more than 100 people are dead after two explosions near the grave of an iranian commander, killed by the united states. iran, describing the explosions as a terror attack. they come with heightened tensions in the region. taking a message south. is 60 republicans, led by senator mike johnson meeting on the mexican border, as cities across the country were to manage the influx of migrants. forget delay, delay, delay. donald trump's legal strategy, appears to be appeal, appeal, appeal. donald trump, continues to be ramping up his fight to stay on the ballot in the state of

maine. we are following all of these stories, as many more. coming to you right here on cnn central. >> good afternoon, and thank you much for joining us on cnn central. we start with twin blasts, more than 100 people dead. fears grow of a widening war in the middle east. one of the bombings was caught on an iranian state broadcast to watch this. you can see the panic in the crowd right here. the explosions happen about 20 minutes apart. more than 140 were also wounded, according to iranian

state media. >> according to iran's estate media, that officials are calling this now a terror attack. the blast happened in a nearby city, near the commander, qasem soleimani. he was killed exactly 4 years ago by a u.s. drone strike in iraq. this was the first bomb that blew up today. it was in a suitcase. joining us now, judge rogan for the washington post. thanks for being with us on this incredibly dramatic story. can i ask who you think might be behind this attack? there is a lengthy list of potential culprits. >> we cannot be sure that this attack has all the hallmarks of the previous attacks. we have religious institutions inside of iran. they have different extremist that are behind it. we can't really know.

either way, the iranian government is not waiting for the investigations from israel. they are going to blame israel whether or not they have the evidence one way or another. the reason they are doing that, is that they are blaming israel for a bunch of stuff. we are reflecting from the idea that this could be an internal issue, and not an external issue. what that means, is the retaliation with iran, is to target israel, and possibly u.s. forces around the region. that is going to escalate tensions, and raise a wider scope for war. they are looking at the situation in the middle east read >> to the point, josh, we have seen that iran has moved one of its navy destroyers into the red sea. a sign that they are backing the rebels in yemen. in the meantime, israel struck a hamas target in lebanon, drawing the eye of lebanon.

they have a regional conflict. what do you think they're going to do for more intervention in the united states? >> this is all sides, including iran. the united states and israel are trying to avoid an all-out war. we see the iranians, and their proxy with yemen, syria, and lebanon. they have military personnel. they are making a calculation about where the redlines are. we could both be wrong. they are looking at that misunderstanding. this lies the risk of a greater, regionwide, all-out war. nobody really wants that. >> we have been monitoring the speech today.

of course, backed by iran. this comes the day after the hamas leader, backed by iran, was also killed in lebanon. that area was dominated. what is your sense of what the response may be? >> the speech was cautious. they didn't assign the iranian attack. this is something the israeli government hasn't tried that hard to denyny. their job was trying to get them more involved in this war. they have been resisting that this whole time. now that they have killed him

on that turf, israel may have allowed this dead hamas leader to keep his death, when he was trying to get hezbollah more involved . that is the risk of these targeted assassinations. you take out a terrorist. you don't really have control. >> months of control between them. this was in beirut, in the capitol. the most brazen strike that we have seen so far by israel. josh rogan of the washington post, thank you very much for your time. appreciate your thoughts today. we want to pivot now to the border crisis here in the united states. at this moment, leaders in congress towns and coastal cities, they all have one thing in common. they are grappling with a record surge of immigration. this is just one snapshot. in december, monthly encounters it clipped the 225,000. the highest in over two

decades. zooming out, each of the past three years, has sent an annual record for border crossings. it nearly 2.5 million. that's in the year. last month's record numbers are not actually included in this set. this will be part of the 2024 game. >> staggering numbers are part of the house republicans justifications for formal impeachment proceedings against the homeland security secretary. even as he continues his central role in those border talks with senators. the big question now, is whether the house gop will be backing a border deal. those numbered negotiations resume. they have some of those 60 house fellow republicans. they are visiting the border. what are you seeing on the ground? >> [ inaudible ]. >> reporter: this is the area

