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right now on msnbc, we're following several breaking news stories. any moment now we're expecting police in rochester, new york, to give an update on a deadly crash yesterday outside a concert. the concerns it could have been an act of terror. plus, dramatic video out of japan, terrifying moments as a passenger jet bursts into flames. take a look at that after colliding with a coast guard aircraft on the runway. and miraculously hundreds escaped alive. also ahead, new year, new legal challenges for the former president. the high stakes hearing one week from today as he tries to claim presidential immunity. there is now just 13 days until iowa caucuses. we're live as republicans barnstorm the state ahead of the first in the nation contest.

hey, everybody. good morning to you. happy new year. it is 10:00 a.m. in the east. i'm yasmin vossoughian in for ana cabrera. we bring with dramatic video out of japan, showing a passenger jet engulfed in flames after colliding with a coast guard plane on a runway in tokyo. around 380 people were on that passenger plane. the video astounding to see. incredibly all were able to escape, sadly five crew members on the coast guard aircraft were in fact killed. want to bring in meagan fitzgerald who is following this story for us from our london news room and nbc news aviation analyst captain john cox. what more have we learned about the collision and how everyone on the jet was able to get out? >> reporter: well, yasmin, like you mentioned, this all happened on the runway of tokyo's haneda airport, one of the busiest in the country. it appears as though this collision happened as the passenger jet was starting to taxi. that still is unclear.

we're not getting a ton of information from japanese officials. but according to local video, from local tv stations, you can see this large eruption of fire and smoke from the side of that passenger aircraft. not long after the plane is just engulfed in flames. the ap is quoting a passenger who escaped the plane, he says that quickly this cabin fills up with smoke, the emergency doors open, passengers shoot out as fast as they can, they're on the tarmac running, he says, running to this nearby field. he describes this chaotic scene. and also, you know, it is worth noting that japan's transport minister, not releasing a lot of details about this investigation, but says that coast guard flight was heading to deliver needed aid to those victims of the earthquake on the western coast of the country. japanese officials are saying that despite this tragedy, they're still trying to do everything they can to prevent any delays in making it to those people who are in desperate need. >> just so i'm clear, the

reporting indicates that the coast guard plane was taking off and there was a possibility that passenger jet was taxiing. or we're unclear what the coast guard plane was doing? >> exactly. we're unclear. officials in japan have not yet specified the details around that, but they are saying that that plane was in fact heading to make these deliveries to the people in need. >> got it. we know the direction in which they were heading in. john, if you will, captain, weigh in for us. you're watching the video, hearing the reports we're getting from meagan. what are your instincts as to what may have happened? >> some reports i read indicate the a-350 of jal was landing. the coast guard airplane was told to hold short of the runway and apparently the impact point that you see is apparently the collision from the a-350 as it is landing. the pilots did a great job about keeping the airplane under

control. the cabin crew did an absolutely magnificent job getting everybody out as quickly as they did. so the control -- the investigators are now going to try to understand how you had two airplanes on the same piece of concrete at the same time. and that, i think, that will be the focus initially of the inquiry. the fire department, they did a great job in trying to get sufficient fire fighting equipment there. they got it there fairly quickly and the outcome was really good. they had 380 or so people get off of the a-350. this is the first accident for this airplane type. the airplane was two years old. or two and a half. and so, we just now need to understand and it is a tragic loss for the dehavelin-8 for the

coast guard. >> as you're looking at this and from your vast knowledge and experience here, you have a coast guard plane, told to hold short of the runway, a passenger jet landing at the this airport as you're talking about, how does something like this happen? how do they collide? what mistakes could have happened? what could have gone wrong? >> i think that's what the investigators are going to want to really delve into because the initial transcripts which are not verified, that i've read this morning indicate that the coast guard airplane was told to taxi to a holding point, and contact the tower. and the jal airplane was cleared to land. what happened between those two, that's going to be the focus of the investigation. and right now, it would be really speculative to try to say, okay, this is the likely cause or something. i think what you're going to see

is that this -- they will focus on the air traffic control portion of it, and where the coast guard, where they actually taxied, it appears that the jal airplane did have the proper clearance to land on the runway. >> got it. meagan, you talked about how this coast guard plane was headed to the quake region where this massive earthquake happened, 7.5 or 6 earthquake, 48 people losing their lives. what is the latest that we have on that? >> yeah, look, first responders are desperately look for survivors that are trapped underneath the rubble of these collapsed homes and buildings. as you mentioned, right now, we're seeing that death toll soar past 45. dozens of people are injured after a series of these earthquakes hit the western coast of japan there. since that first earthquake, officials say more than 170 aftershocks have occurred on the western part of japan.

