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donald trump kicking off the new year with his name kicked off primary ballots in colorado and maine. how his legal team plans to fight those decisions. a powerful 7.5 week striking western japan. thousands flee coastal areas over fears of a tsunami. hours into 2024, russia launches intense attacks across several key ukrainian frontlines. vladimir putin says more strikes are coming. we are following the stories of many more all coming in.

a new year and a new test for american democracy as several high-stakes cases could put the 2024 campaign calendar on a collision course with the supreme court document. it all centers on former president donald trump. tomorrow trump's lawyers are expected to appeal some highly controversial decisions that bar him from the 2024 ballots in colorado and maine. there are also the pending criminal cases and the key aspects of those are also on a fast track to the supreme court. did we mention primary season is in full swing? look at that calendar. if it seems overwhelming to you , imagine the logistics of being a part of the trump campaign and the legal teams dealing with this. i want to break it down with anna bauer. first, should we expect the supreme court to clarify the insurrection issue once and for all, or could the justices land

on a narrow decision that will pave the way for more controversy? >> first of all, happy new year and thank you for having me on this first day of 2024. i think the supreme court is likely to take up this appeal that relates to the disqualification in this landmark ruling from the colorado supreme court in which they found that donald trump, under section 3 of the 14th amendment ought to be disqualified because he engaged in insurrection. i think this is something that the supreme court must take up. we have been tracking these nationwide efforts to bring litigation related to section 3 of the 14th amendment. we have found there are over at least 30 challenges that have been brought. more challenges are coming in other states. it is something that will continue to be an issue as we go through the primaries and into the general election. i think it is something that

the supreme court will take up. as to whether they will clarify what it means to engage in insurrection and whether donald trump did engage in insurrection remains to be seen. there are some ways that they can skirt the issue. they could decide that section 3 does not actually apply to the office of the presidency, or they could decide that the clause is not self executing and that congress would actually have to implement some kind of legislation to make it effective. there are a few different ways that potentially the justices could skirt the issue of actually declaring whether or not donald trump engaged in insurrection as relates to the events of january 6th. it is a very contentious issue and i think the court, having gone through some of the challenges to the credibility that it has in recent months is

going to be very cognizant of how politicized this issue is i will not be surprised if they end up avoiding the issue and decide on other grounds. >> to that point, on cnn yesterday democratic congressman laid out why he thinks justice clarence thomas should recuse himself on the 14th amendment matter. this is what he said. >> anybody looking at this in any kind of dispassionate reasonable way that said, if your wife was involved in the big lie in claiming that donald trump actually won the presidential election and had been agitating for that and participating in the events leading up to january 6th, you should be participating periods >> he should recuse himself? >> he absolutely should. the question is what do we do if he does not recuse himself. >> do you think he will recuse himself?

>> i don't know whether clarence thomas will recuse himself but it is important to note that he has previously recused himself in cases related to january 6 committee litigation. there was a case in which the january 6 committee attempted to get documents from john eastman. some of those the documents included emails between eastman and jenni thomas, clarence thomas his wife. clarence thomas did recuse himself in that case. there is a federal law that requires a judge recuse themselves when there might be some reasonable question as to the appearance of impartiality. that includes instances where for example they might reasonably believe that their spouse could be a material witness in the case and again, jenni thomas is someone who had medications with someone like mark meadows about efforts to

reserve reverse the results of the election, had medications with john eastman and someone who was at the january 6th rally add trump's speech. it certainly is a case that there is a colorful argument here that she could be someone who might be a material witness as it relates to the department of justice case against trump. there is a argument for clarence thomas's recusal based on all of that. there are some signs that we have seen that potentially clarence thomas will not recuse. there was a supreme court petition brought by special counsel jack smith in relation to the federal election interference case against trump. in that petition were jack smith asked the court to jump ahead to the dc circuit court of appeals and decide this presidential immunity issue. the court declined to go ahead

and do that. in doing so there is no indication in the denial of the petition that clarence thomas has recused himself from voting on whether to accept or deny the petition. that might give us an indication that clarence thomas may not recuse himself from the trump related criminal cases or some of the section 3 of the 14th amendment cases. there really is not much that can be done as to senator raskin's question or congressman raskin's question about what could be done if he does not recuse himself. in the lower courts you can seek and amanda miss to force the judge to recuse themselves if they refused to do so but there is no equivalent at the supreme court level. it is something of the decision of the justices themselves. if clarence thomas decides not

