playing on 2k378christmas for t time since 2008. tatum with the alley-oop in the fourth and a little later porzingis had a nice game, he head the way with 28. our starters scored at least 18 points as boston beat the lakers 126-115. and omar, you know, after the christmas sports bonanza, i have the post-christmas blues. always a little sad the day after christmas. >> i know, i ask do you watch sports on christmas, how could you not? just an amazing experience. and you incapsulated it perfectly. thank you andy scholes. and thank all of you for "cnn this morning" starts right now. good morning, everyone. hope you had a wonderful christmas with your loved ones. what time did yours wake up?

the kids that is? >> the key thing is controlling when they actually get to the tree is critical. >> 3:30 a.m. over here. we need to learn that control. >> normal week day. >> normal week day. that's so true. it is tuesday, december 26th. we're glad you're with us. i'm poppy harlow with phil mattingly. breaking overnight, the u.s. launching targeted air strikes in iraq. the operation in response to an attack by an iranian-backed militant group that injured u.s. troops. live to the white house with details. ukraine reportedly strikes a russian warship docked in crimea. the blast there you can see near the flight. alexei navalny's first message since his arrival at a penal colony near siberia. what they are saying this morning. and donald trump's very bitter christmas message. how the front-runner for the republican nomination lashed out against his political rivals and what it says about his campaign. "cnn this morning" starts right now.

we do bin egin with tension fr flaring in the middle east. this comes after a group took credit for a one-way drone attack. it wounded three u.s. troops in northern iraq. the strike came less than 13 hours after the attack on those u.s. troops. all of this comes on the heels of's separate incident where israeli air strikes in syria killed a high ranking military adviser and now they're vowing revenge for the killing. >> this is playing out as israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu says the israeli military is intensifying operations inside gaza and the war is far from over. we're going to speak to cnn political and national security analyst david sanger in a moment. let's get started with priscilla alvarez on the north lawn of the white house. what more are you learning about

the strikes directed by president biden? >> reporter: well, the strikes followed earlier strikes in the day that wounded three americans in northern iraq, one of whom according to the white house is in critical condition. now, the president was immediately briefed following that strike. and later in the day, this was yesterday, the defense secretary presented the president options and that is when the president ordered the strike. now, according to a statement from the white house they said, quote, during that call, the president directed his strikes against three locations, utilized by kataib hezbollah and affiliated groups focused specifically on unmanned aerial drone activities. the statement goes on to say that the president places no higher priority than the protection of american personnel serving in harm's way. the united states will act at a time and in a manner of our choosing, should the attacks continue. now, u.s. central command has since said that earlier assessments show that they likely killed a number of

militants and there are no indications of civilian casualties at this point. the defense secretary going on to note that this was, quote, necessary and proportionate. >> priscilla, today, we're going to see ron durhamer, very close to met netanyahu, meeting with advisers, a day after the prime minister said a long fight that is not close to ending. it shows how different the view of what the future is from the netanyahu government and the biden government. what can we expect from that meeting today? >> reporter: and it also shows how critical a time this is as the u.s. pushes israel to move away from that high intensity war. as you mentioned, he is a close confidant of israel prime minister benjamin netanyahu and a member of the war cabinet and served as israel's ambassador to the u.s. according to a source who told our oren lieberman he's going to be in washington meeting with

white house officials and state department officials. again, a big topic going into this is what the war looks like in the weeks and months to come. the u.s. wants to see a more targeted, precise strategy from israel to contain innocent civilian casualties. and that is what israel has assured the u.s. that it will do. in addition to that, it is what is the timeline look like. up to this point, u.s. officials have not been able to define what that timeline is. so this will be a topic of discussion as, again, the president has previously warned that support will wane for israel if they do not contain this more. >> priscilla alvarez with the reporting at the white house, thank you very much. joining us now, cnn political and national security analyst and "new york times" white house and national security correspondent david sanger. appreciate your time this morning. i want to start with the strikes that were ordered by president biden last night. we have seen the back and forth with iranian proxies over the course of the last several weeks. this time, they're not just two