meanwhile, we know that we're getting the first look of the devastation as the sun started to rise this morning in japan. we're seeing homes and buildings that have been flattened, private roads and streets that buckled. some neighbors returning back home to get a first look at what's left. right now the focus for these officials on the ground now is this race against time to try and save anybody who is alive underneath the rubble. >> all right, meagan fitzgerald, thank you. captain john cox, thank you as well sir. appreciate it. we're also following everybody this breaking news in new york, any minute now we're expect a news conference out of rochester. officials there to give an update on the deadly new year's day crash that killed two people. we know the fbi is assisting the rochester police department in the investigation saying gasoline canisters were found in and around one of these vehicles. jim cavanaugh, retired atf special agent in charge here to talk about this. two people lost their lives

here. this crash happening on new year's day outside this convert venue. what are we expecting to hear from officials there? >> they're going to want to know if it is related to terrorism or inspired by terrorism in any way because of these multiple gas canisters that were found in the back of the ford expedition. that's going to be the critical issue. but i can tell you by just looking at all the photographs from the scene that are in the media, there was no explosion in the black suv. that's not unusual to me when there is a lot of gas canisters because we might have some, you know, aspiring neophyte terrorists who thinks the gas canisters are going to explode in some fantastical fashion, but that's not really the way it works or explosives work or gas canisters work. there is no detonation or bomb that detonated inside that suv. not any large scale. and certainly not a string of

gas canisters. but there was a large fire after that car rammed the white mitsubishi and it was near a cross walk. probably the intention was, you know, mass killing for whatever motive at the moment. >> so i want to remind folks that are watching what happened yesterday as was told to us by authorities there. 12:50 a.m., rochester police officers assigned to the kodak center by the band mo for a concert was about a thousand people just before the cross walk in front of the venue an eastbound ford expedition hit a mitsubishi outlander that was leaving the parking lot, they go on the force of the collision caused the two vehicles to go through a group of pedestrians in the cross walk and then into two other vehicles. there was a large fire as we're seeing here in the video associated with the crash that took the rochester fire department almost one hour to extinguish. the two lives lost were inside that mitsubishi outlander and the driver was taken to the hospital with injuries that are

not life threatening. when you think about the ticktock i read for folks here, what does that tell you coupled with the fbi being involved in this investigation? >> well, you know, there is reports of a suicide note that the driver of the ford suv left. so, and then, of course, the presence of multiple gas canisters in the vehicle and then an apparent intentional ramming of the mitsubishi right near the pedestrian cross walk that was loaded with revelers leaving the venue from new year's eve. so all of those factors together, you know, ask the question, you know, is terrorism the underlying foundation of this act? is it just suicide? if it is just suicide, why all the gas canisters and the ramming? is it a homicide? homicidal suicide, we see that a lot with mass shooters. is it related to terrorism. it may not be related to

terrorism. it could be a suicidal maniac who wants to now kill a lot of others just like these mass shooters do. so, motive will be critical in looking at it for the fbi and the government, but, you know, either way they got to look in and see what did motivate this person to do this, why are all these gas canisters in the car. but having dealt with many bombs and arsons and killers and gas canister bombs and all types of devices, people think that those things are going to explode in some great fashion like they see in hollywood movies. but it takes some technical acumen to get that to happen. they're not just going to explode like that from a collision. they would have to be especially rigged up. and they did not have that in this vehicle. this vehicle was not a major bomb. it could have been -- most of the damage is on the hood. this is on the fire. i think what we had was a collision and massive fire. >> jim cavanaugh, we're going keep our eyes peeled on that

news conference as soon as it gets up and going, we're going to show it for folks and bring any news as it happens. stay close, if you will. we're back in just 60 seconds. the courtroom for the former president and the campaign trail as well. donald trump's legal battles set to come to a head in the coming weeks. and in this new year. what is at stake for trump's gop rivals in the hawkeye state with less than two weeks until the iowa caucuses? 300,000 migrants encountered at the southern border in december. the pressure america's cities are facing. and it is full steam ahead to the public domain for one cartoon icon. c domain for one cartoon icon in real time. (jen) so we partner with verizon. their solution for us? a private 5g network. (ella) we now get more control of production, efficiencies, and greater agility. (marquis) with a custom private 5g network. our customers get what they want,