to recuse there's not much to be done. >> thank you for being with us. >> thank you for having me. resident biden facing a daunting start to the new year. crises a home and abroad are threatening the stability and solutions will not coming easily. plessy assigned to be reelected. what are the president's top priorities? >> resident biden is seeing a host of challenges pile up at a time when he is trying to convince american voters to give him a second term in the white house. president biden is still on vacation in the virgin islands that he did spend part of the day on the phone with his national security team where he was briefed on what had happened with the earthquake in japan. moments ago president biden released a statement sending his condolences to the japanese people and also stressing that the u.s. and

administration officials are in touch with japanese officials and stand ready to provide assistance to the country and the aftermath of the earthquake. the national security call that the president had also focused on the latest developments in the middle east. the israel, hamas conflict have feet consumed a lot of the president's time and attention in the final weeks of 2023 and that is not accepted to be any different now that 2024 i started. officials will be watching closely to see if israel actually moves into that lower intensity phase of fighting. that is something that the u.s. has been pushing the israeli's to do for quite some time. today a senior u.s. official said that they are starting to see the beginning of that gradual shift that they are expecting to that lower intensity phase of fighting and to that more surgical approach as the idf announced that they would be withdrawing troops from gaza. there are also other issues including back here at home when you think about the border crisis and if they can renew aid for ukraine and also getting government funding past with not one but two deadlines

approaching in the next five weeks. this is all playing out against the backdrop of the 2024 election. president biden has been trailing some polls. former president donald trump is expected to hit the roads in the coming months and make that direct contrast as the 2024 campaign approaches. the first true test of this presidential election cycle, the iowa caucuses are two weeks away. where does this republican race for president stand on the first day of 2024? maybe i should say at this point it appears to be a race for second place. >> that is right. if you look at all of the polls in the early voting states, donald trump is clearly the gop front runner and by a significant margin. we have one pole i want to show you from iowa to break down what we are

looking for as we kick the season off. this year the iowa poll has trump at 58%, ron desantis at 22%, nikki haley at 13%, vivek ramaswamy at four and chris christie. what is surprising is that desantis still has a big gap between he and donald trump. desantis really is all in on iowa. this is the state he wants to win and when you talk to iowa operatives they believe that he needs to win the state. when it comes to donald trump, what they want to do is make sure that the margin is as big as possible. they are really going to be setting the tone for the rest of the primary season. look at new hampshire, while donald trump still has the lead , there really is getting to be a smaller and smaller gap, not between trump and ron desantis, but between trump and nikki

haley. nikki haley is seeing a small surge. all of the total shift and what we see will change based on what happens in iowa. >> how would a trump, biden hypothetical go head-to-head? how would it shape up? >> it is very early and just a reminder donald trump has not won the nomination. however, there has been a lot of polling to see what it would look like. the new york times did a poll in which joe biden was trailing donald trump overall 44% to 46% , donald trump with 46. perhaps most interesting is the cnn polls where we went into the critical swing states, particularly georgia and michigan, both states won by biden in 2020 that have been trailing by a significant margin. if you look at georgia, trump is beating biden 49 to 44%. in michigan biden really won by

a larger margin. he is trailing by 10 points with trump at 50% and biden at 40%. it is still very early. >> it is early. >> thank you for that. a powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake in japan causing extensive damage leaving thousands of people without power. you can see the force of the quake shaking the ceiling of the subway station. i am going to interview a marine scientist about the big waves this might cause we will talk about if more are ahead. back in the u.s., a new year means new laws hitting the books. we will take a look at the measures that will go into effect across the country today.

disaster strikes western japan hours into the new year. a 7.5 magnitude earthquake devastating the ishikawa prefecture . you can see pictures here of one neighborhood. local media reporting first

responders are rescuing people as we speak and public broadcaster, nhk say about 1400 people stranded on bullet trains 11 hours after the quake hit. one video shows the sheer power of the shaking as this occurred around 4:10 p.m. japan time for more than 30 seconds you can see the quaking and the office, in an office in the prefecture next door to ishikawa .

