the supreme court is now smack in the middle of the 2024 campaign and donald trump could be asking the high court to both stay out of and jump into his legal troubles at the very same time. >> exactly. and republican-led house committee is launching an investigation into harvard's president over plagiarism

allegation, and what the president is saying in the scrutiny of the new embattled president. and cnn is flying over the volcano in iceland. >> that is what you have to say. >> the best or the worst assignment ever. the volcano that is still erupting. i'm kate bolduan with omar jim jimenez. john and kate are both off today. this is cnn "news central." the supreme court of the united states is now in the spotlight and unwittingly front and center in the 2024 presidential election. the high court is facing a number of decisions that could directly impact how this election is going to play out. special counsel jack smith has asked the justices to fast-track a decision on whether trump is immune from prosecution in the federal election subversion case. trump and the legal team have filed a request the high court

to stay out of that case for now, and said another way, no fast track-please, and the slower the better for donald trump there. while the team has not yet asked for an appeal to the colorado ruling, disqualifying him from the state ballot, they are expected to take that to supreme court next week asking the court there to step in. let's get back to katelyn polantz in washington with more on this. let's start with the immunity team now that we have the trump team's response, and when could the court announce if they take it up? >> kate, any moment, the supreme court could decide they want to look at this issue, the issue of the presidential immunity before donald trump. if he has it, if he can be protected by it or if he can even go to trial because of what he did after the election and january 6th. that is all related to the criminal case. it is before the supreme court right now, because donald trump is scheduled to go to trial in

march. it could affect the election, but it is about really when he can be tried and when the justice department wants him to be tried and when the court has scheduled it which is march. that date is still on the calendar, but what is happening here is that the justice department has to have somebody figure this out in the appeals courts of whether donald trump has some sort of immunity around the presidency that can protect him from a criminal prosecution like this. so it will get to the supreme court ultimately, but the justice department wants them to step in now, and trump's team is say, no rush here, no judicial decisions with the reckless abandon and they used the words in the filing yesterday. so there an issue on the table that the trump team is hoping that the supreme court does not want to deal with it yet, and lit go through a different appeals court down lower first with oral arguments in january. >> and now the lower case in

colorado, what happens next? >> this is also could be before the supreme court, and something they need to look at quite quickly. and in that supreme court ruling from the state of colorado, and the supreme court in colorado, they have put the situation on hold. they are allowing donald trump the time to go to supreme court to get some intervention before it is ultimately resolved at least in their decision that he should not be on the ballot. but if trump goes to the supreme court, and they want to look at that issue and give some clarity around the law there whether there can be the choice of states to keep him off ballots either primary or general election ballots to keep him from running from office because of this insurrectionist clause in the constitution, it is a question of whether the supreme court wants to take that and tell the whole country what to do or a thing that state-by-state they have to figure out. >> a little bit of the standby to standby, but man a whole lot

going on. katelyn, good to see you. we are talking about colorado, but not in colorado, around so what do colorado voters think about the ruling that bars trump from the primary ballot. gary tuchman, quick on the draw, traveled to the state to find out. >> reporter: this coffee name in douglas, colorado, goes by the name coffee. it is here where we have a question for customers. tell me a good thing that the colorado supreme court did that or not? >> you know, i'm not the biggest fan of trump, but people should not be taken off of the ballot necessarily. >> reporter: this man is a political independent in a very republican county, so here in the county seat of castle rock, it is easy to find the loyal trump republicans who feel the same as this man. what do you think about this decision? >> i think it is unfair. >> reporter: howcome? >> the government shouldn't get in that position to control

votes for certain candidates. >> reporter: but we did find this democrat who says that is precisely what this court should have done. >> i think it is a great decision. i think that when you are trying to overturn an election, you don't get to run again. we have a 14th amendment for a reason. >> reporter: back inside of the coffee, tony does not take this seriously and thinks it is a result of game planning. >> they are playing a game. >> what is part of that game? >> not being honest. >> reporter: you think that trump has been honest? >> for the most part, yeah. >> reporter: her friend concurs, and she feels. >> outraged. absolutely outraged. >> reporter: why? >> they are going to take our choice based on their personal beliefs, because they are not speaking for the people.

