first career start throwing for six touchdowns as they upset louisville. many experts believe caleb williams will be the top pick in the nfl draft. for winning, a dousing by a jug of eggnog. and also a bucket of mayo, that is some runny mayo right there. look at this, dipped some fries. tasty. >> that is so disgusting. all right. on that note, andy, merry christmas, happy holidays. i will see you tomorrow. thanks to all of you for joining us. i hope that much mayonnaise is

not in your lives today. "cnn this morning" starts right now. good morning. so glad you're with us. it is thursday, december 28. i'm poppy harlow with phil mattingly in new york. the battle to stay on the ballot is playing out in multiple states and big decisions could be coming anytime. the colorado republican party is asking the supreme court to decide if trump will be on the ballot. this comes after the ruling that he engaged in an insurrection and was disqualified. and we could find out if maine will become the next state that will actually consider what happens next. waiting for the secretary of state on that front. also this morning, nikki haley was asked a very simple question, what led to the civil war. listen to what she at any time stime -- didn't say. we'll have more on that in a moment. "cnn this morning" starts right

now. donald trump's battle to stay on the ballot in the state of colorado and in multiple states and big decisions could be coming down anytime. the republican party asking the supreme court to keep trump on the ballot. that is what is happening right now. also you talk about maine, at any moment we're waiting to hear from the maine secretary of state. >> if you want to know the full-scale of the legal issues the president is facing, we're certainly getting a look at that as well. also the special counsel in the january 6 case with a new filing yesterday morning. we'll start things off with katelyn polantz. and when you look at the full-scale of what is going on right now, very consequential supposed to be news-free week just before the new year, what stands out to you right now? >> right now the question of whether donald trump can be on

the ballot in the 2024 primary election or potentially general election because of his role after the 2020 election, january 6, and whether we ban insurrectionists, that all is before the supreme court. the supreme court is going to have to make some really hard decisions about how much they get involved in states decisions about how they govern their elections, how much they get involved in primaries. and what to do with donald trump because of what he did back in 2020. the reason it is before the supreme court is because colorado had decided through their supreme court, their own state courts, that trump should not be on the primary ballot. so now the republican party in colorado has gone to the supreme court to appeal that and to ask the supreme court to step in and put trump back on the ballot. that it should be the party's decision and they should allow trump to be on the ballot there.

one of the things that they write, for the first time in american history, a former president has been disqualified from the ballot. a political party has been denied the opportunity to put forward the presidential to candidate of its choice. so that is in colorado. but all of the states are doing their own thing in their own ways. maine, we're waiting for a decision from secretary of state. we have this decision from the michigan supreme court yesterday saying that they are not getting involved. trump can stay on the ballot there for the primary. so state by state, as these decisions are coming down, lining up as we head into the primary season, the question is, does the supreme court get involved. and what do they ultimately say about donald trump being on the ballot in 2024. >> and also jack smith's team is asking judge chutkan to keep trump's team from injecting politics in to the 2020 election trial. is this possible, can it move

forward? >> right now trump's team is very likely sitting around saying why are these people filing this, this case is supposed to be on hold as trump is appealing trying to claim he has presidential immunity and shouldn't go to trial. but the justice department is still at work, the special counsel's office did make a filing yesterday and this is the sort of thing that you do see before most criminal trials that sketches out what the justice department does not want donald trump's team to be able to argue to a jury. things they don't want them to be able to say to a jury is that trump was the victim of disinformation or he believed at the time that the election was stolen. they don't want him to be able to say that the reason he is being prosecuted is because of the politicization of the biden administration, that they are going after him for political reasons. they also don't want him to try to blame law enforcement for the failures of january 6. they say in their filing the court should not permit the defendant to turn the courtroom into a forum in which he

propagates irrelevant disinf disinformation. trial judge won't do anything because she can't, but she has this before her. and it is one of those things that will have to get looked at before trump does actually go to trial. >> thanks for the reporting on both fronts. and joining us now from the "new york times," michael gold, natasha albert and also elie honig. the colorado republican party, we've been waiting for an appeal. they have done so. how do you think this will turn out? >> as expected we're starting to see appeals to the supreme court. the biggest question is will trump's team going to appeal. i'm not sure the colorado supreme court will have dog in the fight. but i do think that the supreme court has to take this case and i think that the supreme court will reverse the colorado supreme court and rule that donald trump is not disquali

