scene. "cnn this morning" starts n. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. we're following more breaking news out of tokyo this morning. a japan airlines passenger jet with 400 people on board, see it landing there with the fire ball on its wing, collided with a japan coast guard aircraft on its way to help with earthquake relief efforts. japan's public broadcaster now reporting five crew members on that coast guard plane had been killed. the captain is in critical condition. now, video shows the commercial plane igniting into a fire ball, barrelling down the runway this morning. the airline says nearly everyone from that flight was safely evacuated. japan's public broadcaster says 17 passengers were injured. and this was the panicked scene inside the plane as smoke filled the cabin and passengers scrambled to find a way out.

cnn's will ripley joins us live from tokyo. will, i want to talk to the crew. we'll get to evacuation efforts. the crew who died, they were on their way to help, correct? can you give us more? >> reporter: yeah. so this haneda airport is in the heart of tokyo, 20 minutes from where i'm standing right now. there's also a coast guard base nearby. the whole airport sits on the bay. it's a beautiful approach when you fly in there. it's probably my favorite airport when i fly into tokyo. my camera man john flew in a few hours before this happened. but in this case, this coast guard aircraft somehow ended up on the same runway as this japan airlines jet was flying in, packed plane coming from the tourist hot spot of sapporo in northern japan and these two planes had an incredibly fiery collision. we know that, according to nhk, japan's national broadcaster, five crew members were killed. the captain was able to escape. but he is currently being held,

currently on life support. i've also lost my ifb signal. let's not ask a follow-up question until i get reconnected. what we know this coast guard plane was headed to assist with the earthquake relief efforts within hours of the new year. there was a 7.5 magnitude quake that rocked the central western coast of japan. i know we're going to talk more about that in a moment. there's a number of dead and dozens right now. what is truly extraordinary, what could have been a horrific mass casualty situation was averted because in a matter of seconds, despite the fact that passengers say the rear and middle exits of this aircraft were damaged in this collision, there was a fire rapidly engulfing the plane, and yet everybody, 367 passengers, 8 children under the age of 2, included on the passenger list so a lot of parents there clutching on to their young babies and these 12 crew members were all able to make it off of the aircraft safely.

>> will ripley, we do have follow-up questions we're going to ask you when you're plugged baaing in over the course of the next hour as we keep an eye on the breaking news on the ground. former f acaa inspector dav is here. there was not a mass casualty event, right? essentially this is when things go well. >> yeah. it's truly miraculous. the fact there were two exits blocked and not able to be used really, really made this a miraculous event to be able to get everybody off of there. what happens at this point is everybody, they deployed the slides so that everybody could get out quickly and it is amazing that that many people got out so quickly. you channel out. you go to your nearest exit. look for your nearest exit. may be behind you. this is what they did. they were aware. they were conscious and ready for any kind of accident. and this crew is amazing they

got everybody out so quickly by channelling them through the aisles. there's already smoke if you can visualize this. there's smoke in the cabin at the time. there may be fire going on at the time. people are getting out these exits and jumping on to the slides and coming out to the ramp. once they clear that, they have to get away. this is incredibly urgent situation. to have somebody to be able to manage it, a crew to manage it and get them all out safely is really testament to the work that they did to prepare for this type of tragedy. >> david, to that point, there's preparation and then there's action. and former you can do in the lead-up to it. the ladder is what matters. the wing was on fire to just how quickly the entire flame or the entire plane was engulfed. you see it there. cracked in half. the flames crawling up the windows. >> yeah. >> how much of a time window did they have here?

