capitol attack was no insurrection. also breaking tonight, we also have just gotten court documents expected to reveal the names of nearly 200 people connected to the late sex trafficker jeffrey epstein. we will tell you what we're finding so far. and what u.s. officials are saying tonight but who might be responsible for the bomb blast in iran that killed more than 100 people at a memorial ceremony for an adarius kerik mastermind. good evening, thanks for joining us, we begin with breaking news, a story that as we said at the top of last night's program could reshape the president campaign and a whole lot more, including how a truly central part of the constitution is applied. late today, attorneys for the former president filed an appeal of the colorado decision barring him from the 2024 ballot. they're filing underscores the stakes of the case, describe the colorado ruling as, quote, the first time in history the united states that the judiciary has prevented voters from casting ballots for a leading major party presidential candidate. cnn's evan perez joins us now. so what more do we know about

the appeal that they made? >> well, anderson, one of the first things that the president 's lawyers take on is the idea that he is an insurrectionist, which is something that the colorado supreme court had ruled. they say he is not, that the january 6th attack was not an insurrection, and that the former president did not engage in insurrection. they also say that the congress, not state courts, should be the ones that determine the eligibility for the presidency. they also say that the 14th amendment, the letter, if you read the 14th amendment, section three, it doesn't mention the office of the presidency and it doesn't apply, they say, to the former president. i will read you a little more of what they argue. they say that this colorado ruling, if allowed to stand, will mark the first time in the history of the united states the judiciary has prevented voters from casting ballots for the leading major party presidential candidate. and obviously, that is what is at stake here, anderson.

you have perhaps for the first time ever this supreme court is going to take up what exactly that language means in the 14th amendment, whether it does apply to the presidency. >> and do we know when the court will say whether it's going to take the case or what a timeline for arguments and a decision could look like? >> well, we don't know why now. they haven't really responded to any of this. but look, there is no necessarily any urgency for now, just by filing this appeal today, the former president's name will remain on the colorado ballot. and so, the colorado secretary of state is going to certify the ballot in a couple of days on the 5th of january. and of course, the voters don't go to the ballot boxes until march. so somewhere between now and march, we might hear from the supreme court to settle this issue. >> and if the former presidents disqualification from the maine ballot, which is appealed to the state court, they're also appealed to the u.s. supreme

court, with that case in the colorado case be combined? >> almost certainly. and anderson, keep in, mind there's been a number of states where this issue has popped up. you have had the opposite findings from courts in new hampshire, in michigan, minnesota, for instance. so these types of lawsuits on the 14th amendment have been popping up. we now have one impending in oregon. so between now and by the time the supreme court decides this issue, you know, we are going to have perhaps a number of states where this issue will have been. so that really does raise the chances that the supreme court will have to settle what is really a dispute at this moment between the states. >> evan perez, thank you so much. literally the new, cnn has learned the former president's plan to attend -- appeals court case on presidential immunity. the story was first reported by the new york times. joining us is cnn legal analyst and former deputy assistant attorney general elliott williams. also former attending -- former attorney general jessica roth, she currently teaches at

-- and maggie haberman, cnn political analyst, cnn senior political analyst, and author of the great book confidence, meant the making of donald trump, and the breaking of america. jessica, what stands out to you about the presidents ruling? >> well, he throws a lot into this brief. it's presented as one question, presented as, did the colorado courts get this wrong. so in a sense it's presented as this one simple question. but when you actually go on and read the filing, it encompasses at least ten other arguments that are all part of what the colorado court decided. so it's really sort of a kitchen sink approach, as we were talking about. i think the -- is most compelling and that the supreme court might find most per swelling is a reason to take it up is this reason that he's presented before that if you allow the states, all 50 states, to make their own determination about whether or not he's qualified to be on the ballot for president, that that really invites chaos, and that the supreme court should step in and really settle this question of whether or not