disqualified. just yesterday michigan rejected this 14th amendment challenge. so i think we're in an untenable situation if we see 50 different states adopting 50 different procedures and reaching -- of so far the results have been fairly uniform against the 14th amendment with the exception of colorado. but this is screaming for the supreme court to intervene. >> and let's turn to the jack smith filing. the fact that the defendant has wide latitude to defend themselves is not without limits. so what will be the limit on trump in this case? >> i think jack smith's motion is common. i used to always file this kind of pretrial motion and i think it is smart and necessary. because you want to set the outer limits. yes, a defendant has very broad latitude to defend himself. no, it is not anything goes. issues about political motivation, claims that this is pushed by the biden administration about the security measures at the capitol

are irrelevant. yes, he can argue he didn't have intent, he can argue prosecutors failed to meet their burden, he can allege the facts are untrue or unproven. >> and i thought what jack smith wrote in the filing is that bank robber cannot defend position by blaming a bank security guard for failing to stop him. just using plain examples of how ludicrous some of the arguments can be. >> yeah, the question of all these trials is how much courtroom and campaign will blend. in new york, it almost felt like another big campaign stop. he would talk outside the courthouse and be on truth social. in this case i wonder how much it will even matter because trump's argument about these being political prosecutions is so pervasive at this point, it is hard to imagine a jury in d.c. hasn't heard it. politics is kind of in the air there even if you are not

involved. i'm sure it is a very worthy idea to keep it out of the courtroom and keep the case focus on the legal question, but this is such a campaign message for him that it almost doesn't feel like what happens inside. >> trump is so good at branding. every person that he gives a little nickname, it sticks with them. the idea of the biden injustice department. if you keep that out of the courtroom, again, it doesn't keep it from public conversation and court of public opinion. and the public is just looking at all of these cases again, they may not be able to tell you the details, but it builds this trump nafr difrrative that he i victim. >> and when everybody knows the person, when everybody sees the tweets or the truth socials, how do you manage that. this will be a challenge for the judge. during jury vehicles, you will have to try to vet that out. during the trial it will be a

day by day policing effort. >> i actually learned reading your notes before the show that this is a normal filing. yet it feeds directly into the trump narrative which he laid off on truth social of they are trying to eliminate my ability to speak. they are trying to -- the convergence of campaign and legal. and so if you don't know this is a norm, you immediately take what trump saying and saying that is right. almost feeds his narrative. >> and i feel like it is so rare for us to be able to say this is normal when we're talking about one of the trump cases. but i think most people don't know the ins and outs of the legal system. and trump has already outlined the narrative around these trials. so if your narrative for the last however many months is they are trying to suppress me, trying to take away my right to say what i want to say, this filing really plays in to his hands.

>> and the maine secretary of state has the power to decide whether trump is on the ballot there. that is different than in other states. yes, he can appeal, but now trump's team is pushing back saying that she should have to recuse herself from this decision because of past comments she's made. past things can come back to potentially bite them. >> i don't think that the maine secretary of state will recuse herself, but we've seen several decision makers supposed to be in positions of impartiality. two of the judges have donated money to anti-trump political campaigns and declined to recuse themselves. that is not ideal. because it is not flis that the people are biased, some of what they are saying is objectively true, but it is the impression of bias that matters in the justice system. >> and we talk about politics being part the discussion and in d.c., it is like who do you work for. makes me want to judge off the

bridge. don't go far, a lot more to get to. including new overnight the united states says it has, quote, had very productive talks in those big meetings in mexico yesterday about the southern border. pressure keeps building though over the border and democratic mayors are taking aim at the biden administration. and demolition day at the idaho home where four college students were killed, why the families want to stop the madness and keep the house intact.