wounded u.s. soldiers, but also a third that is viewed as critical condition. does that change the calculation for the administration here? >> i think it does, bill. and i think you saw that in the way the president reacted so quickly. until now, the white house has pretty much tolerated these strikes as long as no one got hurt. and there was a lot of criticism of him particularly from republicans who are saying he wasn't establishing enough deterrence here. but he wanted a proportionate response and knew any response was likely to kill iranians and that probably is what happened here with hezbollah members. we don't know what the full effects were of the counterstrike. it is a big deal for a couple of reasons. first, it happens in iraq. this counterstrike. and the biden administration has been trying very hard not to

destabilize the government in iraq. the second reason that it is significant is the president has been quite concerned about escalation with iran. and so he's been trying to balance that but the iranians by continuing to order up these strikes and we believe these are at least coordinate by iran are -- is making that harder and harder to do. and i think the next big issue for the president is going to be whether or not to strike inside iran or at those who are making the decisions. he's going to be very hesitant to do that, i suspect. >> but, david, that is a central question, right? phil talks about the ongoing strikes that have happened in the region, whether it is houthi rebels, in yemen, hezbollah, this group, kataib hezbollah in iraq. it is all backed by iran. what is your reporting on how the white house and the pentagon are weighing that option now, do you go after the reigning regime in iran?

>> so, the pentagon's worked up a number of options on this. no surprise. but it -- i don't think from everything i can tell it has not gone directly to the president yet. and i think in part that's because of a recognition that the president considers escalation with iran to be exactly what he's trying to avoid right now. a widening of this war in the middle east beyond gaza. he's been cautious in lebanon, where iran is running hezbollah troops as you noted, poppy. he's been cautious with the houthis, where he does not want to ruin what has been a bit of a cease-fire that has lasted for quite successfully for a while now between the saudis and the houthis. so, you know, it is pretty delicate middle east politics. but at some point you have to think that the pressure on him to strike at those who may be

ordering this within the islamic revolutionary guard corps is going to be pretty high. >> david, how does this all track with what officials are saying was an israeli strike that took out an irgc officer in syria over the weekend? >> not just any irgc officer. but general musaby, who had been very close to an irgc commander, soleimani, who was killed in 2020 in the strike that former president trump ordered, january of 2020, and you may recall there was an american drone strike that killed him. musaby was basically the coordinator in syria for the iranian-backed militias that are there. so the israeli strike was a big

deal there. all of this you've got to think just adds up to more and more and more pressure on the administration to deal with iran. and the iranians trying to decide how to calibrate their strike back. my guess is, phil, the iranians are not eager to get to a direct conflict with the u.s. right now. but they sure are pushing the envelope. >> certainly. just quickly your take on what happens today when ron durhamer immedia meets with biden administration officials? >> there is no one closer to netanyahu than ron durhamer who, of course, was the ambassador to the united states and as you mentioned earlier a member of the war cabinet. i think he's going to be making a very forceful case for why israel has got to keep the pressure up on gaza and keep this kind of bombing going.

the administration really told the israelis this has got to stop pretty soon. i think what in their minds soon meant by the new year, only a week away. it sounds, from listening to prime minister netanyahu yesterday, like that's his schedule. and this is going to soon collide with that $14 billion in additional aid that the administration wants to give to israel and the question will come up, what conditions should be put on that aid. >> david sanger, you're allowed to go get coffee, but don't go too far. we'll talk to you in a couple of minutes. politicians and prosecutors blasted in a christmas post, anything but cheerful. the familiar attack lines and how playing out on the campaign trail. now what is being done to protect officials. that's next.