on the border where the republican house lawmakers will be getting a tour from the texas department of safety. this is what we are going to see. the razor wire, and a long line of steel containers that have been put in place by state authorities here in texas over the course of the last year. this is in hopes of trying to curtail illegal crossings. we have documented this over the last few months. none of this has slowed down any of the processes here in eagle pass area. we are seeing several thousand people crossing each day. you mentioned numbers in december. record numbers of 225,000 more. this is all along the u.s. border. the republican lawmakers are coming here as we mentioned. the border security bill will have negotiations continuing to have some sort of deal. we're going to see exactly what the republicans are going to

hear from the house side read this is what we will be calling for to have a tour of this area. we are meeting with the state authorities here in texas. state officials have been in a fight with the federal government as how to best handle the migration crisis along eagle pass. this is one of the major focal points all along in the last year. we have seen this over the course of the last few weeks. large numbers of migrations that have taken place here in eagle pass. we have local authorities. what is interesting, in recent days, it has really slowed down quite dramatically. we can tell you that we have talked to some gentlemen that have run on the other side of the border. they say that in the roads leading up to the border, mexican authorities have looked at immigration checkpoints that are much more robust.

there is a feeling that that is starting to control the number of migrants that are able to reach the texas and mexico border. they have noticed that happening in the last few days, especially in the days after the christmas holiday. president joe biden demonstration, flew to mexico city. they met with the president of mexico just after christmas. these are all the dynamics at play here, along the border, as we prepare to see this large group of republican lawmakers here at eagle pass. >> the white house, pointing at that dip in the number. the success is coming from mexican officials. eagle pass, thank you so much. we are getting you to capitol hill now. we understand that three key senate negotiators are back on capitol hill right now. they were conferencing during the holiday, continuing the discussions. where do the talks stand right

now? >> we still have significant hurdles before we are reaching the deal. i'm told that major issues that are still dividing the two sides, and looking at the complex areas of immigration, they are changing asylum. changing how the president can grant parole to the migrants that are crossing the border. as well as expulsion authority. we are looking at how that language would work. we are proposing new detention facilities for people who do cross the southern border illegally. a lot of questions about how those may be resolved. they reported that there was some progress being made. there are still some major questions about whether a deal could be reached. this is known as hr two. they had a more restrictive border measure. that is the warning from chuck

schumer today. whatever has been produced, will have to be accepted by the house. they will not accept the house gop's proposal. >> when a house clings to hr to, which everything has been voted against, certainly every senator, every democratic senator, wrote against it. if not, it was almost everyone. we are not going to get a deal. i think if we pass something in the senate, we are getting it done. it is hard. >> there are still some the questions about how this ultimately will get resolved. if you can get resolved. senators and house members turned back to washington from the holiday break next week. if they can't get this deal through, hanging in the balance of course, is the a to ukraine and israel. in particular, in a dire situation according to the

ministration. federal aid must be approved by the end of the month, the four things get particularly dire. publicans have said that the border must be dealt with forced -- first, if we want to look at the stalks and questions about whether it is evident. >> a lot of them are taking place in this new year upon c.a.p. mike hill. thank you for this report. >> thank you very much. we have the donald trump aligned american policy institute joining us. thank you so much. with the senate talks ongoing that they were just talking about, what is your view that these house republicans are going to the border, and actually trying to achieve today? >> a number of them, whether visiting the board first or second time, it's good to see firsthand what is going on. talking to them and women of the border patrol. they are dealing with this crisis.

they have been for years now. asked them the resources. were the policies that they need to secure that border? i think it is vitally important to hear firsthand from the folks down there, that it is very difficult to make decisions that affect the border, if you haven't been to the border. i encourage everyone to talk to those agents. you will get a different perspective and viewpoint on what it takes to secure the coming from such a trip. >> speaker johnson is going to be accompanied by dozens of other lawmakers. it is a real show of force. it is a dramatic presence. it is the highlight of this is you. we have these talks between senator republicans and democrats. do you believe they may have a more productive attack getting something done, that can be done by both chambers? >> i don't know that i would say it is a more productive route.

