the appalachians, western sections of north carolina. we have into flood watches in place through the course of the day today. rainfall totals could exceed four inches for that area. heavy rain moving along the i-95 corridor, d.c., new york, boston, you're next. this is not a snow maker. this is a rainmaker in time of for wednesday as people try to head home or make their way for new year's eve plans. a wet forecast with even more snow for the mountainous regions for the end of the year. phil, poppy. >> holiday travelers take note. and our coverage continues right now. shz ♪ ♪ good morning. so glad you are with us. hope you had a nice hol. tuesday, december 26, we have a lot to get to.

a source tells revenue ron dumper a close con fi zaunt of prime minister benjamin netanyahu is expected to meet with biden administration officials in washington today. they are going to focus on the next phase of the war. >> this comes as netanyahu vows a long fight far from ending. >> the fbi work with law enforcement officials in colorado in the wake of threats made against state supreme court justices after they ruled last week that former president donald trump's name be removed from the 2024 presidential ballot. alexei navalny's team says they have made contact with him in a russian prison 2,000 miles away from moscow. he is speaking out for the first time since he got there. this hour of "cnn this morning" starts now. >> translator: if someone tells you and they say it all the time, i hear it outside that we are going to stop the war, that the war is over, the war is not over. it will end in total victory.

no less than that. october 7th is not over. it is not over. we have to make sure that it never happens again. this requires what each and every one of you is asking for. just to continue until the end, until the end. and i'm just proud of your determination. >> that is what prime minister benjamin netanyahu said yesterday meeting with israeli troops. this his second troop inside of gaza since the october 7th hamas attacks. he returned to israel monday with a warning that the war is far from over. israel's defense minister calling it a multiarena war saying israel is being attacked from seven different places. >> meanwhile tensions flaring in the middle east with president biden ordering retaliatory airstrikes against the iranian backed militant group hezbollah 13 hours after he took credit for a one way drone attack that wounded three u.s. troops.

iranian officials are vowing revenge after an alleged airstrike killed a high ranging iranian military advisor in syria as prime minister benjamin netanyahu says the military is intensifying operations and the hamas-run health ministry reports hundreds of people killed in gaza in the last 24 hours. >> we start with will ripley live in tel aviv with more. the middle of the afternoon there. he wonder what you are hearing about the idf strike and the destruction at that refugee camp in gaza. >> reporter: well, we had that u.n. resolution that was all about dialing down the temperature of this conflict and right after that resolution was passed within hours israel announced it was intensifying military operation in gaza and then we had one of the deadliest weekends we have seen since the begin of this 80-day war. a dozen idf soldiers killed, 250 people in gaza who were killed and airstrikes in central gaza and no sign of this devastation slowing down anytime soon.

under the constant buzz of israeli drones, palestinians in gaza once again dig through the rubble with bare hands. this is not a rescue mission. what they find remains of loved ones crushed under a collapsed building. >> my nieces and nephews were displaced. they fled the day before yesterday. it was their fate to be martyred here in the uncle's house. >> translator: my nieces and my nephew, one was only 3 months old. they are still under the rubble. >> one of the deadliest 24 hours in gaza in a war approaching the 80th day. the hamas controlled gaza health ministry says 250 people died in israeli airstrikes on the refugee camp since the start of christmas eve.

cnn cannot independently verify the numbers released by the ministry in gaza. responding to cnn questions, the idf said in response to hamas' barbaric attacks. the idf is operating to dismantle hamas military and administrative capabilities. idf refers to hamas' surprise attack against israel on october 7th. they killed at least 1,200 people and roughly 240 hostages kidnapped. video obtained by cnn shows families still digging through the debris for missing relatives. some saying they are still buried under the concrete slabs of collapsed buildings. children, children, children, innocent children, he says. this man says he lost ten members of his family and over the collapsed building he bids farewell to his beloved deena, the 10-year-old he says was the