new this morning, the fbi is acknowledging it is working with local law enforcement investigating threats against judges on the colorado supreme court. this sometimes violent rhetoric followed the court's 4-3 ruling that trump was constitutionally ineligible to appear on the state's ballot, this as a result of the insurrectionist ban in the 14th amendment. there is an uptick in the heated

online language about the four judges who voted to disqualify trump. there are concerns a lone actor or small group may act out, trump's team has called the ruling undemocratic and his lawyers have vowed to file an appeal to the u.s. supreme court. >> those threats come after donald trump shared an insulting christmas message to some politicians and prosecutors. you can see some of it. we'll pull it up here for you. some of the attacks, deranged prosecutor jack smith or unselect january 6th committee, he went on to call nancy pelosi crazy, and president joe biden crooked. joining us now former present strategist and pollster lee carter, cnn political commentator jamaal simmons and politics reporter shelby taka. good to have you here. one thing that i think is really striking is some of the language that trump is using is not hurting him in iowa among republican voters. in fact, this des moines

register poll shows when he says things like immigrants are poisoning the blood of america or the radical left thugs are like vermin, people are saying it makes them more likely to support them. >> yeah, a lot of the voters i talked to on the ground have the mentality that, a, this is just sort of something you have to deal with when donald trump is involved, and, b, they view this rhetoric as that fighter mentality that we talked about last week. and it is, like, it lahas been really interesting because this rhetoric isn't taken like a lot of the media is taking it. it is just taken as this guy is a fighter, he's using this language because he cares about us. and on the flip side, you have seen trump's opponents really use these examples as reasons not to vote for him. they cite the chaos, and the drama surrounding donald trump and i've also heard voters on

the ground in iowa say, you know, i wish he would just stop tweeting as much and just stop using social media. there is this frustration. but it is not registering enough in the polls. it is not convincing voters enough to not vote for him. >> to that point, why? i think when you listen to nikki haley talking about can't have the chaos, you listen to desantis, i'm trump policies without the chaos, everybody thought going into this campaign that was a pretty effective message. >> right. >> it doesn't seem to be working though. >> what i see right now and i think it is important point you made, two-thirds of americans are looking for a fighter. they want someone who is going to fight back to a system that seems to be working against them. there is a particular sentiment among republican voters who support trump that the government doesn't work for them, that it works for the elite, for the few, and not for people not like them. when he does this, it actually energizes them. they don't hear it the same way everybody else does.

everybody else is hearing what he's saying, a threat to democracy, maybe he's going to be an autocrat dictator, all those kinds of things, and the more people call him an dictator, the more the republicans dig their heels in and say we're going to support this guy because we want somebody to fight for us and nobody else will. despite the fact there are voters out there who say they want trump without the chaos, they are supporting people like nikki haley and ron desantis, but the people who support trump solidly, they wouldn't it, they love it, they live for it, it is hard to understand if you're not part of that audience. >> just assuming hypothetical matchup between -- in a general between biden and trump, this reporting from "the new york times" recently that democrats in key states are really worried about biden being a drag on key groups of voters. they talk about arizona, they talk about michigan, where biden's polling, 15 points behind the democratic governor, gretchen whitmer and talk about a state like georgia, brian kemp is taking a lot of credit for

things -- investments from the intras infrastructure bill, et cetera. they talk about how biden is losing ground among black and arab-american voters and having worked in the biden white house, you also have a read on how he's doing particularly and what he needs to do with black voters. >> i do. i'm from michigan. he has a problem. the president has a problem in many of these states, young african americans, also muslim americans and arab-americans who do feel like the administration is leaning too far in the direction of bibi netanyahu. maybe there is a way to pull back from the israeli government clutch, the hug so much. and be able to sort of talk about the israeli pain of october 7th and also the gaza pain that happened since then. there are people who are worried about that. candidates should be concerned about running with anybody top of the ticket who is performing in terms of the polls the way they are now. every candidate should be. the problem is candidates always

think the lesson of this is i need to find my own voice, be my own self, separate myself from the top of the ticket and 99% never works because the way politics works right now, it is, like, it is too big, the message is out of the white house is too strong. you got to figure out how to run with the candidate that you're running with, define yourself, of course, but you'll be running with that president, running against the president means the democratic party is shooting at each other and not running together on a ticket where everybody is making the same message and making the same call on voters. and that is the way -- the only way that i think any of them have a chance to win. >> you've got reporting on how trump's team is looking at the softness in the coalitions, particularly among black voters, younger voters, and seeing if there is opportunities. there are places they can take advantage of it. do they think there are right now? >> they absolutely do. they believe it is not just getting these groups of voters to not turn out for joe biden, which would certainly help donald trump. they also believe that they can