i will wait and see what comes of it. at the end of the day, if you are looking at what the senate is doing, or hr2, american people are saying that we need to go in the wrong direction along that border. you have governors and mayors that are saying we are going in the wrong direction regarding the border. the administration could change course tomorrow if they wanted to. they don't seem to want to. this is why we now have a legislative battle on our hands between hr2, and what the senate is doing. what we don't need to do is throw more money at the situation. any policy changes to drive a different paradigm along the border. >> you know the job of homeland security very well. what do you think impeaching the secretary would actually accomplish? are they really enacting the broad president joe biden administration under these actions? >> a couple of points. at every turn, they have had

three years to change course. almost every month, the situation along the border gets more dire. the numbers continue to rise. after three years, you would think that they would change the policies, and bring some order back. they haven't. that's most americans. they are frustrated at that. when you talk about the parole system, the asylum system, and other things that i believe have been abused by the ministration, it all leads to the same point. you have taken an oath of office to protect the borders and americans every single day. i think by any honest measure or metric, it is not occurring. the fact that they will not change their policy, you don't need to admit defeat. our strategy has not worked. >> secretary, is that an impeachable offense? should they be impeached for

that? >> i have been very clear that there needs to be a change of the department. he clearly won't. we have different proceedings that have been announced earlier today. this is a step in the right direction. we will see what the house ends up doing. the american people have been clear. republicans have been clear. they need a change along the border. fortunately, americans and communities are paying the price for it. >> acting secretary of homeland security, chad wolf, thank you very much for your time today. appreciate that, sir. we have much more available news developing in the middle east. what they are saying about an attack in lebanon that killed a senior hamas leader. cnn has reports on the deadly plane click -- collision. president joe biden's

campaign message, a central message that hr2 and other republicans pose an existential threat to democracy. is this running with voters? we will discuss in just a few w momoments.

we want to get you an update out of japan.

the death toll from monday's powerful earthquake, up to 73. the number of people missing, still undetermined, as rescuers comb through rubble, and try to reach areas that have been cut off. at least 70 people rescued overnight. thousands of homes were destroyed. water and power service, still down in certain areas. learning the details on that horrifying plane a collision in tokyo. involving a passenger jet and a japanese coast guard plane. markedly, everyone on board the passenger plane was safe. there were deaths aboard the coast guard plane. earlier today, japan's transport communications data center released communications between them and air traffic control. it shows that the japanese coast guard aircraft did not have permission to be on that runway, as the japan airlines jet was landing. as we just mentioned, despite that huge fire that you can see right there, everyone on the commercial jet survived. the death toll of both --

aboard the coast guard jet with six people. this is what japan airlines was revealing. after the crash, the intercom systems failed. crew members were using megaphones to direct passengers to safety. somehow got nearly 400 people off that plane in just a matter of seconds. to the middle east now. a short time ago, the iranian backed hezbollah, allies of hamas, express condolences killed from the bombings today in iran. they looked at the other tech that happened yesterday in beirut, in lebanon. this is where hezbollah is based. the strike killed a hamas senior leader. he called him in his speech, a martyr. >> he founded the hamas wing. at least four others were killed in the strike at that apartment building.

israel has not claimed responsibility for this attack. they haven't exactly out right come forward and denied it. they join us now from tel aviv, with more. what are u.s. officials saying about the strike in lebanon? >> reporter: boris, israeli officials are officially staying intentionally ambiguous about who is responsible for the strike, a u.s. official is telling cnn that israel was responsible for this strike that took out one of hamas's top , political and military leaders. according to the u.s. official, israel did not provide advanced notice to the u.s. government ahead of this. the israeli military, for its part, has officially declined to comment on whether or not it was responsible. it did say that it was on a heightened state of alert. in the wake of this, this is what we have been watching and waiting to see in particular. that speech that the head of hezbollah gave earlier today, was trying to see whether there were any indications of whether hezbollah, which is the