>> it's seconds. just within about two minutes everybody was up and out of their seats and starting to exit. here is the issue with this and the reason it came so quickly. is the fact it was a solid enough collision that not only the tip of the wing hit but the structure, the spar, the main wing spar is cracked. you can tell that that happened because the fuel cells go through there and the connection to the fuel cells are in the fuselage of the aircraft underneath where people are sitting. it ruptured some fuel cells or fuel attachments and that started pouring fuel into the area. combine that with some winds that were going on at the time, too. and that can spread the fire much more rapidly. so we are talking about just second to react, to get out of there, leave your personal belongings behind and get out of that airplane as quickly as possible. >> david, as a safety inspector, former safety inspector, can you talk about what are the next steps in terms of an

investigation? what are the things that people will start to look at? >> well, there are some things you can jump to conclusions about. we want to make sure as an investigator you don't do that. we need to look first at what happened and it's too early to assign blame. we know the coast guard was heading out to provide relief to the earthquake victims. we know they were in a hurry to get out and do that. they were moving. if you look at how busy that airport is, that's a very, very active airport. there's a lot of moving pieces. in the united states, we have talked a lot. a large increase in the number of near misses and runway incursions such as this one. we haven't had a fatality or anything like this so far in the united states. but the faa started a panel to investigate these types of incidents. so where i would start with this investigation first is the communications. the communications between who

said what to whom and as you know there's been a lot in the united states, one of them most recently was where the air traffic controller had said, go ahead and go on to runway 17 left or i don't know exactly which one it was and when the pilot repeated that back to confirm, he said something different, like 17 right. and the air traffic controller was busy, fatigued, had worked several shifts and then said it back -- didn't recognize the fact that he didn't get the message properly and that airplane taxied on to an active live runway where there was an airplane running. these types of communication under close scrutiny with the faa in the united states and also in europe and in japan, we have to really look at how this is happening as these airports get busier and busier and busier, you still have a human being trying to figure out what i call the fourth dimension. it's not only where the airplanes are, but where will they be if they make a mistake or if even if they do what

they're supposed to do, where will they be in the future. do those times intersect with each other. so it's an extremely difficult job. and we're -- i hope that it improves. we really have a lot of efforts going forward to improve that over the next year or two with the faa, at least and in the international community. >> david, thanks for this insight. now, this morning, the fbi is investigating this deadly crash outside a crowded music venue early on new year's day. officers say that a flaming suv was full of gas cans. we'll have more detail on that. and any moment now, 200 people list linked to jeffrey epstein could be revealed. that's ahead.

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this just in. the fbi's joint terrorism task force is now investigating a deadly and fiery crash outside a new year's eve concert involving an suv that was loaded with gas cans. this happened in rochester, new york, as thousands of people were pouring out of the concert venue. you can see that suv is engulfed in flames. police say the driver slammed into another car and the vehicles then plowed through a crowd of people crossing the street. >> we want to show you the video of the aftermath. you can see red gas cans on the ground next to the suv. at least a dozen were found inside and around the vehicle. the crash killed thooes two people and we're told the driver

of the suv is fighting for his life in the hospital. eyewitnesses say you could smell the gasoline. >> it was only about 20 feet from the building. and at the time when everybody was funneling out, the flames were probably 15 feet high. >> as we walked down into the hallway and going down the stairs, the smell of gasoline was just so intense. i couldn't believe how strong it was. >> let's bring in cnn's brynn gingras. they're already in a state of heightened alert, new year's with everything that's happening the middle east. what more are we learning about the investigation? >> the alarm is raised having all these agencies working together to figure out was terrorism involved, could be just domestic terror im, someone wanting to commit an act of violence against a large crowd of people. when you hear about this story, you see the red flags of what

immediately the fbi, jttj see, gas canisters found inside a vehicle and a vehicle ramming through a crowd of people. let's back up a bit and give you the facts of what happened here. so this is not even an hour into the new year in rochester, new york, at the kodak center, which was having some sort of concert, about 1,000 people attended that concert. as they were leaving the concert, there were police helping a group of people across a crosswalk and a ford expedition rammed into a car exiting, crossing over that crosswalk. so two people inside the car it hit, which was a mitsubishi outlander were killed. there were people that were injured in the crosswalk. there was also the driver of that ford expedition that was also seriously injured and is in the hospital right now. i want you to hear more from police how they describe what happened. >> the force of the collision caused the two vehicles to go through a group of pedestrians that were in the crosswalk and

