given the circumstances, this was even more meaningful. following months of recovery after suffering that sudden cardiac arrest in july, the basketball protege had the sold out crowd including his proud dad on their feet. >> four months after suffering cardiac arrest, bronny james makes his collegiate debut. >> call him the comeback kid. >> minute to go, bronny james, his first college bucket. >> reporter: 19-year-old bronny james on the court sunday in his very first game for the usc trojans making plays reminiscent of his famous father. the crowd in a frenzy as lebron james took video and cheered on his son's remarkable return after his terrifying collapse back in july. >> get ambulance here now. >> reporter: the freshman rushed to the hospital during a team workout after suffering sudden cardiac arrest. the leading cause of death for student athletes. bronny was diagnosed with a significant but treatable congenital heart defect and underwent surgery this summer according to a family spokesperson. his future playing basketball uncertain as he began the rehab process. he set out the first eight games of the season, but after doctors cleared him to play he returned to practice last week. >> we parade as a family. we had great doctors along the way the whole time telling us they believed things would work out for us in our favor. >> reporter: lebron rushing to be at his son's game in los angeles. >> it's going to be a hell of a weekend for me. >> look at bronny on the defensive end. >> reporter: the four-time nba champ writing on instagram after the game, can't even tell y'all how emotional today was for me. all i can say is bronny, you're simply incredible. you've already won the ultimate goal, championship, and that's life. >> i just want to say i'm thankful for everything. >> reporter: nike basketball celebrating bronny with this photo posting nothing stops a future king. >> lebron has said he is dedicate this is season of basketball, his 21st, to bronny. and because this was bronny's first game since his cardiac incident, he came off the bench and only played part of the game. his coach says it will take a few games for bronny to get back into the groove, but after what he has been through, everyone is celebrating his return and his health. back to you. >> health is everything, so good to see him recovering and he certainly looks strong dunking that ball. kaylee hartung, thank you for that reporting. that's going to do it for us. thank you for joining us. hope you had a wonderful weekend and your day is off to a strong start. i'll see you back here tomorrow same time, same place. until then i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york, josé diaz-balart picks up our coverage right now. and good morning, it is 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific, i'm josé diaz-balart. right now in tennessee, residents are sifting through a path of destruction after powerful tornados tore through the weekend killing six people including a toddler. meanwhile, brand new polling on the state of the 2024 race. former president trump grows his lead in iowa just five weeks before the state's caucuses. steve kornacki is here with why trump's advantage is so significant. in washington, ukrainian presidenten