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our top stories this hour -- the ballot ballots destined for the u.s. supreme court. colorado republicans appeal a ruling that would have kept donald trump out of that state's primary cost. so what happens next. plus, new scrutiny for nikki haley, after a voter confronts her with this question -- >> what was the cause of the united states civil war? >> well, don't come with an easy question or anything. so her full response and the damage control she's trying to do today. and the sight of a quadruple murder. today there's a lot of debate about tearing down the house

where four college students were brutally killed. we begin the hour with former president donald trump and the efforts to boot him over the ballot over the constitution's so-called insurrection clause. in colorado, the state democratic -- republican parties is asking the supreme court to consider the issue. maine's secretary of state is due to decide whether trump can be on their state's ballot. the former president fighting back, demanding she should recuse herself, citing some social media posts. this comes after michigan's supreme court rejected an effort there to remove trump from that state's ballot. joining us know, vaughn hillyard, sam tine, politico's deputy managing editor. and bar ra mcconveyed, and

msnbc legal analyst. good to have you all three here. vaughn, i want to start with you. what is donald trump saying about these cases. >> the republican party was also party from the lawsuit. we still expect donald trump and his legal team to file their own appeal, but this from the colorado republican party automatically triggers that donald trump will remain on the ballot in the state of colorado unless the u.s. supreme court, number one, takes up the case, and affirms the decision, or declined to hear the case, allowing it to stand in the state of colorado. of course, we expect the u.s. supreme court here to likely take up the case, but it's a matter of when at this point. of course, there's the political timeline that is important, that undoubtedly they will be looking at here, but at the same time there's also a distinction between primary ballots and the

general election ballot. part of the defense of the colorado republican party in their appeal filed last night was the claim that under the first amendment that political parties have their own rights to determine who their candidates for office are. the colorado republican party's legal team also made the case it is only congress that can determine whether one has engaged in insurrection or not. it is not up to secretaries of state or state courts, but also was emphasizing in their filing last night the fact that donald trump was not federally charged for having engaged in insurrection and therefore it's not up to a state court to make that determination. the trump legal team has defiant, that this is an effort by the colorado supreme court in contrast to the michigan supreme court and other places, that the 4-3 ruling was acknowledgement

of that, but for ultimately this will be decided by the u.s. supreme court potentially in the weeks, if not months ahead. thank you, vaughn. we move to you, barbara. it seems inevitable that the supreme court will have to subtle it case. what are you expecting? >> i agree with that, alex. the first thing, we've seen the cert opinion filed by the colorado gop. i think the first thing for the supreme court to do there is issue an administrative stay of the ballot that has to begin being prosed on january 5th. that gives them the space to do full briefingnssue and to decide this question, because we're going to start seeing a sort of patchwork of decision coming out as to whether donald trump should be on the ballot. interpreting the 14th amendment is uniquely win the province of the u.s. supreme court. i think they have to take up the

case relatively soon. >> sam, to you. lawyers for colorado's republican party said this is the greatest election interference case in u.s. history and represents a grave attack on millions of americans' fundamental right to vote. what kind of a boost has trump seen from these ballot battles? >> well, in this case he's obviously fund-raising off of that. we saw that almost instantaneously. he was able to use it to get primary campaign rivals to rally around him. a number came out with statements saying this is egregious, it should be up to the voters to determine who is eligible or not for a ballot. it kind of fits into a pattern that we have seen throughout the course of the primary. in that his legal troubles have always helped him.