then into two other vehicles. there was a large fire associated with the crash that took the rochester fire department almost one hour to extinguish. >> you heard those saying they could smell the gasoline as they were exiting the venue. a dozen gas canisters found in and around that ford expedition. that's raising this to a whole new level of an investigation. you have to believe that investigators already are trying to figure out who that person is, combing through their social media, talking to anyone who went to the concert, talking to maybe the family members of that person. we're still trying to figure out exactly what happened here and of course we'll keep you updated. >> brynn gingras, thank you. joining us now, cnn law enforcement contributor, steve moore. we appreciate your time this morning. brin's details she lays out are critical here because there are still so many unanswered questions. if you're an investigator on this scene right now or around this scene, what questions are you asking? >> well, i have to explain to myself why this would happen at

that time, why is there le legile legitimate reason for this. you don't want to call something terrorism and spend all your resources. the timing almost 1:00 a.m., well, you could say he was out there for new year's eve. the fact that he is alleged to have gone and rented this vehicle at the airport earlier, you know, that's a pretty hard one to explain away, except maybe he's an uber driver and looking for a different vehicle. that's part of the business plan for some. so what you're doing is taking this apart, each separate fact and trying to find out what is the legitimate reason for this. and if you can't explain these things as you go down, it's hard to explain a dozen gas cans, then you have to come to a conclusion about whether it's terrorism or not. part of that obviously is the identification of the driver and

just diving head first into their social media. >> so, from what we know you have this detail about the gas cans, but is there further study of the person's social media accounts? is there sort of -- where do you start to look and better understanding, at least, some of the people who are involved? >> yeah. i think social media is the first place i go for. when somebody does something like this, if -- assuming for a second it was a terrorist incident just for argument sake, when somebody does something like this, they are not going to essentially kill themselves or ruin their lives without leaving some kind of note, a manifesto, some kind of explanation for what they do. terrorists like to get credit for what they've done, even if this is just kind of some lone wolf, which it would seem to be by the crude nature of the attack. so, there's going to be some

kind of indication that they wanted to take credit for this. and that's going to be found a lot of times in social media, a search of the residence, talking to friends and neighbors. that's going to be number one. you might also speak to this person, i don't know if he's conscious or not, but, yeah, you can interview at the hospital. this is, you know, a pretty intense investigation at this phase. >> yeah. with necessity it's still major unanswered questions as we go forward. we'll keep you updated. steve moore, thank you. happening today, donald trump is expected to fight the decisions to boot him off ballots in colorado and maine. and 17-year-old chinese exchange student was found alone and cold in utah's mountains. officials say he was the victim of, quote, cyber kidnapping. what exactly is that? wewe'll tell y you ahead..

♪ we're following the breaking news out of tokyo. we have this new video for you. japan airlines passenger jet with nearly 400 people on board collided with a japanese coast guard aircraft on its way to help with earthquake relief efforts. now japan's public broadcaster

is reporting that five crew members on that coast guard plane have been killed. the captain is in critical condition. cnn aviation correspondent pete muntean joins us now. pete, tell us more that you've learned. >> reporter: well, this is a pretty incredible scene given the fact that this happened on the runway at haneda airport in tokyo. these are some of the images that are coming out right now. you can see the aftermath of the air bus a-350, this large, wide body airliner only been in use in japan since 2021. and in one of the images, a security image that's now been made public by nhk, you can see this aircraft landing on the runway. that's three four right at haneda and the nose gear appears to be completely on fire. the plane is accelerating after it hit a coast guard cash 8, twin turbo prop airplane on its way to help with earthquake relief efforts in a different part of the country. this a-350 was a domestic

flight, going between sapporo and tokyo. that is the image there of the aftermath. and the evacuation was a complete success. all people on board, 367 passengers and 12 crew were able to make it out just fine. they had to evacuate using the evacuation slides. you can see it there. that's one on the right side of the airplane that's door r-1. the right side of the airplane, very close to the nose, very close to the cockpit. those are the inflatable slides they're using to get out. this is why flight crews tell you to leave everything behind after an incident if they need to evacuate the airline. it speeds up the evacuation. it shows these evacuations can be done successfully, really a testament to the a-350. the airline is incredibly strong and it shows that it can take a hit, essentially what appears to be right on the nose. the fact that these folks were able to get out so quickly also