dominant military power in southern lebanon, whether they would retaliate against the israeli southern government for this targeted killing of a top hamas leader. in his speech today, he did not go much further than the statement that hezbollah put up yesterday. calling this simply a crime that he said was large and dangerous trade saying that this crime will not be left without a response and punishment. he stated intentionally ambiguous about what that would be. while the israeli government is not officially commenting on this matter, we have heard from several israeli officials offering thinly veiled comments about this, indicating that israel was indeed responsible for this. one of those comments come from the former is really an ambassador to the united nations. he said in comments in a tweet earlier today, he congratulated the israeli military. this is part of the security services, carrying out the strike. we said we will get you enclosed the account for anyone

responsible for the attacks. we heard thinly veiled comments from the head of asad, who said that israel is quote obliged to settle all accounts for carrying out and planning those october 7th attacks. again, for the moment, there doesn't appear to be a heightened response from hezbollah, to these strikes. there has been a continued exchange of fire across the lebanon border. nothing out of the ordinary from what we have seen over the course of the last couple of months. this war has continued. certainly, fears and concerns are certainly here, as well as in washington. this war between israel and hamas could escalate, particularly in light of what is a significant strike carried out yesterday. >> thank you so much for the update read still ahead on cnn news essential, police in new jersey are searching for a muslim after someone was shot outside of a mosque. we are on the scene, next. president joe biden, said to deliver a major campaign

speech on the three-year anniversary of the january 6th insurrection. stay with us.

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officials in new jersey, say that this man was in critical condition after he was shot outside of a mark. >> we are on the scene in newark. what are we learning about, miguel? >> reporter: great concern here in newark about what has transpired. we don't know what the situation is right now. this is the mosque. mohammed mosque in newark, new jersey. please have just moved us back. this was a close to the mosque moments ago. there are members out there now. investigators from newark pd, and other investigative agencies, are on the scene looking into this. very few details at the moment. this is just before the morning

prayers. he was shot in the parking lot, just outside of this mosque. i want to show you on the side of us, just how intense the media interest is. we expect shortly to hear from someone he from the mosque, and the council of american relations as well. this is about this mosque, and just how essential they are to this part of new jersey. there is great concern given. we have a large number of anti- islamic incidents that have happened since the october 7th incident in israel. there are concerns that this may be in that line as well. designators are looking into it. they have now said that we might hear from investigator shortly. now, we are seeing this afternoon around 4:30, at the prosecutor's office, they will hopefully have more to share

with us. we will keep you guys more informed. back to you. >> we are going to tell you about these conditions as well. we will have more from newark. thank you so much. president joe biden, kicking off his 2024 campaign push with a pair of speeches, lining up the stakes for this upcoming election. protecting democracy, and personal freedoms. president joe biden, will be traveling to valley forge, in pennsylvania. it is the same side were george washington and his troops, endured a brutal winter. it will also be january 6th. the third anniversary of the insurrection at the capitol, following the 2020 election. joining us now, former ohio congressman, tim ryan. he ran for president himself in 2020. he's also the founder of we the people. thank you so much for joining us today. i want to ask you about president joe biden's campaign. we told cnn that they present to argue that donald trump and

maga republicans, pose an existential threat to american democracy. president joe biden, has repeatedly hit on this. he was poised to do more of it with this extension, going ahead for the next 10 months. do you think that fear, the stalking of that concern, that message, lands with voters? >> i think that message is a must. it is a starter for articulating really how dangerous another donald trump presidency would be. the retribution, the revenge that he is going to look at during his second term, would be mind-boggling, and very dangerous to most americans. i also think there needs to be a strong and hard of it to the future. this can be about the past. i think most elections are about the fu. future of the eco in the united states for working-class people. white, black, brown, men, women, gay, or straight, it

has to be about the center. donald trump, would destabilize our economy. it would be bad for our economy, and people's pocketbooks. he would be focusing on revenge, not on helping the american people. >> one of the issues that has been hotly debated with republicans and democrats as well, as the border, and these immigrations. dozens of republican congress members are going down to the border to be discussed among the senators here in washington. among democrats, you have mayors of democratic cities, saying the ministration is to do more. you have progressives on the left wing of the democratic party. they are rejecting some of the potential, more harsh measures. how do you think that president joe biden can navigate such important issues within his own party? >> you have to be very clear and firm that we know who is in united of america.