>> mark stewart is here with the latest. it is obviously the wee hours of the morning where you are. i see you shaking your head looking at the video. it is amazing to see what is going on. >> i received a text from a friend of mine who lives in tokyo, which was a good 200 miles away from where this happened. it is clear this quake was very intense. there are rescues taking place right now we are still about three hours or so away from sunrise in japan. broadly speaking, rescue teams are assessing what the current situation is and trying to take action. one issue they are going to have to confront is homes. homes have been completely destroyed. we have some video right now that we will soon

show you of a home that was essentially flat, pancake, it looked like someone dropped a bomb on it you can see here people driving up to this home, if you can hear some of their reactions, there is a woman in japanese saying something to the effect of oh my god, oh my god. as you can see this home is rubble. that is a big concern is people are trapped. some rescues are taking place but there is going to be this broader issue of just how widespread seems like this truly are we know a big issue that is facing this part of the country is infrastructure. five highways are damaged. as you can see from the video many roads are cracked. there are problems out one airport. getting supplies from point a to point b, things such as food, clothing, water, even emergency

responders, it is going to be a challenge. there is a report that doctors, at one point, were having a hard time getting to healthcare facilities because the roads were blocked and in such poor shape. breanna, we do not know how many people are homeless or stranded, it happened in the middle of the day or late in the afternoon on new year's day. a lot of people are stuck and at schools have been set up as emergency shelters. that is a number in the hours a >> mark, thank you for that report. joining us now is oceanographer dr. alan prager. she wrote the book dangerous earth, what we wish we knew about volcanoes, hurricanes, climate change, earthquakes and more. dr. prager, what stands out to you about this particular earthquake?

>> it is considered a major quake. 7.5 is a big quake and it was shallow. that is why you are seeing a lot of the impacts in the homes, buildings and roads cracking because it was so shallow and it was a high magnitude quake. >> those things combined are making this quite a challenge for people there. i wonder, just from the video that we have seen, we have seen video inside of a parking garage, we saw video inside of an office building. i wonder what you have observed in the shaking it does appear that the shaking was moving objects one direction and then moves them perpendicular and direction did you notice that? >> you will notice that in general when you have something like ground waves like that.

japan does have a early warning system, seconds in advance they knew something was happening and there building codes are really good. if this kind of quake happened somewhere else, i'm not saying there is no damage, it would have been catastrophic in other places. >> we go back to the northridge quake in california in 1994 and 6.7 i believe just to put it into context preach is to compare it. >> essentially, it might have been 7.1. yes. building codes, they are used to earthquakes and also the tsunami warning system, they are really good about putting the warning out and getting people to high ground as soon as possible and keeping the messaging going. that is also very impressive that they did not just put it out, they kept telling people where to go. they have not even said it is safe to return because there

could be changes in water level, things could've been damaged and they do not want people going back to the coast. that is the other part that was done very well. >> let's talk about that. obviously japan has learned a lot since the 2011 quake which was much larger and created a huge tsunami. we did see elevated waves and that isn't without potential danger to the coastal areas. what are you looking at here and what you looking for ahead? >> one thing you have to remember is even a little bit of water, a foot of water rushing in is extremely powerful . we always see pictures of cars and things floating, it does not take a lot of running water to have a big impact, that is one thing. we are waiting to see what will happen next. one thing to think about is aftershocks and desecrate landslides that could go into see an underwater? those could trigger small tsunamis. i do

not think we expect anything huge at this point, but you have to look at the aftershocks and potential landslides. >> we saw what was a placid inland waterway, it was not a big wave, about a foot, but you can see a cascading across, that can do a lot of damage. dr. prager, thank you for being with us. russia launching a barrage of drone strikes across ukraine during the early hours of the new year. vladimir putin is avowing more strikes are on the way after the russian city belgorod was shelled over the weekend. john fetterman opening up about his mental health struggles and how he thought it would in his career.

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russia drone strikes in ukraine hours into the new year. ukrainian air force said russia attacked the southern port city of odessa killing a teenager and injuring seven others. this was happening as new year's day was officially declared a day of mourning in the ukraine capital after massive attacks by russia. search and rescue operations in the way of the capital of kyiv where those attacks killed at least 28 people. across the country these attacks killed at least 53 people on friday. it was russia's largest aerial assault since the beginning of the war. let's bring in the former cia chief of operations. steve, what are we learning about the new year's attacks? >> i think we are learning that vladimir putin is trying to take advantage, not only of the

holiday season when people try to celebrate or relax, there is a psychological warfare element. that does not mean the attacks are less serious or large, this was a significant attack. we think some of it is stemming from the increase naval presence in the black sea. if those were not used this time, you can be sure that this is something they will do in the future the one thing you have to recall the reason why vladimir putin is being aggressive is because he senses softness in the west with the united states and the continued support of ukraine. >> he made comments vowing that russia will increase strikes on ukraine. let's take a listen. >> you may have noticed literally the next day strikes