a testament as well. so, this is really something that was a success, although in the grand scheme it's very sad that six people are -- on board that dash 8, one was still in critical condition, five are dead. but it really shows that these things can happen successfully. and it's also a warning sign to aviation around the world, especially considering the fact that we have had so many of these runway incursions here in the united states, i think about seven have been under investigation by the national transportation safety board. it was a real incident, real spade of incidents in 2023. so this may sort of reunderscore the need to up safety in the u.s. in japan, the regulations are a bit different. this would be something here in the u.s., of course, aviation regulators need to take a big, hard look at. >> thankfully no collisions here. pete muntean, thank you so much. we'll continue to keep you

updated on the breaking news out of tokyo. but first, we'll talk about some potential breaking news today on the legal front. back home, donald trump's legal team facing a very busy 24 hours ahead. trump's lawyers are expected to appeal two decisions to remove him from the primary ballots in colorado and maine. with us to explain all of it elie honig at the magic wall. we expect the appeals, an appeal, two appeals, we have to wait and see, just to step back. what's the landscape right now in this new year? >> yeah, phil. the 14th amendment section 3 has gone from relative constitutional obscurity to the spotlight very quickly. let's remind ourselves what it says. no person shall hold any office who have engaged in rebellion or aid or comfort to the enemies thereof or caused insurrection. it seems fairly straight forward. the problem it is being interpreted and applied very differently across the map. let's look at the current status quo. these six states rejected

challenges, efforts to try to remove trump from the ballot. some still being appealed, arizona and west virginia. these 11 states we had challenges to trump's eligibility brought, but then withdrawn by the challengers for reasons that are varied. now, we have, of course, now two states, colorado and maine, who decided trump is off the ballot. he committed insurrection. 14th amendment applies. we could see appeals in the colorado case to the u.s. supreme court. in the maine case, into the maine state level courts at any moment. but as you can see, this map tells you all you need to know about just how much chaos there is state to state. >> do we have any sense of what the trump's legal team's arguments will be in the appeals? >> yeah. this is a complex sort of legal question. a lot of different issues swirling. let's break it down into three questions. first of all, who decides? now, if we look at section 5 of the 14th amendment it tells us that the congress, meaning the u.s. congress, shall have the power to enforce by appropriate legislation the provisions of this article. trump's team will argue that means congress and it's not up to the states.

the opponents will argue, states can still make their own processes to go along with congress. if that's true, if the states do have the right, that brings us to the second question by what process. how much due process is owed here? if we look, for example, at colorado, these don't have to be criminal trials. that's the highest level of due process. the question is was there enough? colorado had a five day trial, some live witnesses, member of congress, took in documents. some has here say that wouldn't be admissible. maine process, there was less. one or two-day hearing. the only witness was a law professor. the secretary of state relied on documents including youtube clips. so, the question is, was either of these enough due process. the final question is and this may seem odd, is the president an officer of the united states? i think logically you go, of course. there actually is an argument that's made sometimes that if you look at the construction of the constitution, the president is actually separate from an

officer of the united states. i think that's a long shot. look for that argument to be made as well. >> this seems to be a moment just screaming out for no ambiguity. >> yes. and yet -- >> this is exactly why we have a supreme court. we have a massive constitutional issue. we have all sorts of unknown. we have major implications. we have inconsistency in how it's being applied. we're looking for two things. first, will they take the case? they don't have to take any case. but if trump files that appeal today, they can tell us yes or no we're taking it. that can happen at any moment. then of course if they take it, how will they rule? let me say this, nobody knows. this is uncharted territory. so, it will be in their hands. >> there is no legal precedent here. nothing that people are drafting off of to know how this ends. >> right. we can pull on various strings out there, but there is nothing on point. we'll get brand new law when they terpt this. >> fascinating and somewhat unsettling. thank you, buddy. in the meantime, we're now less than two weeks out from the iowa caucuses and the republican