actually the states have the authority to make these determinations, pursuant to the procedures set forth in state law. to me, that's the most compelling part of the presentation. >> that's a rational argument. >> it's a rational argument and it's an important question that the supreme court really should decide promptly as we go forward in the election process in all 50 states. >> maggie, how much do you think the former president is betting on favorable supreme court intervention, whether it's the issue of ballot qualification or immunity from prosecution? >> i think those are different cases. i don't think that his folks are, or he, are particularly optimistic that they are gonna win on the presidential immunity. but as you said, or reported earlier, that he's gonna show up next week for arguments that he is not going to be able to be part of, but he will be there and it will create a spectacle, certainly. on this question, which is a separate one, his team feels more confident that the supreme court is going to go with him. he has said that himself, but he has also said to other people and one of his lawyers confirmed this reporting earlier today, he has sent to some people he's concerned that

the justices who he appointed are going to be afraid of looking like they're taking his side politically, and not doing that. and some of that is because he has been very angry, as you know, at the justices see appointed, that they haven't gone his way. they've gone his way on policy matters on a number of cases. they have not on his election relating cases. >> why is he going to show up? is it simply because it will create a spectacle? >> number one, number two, he sees himself as his own best defender and communicator right now. and he believes that he can impact all of these things best. and that if he hasn't tried, as it's been described to me by people who've spoken to him on this particular issue, that he will regret it if it doesn't go his way. >> will he founders -- i mean, you can also fund-raise. >> he can fund-raise, he fund-raise off everything. i suspect this will be an exception. >> elliott, the former presidents legal team, they're arguing and they're finding that his speech at the ellipse on january 6th called for peaceful protests. on to play some of what he said. >> we fight, we fight like

hell. and if you don't fight like hell, you are not going to have a country anymore. i know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard. >> so as you know the colorado supreme court found that the speech should not be protected by the first amendment, because it incited violence. how do you see it? >> i think to reach the point of incitement, the tie between the statement and the violence has to be quite imminent. and that's a tricky legal question. you know, frankly, i don't think it's in anybody's interest to start getting in the weeds of whether he statement was insurrection or incited insurrection or not. and i think this picks up on jessica's point from a moment ago about this whole idea of the kitchen sink in the presidents brief, that the supreme court does not even have to touch the insurrection question because there are countless other ways to avoid getting into the quagmire of

picking apart individual statements or lines from the president. what i think they try to do is reach some point of unimin in the or near unanimity over some of these questions over, for instance, is the president an officer of the united states? is the president -- does he take the same oath as other people, therefore is he exempt from the provisions in the 14th amendment that would apply here? because of how fraught and complicated politically sensitive this insurrection question is, and very difficult legally to sort out, i think they just avoid it altogether. and frankly, it's probably more in the presidents interest, the courts interest, to say, look, forget insurrection, he's a candidate for office. and people who are speaking in the context of the political process generally are afforded more latitude to speak. >> maggie, when you look back at that speech, he talks about fighting, fight like hell, he use that term a lot. he does that. he uses the words that can be interpreted in multiple ways. that's part of his thing. >> yes, he often walks up to a

woman, the question is legally whether he crossed one, in terms of whether responsible behavior. i think there are a number of people who have described that speech as condemnable, and contemptible. but that has not necessarily making it legally questionable to think that's the issue here. >> our sources that we learned in the generous 60 hearings that he knew there were guns in the crowd, people had weapons. >> correct, he often tries to leave himself some public out. and i think that's what folks like the maine secretary state we're looking at. >> and jessica, there's also the matter of the separate appeal filed by the colorado gop. how does that differ from the argos made by the former president? >> yeah, so that's really interesting. the colorado gop made two of the same arguments that trump has made in his brief, including whether he is an officer within the meaning of section three of the 14th amendment, and also whether or not section three of the 14th amendment is self executing, or whether congress essentially has to enact legislation that authorizes states to make these determinations or some other way of determining whether or not he is disqualified by section three. and then they made it an

additional point about whether their first amendment rights as a party were violated by the action here. but trump goes on to make these additional arguments, including whether or not he engaged in insurrection. the colorado republican party did not raise that question. and, so their petition, the only position presented to the supreme court, would not be asking the court to actually review the determination of the colorado supreme court, affirming the ruling of the district court that trump did engage in insurrection. now, i suspect the court ruled on -- will not grant certain that question, that they will probably resolve this question on the issue of whether he's an officer under section three, and whether or not the section is self executing. but if they were to rule against trump on those two legal questions, and then they actually would have to reach the question of whether he engaged in insurrection. i suspect that he raised those issues on appeal because he also wants to be contesting those determinations. the colorado republicans did not contest. those or means to be seen