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toss out the inelection interference case against him. he says he has cannot be prosecuted. the pressure is building for the supreme court to take up the issue as well.s joining us now is anthony colie and caroline polissi. anthony, start us off if you will, thert expectations here wn it comes to first maine and colorado, what do you see happening withu scotus? >> yeah, well, thank you for having me. i expect at some point today or this week that the trump campaign will file suit in maine to try to get that case moving. but i do think at some point, perhaps even as early as today we'll seey the u.s. supreme cot accept to hear the colorado case, and i would note here,

what we have heard from trump so far is that he thinks he is -- that he didn't participate in an insurrection, but, yasmin, we all saw his tweet in december 2020 where he told the mob to come to washington, will be wild, he said, to the stop the steal rally. we saw him on the ellipse of the capitol one january 6th tell h supporters to fight, go down to the capitol, it fight like hell, they wouldn't have a country to fight for, and they do that. they donned their tactical gear, they donned their helmets, they take their weapons and their bear spray and their zip tie handcuffs and they go down to thean capitol and they fight li hell and assault law enforcement and the news media and only stop until he tells them to stop. now, i know that the definition of insurrection wasn't defined in theio constitution, but if tt is not an insurrection, if that isec not a disqualifying event r someone who would be president, i don't know whatso is.

>> ii want to remind folks we' watching this press conference in rochester. up and going get any moment now. as soon as it does, i'll bring it you to. we're seeing people walk out now. we'll continue this conversation until they get started. i want to go to you on this one, if it ends up with scotus -- we're going to go in, guys. let's go, to rochester. >> -- the arson task force is police detectives, fire investigators, and atf. it is also a normal part of the task force. they have been conducting extensive investigation into the tragedy that occurred on new year's eve outside the kodak theater on west ridge road. the following is a synopsis of the information we have learned thus far. ited must be noted we are still gathering information and all of this is preliminary. all evidence point to the suspect as 35-year-old michael avery from the syracuse, new york, area. the suspect passed away last

night. is not been scientifically identified, but we're in the process of confirming his identity. we have been in contact with his family since yesterday. s avery traveled to rochester, new york, in his personal vehicle on or about december 27th and checked in at the wood spring suites in thet town of greece. on december 29th, at about 2:45 p.m., avery rented the ford expedition from a car rental agency at the rochester airport. on december 30th, between 9:00 a.m. and until about 6:00 p.m., avery made at least a half dozen purchases of gasoline and gas containers from different locationsrs throughout the monr county andut ontario county are. thus far, information has shown he was alone when making these purchases. on january 1st, about 12:52 a.m., avery was operating the

rented ford expedition eastbouni on west ridge road. at about this time, two rochester police officers assignedch to the concert were traffic post in stopping traffic to allow for pedestrians to cross. at this time, avery sped up, crossed into the oncoming lane of traffic, and appears to have intentionally been driving toward the pedestrian crossing. at about the same time, a ride share vehicleti containing two passengers inni the back seat w pulling out of the theater parking lot and was struck by avery's expedition. this created the chain of events that followed, leading to the death of the two rear seat passengers of the ride share vehicle and the injuries of at least nine pedestrians. the number has changed since yesterday as moreas people have come forward tole report their injuries. yesterday a search warrant was executed on theer hotel room rented bye michael avery.av

there was no suicide note recovered during the search of theco hotel room. ane additional search warrant s executed on avery's personal vehicle, which was recovered at the airport parking garage. investigators are still combing through evidence recovered from his vehicle, but nothing thus far has been recovered that provides any additional insight into why this occurred. although the motive behind the crime remains unknown, the conversations we have had with his family so far leads us to believe that avery may have been suffering from possible undiagnosed mental health issues. at this time we have not been able to identify that there was anyone elseti involved in the crime or that it was part of a larger plot. additionally we have not rg uncovered any information leading us to believe that the actions ofli michael avery on n year's eve were motivated by any form of political or social biases. it must be noted this is an