sway a number of people who voted for biden last time around, but who have become disillusioned with the biden administration, frustrated with the economy, frustrated with gas prices, what have you, that's what trump's team is targeting and they're doing it in really interesting ways, particularly with young voters, one of the ways they're doing it is by having some of these more nontraditional, like, rappers and celebrities come out in support of donald trump. he goes to wwe events, he's been to a lot of football games. we saw him throwing a football around at one of the iowa state fraternity. these are all efforts to get, a, voters who are frustrated with biden but new voters who aren't as political into the mix. and we have seen in some ways in the polls so far that's -- it is effective at this point. it is still early on. but we have seen some movement. >> the democratic message has to be more aspirational.

it really does have to touch, particularly young male voters. it has got to talk about the chance, not just to -- >> what should they say? >> how you make money, how do businesses grow, how do people have a chance to be able to buy a nicer house, send their kids to school. those are things that really still animate voters, particularly with male voters and they don't want the government to solve the problems for them. they want the government to give them a shot to solve the problems for themselves and too often democrats make the government and the democratic politicians the hero of the story and not the individual voter. >> i do think they have to get back in touch with the voters. most people are saying they feel like the economy is in ruins. a lot of people are saying i never felt worse about the future of our country. and so when you have all that happening and you have an administration saying things have never been better, you feel completely out of touch. >> disconnected. >> totally disconnected. and younger people are really saying i need somebody who gets my pain, who gets how angry i am, gets how frustrated i am and you can't just tell me things have never been better. and i think that is one of the

biggest problems this administration would just get their arms around how people are feeling and feel like they have the pulse on that, it could change things. right now they feel completely out of touch, that's why you're seeing people peel off. >> i would say we're turning the corner, we shouldn't go back. >> bidenomics message is not registering on the ground when you talk to voters. it is actually in some ways talking to a lot of hispanic leaders in some ways it is turning them off even more because they feel really frustrated that the biden administration is pushing this, when they're not seeing that reality on the ground. >> i was going to ask you, what do voters say to you when you ask them about bidenomics? how do they define it? >> there has been a struggle to define it. that's part of the message -- part of the problem. there has been a struggle to define it, but also when they do hear bidenomics, they hear well, this is something that the white house is touting as an accomplishment. when it comes to the economy and we're not feeling that when we go pick up our groceries and we

go to the gas station. >> i also think it has become a joke. people say bidenomics is inflation and runaway prices. it is being used against them by a lot of people who hear it and say when i hear bidenomics, i hear things are worse for me. people keep saying we're turning the corner and prices are still up, even if things are getting better you still have people paying $11 for a box of cereal and saying -- people are saying, that's not working for me. >> gas prices are going down, wages are going up, economy is doing well. >> housing is still very -- a big problem. >> credit card rates are expensive. that's the fed's job, not the president's job. there are challenges out there. i do think the biden administration is placing the bet, a lot of money is going to be spent in terms of infrastructure spending around the country, wages are going up. prices are coming down. >> see if that can happen fast. $11 cereal, i thought 6 bucks was a lot, but 11 bucks. >> here here. >> thank you very much. new this morning, the top opposition leader to vladimir putin issues his first message from a remote siberian prison.

how alexei navalny says how he's doing and what he's revealing about his weeks s long ordeaeal. stay w with us.