we have to know who these people are. it is now virtually exclusive that you are coming from a country that is threatening you, being run by gangs. putting people into the sex trade. we are a compassionate country to accept these folks. but we need a strong border. we should be able to play offense on this. we want to be electronically verified. we want stiff and heavy penalties for businesses who everybody knows are looking the other way. they wanted the cheap labor. they have to crackdown on those businesses, and have a quarterly process to get people in those countries. most people accept that immigration is a strength in united dates. they just want it to be orderly and by the book. let's set up whatever we have to write outside the border to process people coming in. if we don't have a strong position with verification, cracking down on businesses and

putting up barriers where they could be needed -- >> i think we have lost audio for congressman tim ryan. we are going to try to get that back. he is making the point that we have been talking about. this is such a critical issue for democrats as well. i think often times, it is seen as something getting the runaround. this is going to be debated among democrats. >> the numbers make it impossible to avoid the conversation about the issue. we will see how it works out in those two upcoming townhomes. we have nikki haley and ron desantis, talking to cnn back to back. we are back in just a moment.

federal appeals court in washington, d.c. will be taking action in weston.

donald trump, alleged crimes happening while in office. he needs to present arguments next tuesday. until that is resolved, the federal elections of version case is on hold. we got a preview from donald trump steam overnight. in a new court filing, they wrote quote, the constitution's text, history, and policy, support this conclusion. the 234 your unbroken tradition of not prosecuting presidents for official acts from across the political spectrum, provides powerful evidence of it. let's dig deeper now with senior law enforcement analyst, andrew mccabe, also a director of the fbi. great to be with you as always. central to donald trump's argument that he has immunity, is the idea that everything he did after the 2020 election, whether january 6th, or his efforts to overturn election results, were official acts carried out by the president. would you say that those are official acts? do they carry weight?

>> the strong suggestion from courts that have addressed similar issues, is that it will not have an effect. we know from prior supreme court holdings, that there is a definition to what constitutes official acts. it is at least defined by the perimeter. this is the course of act with the outer perimeter from the president's official duty. there are some things that are beyond the perimeter. in other cases, obviously not with former president donald trump, the courts have determined that efforts to seek re-election, do not fall within the official acts of a sitting president. that is a personal thing that the president does as a candidate. i think that argument is likely to fail. >> there is a central question to where he is going to stay on the primary ballots. the state of maine, and colorado, it is likely that he is going to stay on. >> central to those arguments,

is the question of whether he committed insurrection or not. it is based on the 14th amendments insurrection, and the band. what do you make of the argument that he was just using the first amendment, and he was speaking as a free citizen of the united states, making the argument that there was fraud in the election, and making the argument that the he didn't insight the argument? >> it might be compelling. let's remember when he is eventually on trial when he is under the indictment. he only needs one juror convinced that there is reasonable doubt. there will be no conviction. however, as a legal matter, the first amendment does not protect. there are all sorts of speech that have criminal defenses like fraud, and inception. they are not protected by the first amendment. it is a legal matter. it is not a particularly effective defense. it could be the defense that is appealing to a juror. >> i'm curious about that

argument that the secretary of the state of maine it should have been accused. the make the case that she is taking the will away of voters. she is taking the rights away to express themselves. what you make of that? >> it is fascinating. the 11 page appeal that we started last night, they started talking about exactly that. claiming that the secretary of state was bias. i don't find any of them to be particularly persuasive. secretaries of state in every state are political to one degree or another. that doesn't prohibit them from administering the election laws in their state. he does however towards the end of the appeal, make some arguments that you can expect to hear him make in front of the supreme court. though specifically are that he claims that the president does not qualify as an officer of the united dates. he also cites section 5 of the 14th amendment. he is claiming that the section 3 cannot be held against him against conjurers, whether they take some sort of act. i think the constitutional