presidential candidates are kicking their campaigns into high gear. ron desantis is keeping his sights firmly on the hawkeye state and nikki haley is starting to a two-day swing through new hampshire. both are doing everything they can to catch up to the front-runner, donald trump. cnn's steve conner to know is live in des moines. steve, of course, it's the final sprint. what's the strategy? >> reporter: one thing they're not doing is attacking donald trump over these 14th amendment challenges that were just discussed. they defended the former president in light of what's happened in maine and colorado. but they have been focussed on attacking each other. and we have seen that consistented will in the weeks leading up to the end of 2023 and as the calendar turns to 2024. desantis and haley, neither were able to come out of 2023 as the clear alternative to donald trump. now their mission in 2024 is to push the other out of the race or at least neutralize them in some way so they can start to

solidify a coalition of non-trump supporters going into these caucuses and early nominating states. desantis, that means focussing heavily on iowa. this is a state that he has put a lot of money, time and attention into. and i think short of a close second place finish would be disappointing for his team and leave a lot of questions about his viability going forward. for haley, she doesn't necessarily need a great showing in iowa. a strong surprising finish there would show that she has some momentum going into new hampshire, which is a state that she has put a lot more effort into. and then of course, the front-runner donald trump, he will be in iowa all this week and friday and saturday with multiple stops as he continues to ramp up his appearances and get a sense to voters, yes, it's time to vote. it's time to pay attention. it's time to do what you need to do to get me the nomination in 2024. >> steve contorno, stay warm in des moines. now ron desantis and nikki haley take questions directly

from iowa voters in back-to-back events. the cnn republican presidential town halls moderated by kaitlan collins and erin burnett air live thursday night starting at 9 eastern. new images this morning show just how destructive monday's 7.5 earthquake was in japan. our crews are standing by in one of the hardest-hit areas next. plus, an election, a migrant crisis and two foreign wars. what is president biden's plan to handle all of it. white house press secretary karine jean-pierre joins us live next..

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this morning we're also following breaking news out of south korea. the leader of the country's main opposition party is in the hospital after being stabbed in the neck during a brazen daytime attack. disturbing video shows hum walking through a crowd of journalists. when a man posing as a supporter approaches for an autograph and suddenly strikes him in the left side of the neck. >> lee is then seen on the ground with his eyes closed and looking pale with a handkerchief pressed against his neck. lee suffered suspected damage to his jugular vain but the wound is not life threatening. the attacker a man in his 60s was immediately overpowerend an arrested. a massive rescue operation is under way in japan after that powerful and devastating 7.5

earthquake. the prime minister says it's a battle against time to rescue people trapped under the rubble. officials say the death toll right now is at 48 with dozens more injured. tens of thousands of people are still without electricity. >> cnn's hanako montgomery joins us in nanao, japan. tell us what you have seen today. >> reporter: as you mentioned, we're at an evacuation center in one of the hardest hit areas. i'm just speaking in a slightly quieter voice than usual because there are dozens of people here, survivors of that very powerful earthquake sleeping. they're taking shelter here because their homes have collapsed. they have nowhere to go but to sleep in their cars or this shelter. they're using very thick blankets and mats to stay warm because there's no central heating in this building. there's also no running water. people are taking water from the self defense forces just outside

providing this very essential human need to the locals here. we spoke to a couple of people inside the shelter who are just visibly very frightened about the aftershocks that are following after that powerful earthquake. we experienced a couple ourselves just ten minutes ago when the entire building was shaking. there was also rubble near some of these cement pillars. a woman we spoke to recalled how she thought she was going to die, that she was the middle of celebrating new year's day with her family. she had come from southern japan to visit her mother. she told me how she would go under the table to pray, to essentially just survive this earthquake because she had absolutely no idea what was going on. the japanese prime minister has said that 48 people, at least 48 people have died in this very powerful earthquake. and 120 people are still being rescued out from under their collapsed homes, audi.