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welcome back. new this morning, kremlin critic a alexei navalny withe sa message telling supporters he's fine. his lawyers visited him on monday at polar wolf, in the russian arctic. you see it right there, 1200 miles northeast of moscow. navalny has been missing since december 11th. navalny sent out a series of tweets, one of them reads, don't worry about me, i'm fine, i'm relieved i finally made it. nada bashir joins us with more. i saw the news break, relieved, right, he's okay, people were wondering where he was. what do we know about where he is now being held? >> reporter: well, look, poppy, the conditions at polar wolf penal colony are known to be harsh. while we have now heard directly from navalny after two weeks of no contact between his legal team and the kremlin critic and what has certainly come as a moment of relief for many, this

is a huge moment of also concern. considering the conditions said to be inside that penal colony. as you mentioned, we have heard from navalny. he shared those updates via his aides who posted on x formerly known as twitter this morning, he spoke of his relief after what he described to be an exhausting 20-day journey to get to this remote penal colony in the northwestern siberian region of kharp. he spoke of seeing what he described to be like a movie scene of a convoy including soldiers, security forces, with machine guns. but, again, he said he is doing well, that he had been able to meet and speak with his lawyer and he thanked supporters for their concern. but, again, there is concern amongst his closest supporters, including the director of his anticorruption foundation. he shared an update yesterday upon the news that navalny had been located, issuing this statement regarding the penal colony saying the conditions there are harsh, with a special

regime in the permia frost zone. it is difficult to get there and there are no letter delivery systems. there is also reporting in local government media in siberia regarding the more general conditions of the polar wolf penal colony saying the focus there is on re-education through occupational therapy. navalny, of course, a key kremlin critic, he was sentenced to 19 years in prison in august on charges relating to -- charges he denies his legal team believe these are politically motivated charges. >> thank you for the update. george santos, bob menendez, kevin mccarthy, they all had years they would like to forget. how political chaos ruled on capitol hill and beyond in 2023. right now, blizzard is hitting the plains in the midwest. forecasters warning that 75-mile-per-hour winds and heavy snow is going to make it difficult to near impossible for some people to travel. the storm blew an 18 wheeler off the road and triggered chain reactions in terms of crashes in

nebraska. some places could get up to a foot of snow. back in a moment.

2024 will begin with a political bang with just weeks to go before the iowa caucuses. but what happened this past year could create a political hangover that could last for weeks or even months. for the race to the white house, to the wars overseas and the

battles on capitol hill, cnn's eva mcken looks back at a year governed by chaos. >> reporter: when it comes to the top ten political stories of 2023, this was another big year, with unprecedented chaos in washington, courtroom spectacles and accusations of brazen corruption. at number ten, senator bob menendez faces corruption-related charges. >> you're being accused of aiding a foreign government. why is that appropriate for you to go to a classified briefing? >> book line is, i'm a united states senator, i have my security credentials, and an accusation is just that. it is not proof of anything. >> reporter: menendez and his wife are accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, including gold bars, cash, and a luxury vehicle, in exchange for the senator's influence. the indictment led menendez to

step aside as chair of the powerful foreign relations committee, but the new jersey democrat and his wife maintain their innocence and pleaded not guilty. he's pledged to remain in his seat, despite calls from many lawmakers to resign, including from some of his fellow senate democrats. at number nine, a moving tribute to rosalind carter, the former first lady, humanitarian, and mental health advocate. former president jimmy carter emerges from hospice care to attend a public memorial service, paying tribute to his late wife, which also brought together the first ladies club. ♪ the carters became internationally known for their humanitarian work. after carter's stinging presidential defeat in 1980. they have the longest marriage in presidential history, at 77 years.

number eight, hunter biden's high stakes plea agreement with federal prosecutors falls apart. >> the prosecutors who came forward to us and were the ones to say can there be a resolution short of a prosecution. >> reporter: now he's facing three federal firearms charges, and nine new tax charges. the case would pose another challenge to president joe biden's re-election bid, with house republicans also investigating the president's son and pursuing an impeachment inquiry into the democratic incumbent. so far, the gop-led probe has struggled to uncover wrongdoing by the president. >> i'm here today to make sure that the house committee's illegitimate investigations of my family do not proceed on distortions, manipulated evidence, and lies. >> reporter: number seven, foreign wars create political fractures at home, from the halls of congress to college

campuses. president biden calling on americans to unite behind israel and ukraine in their respective conflicts. >> american leadership is what holds the world together. american alliances are what keep us, america, safe. >> reporter: but the president facing skepticism from republicans on providing more aid to ukraine. >> republicans disagree amongst themselves about how exactly we should respond to the ukraine question. >> reporter: and pressure from some in the progressive wing of biden's own party over israel. >> president biden, not all americans are with you on this one! and you need to wake up and understand that! >> reporter: number six, the republican race for the white house takes shape. >> we're going to win the iowa caucuses. >> reporter: donald trump closes out the year as the commanding front-runner for the gop nomination as his rivals vow to emerge to the leading alternative to the former president.