ongoing investigation, and additional information may be developed. we're going to share his photo today and ask that anyone with additionalth information about thison tragedy or about the suspect's motivation please contact the rpd major crimes unit at 428-7157. there is also an email and this will be ono the written releas when we put it out. majorcrimes@cityofrochester.gov. mayor evans will say a few words and i'll come back and take a few questions. >> just let me again reiterate my thanks to our law enforcement partners and o to the rochester police department, rochester fire department, fbi, atf, all our partners here, for their work on f this unfortunate case. as the chief said, there are still many unanswered questions. we hope to continue to provide updates as we have them. i have been getting inundated with questions as to why this

individual would choose, number one, rochester, new york, why he would choose to do this on new year's day, and why he would appearhe to target concertgoers trying to have a great time to bring in the new year. those are all questions that we -- those are all questions thingsve been raised and we just don't have ansers to yet. but as i said, the evans administration is big on transparency. so we wanted to make sure today that we provide an update on all the information that we have available now because there has tons of stuff that has been out there that has been unsubstantiated, but what the chief laid outnt is the facts. theth most important thing toda i think, for us as we go into the new year is to remember the victims of the horrific accident. these folks were going to see a grateful dead tribute band, and they were expecting to be able to ring in the new year and have a good time, but instead we have

individuals that are now going to be burying family members and we havefa people who have now le altering injuries because of the choices that this suspect made. so i hope that rochester and the broader r community continues t pray for the families that are mourning the loss of their loved ones. and that we pray for the speedy recovery of the lives -- of the lives impacted by this tragedy. this is a very traumatic experience. not only for the people who experienced this, but also the first responders. it should be noted that there were off duty rochester police officers that sprung into action to try to render aid to the individual that was responsible for this heinous act, not even thinking about their own safety. but running to try to put out the fire of the inferno that he started.at so, even in the midst of this

despicable tragedy, there is a reminder that there still is goodness in this world of the individuals that sprang into action without thinking about their own safety to try to save others. so, our thoughts and prayers are with the families and the victims. we will continue to provide t updates as we have them. wete did that yesterday. and as we get more information, we will continue to provide them. there are lotsid of questions. i have lots of questions. everyone up here has lots of questions. whyof rochester? why syracuse? why all the gas cans? these are all things that we'll continue to be investigating and as the chief has said this is an ongoing investigation until it is not. so it is an ongoing investigation until it's not. we'll continue to provide at

updates as we have them. the last thing i want to say is that anyone during these festive holidayse seasons, sometimes people have issues dealing with some of the challenges that they have, i want to encourage folks in the rochester community, broader community, to seek help if you need it. there is so much help out there. 988 is the number that can be called for anyone that is experiencing suicidal issues, mental health issues. there are resources that are out there. i sometimes think in our broader communities and when we see these types of tragedies what could happen if people seek out those resources that are available to rethem. thank you. >> all right, so we were taking a listen to mayor malik evans with the rochester chief of the police department who is speaking now, david smith as well, talking about the crash that happened on new year's day

and the overnight hours there. they identified the suspect during this press conference, avery, 35-year-old male from the syracuse area who traveled to the rochester area, renting a vehicle, purchasing multiple cans of gasoline.ol around 12:50 or so a.m., michael avery drove what they believe to be his vehicley intentionally into a pedestrian crossing, striking a ride share vehicle, in which r two individuals died from that strike. nine other t pedestrians that we walking in that area as well were injured. they do not yet have a motive. there was no suicide note found. they have spoken with the family ofth michael avery and have bee toldnd he may have been sufferi as the police department chief said from mental health issues, however they do not yet have a motive as tove why he carried o this intentional attack on new year's day in the rochester area

outside of a concert venue. i want to bring back msnbc contributor and o retired atf special agent in charge jim cavanaugh. we were speaking a couple of minutes ago. we now have more information, we're n learning the suspect intentionally drove his vehicle through a group of pedestrians, striking a ride share vehicle first, possibly saving many mor lives because of that. what do youli make of what we jt heard? >> well, it is interesting, the officers and the chief doesn't have anyhe really political motivations that are up front. oftentime terrorist groups, they want to claim credit and so they can cause fear.ey so that's the reason they want to announce they did it. we're not seeing anything like that right now. we're not seeing some sign of a large bomb here, yasmin. this is not a high explosive device. it appears maybe from watching the videos and looking at the pictures that the actor started the fire in the vehicle, probably from all these gas cans, and then he rammed the car