playful one. in the mangle of debris, glimpses of the lives that sought safety from one place in gaza to the other. it's up to the neighbors to find the bodies of the families trapped beneath. the injured rushed to a hospital through the night. the hospital already struggling with an influx of injuries and bodies from other airstrikes. by daylight, the community came together for the ritual of mourning. bodies were what remained, readied for burial. i was waiting for you to grow up, he says. the family moved from one shelter to another in pursuit of safety, this man says. my eldest son. around every corner families grappling with the scale of the loss. >> translator: my daughter was

martyred. my five brothers, their children and wives all gone. they were displaced. there were 96 people in that building. all gone. >> reporter: survivors of previous airstrikes come to the aid of the new survivors. khalid lost his grandchildren last month. >> translator: this is utmost criminality. we are in festivities celebrating jesus christ. people talk about human rights, mercy, the security council, red to cross and humanity. where are these human rights? >> reporter: that is the question gazans keep asking. where is safe? that is the question that so many in gaza are asking, and other questions where will their next meal come from. the food situation in gaza so dire, all 2 million plus people living there are suffering from acute food insecurity which means in the coming weeks and months the possibility if they

don't die in an airstrike or from a bull lut, they could die from starvation if something isn't done to thelp them. >> thank you for the reporting from tel aviv. sforz. joining us is senior advisor to israel prime minister benjamin netanyahu. ambassador, we appreciate your time this morning. i want to start with what we heard from the prime minister yesterday and what he wrote in "the wall street journal" editor your pages making clear that the offensive isn't close to finished and laying out his prerequisites for peace, including destroying hamas, demilitarizing and de-radicalizing gaza. how close are you to attaining these goals at this point in time? >> we are not there yet. but every day we are getting closer. in the northern gaza strip where our campaign started earlier where we're seeing the hamas military machine crack. we are seeing more and more hamas terrorists voluntarily surrender to the idf.

the israeli defers forces. i think it's a matter of time before we have victory there in the north. in the south, we started later, as you know, only in november. that'll take a touch longer b but we will see vigctory there, too. destroying hamas is prerequisite for a better future for israelis and plins. you won't have a demilitarized and de-radicalized gaza without first destroying hamas. you can't have reconstruction in gaza, rebuilding the lives of people without first getting rid of hamas. >> i think the primary question i heard from some officials in reading the opinion piece was the third prerequisite of de-radicalizing gaza. what is your threshold? how do you have metrics for that? how do you achieve that particularly in the wake of an offensive campaign that led to the deaths of what the health ministry says is more than 20,000?

>> so we think it can be done and we think that the fact that hamas is both -- this terrible war upon us, all this destruction and death, that creates an atmosphere for hamas' radicalism, fanaticism, that will be discredit inside the eyes of many gazans. after victories in the twekd world war in places like japan and nazi germany led to de-radicalization and those countries are now healthy democracies, we believe something similar can happen in gaza. i'd remind you that there have been countries in the middle east, in the gulf, countries like saudi arabia, countries like emirates where in the past you had a more radical tradition. there were even connections between saudi arabia and al qaeda in the past and so forth. those countries have gone through a process of de-radicalization and today they are moderate countries, countries that want to embrace

the modern world. the guantaza ans can learn from spirits of their arab brothers and sisters. >> if you were spoke to go them privately, they would say they have no issues with hamas being dismantled and removed from gaza, yet where are they? we don't see them making public statements in support of israel. we see them calling and condemning some of the actions taken. where are those nations now? >> so i think everything depends on us winning this war. we will win this war. but once hamas is defeated many things that today seem impossible will become very possible. once hamas is defeated and the world will be discussing building something new in gaza, i am sure there will be many partners in the arab world as well. and ultimately, i mean, obvious getting rid of hamas is good for the people of israel. hamas is a brutal and horrific enemy that has committed the most terrible violence against