after entering the race as the top threat to trump, florida governor ron desantis' rise was slow amid a shaky campaign launch and series of campaign resets. >> we're going to have this debate in iowa before the caucus. i will be there. donald trump should be there. >> reporter: meanwhile, former south carolina governor nikki haley gained momentum late in the year after several strong debate performances. >> where have you all been? >> reporter: amid trump's dominance, several gop hopefuls dropped out before the calendar turned to 2024, including former vice president mike pence, south carolina senator tim scott, and north dakota governor doug burgum. number five, the potency of abortion rights in a post-roe america. more than a year after the supreme court overturned roe v. wade, abortion rights proved to be a galvanizing issue for

democrats. >> we want to protect abortion access. >> reporter: helping deliver victories for democratic candidates in off year elections in virginia, and deep red kentucky, and voters in ohio passing a ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. >> we did it! >> reporter: number four, president joe biden announces his re-election bid facing significant political headwinds. and setting up a potential rematch with donald trump. >> it is time to finish the job. finish the job. >> four more years! four more years! four more years! >> reporter: biden's bid for a second term is imperiled by stubbornly low approval ratings and persistent questions about his age. his campaign leaning on his legislative record, and drawing a contrast with his 2020 rival. >> extremist movement that does not share the basic beliefs in our democracy.

the maga movement. >> reporter: despite weariness from some democrats, biden is expected to face little resistance in winning the party's nomination in 2024, drawing long shot challenges from minnesota congressman dean phillips, and author mary ann williamson, several third party candidates have also announced including robert kennedy jr. and progressive scholar cornell west who could turn into wild cards in the general election. number three, embattled congressman george santos expelled. >> i don't care. >> reporter: the u.s. house voted to expel the new york republican after a scathing ethics report in a year long swirl of controversy about santos' litany of lies. santos becomes just the sixth member in history to be expelled from congress, and the third since the civil war. >> why would i want to -- >> reporter: after winning a battleground house district,

major pieces of santos' biography fell apart, including his claims around his education, professional experience, and family background. santos was later indicted on federal charges, including wire fraud and money laundering. but pleaded not guilty and has denied the allegations. >> i'm not really commenting on the ongoing investigation. >> reporter: santos re-emerged soon after being removed from office, on the celebrity video message site cameo. >> happy, happy birthday! >> reporter: number two, kevin mccarthy becomes the first house speaker removed from the post. mccarthy's ouster came ten months after he claimed the gavel, following a floor fight that went five days and took 15 rounds of voting that divided the gop and saw the california republican bend to a series of concessions to hard-line conservatives. in the end, eight house republicans joined with

democrats to depose mccarthy. >> it is just a few, these eight working with all the democrats, to ruin the reputation of the republicans. >> reporter: the move sparked weeks of chaos, and infighting, among house republicans as they struggled to coalesce around a successor before ultimately voting to elevate little known louisiana congressman mike johnson as the new speaker. >> i want to thank you all for the trust you have instilled in me. >> reporter: number one, the country's 45th president and leading republican presidential candidate becomes the first former president to face criminal charges. >> i won't be able to go to iowa today. i won't be able to go to new hampshire today because i'm sitting in a courtroom. >> reporter: trump is facing 91 criminal counts, ranging from conspiracy to obstruction of justice, to racketeering, across four separate jurisdictions, in new york, washington, d.c., georgia and florida.