there was a stray comment from ron desantis a couple weeks ago, asking what things he would do difficultly if he were to run the race again, and he said something he had no control over, that trump's legal trouble distorted, his word, the primary. i think the real question we have is, buttal legal fallout a. secondarily, do all of these trials, does all the drama, political drama continue to loom over january 6th? does that impact voters beyond the republican electric rattle? are think voters who say i'm tired of this, let's move on from it. that's the great unknown heading into the spring, summer, and ultimately fall. >> so take a listen, sam, to

what donald trump said about the supreme court. >> i have three justices, but i certainly haven't done well. i certainly haven't done well with the supreme court, and personally, they've been good to the tun, but they certainly haven't been good to me, because i didn't make deals going in. i picked good people. i didn't make deals. >> you have to wonder if those three supreme court justices that he's referring to are enjoying being "i have those three justices." but he does like to take credit when the supreme court makes a ruling that he likes, like roe v. wade. of his grievances creating turmoil for any supreme court decision? >> of course. this is a unique phenomenon, but not just the high court. he does this for every court.

remember back in the 2016 campaign, he raised attacks on a mexican judge who oversay a case involving him, he wasn't impartial -- i don't recall the specifics. it goes up there today, where he's going after the maine secretary of state who tweets she had issues years back saying she can't be impartial when deciding his access to the maine ballot. this is a tactic he has used repeatedly predating his time in politics. making sure you're pre-spinning or making sure that those delivering the outcome know you will be unhappy with an adverse ruling. that's part of his play book. >> barbara, let's turn to the interference case, the former president reacting to jack

smith's new filing. trump is calling it another unconstitutional attempt to take away his first amendment rights. how do you expect the court to approach this decision? >> jack smith filed a motion in limine, which happens in almost every trial that the parties assure that the opponent will only bring in evidence that is admissible under the rules of evidence. not conspiracy theories, not baseless claims, not accusations about the motives. jack smith is trying to get a ruling in advance that certain areas are out of bounds, you know, like the idea there were foreign influencers involved in the attack on the capitol, or undercover agents involved. there's just no basis for any of that. i expect the court will do some fact finding or hold a hearing, and ultimately will make a decision about what is inbounds or out of bounds.

trump will press that every step of the way, regardless of the rulings. >> no, you think so? [ laughter ] thank you both so much. a strategy session, a closer look at gaza after learning a second american hostage has been declared dead. that's next. we're back in 60 seconds. that's next. we're back in 60 seconds emergen-c crystals.

turns to the middle east, egypt said it put together a framework proposal that could end the war in gaza, but hasn't heard back from either israel or hamas. as they wait, the israeli offensive is full steam ahead focusing on central gaza. according to palestinian officials, 21,000 people have been killed during the war, with tens of thousands more at risk from dying from hunger and disease. more than 500 israeli soldiers have also died in the fighting. josh lederman joins me, and also

with me is admiral stavridis, former supreme commander of nato. josh, i want to start with you. we know that israel is regularly coming un -- under attack, to give us the latest from both places. >> reporter: a lot of those attacks are coming from the north, from hezbollah, where some 30 rockets last night targeting the northernmost city in israel. additional strikes today, drones coming over the border with israel warning it may not be able to prevent a second front in the war there. we are also learning within the last hour or so that another american citizen is now dead as a result of this war. a 70 years judy weinstein has been believed to be held captive in the gaza strip after being

kidnapped on october 7th. now her kibbutz says they have learned she was actually killed on october 7th, and her body brought to the gaza strip. that's also the case with her husband, who we learned several days ago was also in the same situation. it turned out had also been killed in israel, brought to gaza. now the number of american citizens believed to be held hostage has fallen to six. in the meantime, we are also learning that israel is making rare admissions of mistakes in this war, including a statement from the israeli military, acknowledging on the strike a few days ago that killed at least 70 according to the hamas health ministries, military now saying there were mistakes on which buildings had been complicated, there were buildings nearby that were

affected. israel 'military also saying that the deaths of those three israelis killed recently in gaza in friendly fire could have been prevented. alex? >> that's a lot to think about. thank you very much, josh lederman, from tel aviv. admiral, as i welcome you, with thousands of people heading south, where is there left for them to go? >> no good options, alex, as you will intuit. all they can do is continue to move south. to the north fighting is very intense in and around the tunnel complex. the israelis continue to look for hostages there in central gaza. the fighting has shifted along a region called the wadid. just south of that there's another center of hamas