innocent civilians. people forget that hamas has been a curse for the people of gaza. they have been ruling gaza for 16 years. and what have they brought the people of gaza besides poverty, hardship and misery? the people of gaza also deserve a government that actually cares about them. >> a close advisor to the prime minister is scheduled to be in d.c. today meeting with white house officials. at the time the white house officials are asking for the scale and the intensity to be ratcheted down, different from the message from the prime minister. what are those conversations expected to yield? >> so we have been having really good conversations with the administration since this crisis erupted october 7th. a close friend of mine said he has never seen the level with the united states as close, as intensive to now. as you heard repeatedly, we and the united states share common goals. israel has the right and the obligation to defend itself against this hamas terror threats. israel and the united states

want to see hamas destroyed, see a new reality in the gaza strip. we can have different discussions on this technical issue or that technical issue. we listen very attentively to whatever washington says and i believe they listen carefully to what we say to them. but ultimately we are on the same side of this. we want to see hamas destroyed. >> before i let you go, ambassador, the iranian officials have alleged that israel was behind a strike that took out an rgc leader in sire yeah, vowed retaliation, is there truth to the fact that israeli forces were behind it and, two, are you prepared for whatever retaliation that is pledged by iran and their proximate sees? >> so it's skpclear that iran i major problem. not only present in syria yeah, but lebanon through their proxy hezbollah, present in gaza through their proxy hamas. they pay for some 93% of hamas' military machine and of course we have seen them present in the

red sea interrupting international shipping, pie ra s scion the high seas through the houthis. the houthis couldn't do anything without their iranian logistics support. iran is everyone's problem. it's the problem of everyone who wants to see peace and progs priority here in the middle east. >> what forces were behind the strike that took out this rgc official? >> i cannot comment on that specifically. generally, anyone involved in terrorist attacks against israelis can expect that we will find them. >> we appreciate your time. thank you, sir. >> thank you for having me. to the fbi now. they are joining an investigation into threats made against justices on colorado's supreme court following their ruling that disqualifies frump from the gop primary ballot. what we're learning there those threats ahead. and alexey navalny and a half is back on the radar.

what he is now saying about his relocation to an arctic prison known as polar wolf. that's next. . polar wolf. reunion.

iranian. after that unprecedented ruling in colorado last week taking gop frontrunner donald trump off the ballot in the primary in 2024, the fbi is investigating violent threats made against those state supreme court justices that were in the majority on that decision, writing in, quote, we vigorously will pursue investigations of any threat where use of violence committed by someone who uses extremist views to justify their actions regardless of motivations. cnn reports that those are similar to violent language after the federal indictments of trump which are not detailing specific acts or threat. chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst john miller. what do you know? what's your reporting on how concerning these threats are? >> well, very concerning. you've got a byrne of the colorado state patrol, responsible for protecting those judges in state buildings, the denver police, which is also involved in this case, and the

fbi, working on increasing security around those judges. now, this was a four to three split decision. some of the threats are directed the against the judges in the supreme court of colorado in general. some against specific individuals. but, poppy, these can be difficult cases to investigate after you increase security because, you know, in these message boards, if you post, you know, i hope they all die under the law, that's not considered a threat. if you say, i'm planning to go and kill one of them, that is a threat. so they are sorting through the threats and the language. >> given that dynamic, how -- how can they shift their posture trying to sort through things why a way we'll have them better prepared should something happen? >> the first thing is increasing security, which they have done and are continuing to evaluate. the second thing is, you know,

and i have been through these investigations before many times in the new york city police department. we have a specific -- have a specific threat squad that does threat assessments. they send people out and interview these people and assess the person who posted it and sometimes they say i didn't mean that or i was drunk or angry. sometimes they'll say, we're going to take this investigation a step further and into another case they can make an arrest. but you have to take them seriously. look at judge salas in new jersey who had an individual show up at her home. her husband -- killed her teenage son. judge roamer in wisconsin who had an individual in one his cases came to his home after the fact and killed him. threats against judges in this country have skyrocketed between 2016 and i think 2018. they doubled. last year, for federal judges, just federal judges, that's