whether the court will grant cert on those additional questions and whether they will reach them if they take the case and how they ultimately resolve it. >> elliot, i mean, you reference this earlier, the former president's attorneys are arguing the insurrectionist ban does not apply to the presidency, and he section three of the 14th amendment does not specifically mention the presidency, which is true, it says officer of the united states. the counter argument is doesn't make any sense the authors -- would ban insurrectionists from holding virtually every other job in the government, symbol of the military, and not the highest office in the country? >> it's sort of preposterous as a matter of plain language you and i, talking the president of the united states is not an officer of the united states is ludicrous. however, read the language of the constitution and it is quite clear that they say frankly there is another provision of the constitution that says the president, colma, vice president, calm a, and offices of the united states suggesting that the term office of the united states does not intend to apply to the president. again, it's one of these many areas in the law in which our

understanding of what terms mean and what the framers put on paper are completely different. now, this is, anderson, why we have a supreme court. it exists for the purpose of sorting out these complicated legal questions, frankly precipitated by the mess that the framers left us. in there was, not there are ambiguities in the constitution and have to be sorted out. and this is precisely one of them. and even if they don't touch this question, this is as trump says in his brief, of critical importance to the american people and needs to be resolved. >> elliot williams, jessica roth, maggie haberman, thanks. coming up next, what we are learning from court documents just unsealed about sex trafficker jeffrey epstein and his accomplice, ghislaine maxwell. later, we are live on the southern border as the biden administration sued texas for arresting migrants. senators get closer to a border deal. and some house republicans threatening to block any compromise.

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more breaking news tonight, tonight, a federal court here in new york unsealed documents are expected to contain the names of nearly 200 men and women connected in one way or another with elite sex trafficker jeffrey epstein and his accomplice ghislaine maxwell. they are from a 2015 lawsuit by one of their accusers. as you know, some of the names connected to epstein are well-known. at least one is a member of the royal family of england. cnn's kara scannell has been going through the documents. she joins me now. what if he found so far? >> well, so far a lot of this is information that we've

already known, that this is just 40 documents, just about under 1000 pages. and our team is still combing through them. but what is contained within these documents are experts of depositions from the accuser in this case, virginia roberts giuffre and ghislaine maxwell, who she had sued and she was convicted of being epstein's coconspirator in the sex trafficking operation. we've also seen some depositions of some household workers, but nothing that has been new are shocking at this point. there are references to some of these full names that we've known about, including prince andrew. that is someone who giuffre has accused of sexually assaulting her. there are references to him throughout these papers, as we have seen in the past. now, she sued him, they reached a settlement. he agreed to pay, quote, a substantial amount to a charity of her choice, but he has denied any wrongdoing. but so far, the documents look at references bill clinton. he is someone whose name has come up as someone who has flown epstein's private jet. now, giuffre is not accusing clinton of any wrongdoing. he in the past is said, yes, he did fly on epstein's planes,

but he never went to his island in the caribbean that he owned where a lot of this sexual abuse had taken place. so, nothing yet that is kind of a blockbuster or changes the dynamic or the history, what we know about epstein. but they're still more to come. >> so, more documents are set to be released? >> yeah, this is coming on a rolling basis. and this is just the first tranche of this, just 40 documents. we are expecting dozens more to come out over the next day or so. and we will be going through those to see if we learn anything new about the people who are in his universe, new allegations involved in these people. another deposition that came to light today is one of this woman, joanna shows bergh, who told her story to a british publication more than a decade ago. but this is the first time she worked for epstein. this is the first time her deposition has been unsealed so people could read it for themselves, instead of reading her interview in that publication. so you might see other bits and pieces like that. but so far, nothing that has not been publicly out there are

reported before. >> all right, kara scannell, thanks so much. more now on the one who helped epstein carry out his scheme in was convicted on five counts, including sex trafficking of minors, currently serving a 20-year sentence in prison. randi kaye has more. >> reporter: ghislaine maxwell was born in 1961 and grew up in the english countryside in the town of oxford shire. she's the daughter of robert maxwell, the czech born newspaper tycoon who died in 1991 after falling off his luxury yacht near the canary islands. following her father's death, ghislaine maxwell connected with jeffrey epstein, the disgraced financier who died by suicide in prison back in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges of sexually abusing young girls and running a sex trafficking ring. he pleaded not guilty. ghislaine maxwell was at the center of all of it, serving as epstein's madam, recruiting young girls for epstein to abuse, even allegedly taking part in the abuse herself. >> maxwell was among epstein's closest associates and helped