activity. the refugees, and they are really internally displaced refugees in their own country -- shocking to consider that -- need to simply keep moving south. that brings us to egypt. ultimately one hopes egypt will allow the united nations to build some form of humanitarian camps on the egyptian side of the border, which of course would be safe in the context of what's happening. thus far egypt has not chosen to do that. the bottom line, the gazan population needs to move south to get out of the line of fire. >> admiral, i'm looking at this logistically. you need they had to move south, but israel admitting they mistakenly bombed one building. i can't even see how they move south. they don't have car, no gas, no fuel. they have may have donkeys or

horses, but where is the food for those animals? you're walking? what are you doing? avoiding bombs at the same time? i can't even see how they move safely. >> there's no safety in gaza. all one could say is, if you have no car and no fuel and no beast of burden, then yes, you walk. the only good news is that the entire gaza strip is only 20 or so miles, so we're talking a distance of some single-digit number of miles, but you're exhausted, you're trying to carry food and fuel, you're carrying your small children. it's absolutely heartbreaking to contemplate. >> here's something i know you've been concerned about since we've been talking about this, the situation of lebanon, which appears to be on the verge of getting worse. it was said if the world and the

lebanese government does not handle it, the idf will. how worried are you that this blows up? >> extremely worried, alex. since you and i began discussing this roughly two months ago, at that time i felt there was a 10% chance some of the expanding into a wider regional conflict, because if israel attacks hezbollah, iran will come in in pretty significant ways. that could draw the united states in. i have to say at the moment i think the chances of that are now up to about 25%, one in four, very uncomfortably high. i'll add to it that benny gantz, kind of the number two figure in the israeli war cabinet, is former general benny gants, head of the israel i forces. i know him extremely well. in my fourees as nato commander,

i interacted with him conflictually. he's a very serious, sober understated individual, if he says this could go high order, that makes me concerned. he's a steady pair of hands. he wouldn't say that lightly. so this is quite worrisome. as are you, admiral. that's not a comfortable thing to contemplate. thank you so much for the conversation. still ahead, nikki haley facing criticism for the comment she made about the civil war. we'll have more, next. civil war we'll have more, next.

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republican presidential candidate nikki haley is back out on the campaign trail today, doing some damage control concern her response to a question about what caused the civil war. it was a response that never once mentioned the word "slavery." >> what was the cause of the united states civil war? >> we, don't come with an easy question or anything. i think it was basically how government was going to run, the freedoms of what people could and couldn't do. what do you think the cause of the civil war was? i'm sorry?

>> i'm not running for president. >> that's a good thing. >> i think it comes always down to the role of government and what the rights of the people are. i will always stand by the fact that i think government was intended to security the rights and freedoms of the people. it was never meant to be all things to all people. government doesn't need to tell you how to live your life, they don't need to be a part of your life. they need to make sure you have freedom. we need to have capitalism, economic freedom. we need to make sure we do all things so individuals have the liberties so they can have freedom of speech, religion, to do or being whatever they want to be without government getting in the way. >> and in 2023, it's astonishing to me that you mentioned that question without says slavery. >> what do you want me to say? >> that answers my question. thank you. >> next question.

well, joining me now to discuss this is capitol hill correspondent ryan nobles, former ohio governor john kasich, and director of public policy program at hunter college, baselsmigel. it seeked the second she answer, that she knew she might have been in hot water. how is she responding to this? she's tang every opportunity to know, of course, slavery was -- but she was trying to expand upon that basic premise. it was always the kay, we know the civil war about slavery,

with you it was more than that. it was about the freedom of every individual, about the role of government. for 80 years, m. had the decision and mortgage question of whether slavery was a good thing, and whether government economically culturally, any other reasons had a role to play in that. by the grace of god, we did the right thing and slavery is no more. >> so it took her a bit to get to that point, and then earlier in the day she was part of a radio interview where she was asked about this. she even suggested the berne that asked the question may have been a plant in an attempt to try to trip her up.