2,700 federal judges, there were 4,500 threats that are serious enough to mer it an investigatin by the united states marshals. >> that's an incredible number, 4,500 against judges. what is driving it? the increase in anger and threats and increase in deadly violence against judges? >> well, a couple of factors. number one, there is the perceived anonymity of a person making threats of the internet, of social media. it's not like you're calling up the judge's office in most of these cases and saying, i'm going to kill judge smith. but when you're on message boards and using a handle or a screen name that's not your true name and the conversation gets going, and i saw this in the first criminal indictment in manhattan where they started threatening the prosecutor, the manhattan d.a., where they

started threatening the judge, but beyond that the gasoline on the fire is when you have donald trump, a former president of the united states, making vivid vit ol i can personal attacks on prosecutors, on judges, calling them names, that adds gasoline to the fire into these chat rooms and people feel they are being called on. the problem is, for authorities, is sorting out the noise from who the real player is going to be, who might show up and do something. you look at the nancy pelosi case where an individual showed up at her home in san francisco, home invasion, assaulted her husband. someone who was not on the radar screen and comes out of the woodwork. so these are difficult cases. >> yeah, no question about it. john miller, appreciate it. thank you. new this morning, navalny issuing a message from a prison

he was transferred to, saying he is, quote, fine. his lawyer visited the jailed activist money at a prison known as polar wolf more than 2,000 miles from moscow. he has been missing since november 11, days after russian president vladimir putin announced election plans. he said don't worry about me, i'm fine, i'm totally relieved that i finally made it. ahead, harvard pressure mounting after the president was accused of plagiarism again, her handling of antisemitism on campus and key faculty a meeting with top school officials. an update ahead. and six months after the supreme court gutted affirmative action in college admissions. how some black students are navigating the new college admission process next.

harvard's board is backing its president, claudine gay, as the university faces issues including calls for her resignation. some members held a meeting last week to address problems on campus. the university's newspaper the harvard crimson reports that no one discussed gay's removal. earlier this month gay and over to other university presidents struggled calling for the genocide of jews on campus would violate rules. she also faces allegations of plij rich and the university is seeing a number of applications plummet. omar jimenez joins us now. in terms of this meeting and what the actual path forward is for claudine gay, what do we

know at this point? >> right now from our understanding this seems to have been a meeting to talk about a range of issues, including rising antisemitism on campus, the plij rich allegations and also follalling application rat deal with the supreme court ruling when it comes to affirmative action as well. so a lot of things on the table and a former dean of harvard medical school at this dinner told cnn it was a cordial and frank discussion with the members of the harvard corporation, which is essentially the main governing body for harvard, and all that said, while the board members faced a grilling according to "the new york times," no one pressed for the explicit removal of claudine gay according to the crimson, which is what harvard pointed us to and we reached out for comment. >> what about this deadline this friday for this house probe on antisemitism at some of these schools in what is harvard expected to say and do and where does this go. >> yeah, this is a house probe that, obviously, goes back to early december when the university presidents were on

capitol hill testifying disastrous as many people described it. so it started with antisemitism. since then it's expanded to now include plagiarism allegations. you see the timeline there based where we are now. now the house education committee is asking the university among other things to provide how they have handled instances of plagiarism in the past when it comes to students and other faculty because they essentially want to see if they are holding the students to the same account they are holding their president and that deadline this friday. >> okay. thank you for the reporting. six months since the supreme court struck gown affirmative action in college admissions, students in colleges are grappling with this change. it was an historic decision. it reversed decades of precedent. it ended the ability of post-secondary institutions to consider race or ethnicity of one of factors to create diversity on college campuses.