him exploit girls who were as young as 14 years old. >> reporter: maxwell herself was epstein's ex-girlfriend turned social companion. the couple reportedly split in the 1990s, but remained close. in a 2003 profile in vanity fair magazine, epstein described maxwell as his best friend. in an interview from 2002, alleged epstein victim any farmer said she would never have stayed under epstein's roof had not been for the fact that maxwell assured her mother she would act as chaperone. >> maxwell enticed young girls, got them to trust her, and then deliver them into the trap that she and epstein had set for them. she pretended to be a woman they could trust. all the while, she was setting them up to be sexually abused by epstein, and in some cases, by maxwell herself. >> reporter: multiple people, including two of maxwells

girlfriends, say maxwell introduced epstein to affluent social circles. her own exclusive circle included the former first daughter, chelsea clinton. eyewitness accounts say maxwell was not only invited to clinton's wedding, but also given access backstage at the clinton global initiative summit back in 2009. maxwell was also photographed in 2000 with then future president donald trump, alongside him, melania, who he was dating at the time, and jeffrey epstein. and there's this picture, too. that's maxwell in the background of a photograph of prince andrew, which shows him with his arms around the waist of a young woman named virginia roberts, who today is virginia giuffre. she has alleged she was trafficked by epstein with the help of maxwell glen, forced to have sex with his friends, including prince andrew, when she was 17. the prince emphatically denies all of it. in 2022, prince andrew settled with giuffre for an undisclosed amount, and a u.s. district judge agreed to dismiss her lawsuit against him. weeks earlier, buckingham

palace stripped him of his military titles. and according to a royal source, told him he could no longer use his royal highness in any official capacity. ghislaine maxwell seemed to disappear from the public eye after epstein was arrested. but in july of 2020 while in new hampshire, she was arrested. she was later charged with six federal counts, including sex trafficking children, enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, and transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. she pleaded not guilty. but at her 2020 trial, a jury convicted her of five federal charges, including sex trafficking of a minor. ghislaine maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. randi kaye, cnn, palm beach, florida. next, a live report from the southern border, as migrants keep coming, and warehouse republicans visited today, with some their colleagues vowing to block any border deer, because they don't want to do anything that might help present biden. more ahead.

big night for breaking news, late today, the biden administration filed a suit against the state of texas issuing a new state law giving

local law enforcement authority to arrest migrants. in its filing, the justice department said the measure undercuts the federal governments, quote, exclusive authority to enforce immigration law. this cap today, which began with how speaker mike johnson leading a delegation of republican lawmakers to visit eagle pass, texas. as that was happening, in washington, senate negotiators edge closer to some kind of agreement on immigration border and security legislation. this, while some gop house members are vowing to block any deal that reaches them, telling cnn's manu raju they don't to do anything that might help president biden. in addition today, the republican controlled house homeland security committee announced the first hearing in its impeachment proceedings against dhs secretary alejandro mayorkas. as for his, boss the president, the white house put out a statement today accusing house republicans of, quote, hamstring our border security in the name of extreme partisan demands. meantime, at the border, the migrants keep coming. cnn's ed lavandera is there. migrants cross the rio grande into the united states,

as speaker of the house mike johnson looks on. during the republicans tour of the southern border. to highlight a crisis he says the biden administration is doing nothing to fix. migrants have crossed into the united states by the thousands, more than 225,000 alone in december, the highest monthly surge recorded since the year 2000. >> america is at a breaking point, with record levels of illegal immigration. and today, we got a firsthand look at the damage and chaos the border catastrophe is causing in all of our communities. >> we have a broken immigration system. that is the one single fact about which everyone agrees. >> reporter: droves of migrants have come through this crossing in eagle pass, texas, despite the miles of razor wire, shipping containers, and other barriers built up along the border. a former democratic state lawmaker in eagle pass, texas, says republicans efforts to deter migration aren't working either. >> anyone who has walked or present a train car 3000 miles