at the end of the day it was a pretty straight question, where she left out slavery as a key part, and she's spending most of the day trying to cleanhat up. >> here's what's interesting, governor, she put herself on the mapped when she had the confed rad -- in response to a racist mass killing. in later year, she said the means of the flood had been hijacked. what do you think he was trying to do so in new hampshire? >> i think it was a very, very big mistake, and she's going to pay for it. it's all over the media. her opponents are going to attack her. she made a mistake. i don't know how to ask for it,

but let me tell you, alex. we talk about new hampshire. this is a dead pertain. >> the civil war was about the fight over slavery. that's what it was. i think she'll have to see how it plays out over time. this hurts her in new hampshire, probably hurts her to a degree in iowa, where she's trying to finish in second place, and we'll have to do what -- i think somebody has already -- one of

her opponents has already started attacking her on this, but it was a major mistake. he shouldn't made many, but this is a big one. >> let's go right to ron desan at this time. basil, takes a listen. >> the machine she faces any type of scrutiny, she tends to cave. i think that's what you saw yesterday. i think she showed time and time again when it's time, when the lights get hot, she wilts under pressure. that was a good example last night. >> what do you think about what he said, basil. >> i don't think about much of what he said. when you look at his story. when you look at what nikki haley just said, even in the debate in september, when he said that welfare for blacks is worse that is slavery, and of course when you add everything that donald trump has said and done in the last several years,

it's part of a larger narrative that some in the republican party, some of its leadership, and certainly some of the leading president uses candidates are trying to sweep the america's original sin and the horrors of that under the rug. in an attempt to rewrite the history and create a singular narrative to me that is based upon white supremacy. i don't tay anything that ron desantis does, whether he extolls what nikki haley good, but she's under this whitehot light of the campaign. all of them have tried to diminish the horrors the slavery. to the governor's point, if you wanted an alternative to donald trump, maybe she was the one, and certainly her numbers in new hampshire were suggesting that.

as a general election candidate now, it makes it much harder for her to make that argument, that she can win in a general election with that kind of mistake. it absolutely hurts her i the race. >> ryan, we have dnc chair harrison in a statement -- this isn't hard, condemning slavery. it's a baseline for anyone who wants to be president of the united states. what's your sense in how this will impact her campaign going forward? >> of course, from south carolina, a longtime political foil of nikki haley, so it's not surprising he's jumping into the criticism. in many ways, this is a mac-or-break moment for nikki haley. if there's anyone who has a shot at the lane to try to challenge trump, haley seemed to be the one with the most promise. it's just a huge road bump.

>> one thing we had not heard is trump has said a number of things on the campaign trail just in the past few months that have been very, very divides i have rhetoric, attacking migrants and minority groups in ways that had drawn a lot of criticism. it hasn't affected his poll numbers at all. so the question is whether this would resonate with republican voters i think is the big question here, as we lead into iowa and new hampshire. iowa just 18 days away and new hampshire less than 30 days away. >> very good point you make there, ryan. let's move on to the other republican presidential candidates. chris christie pushing back with an ad in new hampshire. >> some people saying i should

drop out of this race. really? i'm the only one say that donald trump is a liar. his christmas message to anyone who disagrees -- rot in hell. he'll burn america to the ground to help himself. >> with that kind of candor, he lags behind. what kind of finish would he need to stay in it? >> well, i don't think he's going anywhere. let me sum it in. i think in iowa, it's critical for desantis to finish in second place. if he doesn't, there's a real problem to continue. does that blunt haley amomentum in iowa? probably not as much as new hampshire. i do think it will have -- it will have an impact. then we're on to new hampshire. the question is does hallie take

any momentum into new hampshire? that's the problem with the latest setback, does it blunt her momentum, to go into new hampshire with momentum. with chris christie, i mean, what a positive message that was, right? but the fact is that he'll stay in for a while. he probably has enough in his super-pac to continue to be out there. do i think that he has a shot at really winning this thing? i really don't. but a we know, inevitability can slip away overnight. i just adopt see it with chris christie. it will be interesting to see what happens in iowa, the amount of momentum into new hampshire, and does it take a chunk out of donald trump. >> atbd.