gabe cohen joins us from wachld. interesting on the heels of harvard having a 17% decline in applications this year, all schools are going to have to deal with a new, you know, post-affirmative action world. >> yeah, poppy, that's right. what it's done is take the college process which has already been a bit mysterious and nuanced and added a new layer for students of color debating how to address racial identity in their applications which they are still allowed to do but as a result of that uncertainty, the students i spoke with are taking starkly different approaches. >> hi. i am a black girl in s.t.e.m. >> reporter: that's her application video for brown university. she is among the millions of students applying to college six months after the supreme court struck down affirmative action in college admissions. navigating how and even whether

to include race in their pitch for admission. what was your reaction to the decision? >> at first i was a little scared. i thought it was a bit unfair. it made me doubt myself a little bit, are my numbers good enough. >> reporter: you took some schools off your list? >> i felt like they were almost impossible. >> reporter: when she sat down to write her college essays she decided it was more important to discuss race as part of her life experience. >> i believe it made me emphasize i was black more than i would have. >> expressing myself more through photos, my hairstyles. >> reporter: her main essay about growing up in a rough part of baltimore. >> my identity, who i am as a person and race is a big part of that. >> reporter: do you think schools are looking for that diversity? >> yes. >> do not ignore a crucial part of your identity. >> reporter: college advisors are encouraging black students not to shy away from race in their applications. especially in their essays. >> it paints a holistic picture

of who you are. >> reporter: do you think without boxes to check it's more important to write these issues? >> i do. a lot of the elite colleges are looking for ways to identify these students. the key piece of advice is make it easy for the colleges to know all of who you are. >> reporter: many schools added questions to their applications so students can discuss their life experience and how they'd add to campus diversity. >> as a student-athlete, vice president of the black student union and vice president of the national society of black engineers -- >> reporter: sean manly essay captured his unique experience as a black student in rural maryland. >> i was scared at first that they wouldn't be able to see my race and see all the challenges that come with it. i am very proud of who i am and it's very important part of why i'm here. >> reporter: do you think it will put you in a better spot? >> i don't know if writing it in my essay is good or bad unyet. >> reporter: the supreme court decision added a new level of stress to an already stressful

college application process for students. experts ex expect historically black colleges will see higher enrollment and more applications and some students are taking a very different approach. you took race out of most of your essays? >> yes. >> reporter: harmony moore rewrote her essays about being a black student at mostly white houston school. why did you feel that was necessary? >> i didn't want to have the wrong admissions officer read it and, like, don't want to let me into the school because i am trying to push my race on them. i think i stand out, like, on my own, like, with my extracurriculars and honors i received. i don't want to have the same exact same story as hundreds of other black students. >> and another student told me she is looking at each college individually and only writing about her racial identity for the schools that she believes are more progressive. that speaks to calculations that the students are making right now. i think it is important to note

that the head of the national association for college admission counseling told me students of color right now don't need to write about trauma or adversity to get into college, but they also should not feel deterred by the supreme court decision which is something that they are hearing from a lot of students. poppy and phil. >> really interesting piece. thank you. well, if you want add brand new apple watch for christmas and didn't find one out of the tree, you may be out of luck. why they have to pull from the shelves started today. and "the nightmare before christmas. a 6-year-old boy flying by himself ends up on the wrong flight. the family's reaction and what the airline is saying.

this morning spirit airlines is apologizing after an unaccompanied 6-year-old boy from philadelphia, you see him there, on his way to visit his grandmother in fort myers, florida, on christmas day and was placed on a flight to orlando instead. the boy's grandmother, maria ramos, says fear took over when spirit staff told her little casper was nowhere in sight. >> they told me, no, he is not on this flight. he missed his flight. i said, no, he could not miss his flight because i have the checking tag. >> ramos said she drove to orlando to pick up her grandson after she got a call from him. spirit offered to reimburse her for the drive. all three wants are answers. >> how did that happen?