>> thank you. after 2023, filled with headlines involving supreme court, chief justice john roberts focussed his year-end report on the potential promise and dangers of artificial intelligence. warning that ai will dramatically alter the way the court operates. roberts writing, quote, ai obviously has great potential to dramatically increase access to key information for lawyers and nonlawyers alike. just as obviously it risks invading privacy, interests and dehumanizing the law. it did not address the newly installed code of conduct or the issues tied to the 2024 election. joining us now to break it all down is joan biscue pick who got a little break over the course of the last week because she doesn't get one pretty much for eternity from here on out. the end of the year report from the chief justice has at time delved into where public opinion has gone, trying to cast

warnings about. this wasn't that on the issues of the day, but the ai notice was fascinating to me. >> reporter: it was. and you know, phil, and audi, this is the time that the chief is allowed to speak to the public with his own agenda completely. these annual year-end reports i have to say, phil, they do not tend to be super newsy. in fact, he often sidesteps controversy, but this time he did at least wade in on a topic that is, you know, so prevalent in the american minds. artificial intelligence has become like electricity, like air. it's everywhere. we're all talking about it and how it affects things. and he wanted to make the point that there's a benefit here. you know, there's parts of the law that are standardized. there's boilerplate language that come in filings. there's ways that artificial sb intelligence can help the administration the operations of the court but he wanted to stress that there's a human element a very strong human element in judging.

he would not want artificial intelligence to encroach on that or to manipulate the courts. one thing that john roberts is all about is the integrity of the federal judiciary, especially the supreme court itself. and artificial intelligence, as we have seen, can be manipulated, can mislead and he wanted to warn that it could happen right there in the nation's courts. >> joan, what i hear you saying is that this is something that lawyers are using for everyday paperwork, right? michael cohen filed a paperwork and unwittingly sent a nonexistent case citations because they had been generated by a chat bot tool google bard. it sounds like there are enough of them that the supreme court chief is worried. >> you don't. and what that was all about -- let me tell you why citations are important, audi and phil. the law is based on precedent. when you make an argument to any court, you have to cite past cases. you want those cases to support

your argument. you can't just throw in anything that's like, you know, audi versus phil. you have to have a real case there. and a good judge, good staff, they go back and they look to see is that case -- they used to not have to act like is that case for real. they used to look at does that case really stand for the proposition that the advocate is making here? is it really central to this new argument being made here. and in michael cohen's case, they weren't real. they were nonexistent. a u.s. district court judge jesse furman looked up many of them, found they did not stand for the proposition that cohen was arguing. i think in one of them there was like not even any case there. so that's really serious because again, it's not just naming -- it's not just something you litter throughout an argument, you know, for flourish, it's what the law is built on is precedent. >> well, thank you for reminding everyone about the case audi

versus phil. i won that case. >> it was a crushing legal defeat for me. >> precedent. >> indeed. assuming everyone knows. >> joan, thank you. >> thank you, buddy. >> thank you. hundreds of court filings from a lawsuit brought by one of jeffrey epstein's accusers are set to be unsealed starting today. the documents are expected to include some high profile names, former president bill clinton and britain's prince andrew, for example. a u.s. district judge in new york ruled there was no legal justification for continuing to conceal the more than 150 names said to be included in the filings. a spokesman for bill clinton put out a statement saying, quote, president clinton knows nothing about the terrible crimes jeffrey epstein pleaded guilty to in florida some years ago or those with which he has been recently charged in new york in 2002 and 2003. president clinton took a total of four trips on jeffrey epstein's airplane, one to europe, one to asia and two to africa, which included stops in connection with the work of the