basil, i promise to start with you next time to make it up. thank you, gentlemen. the demolition of this home is drawing mixed reaction from families of the victims. drawinm families of the victims. on he. tide free & gentle is epa safer choice certified. it's got to be tide. right now get a free footlong at subway. like the new deli heroes. buy one footlong in the app, get one free. it's a pretty big deal. kinda like me. order in the subway app today. children are the greatest joy and our best hope for a better future. friends, they are the future. but did you know that millions of kids

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by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. demolition is underway at the house where four university of idaho students were killed last year.

it's stood empty since the deadly stabbings, but the demolition is not without controversy. dana griffin is covering this story for us. dana, welcome. i know some of the family members didn't want it torn down now. why not? >> reporter: that's right. it essentially boils down to wanting to make sure they get an opportunity to get a conviction in this case. their concern is tearing down this house could prevent a jury from possibly visiting in case they had questions during the upcoming trial. a reminder -- a trial date has yet to be set. the prosecution has stated, even if that was possible, idaho coat prevents jurors from going inside the house, because it's possibly a hazard. the university admitted today that, you know, security concerns were also part of this factor, but also they want a chance for the community to move forward, to heal. you know, this home has been a

symbol of pain for this community, now that it's torn down. some people are finding relief. the school says it cost them $700 a day to have security there, because people try to show up, try to get into the house. they really want to limit that security risk. now, prosecutors have asked for a six-week summer trial. we're waiting for a judge to decide that. also what could happen next is the defense could likely request a venue change to a bigger city, a bigger jury pool, which could help the defendant in this case, but based upon the evidence the state has, they have confident in what they have, and they do not need the house to present a strong case. alex? >> you have to think the prosecutors know what they're doing at this point. deign ra griffin, thank you so much. after the months cleared in maui, we're getting a clearer picture of human failure.

an nbc news documentary examines what went wrong in the run-up to the fires. tom llamas reports. we warn you, some of the images are graphic. >> reporter: it's the escape as we have never seen before. >> get out! >> reporter: this is what lahaina resident diego rivera saw as he drove through an inferno. he had no idea of the situation. the smoke, flames and horror lying on the street you see here. >> somebody is down. >> were just the beginning. so john kind of kicks in, then i see the crew we meet up with. the look on their face is something i won't ever forget. >> reporter: the new film "ashes" that led up to the fire that killed at least 100 people

and destroyed an american community. >> everybody needs to evacuate. >> reporter: police did try to evacuate residents. >> evacuate! >> reporter: but an apparent breakdown? official community indication left many with no warning, and almost no way out. >> there was no guidance. we had to make the decision on our own when it was time to go. >> reporter: besides the government response, hawaiian electric, the company powering lahaina is facing accusation that their power lines sparked the blaze. >> i strongly believe that hawaiian electric should have done a power shutoff program. that would have been appropriate. >> reporter: until last october, jennifer potter ran the regulatory boddia that oversees hawaiian electric. did hawaiian electric know their system was vulnerable during the high winds? >> if they try to state they didn't, that would be sort of an insult. some of those poles are over 40,

50 years old, and a lot are compromised. >> reporter: in a statement to nbc news, hawaiian electric says the cause of the lahaina afternoon fire remains undetermined. while ms. potter served on the commission, she does not raise concerns about the procedures for responding to red flag wind warnings, and did not mention the idea of proactively turning off the power. the state's attorney general is investigating the fire and the golf as response. the survivors still stuck in limbo, are searching for a way forward. >> sleep doesn't come easy anymore, you know? the ptsd is the real form it will be tough for a while. we have to make it, for the people who didn't. it's a story that leaves you speechless. thank you, tom llamas. an unproductive congress.