were carried out. they are still being carried out today and we will do it tomorrow. what is the point and what they are doing they want to, a, intimidate us. the, create insecurity in our country. for our part we will build up the strikes that i mentioned. >> this is interesting these comments that he made earlier. what he said in the beginning you may notice the next day such strikes were carried out. he was talking about following the ukrainian attack on this naval vessel in crimea. i am wondering if you can speak to the domestic audience that he is aiming these comments at to ensure them that he is responding mightily to ukraine. >> i think you put your finger on it. there is an imperative for putin to show the russian people that any attacks on russia from ukraine are going to be answered. i think this is something that vladimir putin and his inner circle did not expect a year and a half ago

that they are contemplated attacks on the russia homeland. they thought they would go in and the war would be contained inside of ukraine. he has to pay attention. the reason why he has to pay attention although he can repress the population which he is good at doing, he has to acknowledge that during wartime there is potential for protest, mother's coming to the streets to mourn their children we saw this in afghanistan. he has to pay attention you cannot oppress everything. he has got to understand the russian people will only take so much that he is making it look like it is a response. >> you mentioned russian mothers. i think we need to be clear just how vociferous they were during the conflicts and they could not be ignored. some of them going to battlefield's to get the bodies of their sons. do you see an environment where

anything like that could change the dynamic internally in russia? >> yes i do. it is interesting because there have been a lot of protest in russia over the years. when i was in moscow in 2011 there were the protest and that was more political. you have tens of thousands of people in the street prayed for the most part putin knows how to use his internal security service to beat the people into submission. the achilles' heel seems to be the mother's groups and family groups. it is extreme it difficult to see older mothers and grandmothers hauled away by special police forces in these trucks. it could have a stimulating effect for the russian people. there is a quote, unquote election coming up for putin. he does not want that stress or incidents in the street which is one of the reasons he is taking such a strong action. >> trying to project strength

and tamped down any possibility of dissent. great to have you. we appreciate it. >> sure. when we come back, new state laws are going into effect about book bands in illinois, gender neutral 20 hour wheels in california and some others. >> in a couple of hours alabama will face michigan in the first of two college semi finals followed by texas and washington. more what you need to know before kickoff coming up. there

new year brings new state laws including legislation about gender affirming care and legal protections for abortion providers. rafael romo has been looking at changes around the country. some pretty interesting ones. can you tell us what stands out?

>> reporter: very interesting indeed. happy new year. among the most polarizing new laws that take effect with the new year are those related to gender affirming care with minors with several republican- led states moving to restrictions. in idaho petitioners who provide puberty blocking medication to minors could face a $5000 fine and a felony charge. in louisiana it will become illegal for those under 18 to receive those treatments and healthcare professionals could help their licenses revoked for two years or more if they provide services. on the other hand, maryland along with other several democratic led states passed protections for gender affirming care for all ages. as of january 1st the state would require medicaid to cover them. when it comes to abortion the state of washington is enacting the law with the goal of making the procedure more accessible by eliminating out- of-pocket cost including

deductibles and co-pays. this is in response to near- total bands in several republican-led states. in california law taking effect protects local healthcare providers from litigation over both abortion and gender affirming care to people from other states. >> there is also a new law in california that has to do with toys you tell us about this law and why it is generating so much controversy. >> it is because this new law requires toy retailers to have gender neutral toy aisles. this is another law that went into effect today. it stems from a bill that passed the california legislature in 2021 and it requires toy retailers with the sequel locations in the state, at least 500 employees, to maintain a gender-neutral section or area to be labeled at the discretion of the

retailer. according to the law, stores that fail to comply will face a $250 penalty for the first violation and up to $500 for subsequent infractions. a lot of controversy in california. >> thank you for that report. and sylvania senator john fetterman getting candid about his mental health struggles. why he thought going public with those struggles with me the end of his career.

senator john fetterman said he thought speaking out about his mental health would in his career. last year the pennsylvania democrat checked himself into walter reed medical center to receive treatment for clinical depression. he said yesterday he hopes he can help others by being open with his struggles.