>> reporter: but elle graves says she has voted for trump in the past, but she won't if he is back on the ballot. >> i believe he was engaged in insurrection, yes. >> reporter: was it the right thing to do? >> for my state, yes. >> reporter: there time around, his opinion is more nuanced. >> if the law al laws and the supreme court is stating it, we have to abide by it, but it does not mean that i am a fan of it. >> reporter: many are still digesting the laws, and kelly mistal is a democrat. >> he should face the consequences for what he did. >> reporter: jay is a republican. >> if that is a legitimate thing that happen and he was part of the insurrection, he would have been arrested, but he was not arrested.

>> reporter: the colorado primary is march 5th. this day we did not speak to any fervent trump supporters who planned to switch to another primary candidate if they were on the ballot, but other people will just write in his name, but in this ruling, a write-in vote for trump would not count. omar. >> gary tuchman, thank you. >> and joining us to talk about this and all of the legal troubles facing donald trump is cnn senior legal analyst elie honig, and i have a question about the immunity question, jack smith asking the supreme court to step in with the trump team to file the response saying that they don't want the court to get involved, but now, trump's team writing, the special counsel never writes why this is the only appropriate timetable for this historic prosecution, and the legal team also says this date has no

talismanic significance and the matter should be resolved in a cautious and deliberative manner and not break-neck speed. what is the trump team's argument? >> i think it is effective argument here, because it is about timing. jack smith won the immunity, and donald trump lost. and the district court said, you are not immune, trump. and now, jack smith is saying, rather than the normal way, the intermediate court of appeals, and this is unusual but he says, no, skip the middle layer and go right to the top. the problem for jack smith is that you have to have a specific reason for it, and he will not say because of the election, because he won't say it. >> why not? >> he believes that he understands that would be inherently political and i want to try him before the election and -- >> and refusing to say it -- >> but that is telling in its own right, but jack smith won't

say because of the election and vague generalities that we need speedy trials because of it is weak, and donald trump's lawyers say, no specific reason, and they suggest it is strongly because of the lek shun date, and they have the better argument there and whether it is a cause to expedite or not, we will see what the supreme court does. >> so jump ahead, if -- why would the justices want to look at the immunity issue now or not now, and what does dit hinge on and what would they do to take it up on? >> i think it is going to end up in the supreme court, and constitutional issue and an issue that we don't have precedence on, and we need guidance, and they will take it up before the election happens. >> will they expedite it? >> i don't think so, and may go through the court of appeals.

>> and the march 4th date is clearly in question? >> i think that either way, whether it is expedited or not, march 4th is in big trouble, and not just march 4th, but the jury selection is february 9th, and if the supreme court says we will take it to expedite it to the highest degree, they won't get it done by the 9th of february. the final question, is if and when the supreme court takes this case, how will they rule, and loft speculation here, but the best indication is a similar case involving a subpoena from the manhattan d.a. in the hush money case, and he said i'm president, i don't have to argue and he lost 7-2, and he had thomas and alito with him, and the other seven were against him, but this is similar to how alito and thomas would be with him, and the others would not but that lao leaves kavanaugh, gor sich, and coney barrett and i think that it is more likely that he could lose, but he has a

non-zero shot to succeed, and if he wins on immunity, the january 6th case is over. that is how high the stakes are. >> this is something and this is not just nothing, but it is part of a huge case that is going on. >> it is depositive if trump wins it. >> thanks, elie. >> we are following the breaking news, a deadly shooting in a university in prague this morning according to the czech police who posted to x twitter that police are currently intervening at the scene and the area is completely cordoned off. we can confirm dead and injured at the scene. the police say it happened at the philosophy university at charles university in central prague, and we will bring you the latest on this developing situation after a quick break.