clinton foundation. prince andrew settled a lawsuit with virginia jeffrey in 2022. his legal team said it is known jeffrey epstein trafficked countless young girl in many years. prince andrew commends the bravery ms. jeffrey and other survivors in standing up for themselves and others. epstein died by suicide in a federal detention facility in august of 2019 while awaiting trial. his associate ghislaine maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence. the biggest question i have, what are we going to learn? what new information are you looking for, somebody who covered this case so closely, covered all of this story so closely. what are you looking for out of this? >> reporter: details. you know, if you look at the judge's order in which she lists

the does and why she wants to release their names a lot of them say that their association with epstein and/or maxwell are widely reported. so, but the documents those names are associated with are sealed. normally you might see redacted names, blacked out, but you can see what's around them. the documents i've looked at so far are completely sealed. so, while these names we may already know, we might get more details about their association with those two. >> what are you hearing from victims? i don't know if they're speaking out in this moment when more information can be made public? >> so far we're not really hearing from victims yet. we'll see. i'm sure they want to look at the documents themselves.

>> is there a sense that there could be more arrests or charges with more names coming out? i mean, could this have further legal ramifications? >> well, it might in the civil courts as we have seen a number of people associated or companies are settling with the victims. i would imagine there are problems with the statute of limitations on the crimes especially the ones as long ago as the 2000s. this case was filed in 2015. it was settled in 2017. >> palm beach post has done so much great work and important work on this. i wanted to sort of go back, i believe you guys filed a suit to secure the release of grand jury transcripts at some point. it was a long time ago. do we have any update on that? is there a chance that those could be released? >> yes.

we filed a suit in 2019 after we took a look in an investigation at the prosecution by our county state attorney. he was the first prosecutor against epstein. and palm beach police chiefs did not like how that was going and so he turned the case over to the fbi. who then negotiated with our state attorney the famous nonprosecution agreement in which epstein escaped a 60-count federal indictment. we found out in our investigation that in 2006 the grand jury that was convened, he basically torpedoed the case. he had only one victim, despite the fact that palm beach police had found nearly two dozen, only one victim to testify. and then they brought out her

myspace pages, which, you know, like a lot of teenagers probably depicted, you know, simulation of drinking and so forth. so, it appeared to undermine his own witness, which seems strange. so, we sued in 2019 to get those transcripts made public. and an appeals court has ordered the trial judge to take a look at them and release them. so we're eagerly awaiting that release. >> thank you so much for your supporting, holly baltz. >> thank you. two foreign wars a migrant crisis at home. white house press secretary will join us next. breaking news out of japan, five coast guard crew members dead after their plane collided with a passenger jet. the passengers given just 90 seconds to evacuate. more of the breaking details ahead.

♪ in you this morning about

ten buses from texas and louisiana carrying some 400 migrants are dropping them off at several new jersey transit stations, a move to avoid new york city mayor eric adams' restrictions when they can arrive at the port authority. the migrant crisis and the wars in gaza and ukraine are all on the top of the president's to-do list in 2024. joining us now to discuss the year ahead, white house press secretary karine jean-pierre. welcome to the program. >> thank you. happy new year. >> we want to talk both domestic and international. but i want to get a sense first from you what is the white house considering a priority in this first month of the year? >> so, look, you know, i want to take a step back for a moment as we look at '24 and we are in '24. a step back. you know, this president has done more in three years than any other president has done in

two terms, and that is important here if you think about the legislation that deals with infrastructure, the roads and tunnels that are now going to be really dealt with in a real way. you think about the chips and science act, beating big pharma and lowering prescription drugs, seniors and others paying -- now paying 35 bucks, our seniors paying that when they were paying 200 bucks. that matters. that's going a long way. as we head into the new year, last year and out of the state of the union the president talked about finishing the job. he will continue to work on the economy, continue to make sure that we are lowering prescription drugs. >> let me jump in here. i want to jump in here because -- >> there is a lot to do. >> absolutely. you are making fell lent points about the macro economy. you alluded to kitchen table issues, drug prices for one. also housing is another issue. education is another issue. the student loan issue was not something addressed by the white