scholars and law professors have a much stronger argument right here. those clauses do not help them in a way that he hopes there will be. >> he also argues that they could potentially set a dangerous precedent on the community side. this is by saying that quote, mushroom related prosecutions, are looking at menacing and crippling civil liabilities. they are basically saying that charging donald trump with anything, could make it more difficult for the presidents to act in the future without the fear of some criminal liability. >> the opposite is actually true. the fact that the president could be held criminally responsible for things they have done well president that were crimes, not part of their official responsibility, is something that keeps presidents from doing exactly that. i think to hit on the immunity argument, i think that will stack very heavily against it. his claim for absolute immunity while president, is basically

antithetical to anything we know and believe, and hold sacred to the constitution. it would lead to ridiculously absurd results of a president who must leave at the end of a four year term, deciding that they are not going to leave, deciding that the constitution would bring no criminal effects. there are many other arguments that i think that have been laid out persuasively. this is by the court. also, by the trial judge. i think these appeals will be dispatched pretty quickly by the d.c. circuit court. time will tell. >> we crisscrossed cases. what is the way that the conversation flows? i wanted to get your thoughts on some breaking news that we have been following. we have emailed threats to at least 23 state capitol sections that had to have evacuations. he had threats of bombs being placed at the state capitol buildings. this includes mississippi and others. what you make of that?

>> very similar to what we are seeing happening in the jewish community centers in the synagogues. it is a common form of harassment. there i say terrorism, trying to terrorize a population. credibly sounding bomb threats, and threats of active shooters, have been sent to different organizations that have been targeted by extremists for one reason or another. state and local officials can expect a lot more of this. unfortunately, it poses an additional, massive drain on the resources, time, and attention, during a period of increased threats. it is important that folks who are involved in this activity, are identified and prosecuted for the time being. i think we can expect more of it. >> it is interesting that we are given an election, headed to the primaries and the general elections. we should point out, also, none of the threats were found to be credible. >> of course, law enforcement has to err on the side of

caution. still to come on cnn news et cetera, we have details on the unsealing of new documents linked to jeffrey epstein. we are going to bring you the details on that, in just a moment. to duckduckgo on all your devie

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this just in to cnn. hannah fisher was a manhattan federal court ceiling documents linked to jeffrey epstein begins today. >> carol, what can we expect? >> reporter: we just learned from the judge overseeing this litigation that the parties will be filing these unredacted, unsealed records, with the identification about 150 people. in the judge's order she said the party will begin filing the unsealed record outlined in this court's december 18th order later today. this began back in 2015 by robert stu frei. someone who was accused of sexually abusing her, using her as a slave. she sued maxwell in a defamation lawsuit. it has been nine years of litigation. they have multiple witness

interviews. they have done a lot of discovery with subpoenas obtaining documents and records, the case had been settled several years ago by news organizations with a number of these records, that is what the judge was deciding on last month. that's when she said the identities of 154 so john and jane does would be unsealed in the court records. they are expecting the disclosure to begin hitting the court docket on a rolling basis. some beginning later today. this is expected to be a large volume of records that could continue hitting the docket up to today, but potentially into tomorrow. a lot of the information is being unsealed because the judge acknowledged it's only in the public record. the plaintiff in the case has been public with her allegations that she was forced by epstein and maxwell.

her most famous person she has alleged that she was forced to have with was, prince andrew. she sued him in a separate lawsuit and he agreed to make a donation to a charity of her choice. we likely will see a lot of the names they already know, included in these documents. the judge is saying she will unsealed the names of alleged accusers because they also have been public in this case. maxwell was on trial several years ago and a lot of information came out in the court hearing in that trial as well. we will look to see if there is new information that we learn but there is so much public record about epstein and these allegations. >> just because the names are tied to jeffrey epstein does not necessarily imply criminal activity. to your point, we could see similar lawsuits filed like the one from virginia roberts. still plenty more news to come.

the death toll is climbing of a iranian commander. vance the flames, already a dangerous situation in the middle east. to duckduckgo on all your devie

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