will be robbed beaten and raped to make it to that side there is going to stop? them and we know the answer to that is a big no. >> the white house is increasingly facing pressure from both republicans and democratic mayors and governors on the need for real solutions to the immigration crisis. and the republican governor of texas keeps ramping up the pressure as well, transporting tens of thousands of migrants unannounced to urban cities in blue states, straining their resources. most migrants say they are just trying to escape the hardships they left behind. >> [speaking in a non-english language] >> reporter: like kenny -- from ecuador, who says his country is plagued by violence and extortion. and this migrant from liberia, who says he spent $15,000 to reach the u.s. border. >> the u.s. has been my dream country since i was a young kid, you know? >> it's estimated that nearly 170 countries have people coming in and flowing across this border. >> reporter: meanwhile in washington, d.c., senate leaders are working towards a possible deal to change current

immigration law, including the possibility of expedited removals of migrants who crossed illegally and tightened rules on granting asylum. the house speaker tells cnn's jake tapper the problem cannot be solved by allocating more money to the border. >> these are policy choices that got us in the situation. and what we are demanding is that the policies change. >> ed, what else did republican lawmakers have to say during their visit? >> reporter: well, what we did not hear was any willingness to negotiate on was any kind of immigration reform. and may the lawmakers i spoke with after the two were said that is not something they are considering. they want to focus on the bill that the house passed several months ago. and they're very concerned, anderson, and they don't believe that whatever the bipartisan group of senators is going to negotiate in a possible immigration border security bill would be negotiated, that it's going to reach anything close than what they want. and several them also went on to say that they are willing to shut down the federal government if they don't get

what they want in these border bill negotiations. >> ed lavandera, thank you very much. joining us >> ed lavandera, thank you. joining us now, the mayor of eagle pass. thank you for being with us. the visit by speaker johnson's delegation, was it productive? >> thank you for having me. first of all, and i think it was productive. i think it's good to hav e members of congress here in eagle pass to see the situation, to see what's going on. but what is more important i s

if we see actual actions come of these meetings. we had a lot of people visiting here in eagle pass, but we want to see action. >> what kind of action? >> as a mayor, what i have seen here, i see thousands of people coming in without consequence. so what i want to see is a system where you detain people, and athena qualify for asylum, you deport them right away. right now what is happening is that they detain people and they release them to an ngo here in eagle pass and then they're all over in the u.s.. we need an orderly system when you are deporting people who are coming here illegally and don't qualify for asylum immediately, instead of having this approach of come one come all. that's what we've been seeing here in eagle pass, and city of 27,000 people and we don't have the resources to sustain this problem. >> the asylum system is completely off the rails. it's completely broken in this country. it will take years for the people who are crossing over today, some of whom will claim asylum unless they can prove ultimately in a court that they were persecuted for some specific reason. if they're just economic

migrants, that's not a legitimate claim of asylum. and yet they can be here for years, legally not able to work. it's such a broken system. not enough judges, it's ridiculous, it takes years and years for an asylum claim to be heard. >> i agree, we need more immigration judges, we need a system that is efficient. it's also not fair for people that have applied in the bin in the system five or six years to come into the united states legally, for them to see people from venezuela, for instance, just crossed the river, come on into the united states, and they might never show up to that asylum hearing. it's not there for people who are doing in the right way. i get the comment from a lot of the specially mexican people that spend a lot of money trying to come here legally. it's sad. >> cnn's reporting some house republicans may refuse to go along with a senate compromise because they wouldn't want to give president biden a win on immigration, particularly in an election year. what it trouble you with political factions were factored in? >> that's one of the issues. you have both political parties and they can't come together to pass immigration reform. we've been talking about this for years.

you've got cities like the city of eagle pass, a city that i love, an american city, being ignored by essentially both parties. we have this situation going on where you have thousands of people coming into cities like eagle pass, texas. >> emergency services for your local hospital, it's got to be overwhelming. >> absolutely. right here in eagle pass we've got one hospital. it's been overwhelmed with people training undocumented migrants of the residents here are frustrated. they go to the emergency room. it takes them eight, nine hours to be seen. we actually had to institute and no transport law here in town and people couldn't get transported because the hospital is full. we only have four ambulances. here so it has been a huge strain on our resources. huge. and you see it. >> sorry, i know in addition to speaking to speaker johnson today, you spoke to secretary mayorkas. what was your take away from that conversation? >> he's gonna come visit on