harvard president claw dean gay is facing an expanded issue about her previous work and citations. as part of the larger probe of anti-semitism on campus which resulted in what some saw as disastrous testimony from gay and two earlier presidents earlier this month, they are requesting a written response of the probe next week and the disciplinary actions taken by faculty and students for similar infractions. matt, can you break it down for us, and what is the latest here, and a lot of this seems to have

stemmed from the testimony. >> yes, and claudine gay is very much under fire, and the writings are under scrutiny. fast-moving investigations. first the house education investigation is saying that there is a double standard, writing one standard of rules for the students and another for the president. this is what the chair virginia fox said in the letter f. a univ -- if a university is willing to look the other way and not holding faculty to account, then it cheapens the value of the education. also happening overnight, harvard is confirming that gay is issuing corrections to the 1997 ph.d. dissertation because of inadequate citations, and note, this is on top of the corrections issued just last week to her scholarly work in the 2000s. one other point here is that the way this is unfolding in the

drip, drip, drip fashion is only adding to the pressure on claudine gay. >> of course, this is part of her appearances in front of congress with the anti-semitism probe and now a plagiarism probe, and has harvard weighed in if they believe it is misconduct in any way? >> right now, omar, they say it is regrettable, but not fireable. this is why. they point to the policy around misconduct and for it to be considered misconduct, which is a punishable offense, it has to be significant departure of the accepted practices and done intentionally, knowingly or recklessly and proven by a president of the evidence, and harvard is saying that we are not there yet. and claudine gay put out a statement, and she is now standing by the integrity of the scholarship, and i have worked to make sure that the scholarship adheres to the highest academic standards and

when you are talking about plagiarism, it falls into two categories, and the first would be copying without attribution, and the other more serious charge would be stealing someone's ideas and what has been covered so far about claudine gay's writings is the other camp, sloppy citations, but not idea theft. >> we will see at what point harvard feels this crosses a threshold, but a lot of pressure from all sides on university presidents and right now on claudine gay. thank you. and we will continue the follow the breaking news out of prague. police say that a deadly shooting has occurred at a university in central prague, charles university. czech police tweeting out that the police are currently at the scene where there are several people killed, many people injured. we will have the latest after a quick break, and we are gathering detail to bring to

you. also, ahead, we will be taking you the iceland and new images of the iceland volcanic eruption, and fred pleitgen has an incredible vantage point of what is happening there. >> you can see the lava. in you can see the magna that the planet is unleashing.

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we are following the breaking news this hour out of prague where the czech police now say that the suspect in a deadly shooting at charles university today has quote been eliminated. the czech police also posted on the social media the following, the police are currently intervening, the surrounding area cordoned off, and we can confirm there are dead and injured at the scene. now, clearly this is early on, and more information is coming out, but the early information from the authorities there is that the incident, the shooting happened at the philosophy building at charles university in central prague. we are working to getting more detail. there is a lot of the videos that are being seen, and we are working to confirm what videos are out there, and what we can bring to you and gather more information agbout the injured and those sadly who have been killed and the detail about that. >> yes, we will bring you more on that throughout.

and now, congress has a lengthy to-do list when they come back from their recess. and that is going to be a very busy january. a votes on the senate border deal, and ukraine and israel aid package has been punt ed even a the negotiators continue to work. and there could be a partial government shutdown in less than a month, but what is there to worry about? manu raju is joining us on capitol hill, and a lot of what we have on the senate side of things and the house side of the aisle? >> well, it is a total mess. they did what they did best, punted until the new year and went home for the holidays. they won't give themselves much time, and the republican-led house and the democratic-led house and senate will return the

week of january 8, and then they face a deadline to fund part of the government and second deadline in early february to fund the rest of the federal government, and sharp divisions among the two chambers and between the republicans and the house and the senate as well about the funding levels to keep the government open and it is simply not resolved and sparking fears in the new year of the potential government shutdown and the big ticket item and you mentioned it, cutting the deal of how to change the border policies, and the southern migrant policies in mexico. and that is something they have negotiated for week, and they are not close to finalizing a deal, and if they do, they have to sell it to the senate and then get it through the narrowly-divided house, and get it to the president's desk and then only then does that unlock aid to israel and ukraine that must wait, republicans say, until the border is dealt with first. so, talking to members on both sides of the aisle, they are clear that they are not happy