and tried to drive it through theto pedestrian crosswalk. the vehicle is largely in tact. you can see a still picture of it with the doors closed, the roof is in tact, it is not shot through, there has been no large blast in heit. he might have thought that he would get a blast, that's pretty common with aspiring bombers, they think a lotri of gasoline going to explode in some hollywood i fashion, but if the don't it just right, it is not going to work. it can get pretty complicated. itre looks like suicide with intentional homicide right now, but theho underlying motive we don't know. >> jim cavanaugh for us, thank you. just to reiterate, we're learning from the rochester pd michael avery intentionally drove his vehicle into a pedestrian tocrosswalk. as we get more information on a possible motive, we'll bring it to you. b i want to turn back to the conversation we were having before this news conference, former president trump preparing for a high stakes hearing, one week from today on the question of presidential immunity in the

electionni interference case. with us is anthony colie, former chief spokesperson for attorney general merrick garland and caroline polissi, federal and white collar defense attorney who brought her kids on set, which we very much appreciate. always like children visiting on set. pick up whereg we left off, an talking about the possible decision byab scotus on colorad and maine and possibly other states to follow. do they need to decide on the question of whethero or not th former president engaged in an insurrection to make this decision on whether or not he remains on the ballot? >> that's the juicy question, everybody is waiting to hear what they have toy say. unfortunately, i have to strongly,e you know, think tha they're not going to answer that question. they most likely will decide this on some people are calling it procedural grounds, but, you know, the issue is so fraught politically and, you know, what legal scholars are saying is that oneho of the biggest issue is whether or not this clause is

self-executing, who gets to cu decide. and itwh cannot be that 50 different states' electors boards get to decide this on an individual level, meaning the supreme court will take this case andsu they're going to dece it so that it is uniform across the board. or 50 no, he can be on the ballot, he can't. i think most likely he will be on the ballot, because the court will come to some sort of conclusion whereby they don't answer that question, but they say essentially it is not our issue to decide. it is either congress' issue to legislate on that issue for the enforcement part, or it is the t electorate, the voters at large who get toe decide. it is not the states individually as to whether or get on the slate. >> anthony, scotus can step around this question of insurrection because it is way too political and stillis makina decision here?ki >> yeah. i think caroline is absolutely right. there are any number of off ramps that the supreme court could take. theyhe acknowledge what we all see, that this is a sharply

divided nation, and the supreme court, of course, its approval rating is at historic lows. i think they'll try to find some type of middle ground. on the one hand, what caroline said with theha insurrection matter, i do think on the other hand,ot the middle ground on th issue of immunity, i think trump's claim is so spacious, so hollow, i cannot imagine this supreme court, even with his conservative majority, taking that unprecedented step of saying any president has absoluteny immunity for everythg they have done while in office. >> i want to talk about this question ofou immunity. with thatf i want to read from section of thei former president'sppellate brief. his writers writing this, the text of the constitution for the impeachment jgmt clause presupposes criminal immunity. that clauseal dictates that a president may bee criminally charged only if he is the party convicted in an impeachment trial. this is very much the argument

that the defense, the former president's attorneys are leading with. what do you make of it?u >> it is not a very good legal argument. it has some merit, but i don't think they're going to win on this.to look, this issue of, you know, he had been impeached in the senated on these exact issues one that he has tried to make before saying well, itadjudicat. i don't think it is going to win the day. i think it is interesting that this issue, the immunity issue as well as the other ballot issue, they're going to come down the pike at the same time and ihe think the supreme court wants to present a united front answering each of thesete ea questions, hopefully unanimously, but i doubt that will happen. >> anthony d colie, thank you. caroline polissi with proud kids off set, thank you as well. coming ofup, the word on everybody's lips is going to be iowa. the caucus now, if you can believe this, folks, 13 days away. here we go. 2024, the pressure is on for the