monday. i have been very vocal in saying that the administration needs to do more. i understand that it takes congress, but as a president, as a vice president, as the secretary of homeland security, it starts with them and the messaging. when i speak to a lot of undocumented migrants, they're under the impression that they are being invited into the united states and we need to make it clear that we are a nation of laws. we can't you can't just came in here through the river in an illegal manner. there's laws on the books and we should follow. them. >> and for migrants who are arriving now, and when they get to eagle pass, where diego? you see they go to an ngo and are the then essentially put on buses and shipped all over the country? >> that's exactly what happens. they cross, the border patrol takes the information, they released to an ngo, then from that ngo private buses or state

buses will take them to san antonio or to sanctuary cities all over the united states. and you have these people all over the u.s., and it's just a terrible broken system that we have right now. >> thank you so much for being with us mayor. >> absolutely. thank you for having. the >> cnn reporter david enten is with us. new numbers. obviously some republicans have been arguing over the border wall. >> the border wall, president trump when he ran the first time around sedona build this border wall, and americans turned against it. there were americans who went out into the streets and protested against the border wall. take a look at perceptions of a border wall support now versus support in 2017. look at this. support now, up to 52% in

recent university poll. that's 14 points from where we were in february 2017. the opposition has dropped tremendously, from the 50s down into the mid 40s. i have seen this across the polling data. and this, to me, is one of the biggest signs of how much the immigration debate in this country has changed from the trump era in which americans were far more in favor of immigration to now, when they very much turned against it and it's not just republicans its voters in the middle of the electorate as well. and voters who back in the 2020 election were basically split on who they most trust in immigration, biden or trump, now they overwhelmingly favor trump on immigration. >> concern about the border crisis goes beyond border streets. what do google searches show? >> this is interesting because if you look at google searches for migrants, you might think that it may be, okay, the border states, but it's no longer the case it's the border states, the two top states researchers are in fact illinois in new york.

and more than just being illinois in new york, we have the top five states up their, they are all blue states. they're not just red states anymore. this is something that is reaching a democratic communities as well. you live here in new york with me. if you look at the local news you consistently see the migrant crisis being portrayed and played out on local television. you have local mayors like brandon johnson in chicago and eric adams in new york talking about this issue. it's something that is very much plaguing their mayoral shifts. >> what about in immigrants who become u.s. citizens? >> a lot of democrats were hoping there might be a backlash and maybe they could benefit from it. but if you look at the top issues according to immigrant voters, the economy is number. one immigration is way down on that list for top issues. and more than that, if you ask who do you trust most an immigration, either democrats or republicans, immigrant voters are split. this is not something that is working out for democratic voters. you might think it would. >> thanks very much. coming up next, more than 100 people killed and two deadly blasts in iran. both bombings near the graveside former military commander qasem soleimani, killed four years ago in u.s. air strike. raising concerns about the

hamas conflict, how it could erupt into a wider conflict. also new details on how japan airlines crew got nearly 400 people of that burning jet into safety after it collided with japanese coast guard. clues on what might have led to the accident.

>> iranian officials say two separate bombings in southern around killed more than hundred pilgrims villas that-ing the grave site of qasem soleimani, once a top military commander killed in an airstrike. a harsh response being warned, fueling fears of a wider war. no clear responsibility but u. s. officials say who they think could be responsible. more on that in a moment. the strike comes a day after a top hamas leader was killed in lebanon. nada bashir has the details. >> scenes of chaos in the iranian city of karamin. an explosion sending crowds into disarray when a second blast rings out. thousands have gathered to mark

the anniversary of the death of military commander qasem soleimani, who was killed in an airstrike four years ago. the twin blasts less than a mile from soleimani's grave, killing more than 100 and injuring many more. iranian officials say this was a terror attack. state media reported that one of the explosions was caused by a bomb inside a suitcase in a car. soleimani was iran's revered top military general. his supporters, visit aquas scene as attack on the regime, which has many enemies both inside and outside the country. [crowd chanting] in lebanon the leader of iran -backed hezbollah commemorated soleimani's death, but used his speech about the killing of a top official on his soil.