with how unproductive this congressional session has been and concerned about the new year. >> this is a shame to get into the political cycle, because everything is resulting to blame it on politics. well, politics is in everybody's life. get it to work. get people who want to make it work. and put on the term limits so we don't end up staying here for life. that is how all of this should happen. >> reporter: but the split congress has not been productive. >> it has not been. >> reporter: so even if there is a deal on the border, there are so many questions of how it plays out, because if you cut a deal the borders and perhaps move forward with israel and ukraine, but the liberals, the members of the president's own party are concerned about the concessions that he is making to try to cut a deal for the more restrictive policies, and then you have folks on the right who are concerned that it is not going far enough when it is coming to more immigration restrictions and particularly in the rep-led house, and you can see the challenges of getting any proposal through that can

deal with that issue and also to help ukraine and israel at a time in war, and not the mention the key issues and deadlines coming up fast to keep the government open which is why you are hearing the fieears and concerns over the new year. >> manu, if you sleep, get a lot of it over the next few week, because it is going to be a very busy january. >> thank you. and right now, ron desantis is in coralville, iowa, trying to get as many caucusgoers as he can get. as for donald trump, he is on social media declaring that he is not an insurrectionist. and quite a declaration one feels they must make these days after the colorado supreme court of course ruled that he needs to be removed from the ballot there for inciting insurrection on january 6th. joining us now for more on this is "the new york times" national

reporter, and so let's start right there. in colorado, donald trump is fund-raising off of it, and declaring he is not a insurrectionist, and broadly, every candidate is coming to his defense out there. and in how i hear them talking about it, is it the safest political place for them to be in the primary? they don't want to be talking about him, and they want to be talking about themselves, and that is very clear, but now they are kind of having to come out the defend him? >> this is the juxtaposition that is true the whole race. you have ron desantis and nikki haley holding ten events in iowa, and now with this colorado case, they have to defend him, because to their point, they need his voters and enough of the republican base has rallied around him in recent weeks for what i think there is a sense that you cannot come out against him. you will hear them talk about baggage or the parts of the history that are not palatable to independents or swing voters, but they will not say that

donald trump has committed acts that make him unpresidential. they are not going to the core disqualification point, and that is the baseline for the republican candidates. >> and it feels to me, safe in the sense that it is decided by the court, and i don't have to weigh in on that they can say, and it is -- it sounds like a strong political argument talking about the voters which is, but i'm not afraid to take him on and i want the voters decide. >> right. passing the buck to the voters, but there is some truth to that. >> i agree. >> and in the impeachment where he could have been impeached on the grounds of it, but they did not take it up, and now the voters should defeat him at the ballot bock,x. but there is a legal system here, and it incompatible for folks to say, it is someone who sees him as person who committed insurrection, but it is out of

the court's hands, and some of it u putss us in unchartered political waters, but there is a confluence there of where they meet. >> and in the atlantic, it says, "if uphold, the colorado decision might save the gop from itself, because the reaction of many of them -- the candidates -- might truckle to take trump's side against their own, and this is the last exit if they drive past, there is not enough until the primaries finish." what do you say? >> i would go further, and say that the republicans have not tilled ground and made a permission structure and if this is the fine straw to turn on donald trump, a lot of the voters have seen the last couple of years develop, and in the cadence of coming to his

defense. we were talking to folks at the iowa state fair, and they said it made him stronger to vote for him even if he considered other candidates, so if they want to wrest away his voters, they have to speak to that and that is not something they have been willing to do so far. >> and what do you think with a different topic coming front and center, and the topic of the border and immigration has also once again become front and center, and it is not just in the republican primary, and the quotes i am seeing from chuck shumer to the washington post saying that the democrats have to realize that they are getting real on the immigration border as well, and this crisis is playing out at the border is not just a political talking point, but it is a policy problem that all of them are facing, too. >> yes, and the politics is late to this. and the democrats and the republicans are acknowledging the policy problem the way that the public is pushing them to do so. >> good point.