new this morning, secretary of homeland security says he and secretary of state antony blinken had a very productive meeting with mexico's president yesterday. u.s. and mexican officials met to discuss new ways to stem the challenging side of migration at the southern border. a huge caravan is making its way to the u.s. but officials say it dwindled from 6,000 to thousand ab now about 3,000 people. >> and mayors of some big cities are pleading with the federal government for more help coordinating migrant bus arrivals. they say they are arriving at all hours with no details about who is on board. kevin liptak is live for us with

more. nolt not the first time we've heard this, but is this different meaning is the administration feeling the increased pressure from those in their own party. >> reporter: yeah, i think they d do and on one side you have republicans, but also a lot of the democratic mayors, democratic governors, who want him to do more to curb the flow of migrants at the southern border, but on the other side, certainly he's feeling pressure from progressives, from immigration advocates who are worried about some of the changes that are being talked about on capitol hill. things like tightening up asylum rules, making it easier do deportations. so i think that president biden as he is so often on this issue really caught in the middle and that is one of the reasons i think that he dispatched this high level delegation to mexico city. this was a cabinet level delegation to talk about these issues. and when you talk to officials afterwards, they were fairly

pleased with those discussions. they do feel like they found a willing partner in the mexican president to talk about these issues. we know they went in with a few very specific asks, things like moving some of the migrants south into mexico to ease some of the congestion at the southern border, trying to get a control over the railways that migrants use to come up to the united states. and trying to put in place some incentives like visas to convince some of migrants to stay in mexico. what we heard afterwards is that the mexican officials in these talks about express some willingness to continue ramping up their enforcement mechanisms and also to try to get a handle on some of the smugglers fueling some of what we're seeing on the southern border. so certainly president biden looking to do everything he can and pull every lever that he can to try to get a handle on this crisis particularly as we head into next year's election. >> certainly an issue that is not going anywhere in the new year. kevin liptak with the hard assignment that he handlely has

with the president in st. croix. thanks, buddy. just hours from now the home will be demolished where four students were stabbed to death. but the families are pressing officials to stop the demolition because they say it could still bring evidence in the upcoming trial of bryan kohberger. prosecutors are asking to have the murder trial to start next summer. nikki haley answered a question about what started the civil war, the response a voter calls astonishing. >> well, don't come with an a easy question, right? i think the cause of the civil war is basically how government was going to run. the freedoms and what people could and couldn't do. >> she gives a 160 word answer but leaves out the most important word. and congresswoman lauren boebert is switching districts as she runs for re-election in 2024.

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through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. welcome back. nikki haley back on the campaign trail today as backlash grows as she did not say slavery caused

the civil war. this is what she said last night. >> what was the cause of the united states civil war? >> well, don't come with an easy question, right? i think the cause of the civil war is basically how government was going to run. the freedoms and what people could and couldn't do. >> haley is of course former governor of south carolina, the first state to secede from the u.s. a geographical line has been drawn and all the states north of that line whose opinions an purposes are hostile to slavery. >> and haley has a complicated history in terms of what she has said about the civil war. in the past she's framed it a war about traditions. but she changed saying that the confederate flag was part of his

h heritage but pushed for its removal in 2015 after the murder of nine at a black church. >> jessica dean is joining us. seems like there should be an obvious answer to this question. if you track back over her career, there has been sometimes pained responses to this. does it have a long esger eterm impact? >> i was wondering the same thing. there are moments when people get closer to people voting that things get traction that maybe several months ago we would have talked about it for a second and then people let it go. and then there are other instances where we make a big deal out of something, media, but it doesn't necessarily gain traction with voters. in those town hall, you get a ton of questions. and i will say why did the civil war start is not a regular question that you get on the

campaign trail. however i think most americans would be able to immediately answer that that was a war about slavery and should it exist or n not. >> control room, do we have the rest of the sound bite? let's play it. >> what was the cause of the united states civil war? >> well, don't come with an easy question. i think the cause of the civil war was basically how government was going to run. freedoms and what people could and couldn't do. >> okay, we don't have that. let me read it to you. the voter responds in 2023, it is astonishing to me that you would answer that without mentioning the word slavery. and she says what do you want me to say about salavery.