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. house republicans are escalating their impeachment inquiry into president biden. two gop led committees now want the white house to turn over communications related to hunter biden and whether the president was involved in his son's decision to not sit for a closed door deposition with the oversight committee. joining me now is a democratic member of the oversight committee, illinois congressman raja krishnamoorthi. let me ask you where you see this heading, and do you expect the gop is going to follow through with a contempt of congress charge against hunter biden? >> they might. but i think their contempt of congress charge would probably fall flat because hunter biden actually did comply with the subpoena. but the only difference between their request and what he wanted to do was instead of testifying in private, where they could selectively distort his

testimony or leak it, he said, i'll testify, but i want to do so in public. so, i'm not sure that their plea to a court that somehow he was in contempt of congress or that he defied the subpoena would go anywhere. >> and doesn't that exactly mirror what republican congressmen during the with 1/6 congressional hearing investigation got from their subpoenas. i mean, they also said -- there was at least one that said, i would do it, but i want to do it publicly. so, this is, kind of, hypocritical. >> hypocrisy? i don't know what you're talking about. >> i'm sorry. >> yeah, i think that this is, kind of, par for the course. and they're reaching. there's not a shred of evidence whatsoever implicating the president in any wrong doing at all. i've seen this quote, unquote evidence that the republicans have presented. i even attended multiple hearings. and then at that point, chairman

comer said that he found that these hearings were not quote, unquote useful. so, at this point, they're reaching, to say the least. >> let's talk about what congress is doing because it may have a big reach, as it faces a massive to-do list when it gets back to work in the new year, which includes meeting two government funding deadlines over the next few months, and negotiating border security legislation. but the house, as you know, is coming off a historically unproductive year. they only managed to pass 2 bills into law over the entire year, despite more than 700 votes. are you optimistic things are going to improve in the new year? >> unfortunately, i'm not. and, you know, those 27 bills, by the way, included multiple bills to rename the clinics, included the duck stamp modernization act, all of which are important, but not exactly what my constituents want. as you know, on january 19th, we have a government funding deadline looming, including,

among other very important departments, the va, which is so vital for millions of americans. but we also have to deal with aid to ukraine, help for israel, addressing the border, as well as other pressing issues the american people want us to tackle. >> let's just look at government funding. is there more the democrats can do to reach across the aisle, or is it a complete lack of reception to any movement across the aisle on the other side that's the problem? >> no, i think, you know, leader jeffries has been reaching across the aisle repeatedly to try to work with former speaker kevin mccarthy and of course the current speaker mike johnson. but he just hasn't had a lot of reciprocity from folks on the other side. in basically accomplishing the mission of passing bills that would command the vast majority of members of both parties in

congress. the main reason being that speaker johnson and others are very concerned about what their right wing will do to them. so, now we're going to have some really important questions, which is, do we sideline the extremists and get the work of the american people done, or do we not do that? i think that's really what's going to be on the agenda in january. >> and can you give me a very quick prediction on which way you think that's going to go? >> well, i think that what's probably going to happen is that you're going to have a lot of members of the republican caucus or in districts where their constituents absolutely do not want the government to shut down. >> absolutely. >> that is a sure fire loser. my constituents don't want it to happen. theirs don't. so, i think that they're going to hopefully force the speaker and the leadership to work with democrats. how about that for a change? >> well, it would be a change. but anyway, thank you so much illinois congressman raja

krishnamoorthi. and thanks for spending the last couple of hours with us. see you back tomorrow at noon eastern. steven cuomo picks up our coverage after this break. this. (mom) a better plan to save is verizon! (vo) that's right! plans start at $25 per line guaranteed for 3 years. only on verizon.

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