>> and the democratic primary in 1999 and 2020, you would hear him call out donald trump, but now they have said very little what their projections would be in office, but some of it is coming back around, because there is a legitimate question of what that policy should be and we are going to have, and there is real tensions within the democratic party and the electorate around it, and some of it is coming to te ting to te of it is coming to te ti the foreright now, and so they do not want the republicans to say that joe biden did nothing on this issue, and that is why chuck schumer and the white house is coming out on this front. >> it is interesting how -- i don't even know if i call it an evolution, but the conversation around immigration and the politics of it, and it is really interesting moment in that as well. thanks for coming in. >> yes. thank you for having me. and we are following a deadly shooting in czech

republic where several have been killed at the university of prague. and plus, what hamas is declaring this morning as far as the hostages, and what the domestic terrorist organization is saying is a hard-line.

we continue to follow the break news this hour out of prague. there are new images coming in

as czech police are responding to a deadly shooting at charles university. police have put out information, a tweet saying that the gunman in their words has been eliminated, but in the new information saying several dead and injured at the scene. the early information is that the shooting happened at the philosophy building at charles university in central prague, and so much unknown as this is clearly unfolding as we speak. i want to get over to cnn senior producer ivanna cotsova joining us on the phone, and near prague, and tell us what you are hearing and what is the latest that you have been able to get? >> hi, kate. the very latest indeed is that the shooter has been eliminated as the police say. we know that there is number of dead people. the police and the emergency services have not told us the exact number, but the emergency

services are speaking of single-digit number of dead people. bigger number of injured people. we know that all of the prague hospitals and the emergency systems have put into place an emergency plan so that people are to receive injured people, and about this area, it is extremely busy place in downtown prague, and touristy place, and one of the places that you would go, and a castle across the river, and chances are a large number of people where this could have been. >> and i know exactly where this is the very few times in prague, and the students at the university right before christmas, and tell me what you are hearing about that. >> i believe so. so the students would have been

in the building. i am not sure where the lecturers would have been held at this particular time, but it is just before the holidays, but the college has not broken up for christmas yet. so students would have been in the building, indeed. >> ivana trying to grab more information. and let me bring in senior reporter juliette kayyen, and it is terrifying what is going on here there in the philosophy building which is realfully the center of downtown prague which is its own dangers and risks and complications for the authorities as they are trying to respond. >> that is exactly right. look, this is unique. obviously, czechoslovakia has permits for gun ownership with a

very, very serious registration requirement. it is one of the lowest gun ownerships in europe for its population. so, it is not that they are not aware that this could happen, but it is just not familiar to them in the way that it is say in the united states. that being said, two pieces right now, and we are still getting information. one is clearly the family unification and family notification. we do have dead victims, but we don't know if it is students. it is the holidays. it is a busy time. they need to get that in order which is what they are clearly doing by the notifications that we are seeing. the second is of course the motive. we don't know now, so we will be very, very careful. the motive is going to be easier to come by, because they have the gunman and presumably a man, and they are going to look to three categories.

one is going to be pure randomness where someone goes into the busy area and shoots or some is an affiliation with the university, and our producer said a specific building, the philosophy building, so try to determine if it is a student, a staff member or faculty member or that and third is a political motive based on the threat environment today. that is all we know right now as we assess this tragedy. >> yeah, and then it is much more information that we will be gathering and bringing it to our viewers, but as juliette points out how unique and rare this is in prague. this is why this is one thing to keep an eye on as we gather more information from czech authorities on this. juliette, thank you. she will be staying close, because we have a cnn senior producer who is gathering more information on the ground, and we will bring you those updates