and the voter says you've answered my question. thank you. >> i don't think this is innocent at all. nikki haley is playing into a moment right now where it appeals to a certain base to deny what has happened in american history, to reject and rewrite a narrative that we have established is progress, right? moving away from a divided country, being clear that slavery wasn't a benefit to people. she is playing into that and doing it in a way that makes it seem as if she's innocent to ask that question what do you want me to say about slavery. you can say it was wrong, you can say it was the cause of the war and that we've moved forward as a country, but instead she feigns innocence. it may work in the primary, but if she ever makes it to a general election, which is unlikely to happen, that is not going to be popular with a lot of voters who will say what is the problem with just saying what it was. >> and the biden campaign immediately responded to it saying that it was slavery. and i think so to your point, if

you look at the south in the wake of reconstruction, this kind of revisionist history was actually seminole to the telling of the story of the kind of the decades to follow. i think if everyone in the primary was asked the question, would they be able to say the word slavery? >> that is a good question. i don't know. sort of hard to say to what extent this narrative has -- we're talking so much about what gets taught in schools and this is one of the things that has come up. you saw desantis get into hot water earlier this year. the way we teach history has become a culture war topic that republicans have been fired up about. i don't know if you would get an honest answer about slavery. for me it is striking that she's saying it in new hampshire that was not one of the southern states that was quick to reconsider the legacy of history. so i wonder how it will play in a northern state. >> and how sad is that.

sorry, i just am having this reaction just there is me as a journalist, but me as a human being, as an american, like these are basic facts. things that we learned about in school. and as a country, we cannot move forward, we cannot heal the very divisions that are breaking us if we can't just be honest about what happened. why is that so hard for people? i think that there is a denial, there is a sense that maybe there is a responsibility to do something if you acknowledge slavery was the reason the country broke apart rather than looking to the past to find answers for how we heal. it is ridiculous to me. >> and i'll be curious to see too as she's back on the trail, we have journalists following he have move she makes. so they will be with her with a camera and she'll get asked about this again. and does she take the opportunity to explain it more, where does she go from here. >> and it's easy to just say i should have said slavery.

but i wonder if this is part of a bigger trend for nikki haley. which some of the criticism of her has been she tries to have it all ways with all people. and it is just not clear on certain critical issues. >> i think that abortion is the one where you are seeing this most -- i want to say effectively, but such a heated topic of debate. i've been out with her once or twice and she sort of says i don't think that there should be a federal move on abortion, we need to find a compromise. trump is another example where she's distancing herself from him but can't bring herself to be critical. i think that is where you see chris christie hitting her particularly hard. and i think it is kind of hard when you are nikki haley because one of your pitches is that you are more electable and can curry more favor in a general election, but to get there, you have to get through a primary base that is in the thrawl of trump.

so i think this is another example of her flying to find a path to victory. >> and undermines the branding as the credible, reasonable republican in the race, the adult in the room when she can't just state the facts. >> i think especially in new hampshire people look to people to just talk to them straight in a way. iowa might be a bit different. but i watched her kind of contort herself around is climate change real and is it happening in front of a group of evangelicals. so just trying to get through it without offending any particular group. >> thanks, guys. secretary of state antony blinken heading back to israel next week as fears of a wider war continue to grow. today marks five years since american paul whelan was detained in russia. you will hear from him describing how he feels abandoned and fears being left behind. that is ahead.

just in this morning, an urgent warning from israel military telling people in parts of central gaza to evacuate immediately. >> this is as secretary of state antony blinken is expected to travel to israel next week as threat of a wider regional war is certainly growing. a member of the war cabinet said time is running out for diplomatic solution. nada bashir is joining us on all of this. diplomacy is crucial obviously. i think this is blinken's fourth trip to the region since the terror attack on october 7. how likely is an official broadening of this war? >> reporter: there is certainly mounting concern of the spillover of the war. we've heard the repeated calls now from white house officials for the israeli military to move to what is being described as lower intensity phase of the war. of course we've seen the

escalations of hostilities across the region particularly on the border with lebanon where there are concerns that we could see an uptick there. we've seen an exchange of fire across the border. hezbollah confirming that it carried out a shelling across the border targeting what it says to be israeli positions on the border, a village near the border region. this they say in response to airstrikes carried out by the israeli military on the southern border of lebanon. they confirmed they had carried out an airstrike targeting hezbollah positions near the border. lebanese national news agency wednesday confirming three people had been killed and according to hezbollah at least one of those was a hezbollah fighter. of course we have been hearing the fresh warnings from israeli officials including benny gantz that says time is running out for a solution.