did they get him off the plane? did the flight attendant after the mom handle him with paperwork, did she let him go by himself? >> spirit has issued a statement saying, quote, the child was us a the care and supervision of a spirit team member and as soon as we discover the error, we stuck steps to communicate to the family. we apologize to the family for this experience. the airline says it's counsel dugting an internal investigation. if you didn't get an apple watch for christmas, maybe you wanted to buy one today, you are not going to be able to find the latest version on the shelves. the trade commission ruled that apple's newest version of the watch violates a patent registered to another company. president biden had to the end of christmas day overturn that ruling. he did not. cnn's rahel solomon with more here. what's this patent dispute over? >> this is about the technology that reads blood oxygen levels, a light-based technology that a

california-based company says that's our technology and accuses of apple of infringing on their patent. they have been back and forth. we can show you sort of what models it applies to. they have been back and forth about this issue for years. fast forward to late october. that's when the u.s., as you said, international trade commission stepped in and essentially sided with the california-based company. so that ruling takes effect today because the biden administration did not intervene. what this means if you are looking for one of those models, one of those newer models of the apple watch, trying to get it directly from apple, you might have a hard time. you can, however, get it from some of the retailers who may have it on their shelves until they run out. the impact to apple, is the big question, a huge massive company, may not be as much as you think. i spoke to dan ives, he has been covering this stock for 15 years, what is the impact to apple? he said it's not significant. he said we estimate it to be 200 to $300 million in lost revenue.

he called it more of a pr black eye than a financial black eye. 200, $300 million, a lot of money but not for apple. he said this is more about the optics. it's not a good look when it looks as if you are accused of stealing someone else's technology. more of a pr issue now. >> fascinating. the biden administration could have are stepped in. they chose not to. thank you. there has been no shortage of extreme weather events from deadly wildfires that ravaged hawaii in august to hurricane idalia that brought obama administration flooding and r *- flooding to the northeast. the tomorrow ten climate stories from 2023. >> starting our list at number ten, the water whiplash that became a signature of 2023 in the american west. >> what you are seeing here is an attempt to try to get ahead

of the storm that continues to pound california. >> after years of megadrought, rivers in the sky unloaded on california turning dust bowls into raging floods that took at least 20 lives and filled the mountains with record snow. but not enough to end the drought. number nine is cop28 in dubai. >> allow me to declare the meeting adjourned. >> the world came together and for the first time in three decades of climate talks agreed to transition away from fossil fuels. over 130 nations were hoping for a more ambitious phase-out of oil, gas, and coal, but petro states like saudi arabia would not agree. scientists warn to meet the ambition of the paris accord heating pollution must be cut by 40% by 2030. rate four times faster than the current pace. and number eight.

the mediterranean storm daniel glaskered yeast with an inch a rain per hour. drowning people in libya. >> everywhere you turn, it's apock lip a apocalyptic scenes. >> 50 times more likely on an overheated planet. number seven, over a dozen young people successfully sued the state of montana for ignoring their constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment by developing fossil fuels. for the dozens of states and cities taking big oil companies to court for their role in climate change, it was a key win. number six is the summer of smoke. brought by a record shattering scale of canadian wildfires. an area the size of missouri burned north of the border. >> if you get a glimpse of the sun on these surreal days, it's a glowing ball in the sky.

>> american air quality in some cities was the worst in generations, closing schools and filling emergency rooms. number five is the ocean water around florida reaching hot tub temperatures of nearly 100 degrees in july. bringing devastating new levels of coral bleaching to the cradles of caribbean sea life. that warmer water is also jet fuel for hurricanes and, at number four, rapid inte intensification became a word phrase of 2023. >> water over that seawall and we are getting sprayed every minute or so. >> storms like idalia and florida's big ben, otis in the east pifb and hilary in southern california showed us how modern storms are getting stronger and faster. number three, phoenix, arizona, gave us a new definition of heatwave with 31 straight days at or over 110 degrees. temperatures hot enough to kill