trump denying all those accusations. >> an indictment was unsealed. charging donald j. trump with conspireing to defraud the united states, conspireing to disenfranchise voters and conspireing and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding. >> the defendants engaged in a criminal racketeering enterprise to overturn georgia's presidential election result. >> reporter: the fulton county, georgia, indictment with this historic image, the first mug shot of a former u.s. president. the former president regularly turning his courtroom appearances into campaign-style events. >> a witch-hunt the likes of which are probably nobody has ever seen. >> reporter: in a preview of 2024, when the political and legal calendars are set to collide. eva mckend, cnn, washington. >> our thanks to eva for that.

overnight, ukraine says it launched an explosive attack on a russian warship. a fireball erupting in a port. how ukraine's defense could actually get a boost from russian cash. and what one close adviser is reportedly saying behind closed doors. that's next.

new this morning, ukraine claims it struck and destroyed a russian warship in crimea, killing one person. the video shows a massive explosion. you can see right there, at a port in crimea this morning. cnn has not been able to verify the video or the claims, but russia has confirmed the ship was damaged by ukrainian air strike using guided missiles. >> and now with aide for ukraine clearly in doubt, "the new york times" reports the u.s. and europe are considering seizing up to $300 billion in russian assets to help fund ukraine's defense. cnn political and national security analyst and "new york times" correspondent david sanger is back with us.

this is your reporting. it comes with a lot of risks, right? it didn't happen actually. it wasn't done after russia seized crimea. how likely you to think it is this would happen now? >> that's right, poppy. there is a lot of opposition to the idea, chiefly from the treasury secretary, janet yellen, and also from the fed. and their argument was pretty simple, if countries are -- get accustomed to putting money in the new york federal reserve, some of which they keep in the form of gold, some they keep as assets in u.s. dollars, and they think the united states could seize that money in a war time situation or for any other reason without going through a lengthy legal process, they might be less will bing to put their money and assets in u.s. dollars. but i think as time has gone on,

and as it has become clear that congress either won't provide additional aid to ukraine or will provide it in lesser amounts than we have seen in the past two years, there has been great and greater pressure to find a way to go do this. and so they're doing it through the group of seven nations, hoping to have the cover of international law and most of the assets are here in europe. >> do they think that from a liability -- from a legal perspective things have changed or is this purely because they're no longer convinced congress can provide it? >> i think the arguments haven't changed. i think that they're mostly concerned that even if congress does pass additional aid now, it may not later on. the original idea, phil, was to take this $300 billion and use it for ukrainian reconstruction of the cities. obviously it is going to take more than $300 billion to make

up for the damage that the russians have done in nearly two years of war. but, now there is actually some discussion under way about maybe using some of the money to fund artillery, other arms and support for the war itself. because ukrainians are really feeling the pinch. >> what about the reporting from your colleagues at the times that putin has been sort of quietly signaling that he is open to a deal or a cease-fire in ukraine that would essentially have him hanging on to the territory that they have taken so far, far less than they set out to call it an end. >> this was really fascinating reporting by anton chernovsky at the times. what they found is twice putin

has signaled twhat he's open toa deal, the deal he's discussing would require that ukraine agree that he's basically holding the nearly 20% of the country where russian troops are now dug in. and it is really hard for me to imagine president zelenskyy having declared time and time again that ukraine would not give up one inch of territory the russians had seized, would enter into the negotiation with that as a prerequisite or even with a likely outcome. >> right. >> so, what happens next? this year seems to be a critical year when you look at funding, whether or not there will be negotiations, is there an endgame, has an endgame been discussed? >> there have been a lot of endgames discussed, phil. and, you know, the images that you just showed before of that

russian ship tells you the ukrainians are still capable of really ingenious and sometimes long range strikes. but it is really hard to imagine right now how either side breaks through from the current line of combat and if anything in 2023, the russians gained a bit of ground. not much, but a bit. and so you got to think at some point, you know, all wars end and they all end in a negotiation. and one has got to hope that at some point they can move to a negotiated end here, just to stop the bloodshed on all sides. but it is really hard to understand how you get from here to there. >> yeah. david sang, thank you so much, really appreciate you being with us. >> great to be with you, poppy. at this hour, a new caravan of migrants is headed for an already overwhelmed u.s./mexico border. we're live from eagle pass, texas, with that story next.

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