>> leicester two days charge was large dangerous. this crime will be left with a response and punishment between us and our enemies. there is time and the battlefield. >> the strike in southern beirut targeted saleh al arouri and several others in what hamas has described is a cowardly assassination. while the u.s. official tells cnn that israel was behind the strike, israeli officials have so far been careful not to publicly take responsibility. >> israel has not taken responsibility for this attack, but whoever did, it must be clear that this was not an attack and it wasn't even attack on hezbollah. -- and the attack on lebanese soil would trigger an attack of equal severity on lebanese territory.

from the outside of the war between israel and hamas, fighting between israel and hezbollah has been largely contained to lebanon southern border region. but the brazen strike in beirut and the heart of hezbollah territory has raised fears among the united states and its allies that a full scale war could break out between israel and the middle east's most powerful paramilitary force. or, even more broadly, across the region. >> nada bashir joins us now from beirut. what's the united states saying about who could be responsible for the blast to norah? >> there's been no clear claim of responsibility at the stage, about the current assessment in the u.s., according to a senior administration official, is that this incident has all the

high marks of a terrorist attack reminiscent of attacks by i. s. i. s. seen in the past. of course, we've seen a history of extremist sunni groups carrying out these attacks on iran. there's also the possibility of internal resistance groups. we heard earlier this evening from runs president, he pointed the finger blame squarely at -- the response from iran would be severe and regrettable. cnn has reached out to the israeli military. no comment from them on this. we did here, earlier today, from's state department spokesperson matt miller that the u.s. has no independent information asserting that the u.s. had no involvement, and also -- the u.s. has no reason to believe that israel was involved. but of course, this does come at a time of heightened tensions between israel and iran, and indeed, between israel and iran-backed groups like hezbollah in lebanon. of course, mounting concern -- tensions to escalate more broadly. but again, no claim of responsibility just yet. still very much a question mark as to who is behind the attack, and of course, the possible motive. >> not a bit here, thank you very much. tonight from tokyo, there's -- jetliner to collide with the japanese coast guard plane, helping the relief effort. --

finally coming to a stop. five people on the coast guard aircraft were killed. records show that red warning lights embedded in the taxiway lights stop, which relates designed to stop pilots from mistakenly -- active runways. those lights were broken and not working for several days. also, japanese officials released a transcript of the air traffic control communication just before the collision. we'll have more of that in a moment. but first, take a look at this. [screaming] it's inside the japanese airline plane as it's on fire, just after the collision. the cabin crew told passengers to please cooperate. they had to yell directions and use a megaphone to direct people to get off the burning plane. when the in-flight announcement system failed to work. do that their actions, of 179 people aboard the plane

survived, evacuated on emergency chutes. when you look at the print wreckage, safety after -- could've been far worse. they're praising the actions of the crew and passengers for getting out quickly. cnn's richard quest joins us tonight. so, the timeline of the accident, more informations been released. >> oh yes. we don't know a lot more. four incidents, the actual accident itself, we now know that the coast guard plane had been cleared to stop and hold. it had not been cleared for takeoff. but for whatever reason, it went on to the runway and it sat on the runway for 40 seconds before being struck by the arriving a350. so we don't know why. was this because they didn't have the runway stop plates? but anderson, that was known about. that wasn't a surprise. that's not a shock. that within the notice to airmen that goes out from the airport. they knew those runway lights were not operational. and why did they wait for 40 seconds on an active runway at that time? we've also learned the plane itself, the a350, it was evacuated quickly, but not in the speed we've heard before. the last person off the plane was the captain, and that was

18 minutes, 18 minutes after. the megaphone that was used, that's normal in a sense. that is absolutely normal practice. you know, come forward, come forward. the instructions that they shout people to do this. but the core question, which we do not know, as why did that coast guard plane, having been told to position in poland at c five, go on to the runway? >> investigators are also obviously going through the brunt wreckage of the plane. >> yes. the brunt wreckage will tell them the logistics, and a sense. where was each plane vis-ã -vis other aircraft. what happened. how did this a350 handle this incident? don't forget, this is the first major fire of a carbon fiber aircraft. so they're gonna be looking very closely. >> and how the fire itself spread. >> exactly. how it spread, what were the

strengths and weaknesses. >> it's incredible. >> 18 minutes to get everybody off before the captain. >> yesterday, we thought it was all in 90 seconds. >> most of them would have been within 90 seconds. there's some reports that th e coast guard captain is now saying he thought he was cleared for departure. to take off. but that doesn't square with the voice recorder from air traffic control, which say s

they clearly knew they had to hold. the one thing i'll say, and these incidents, it's always a chapter of incidents and accidents. it's never one thing. and you have to -- it's like dominoes. jenga. whatever you want. you remove a little bit, a whole lot comes that. >> richard quest, thank you very much. cocoming up, h how republilican presidentitial candidates are tryingng to gain s some tractitn agagainst the e republicanan frt runner w with the prprimary cont occurring g in less ththan two weeks. that's's up ahead.d.