house in the end and in a corm hence i have way according to many young voters. are you going to try to finish those jobs in particular? >> let me just deal with the student loan issue for a second. the president put forth a plan. he wanted to keep his promise on koelg with the student loan death that is crushing families across the country and he took steps even though the plan that he put forth was stopped -- >> do you think that that -- >> by congress -- >> i want to jump in here -- >> no, i'm going to -- >> and i want to -- because they have heard from you that essentially this is something the president has tried to do and do you think that over time they start to feel like trying isn't enough? >> no, but what i was going to say, what i was going to finish saying, the president even though his plan was stopped he was able to take action and we were able to -- we were able to get rid of about $130 billion of debt, more than that, for

millions -- millions of folks across the country. that matters. that matters. so he still took action. he still took action even though his hands were tied by the courts on moving forward with the plan that he originally wanted to do. so the president's gonna continue to take those actions. let's note forget climate change. the president has done more on climate change than any other president has been able to do. those are the issues that young people care about and we will work towards and make sure we deliver on the promise that the president made to young people. but to americans across the country. i talked about what the president has done more actions. he has taken more actions than any other president in two ternls. he did that in three years. look, we have a lot ahead of us. the president knows there is more work to be done. >> there is and -- >> and 2024 we are going to be able to get done. >> i want to talk about the action in the area of immigration and migration. obviously, this has become a tremendous issue. the mayors of chicago, denver,

new york collectively calling for federal support to manage the influx of migrants to their areas. i'd like you to hear little bit about what they have to say. >> an international and federal crisis that local governments are being asked to subsidize and this is unsustainable. >> talking about 10% of the budget to allocate for cities on this, that's unsustainable. we have every hotel room in the city full of migrants that have arrived, that's unsustainable. >> the federal government said to new york city we are not going to do our job, you do our job. you take care of 4,000 people a week. >> so, obviously, there have been many republican governors and mayors who talked about this issue. now you are hearing it within the party. what's the response? >> here's my response. it is shamalful that a republican governor, governor abbott in texas is using migrants as a political stunt.

>> you aring rufreferring to th bugsing of migrants -- >> absolutely. putting them on flights. it's shameful that is occurring. if the governor wants to deal with the issue he should talk to the senators in his states and actually ask them to work with us. look, what we are seeing right now is negotiations happening on the senate side to talk about how do we come up with a bipartisan agreement to deal with border security. there is a reason the president put that in his emergency ask in the national security supplemental ask. in a couple of weeks we are about to hit years since the president put forward an immigration comprehensive legislation, put that forward to congress, nothing was done on it, and -- >> in the meantime, i do know that -- >> but the reason -- let me -- >> we have a short amount of time -- >> no. >> i respect what you are -- >> i hear you, i hear you. >> the president has done some things in his capacity, right. made extra effort to expand

border -- if not wall barriers. he has made changes in policy. are there more things on the executive side you see as being an option in 2024? >> the president put forth forward a corm hence i have immigration plan because he believed the system is broken and it's been broken for decades. now we are having, we believe, a productive conversation in congress with senators on how do we move forward in a bipartisan agreement to deal with the border security. that is important. now, what we hope is that when congress gets back we will be able to act and get these things moving forward to deal with this issue. we have been in touch with some of the mayors you talked about, governors in northern part of the country on dealing with the issue that they are dealing with on the ground and we have provided resources to them and we are going to continue to have those conversations. but again congress needs to act. the president took this seriously on day one.

>> karine jean-pierre, thank you for peek speaking with us. >> thank you. >> happy new year. >> and "cnn this morning" continues right now. a. breaking news a a deadly plane collision in japan. a passenger jet cleats with a coast guard plane. how those passengers are able to evacuate seconds before the jet burst into flames. this hour of "cnn this morning" starts right now. later stabbed in the neck on camera. he survived and is conscious. what we are learning about the attacker. the fbi joint terrorism task force investigating this deadly crash, you see it on video right here, outside a crowded music venue early on new year's day. officers say the flaming suv was full of gas cans. we begin with breaking news out of tokyo a japanese airlines passenger jet colliding with the japan coast guard aircraft and