>> when it was released where i was and what i was doing, it was a big story. i had assumed that would be the end of my career. i thought, if i can be of most surface, or if i can be helpful to people, i have to be fully honest about it. that is what i decided to do. my goal is, if someone can hear this kind of message or conversation that we are having an might make a different choice. >> his comments are coming as the world is grappling with mental health issues, specifically with loneliness. the world health organization declared this a global health priority and in a recent survey found one and four adults across the globe say they feel very or fairly lonely. with more we are joined by dr. joshua weiner.

thank you for being with us. i want to ask you about the impact of loneliness on depression. i want to ask you about the impact of having someone like, anyone who is well known, like the senator, speaking out so that others can see themselves in what he or she is going through. >> absolutely. the more we had people talking about this, people in the public eye it normalizes it. one thing that is good, this has been a slow burn over time. we had patrick kennedy a decade or so ago and we have had other congressmen or senators talk about their issues, celebrities, et cetera. the more you talk about it, the more it normalizes it and it opens up the conversation. one thing that came out of covid that maybe was not positive is that mental health issues became a focus and people started talking about

these issues openly. >> they looked at their neighbors and friends and they saw everyone having the same issues and it became easy to talk about. tell us about loneliness and how this has affected people and how they can identify they are struggling. >> loneliness is a subjective feeling. you could be in a crowded room or lying next to your partner and feel lonely or be by yourself and not feel lonely. it is when your desires for social connectedness do not match what you have. what is concerning is there was a great report put out by the surgeon general about six months ago. what this found, other stories backed this up, when people experience loneliness it puts them at risk for all sorts of mental health and physical health issues. chronic loneliness from a health perspective increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, early death, depression, anxiety. what they found is it is as bad

as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. we wonder why is this the case, loneliness triggers you to have at least a release of stress hormones and stress hormones are not good for your body or mental health. anything that increases inflammation, the body in the rain, increases the risk of depression and anxiety. in addition to that, we know people, when they are not feeling good, they engage in unsafe behaviors. so this is a bidirectional thing, so we know this is a problem and anything we can do to improve this will be healthy for people because what we know is over people are

spending less and less time with one another. >> when should people look at themselves and say all right, this is time to get help and what do they need to do to get that help? >> reporter: certainly if you are having problems with loneliness and it's interfering with your day-to-day functioning, so, everything when it comes to mental health is all about is it interfering with your day-to-day functioning question everybody experiences loneliness at times. everybody has sad moods but when you start to have these things occurring on a day-to- day basis and it's interfering with your ability to go through your normal day, that's when it's time to seek help. we know therapy is out there to help people, medication can obviously be helpful as well but i think people really night need to recognize that these meet -- they need to sit down, they want to take inventory of your life and figure out what can i do to make things better for myself. interestingly, there's a study called that howard happiness

study, it's the longest longitudinal study looking at what makes for a good life and what they found is the most important factor for people when it comes to them looking back at their life and feeling good is the quality of their relationships, not talking about number, talking about the quality. and so, what that means is this is something people need to put a priority on and they really need to focus on this and like everything, it takes effort. relationships take effort. >> they do, just like a job but it's one that pays off. dr. weinerer, so great to havev you, a as we get r ready t to t our inventntories. >> thanknks for having me.e. wewe will be r right back.k.

as we turn our calendars to 2024, four teams have their eyes set on making it to the championship game next week in houston. carolyn? >> reporter: the college football playoffs kick off later today with a clash of the titans. i'm excited about this, michigan facing number 4 alabama, in the first semi final game, the crimson tide have won six national titles and that wolverines have also won six but the most recent came in 1997. they lost in the semi finals the past two years. >> things we've learned from being in this game for the last couple of years, really locked in, you know, ready to go,

ready to play. >> i don't reminisce much about what has happened in the past, i'm kind of looking forward to today and the next day. just got to take it one day at a time. >> kickoff for the rose bowl is set for 5:00 eastern, the other semi final pits washington against texas in the sugar bowl at 8:45. as we turn the calendar to 2024, one of the most beloved traditions returning in seattle, it's the nhl winter classic, the annual hockey game played in the great outdoors and this year the crack in is the defending stanley cup champs, the vegas team, fans are looking forward to this. >> extremely exciting, to get a winter classic so early on in the franchise career. it's great for the city, the people of seattle. we are all very excited to be

in the game. i think it's a great way to show off the city of seattle, and how great of a franchise we have here. >> players able to take the ice yesterday with their families creating memories that will last a lifetime. so many of these guys grew up living the game on . it was so cute to see them out there with their families. >> you've got to love the two- year-old ice skaters, they are amazing. >> i have to go, college football back ends but i hope you have a great new year. >> we will be watching, thank you so much. frightening scenes coming out of japan on this new year's day, the west coast reeling after a powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake caused