ahead of his possible attendance at next week appeals court hearing ahead of his presidential immunity arguments. the former president is also expected to visit iowa this weekend. iowa caucuses on january 15th. florida governor ron desantis is already in iowa, and nikki haley is focusing on new hampshire today, both in the battle for political survival against the heavily favored former president. ian mccann has more on the final stretch of this primary fight. >> it's crunch time on the campaign trail 12 days until the voting begins. ♪ ♪ ♪ former south carolina governor, nikki haley making her pitch to new hampshire voters today. >> don't complain about what happens in a general election if you don't play in this primary. it matters. >> well florida governor ron desantis spent the day brainstorming iowa. >> this is all about who turns that, and we turn out, this is gonna be a really, really special night for us.

>> desantis going all in on the hawkeye state, hoping a strong showing will fuel a campaign come back. >> as you're nominee, i will make sure that we win up and down the ballot, all across the country, just like we did in florida. >> but haley is seeing fresh signs of support. >> how many of you are hearing me in a town hall setting for the first time? >> her campaign announcing raised $24 million across her political operation in the fourth quarter of 2023. more than doubling her total over the previous three months. >> i think he has the momentum. our numbers are surging. >> haley and desantis, and a fierce battle for second, with donald trump, the dominant front runner. still, some new hampshire voters say they're looking to move on from the former president. >> i think a lot of people, even if they liked trump's policies, i don't think they liked the way he goes about his business. >> are you in the people group? describing? >> yeah, i guess i am. >> during a stop in iowa today,

republican chris garcia pressed desantis on why he has more forcefully challenged trump. >> [inaudible] >> i've articulated all the differences, time and time again, on the campaign trail. what the media wants is they want republican candidates to just kind of, like, smear him personally, and kind of do that. it's just not how i roll. >> alien desantis both making the argument there the republicans in the best position to deliver a win for the party in 2024. halle pointing to polls showing her running ahead of biden. >> we can't afford another nail-biter of an election. you look at all these polls, head to head against biden, trump is right there, head to head. i defeat biden by 17 points. >> while desantis is dismissing the polls, and trump's general election chances.

>> i don't think donald trump ultimately can win an election. i know fox news is gonna say, oh, he's winning this poll, he's winning this poll. the polls are garbage. >> i'm joined now by even weekend from milford, new hampshire. one of the other candidates saying in their closing messages? >> well, anderson, chris christie, who also has a strong base of support here in the state, he saying much of what governor desantis and nikki haley are saying. he's telling supporters, don't look at these polls. they have trump way out ahead. but there still time for political surprises. anderson. >> in mccann, thank you so much. programming, no -- note, cnn has back-to-back -- governor ron desantis, then with nikki haley. they start at nine pm eastern with moderator kaitlan collins, and erin burnett. that's tomorrow night. that's it for us. the news continues. the source starts now. ♪ ♪ ♪ tonight, restricting the size, ponchos urgent appeal to the supreme court to get back on the ballot in colorado.

the former president says that january 6th wasn't an insurrection, and even if it was, he didn't engage in. it also, names are dropping tonight. some big names, in the long secret jeffrey epstein case files. who else has now been linked to the dead sex offender? in a mystery tonight after twin bombings have killed over 100 people in iran. and a memorial for the man who was once known as iran's shadow commander who was killed in a u.s. airstrike ordered by then-president trump. these bombs today exploding just feet from the iranian generals to. the question tonight is who did it? i'm kaitlan collins, and this is the source. ♪ ♪ ♪ tonight, donald trump has officially overturned that appeal -- to overturn last month's explosive ruling from colorado's high court that declared he was ineligible to appear on th