as we get them. omar? >> yes. we will stay with that. and also more reporting of hamas saying no more talks about releasing the hostages until the military operation in gaza is over. meanwhile, disturbing new warnings from the u.s. intelligence agency with a flurry showing the analysis of the credibility and the influence of hamas has grown since the brutal october 7th attacks on israel. so joining with us more on the growing influence of hamas, retired air force colonel and cnn analyst retired general cedric leighton, and so the reporting that hamas has grown since the campaign has waned, so now, looking at these images out of jabalya in particular in gaza, and there is some strike, and bodies in the street there, and how might some of the images change the global perspective or

how might some of the images shift some of israel's tactics in the context of the global perception here. >> yes, omar, thank you. it is great to be with you, and the problem that the israelis have there is that we are seeing daily if not hourly videos of this type, and what they are showing is the destruction that the idf has brought about within gaza, and what we are also seeing is perhaps an unfiltered way in some cases, the suffering of the civil wan population there. that resonates with people all around the world. from the practical and strategic standpoint, you are looking at a situation where that influences people's perceptions. they tend to forget about what happened on october 7th with the hamas attack on the israeli civilians in israel that killed about 1,200 or north people, and

that is put on the wayside as horrible as that is, and now looking at what is happening now, and so the tactics that the israelis are using as part of the strategy to confront hamas, those tactics appear to be heavy-handed, and of course, they are costing a lot of lives which is resonating with the people around the world in really difficult for the israelis and the supporters in the u.s. to really move forward from that standpoint. >> and sorry to cut you off there, but there are 129 hostages in gaza according to the israeli prime minister's office and weighing that with the other proposed goal of trying to destroy hamas outright. i wanted to mention that the united states is weighing a potential u.n. security council vote today on a resolution to end the war. some major points here, halt to hostilities and unhindered humanitarian access into gaza, and based upon what is on the table right now, is that a potential of what the united

states could sign on at the u.n., or where do you view om s -- some of the sticking points to be? >> omar, i think it is the sticking points of the verbiage of cease-fire and pause in fighting. the u.s. has signed on to the idea of a pause in the fighting, but a cease-fire has been seen as in essence stopping israel in its tracks and preventing it from achieving its goal of destroying hamas. the u.s. shares the goal with israel of destroying hamas especially after what happened october 7th, but in terms of this u.n. resolution or possible u.n. resolution, it probably won't go anywhere, because the united states won't agree to the idea of not having a pause as opposed to cease-fire. that is going to be causing some problems. >> yes, yes. we will see. and we expect that the u.n. security council vote after what would have been a number of delays at this point. and wed will see, colonel cedric leighton.

thank you very much. >> coming up for us, flying over the active volcano, and looking at iceland's volcano with an amazing vantage point.

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this morning, we have new views of the volcanic eruption in iceland from the sky. a cnn team captured this miles' long eruption in the unpredictable nature of the volcano is also forcing nearby residents out of their homes still, and meaning that includes for the christmas holiday. fred pleitgen is joining us in iceland and fred, you have the opportunity to do this, to fly

over this thing. what did you see? >> yeah, it is certainly remarkable, and it is a nighttime flight actually over the eruption zone, particularly, because it is night here in the arctic area, and the, you can see that the eruption is very much ongoing, and the seismic activity and the volcanic activity has died down a great deal, and the events that are spewing lava in the last couple of days, but you could see the magna under us, and kate, what is amazing we could not only see the lava below us, but feel the eruption, and smell the gases that the authorities are talking about. you don't want to be exposed to that for an extended period of time and you could feel the heat, because we were flying low over that magna field. and one of the geologist said it was furious in the beginning, and we saw the fountains of magna spewing into the air, but it is dying down quickly, and

one of the things that you mentioned that is absolutely correct, the danger has not passed. in fact, i came back from ra town called grindavik, and there are cracks in the town there, because the magna tunnel that led to the eruption is right there in that town. that is why the folks there in the town can go in there for a short period of time, but they cannot definitely stay overnight, and they certainly will not be home for christmas, kate. >> unbelievable. thank you, fred. it is great to have you there. coming up for us, the highest court in the land is in the middle of several legal battles to shape the 2024 election and who is in it. that is next.

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