and in fact the foreign ministry says while time is running out, they are looking at a political solution or a military solution. according to the israeli foreign ministry, that would see the israeli military seeking to remove hezbollah from that border region entirely. >> there is a video on social media that echos what we've seen in past moments during this war. what do we know about the details of this footage? >> reporter: this isis a deeply troubling video. dozens of men and children by the looks of things detained by the israeli military, they are seen stripped town and lined up with their hands behind their backs or heads and some blindfolded as well. and of course there is concern around the treatment of palestinians who have been detained.

it is unclear when this was filmed, but it has been geolocated to northern gaza. and this is a region where the human rights monitoring group says it has received reports of many detentions of palestinian civilians with children as junk as 10, elderly as old as 70 and many women who have reported mistreatment, harassment and abuse at the hands of the israeli military. and this video has raised concern over a situation which has been unfolding for weeks. u.n. own human rights office issued its own statement around concern around palestinians detained. and it said it had received numerous reports from the north of gaza of mass detentions, ill treatment and disappearances of possibly thousands of men and boys and a number of women and girls. most rounded up as they were attempting to move south where

many palestinians have been told to evacuate to or taken during operations conducted on their homes, hospitals, schools and other places of refuge. of course that warning coming from the u.n. human rights office saying it has stripped men detainees to ensure that they are not carrying explosive, but there is concern around mistreatment they may have faced. >> nada bashir, thank you. coming up, we'll speak with an american educated palestinian poet who describes being wrongfully detained by israeli soldiers and recounts the beatings and interrogations. and new reporting inside the trump campaign efforts to build a more disciplined operation. one of their challenges? that would be the candidate himself.

grim milestone and very difficult day for paul whelan. it has been five years now to the day since he was wrongfully detained in russia. he was visiting for a friend's wedding and arrested in moscow on december 28, 2018. he was imprisoned on espionage charges which he has vehemently denied. whelan tells cnn he wants president biden do whatever it takes to secure his release. >> i would ask president biden to pull out the stops, cross some red lines and do whatever needs to be done to get this case resolved and get me home. if my life is not worth that effort, then i don't know what is. >> whelan's sister also says the ordeal has been extremely

difficult for their family. >> we've been worried about his safety every day that he has been in russia. you know, people tend to think that an american who is wrongfully detained overseas is just sort of sitting like a toy on a shelf waiting to be exchanged when they are actually dealing with horrible criminals, terrible prison situations, every single day. >> jenny hansler is joining us. you've spoken to paul whelan multiple times. i think i've learned more about his situation from you than by far anywhere else. it is very clear five years is five years too long. when you've spoken to him, how has his tone and tenor changed? >> good morning. i have spoken to paul whelan half a dozen times over the course of the past two years. and in recent conversations, he has really become sort of concerned and downtrodden about his situation. he said it is surreal that he is still in russian prison after

five years. and he said that he can't believe that two governments have not been able to get him home referencing the trump and biden administrations. across the board respect he has always said he's trying to stay strong, he says getting letters from supporters, notes of support have helped. he likes to read books to stay strong. but it is getting increasingly hard. he says he is struggling with depression and this is a crushing experience. he is also concerned about returning to his life back home and whether he will ever be able to return. take a listen to what he told me last week. >> a concern for me that i won't see them again. i never thought that i'd be here not to see my cat, not to see my dog. and they both passed away. relatives have passed away. friends have moved on. i'm concerned i won't get home to see my parents. >> so of course it is difficult to hear about his 88

something-year-old parents and the fear that he will not see them alive again. >> does he have any sense of what comes next? his name has constantly been in the mix for potential swaps. you've reported the u.s. has made at least one offer. what happens next here? >> that is a great question and it is not clear to anyone what happens next. we know the u.s. put forward another substantial offer to secure paul and evan g gershovich's release. he was not surprised to hear that the offer was rejected. while he has acknowledged that there are efforts to try to bring him home, he is incredibly concerned and frustrated about the pace of the negotiations. and this is what he told me at the end of november -- >> i am wondering what they are

going to do next. if there is no diplomatic solution, what comes next. what are they preparing do to honor that promise to get me home. if they are just throwing spaghetti at the wall hoping something sticks, that is not a very good policy. >> of course this is something the u.s. government says they are working on every day, so we'll have to wait and see what happens here. >> thank you as always for your reporting. when you talk to him, the world can hear from him, so jenny, thank you. president biden facing questions over his age continuously. we'll talk to older voters on whether he i is totoo old to r r rere-election.n. stayay with us..