cactus plants. also took the lives of at least 100 people. a grim new record. that is just one facet of a warmer globe. number two, earth's record temperature, the highest in 120,000 years. a few days in 2023 a full 2 degrees celsius warmer warmer than preindustrial levels. if that becomes the new average, scientists warn of cascading collapse. number one, the maui wildfires. >> we are just pulling into lahaina, our first glimpse at this town after hearing these nightmare stories. and it is worse than you could imagine. >> generations of water theft, invasive grasses and recent drought created the fuel. downed power lines are suspected of providing the spark. and hurricane winds fanned the flames until most of beloved lahaina was turned to ash. with around 100 souls lost, the

deadliest fire in modern u.s. history and the battle over how best to build has just begun. bill weir, cnn, new york. our thanks. donald trump spent the holiday weekend on social media posting attacks against anyone he considers his enemy. we'll get former republican congressman fred upton's reaction and a lot more. and thousands of migrants are walking from southern mexico to the u.s. border where authorities have been slammed by a surge in migrant encouounters. lilive at the e u.s./mexicico b next.

welcome back. donald trump spent the holidays on social media this weekend going after president biden, going after special counsel jack smith, and many others. he declared that, quote, of course, he has presidential immunity from key charges against him. the former president continued his attacks on immigrants, this all comes just days after trump defended recent comments of people entering the country illegally were, quote, poisoning the blood of america. comments that have been compared to hitler's rhetoric. >> first of all, i know nothing about hitler. i'm not a student of hitler. i never read his works. they say that he said something about blood. he didn't say it the way i said it, either, by the way. a very different kind of statement. what i'm saying when i talk about people coming into our country, they are destroying our country. >> with us now, republican and former congressman from michigan, fred upton, who insists i call him fred, but i just can't. congressman upton, thank you for joining us.

hope you had a very merry christmas. i'm so struck by this new polling out of iowa. if i can ask you about another midwestern state for a moment, because it's rhetoric like this that has likely caucusgoers in iowa, republicans, more likely to support trump. 42%, 43% more likely to support him when he says things like immigrants are poisoning the blood of america or the radical left thugs are like vermin. what does that tell you about your party right now? >> well, he's appealing to the base, and that base is not going to go away. it's sort of like i think it was axelrod who said early on, folks prefer the real thing versus desantis, which is the light trump. he's appealing to the base, but it really hurts with moderates, with swing voters, for sure. and you know, i can remember when i was in the congress and i retired earlier this year, so many people said, i like what he's doing on the economy, but

why doesn't he just drop his cell phone into a bucket of water with some of these tweets? it shows that he's not going away. he's doing the same type of nasty name calling that he did during his four years in office. that really hurt him in the '20 election. man, if he had done a couple things right, if he hadn't gone after john mccain, maybe he would have won arizona, if he hadn't gone against john lewis, maybe he would have won georgia. he could have won michigan again, even though the difference was 150,000 votes versus when he had won it back four years before. so he's not going away. and you know, you look at the rhetoric, all the people, telling them to go to hell that don't agree with him, the base loves it, particularly in iowa, let's face it. it's not real good in other places. probably doesn't help him in new

hampshire is my guess. >> can we talk about your effort, the no labels effort, trying to create a unity ticket backed by no labels. it would run against trump and biden if that is the general matchup in 2024. where are you on that? and when are you deciding if you get in and who the candidate is? >> well, our goal right now is to get on the ballot. we're trying it provide voters a choice if it is biden and trump again, we want to provide a unity ticket or what would otherwise be called a bipart szn ticket. we have to wait until super tuesday to determine if it's biden and trump for sure. we're active in 27, a number of states we can't start until next year in terms of collecting the signatures. every state has a different standard to get on the ballot. so ross perot did it, we're way ahead of where he was 30 years later. and we're excited about where we are, but we have to wait until

super tuesday to determine if it's biden and trump. 70% of the american public don't want a rematch between these two for pick the reason, and we want to provide voters a choice. it's been an exciting challenge for us, but the candidates themselves would run the campaign. we're just trying to get things started. >> right. the important leg work of trying to get them on the ballot. you have critics in this. among them, a vocal critic is president obama's former deputy chief of staff, jim messina. let me read part of the argument he's making against what you're doing. quote, the idea that a unity ticket featuring a republican and a democrat could somehow produce a nominee with a clear path to victory is worse than political fiction. the group behind it no labels is pushing a dangerous lie that would serve to put trump back in the white house. he's calling it dangerous lie, congressman. i wonder what you want to say in response. >> well, a couple things. you know, the polls, we have

seen this for month now. the polls show if it's one-on-one, trump is going to beat biden. we're trying to provide voters a choice. that's what a democracy is about. now, dccc and rnc are against what we're doing. they like the game the way it is, just the two of them in a one-on-one match. we see this dysfunction. we see all the problems back in washington. they can't do a budget, we're looking at another shutdown in a couple weeks. with no action there. it's time to see a little bit of a difference, and that would be a republican and democrat working together, and why not let voters have that choice? and our polling shows that 70% of the american public don't want to see another rematch between these two. >> if you don't know who the k candidate is going to be yet, how can you be sure they won't pull from biden?

look at george wallace, ralph nader, ross perot, they didn't go on to win a single state. >> well, remember, perot at one point was at 30%. that was in the summer. we have until august actually to pull out, early august, if we decide not to run with the ticket that's in place. so we're months ahead of where perot was. perot got on all 50 states and got up to 30%. >> he didn't win any of them. >> i know, remember, he pulled out. but it's different. 30 years is different. you didn't have -- i was with president bush when ross perot actually called to say he was going to run. we know that in fact we can win some states. and we would be in it to win it. we have a long time here. but the american public is frankly disgusted with what they see today. >> in it to win it, fred upton,

former republican congressman, thanks very much for being with us. merry christmas. >> you, too. >> talk to you soon. well, new warnings this morning along the u.s./mexico border. local law enforcement sounding the alarm it does not have the manpower for the expected surge of migrants trekking as part of a caravan to the u.s. this comes ahead of antony blinken's meeting with the mexican president. rosa is live in eagle pass, texas. the migrants are continuing and i wonder what you're seeing and hearing on the ground this morning. >> reporter: well, poppy, we just saw a small group of migrants cross into the u.s., and they're being taken for processing by u.s. immigration authorities. but what we're also learning is more about what's driving this surge. it's not just the cartels or your run of the mill smuggler. it's actually pseudolegitimate travel agencies abroad that the

agency is cracking down on. they're promising these individuals travel to the united states but they're connecting them to smugglers south of the border. one of the nationalities that is being targeted is the senega lease, which makes this video make a lot of sense. we took this video in arizona. take a look. >> i work for cnn. i'm wondering where you're from. what country you're from. >> senegal. >> senegal? senegal. everybody from senegal. >> now, that same cbp official says these groups, these smugglers are smuggling about 500 to 1,000 people at one time to very remote areas of arizona which of course creates a logistical nightmare for border patrol agents who then have to transport them to processing facilities. back here in eagle pass, you can see behind me that the scene has changed since last week. we're not seeing 1,000 or more

than 1,000 migrants behind me waiting to be transported for immigration processing. a senior official telling me while the scene has changed the agency is not out of the woods yet. we learned from nonprofit organizations all along the border that hundreds of migrants are being transported to those areas from eagle pass to decompress. we learned from catholic charities in the rio grande valley that last week officials were transporting about 350 migrants per day. and poppy and phil, the organization there tells me that now they're receiving about 550 per day. that's just gives you a sense of the number of migrants who continue to pour in. >> rosa flores, great reporting. thank you. >> thanks for joining us. we'll see you back here tomorrow. cnn news central starts now. the u.s.