g.o.a.t.s in two sports and coronation of champions in others. >> andy scholes has a look back. >> reporter: 2023 saw some of the greatest ever say good-bye

to their sport while others made returns. a new sports power couple, many first time champions, a new king of scoring and one of the most remarkable sports comebacks of all-time. simone biles has made history again. simone biles making her return to competition in 2023 for the first time since suffering a case of the twisties at the olympics. winning five more medals making her the most decorated gymnast of all-time and now has her eyes set on the paris games. >> that is the path that i'd love to go. >> reporter: and coco gauff winning the u.s. open in thrilling fashion. >> getting through fashion was like a hurdle that i needed to cross. and i did. and hopefully i can continue to do that many more times. >> reporter: and djokovic continued his dom thanks in 2023 winning three of the four grand

slams overtaking nadal for the most all-time on the men's side with 24 now for his career. >> knowing that i play at such a high level still and i win the biggest in the sport, i don't want to leave if i'm still at the top. number eight, many celebrated for the first time ever. jokic leading the nuggets to win their first nba title. and texas rangers topped the die moon diamondbacks to end their 63 year wait. and reese winning lsu their first ever women's national title. and the golden knights got to celebrate on the strip with the stanley cup for the very first time. >> city of las vegas, we're champions. >> reporter: number seven the strip saw a lot of partying this

year. las vegas aces first thiem team to win back to back wnba titles. >> we're coming back. >> reporter: and 2023 also saw the return of brittney griner. she missed all of the 2022 season after being wrongfully detained in russia. >> i'm no strarnnger to hard times. you'll be faced with adversities throughout your life. this was a pretty big one. >> an outrageous story, one might be tempted to say pga tour merging with saudi backed liv golf creates strange bedfellows except we know how the saudis got the pga tour into that bed with a lot of money. >> as a player, we still didn't have a lot of clarity as to what is going on. so that is a bit worrisome. >> i hope it goes away.

>> framework still a mystery. >> lebron james, tonight breaking the record to now become the nba's all-time leading scorer. passing kareem abdul jabar. >> this was not a goal, so probably why it is so surreal. hopefully i can do more incredible things before i'm done. >> lebron james became the king of scoring. over the summer the james family was dealt a scar e as bronny wet in on cardiac arrest during a practice. >> just five months after collapsing on the court from cardiac arrest, lebron james' son bronny is back playing making his collegiate debut for the usc basketball team. >> just want to say i'm thankful

for everything. >> reporter: at number four the women's national team quest to win three first world cups were tashed dashed in the round of 16. >> it has been such an honor to be able to wear this shirt and play with all these amazing players. and to just live out my childhood dream. >> reporter: and their win and celebrations marred by an unwanted kiss, spain's football association president receiving fierce criticism for forcefully kissing the star player. he was banned there all soccer activities for three years. despite being defiant eventually resigned his post. >> best number ten in the world, lionel messi. >> reporter: and messi mania taking miami by storm. the world's best soccer player shocking the world by making the

move to inter miami. and his arrival saw ticket prices soar. at number two, chiefs and eagles playing a thriller in super bowl lvii. patrick mahomes leading a game winning drive to beat the eagles for his second title. >> in all reality this was the best season of my life. >> reporter: and travis kelce celebrating another championship and would become the story of the 2023 story as fans couldn't get enough of his budding romance with taylor swift. >> breaking news, serious injury on the field during the bills/bengals game. >> the condition of damar hamlin, the 24-year-old is in critical condition tonight after suffering a cardiac arrest and collapsing on the field. >> reporter: hamlin said it was

caused by commode cortis. >> and you can talk about people rallying for others. and this story about hamlin turned into a story about high manity. >> reporter: he said return to the bills completing one of the greatest comebacks in history. >> this event was life changing but it is not the end of my story. >> thanks to andy sholgcholes f that. "cnn this morning" continues now. new this morning appealing to the supreme court, the colorado republican party wants the justices to put donald trump's name back on the ballot after the state's high court banned him for engaging in an insurrection. that is not the only ballot fight. what the former president is demanding now.