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with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. all right. the iowa caucuses now just 13 days away. republican hopefuls are hitting the campaign trail spending big in the last stretch. candidates and the groups backing them have spent nearly $105 million flooding iowa's airwaves with ads and expected to spend another $7.5 million before january 15th. but will that be enough to sway voters in a state where trump still carries a 32-point lead? maura barrett joining us now from debuick, iowa. also with us, ashley etienne, former communications director to speaker pelosi and vice president harris. and brendan buck, former top aide to speakers paul ryan, john boehner as well. give us the run-up, 13 days to

go, when are we going to see folks and where? >> yasmin, the pressure is on. even though the candidates are spending a ton of money on the airwaves here, as someone who literally lived here in iowa ahead of the 2020 caucuses, it is surprising to see not all the candidates are in state today, with so little time left. vivek ramaswamy holding several events where i am today. we won't see ron desantis back in the state until tomorrow after spending new year's eve here. nikki haley and former president trump joining him at the end of the week. but the amount of events right now, we're not seeing a bizarre twist, not correlating necessarily to candidates' popularity. former president trump holding just about 30 events in the state. vivek ramaswamy holding more than 200 events leading up to the caucus. caucusgoers here in iowa are about seeing candidates on the ground, interacting with them,

taking advantage of that retail politics tradition here. if they're not here, they're not getting that interaction. i expect to see more of the candidates spending more time starting next week. so voters can do that compare and contrast. another important news announcementhi morning, though, ramaswamy saying he'll sit out of cnn's debate next week on january 10th, a prime opportunity for voters to see and americans to see candidates right before the caucus go up against each other. nikki haley and ron desantis participating, but ramaswamy bashing cnn and say he'll be doing a live stream with a conservative host tim cool instead. this might be coming up against the fact that he probably wasn't going to qualify for that 10% polling qualification, but he's probably trying to do some of his own counterprogramming, but that might be to his disadvantage for the iowa cautiongoers. >> i want to talk about the spending. you have nikki haley doing well in the polls in new hampshire.

you look at the spending across the board, nikki haley is outspending all of her gop rivals, $4.6 million. we have a graphic of what the other gop rivals are spending now. do you think it is going to work for her and has it been working? >> yeah, i mean, she's got to throw everything she's got at it. that's the real problem and challenge we're seeing with desantis and with nikki haley. it is a new year, but it is the same old strategy. everyone continues to ride the fence. they're not taking donald trump on, head on. and brendan knows this well, elections are about contrast. and both of these candidates are failing to really draw a contrast between them and mr. trump in a way that is really rez -- that would have resonance with voters right now. what i'm really watching is this whole notion that fence riding, you know, isn't what we know in politics, fence riding isn't a strategy to win. for me, i'm really watching to see how in the next two to three weeks with the pressure on and pressure mounting each of these campaigns will really start to

really take on and initiate a different strategy, more aggressive posture toward the former president. >> right, and trump had some challenges in iowa to say the least. in 2016, he landed in second place. this time around, his team is trying to -- is working to get supporters to the caucuses. do you think it is going to play well for him? >> well, what i appreciate about donald trump 2024 here is that this is a much more professionalized operation than it was in the past. in 2016, i think he was really just riding on his fame and the sort of shock value that he had. and he certainly hasn't lost any shock value. but he's also got some people around him now who actually have run campaigns and understand how this stuff works. it is much safer if you're a political operative in iowa to be working for donald trump hane ing -- i think everybody

understands where this is going. it would be a historic upset if anybody other than donald trump won. but they're not taking anything for granted. i think they understand how this works now. >> part of what they're doing and many of the former president's gop rivals are doing is trying to gain trump voters. and part of that is hearing from nikki haley, hearing from ron desantis and saying and pledging last week to pardon the former president if in fact he were convicted. does doing this and saying this work for them? >> the challenge is that it might work in the short-term with republican primary voters, but won't work in the long-term. i don't see it actually even working for nikki haley. i think the real outstanding questions are about her is this lack of moral clarity that we're hearing from her and the other gop contenders. the american people want to know where you stand on these issues. it is not sufficient to on one hand say that he's not -- that donald trump is beneath the

office and is not suitable to hold the office, but then on the other hand say you would let him off the hook for doing the most egregious crimes against american democracy, trying to cheat an election, causing an insurrection, those two don't add up in the minds of the american voters and gop primary voters. i think that's what you're seeing right now. it is this riding of the fence that i don't think is working for any of the gop contenders at this point. >> it is interesting, they're trying to take this stance, we'll pardon the guy that you support, we'll look out for him. but maybe he's muddied the waters too much. so support us. >> yeah, so much ground work laid by donald trump here that it would just be incredibly unpopular to gum the other side of him on what happened on january 6th. this is a failure of candidates for going soft from this from the very beginning. january 6th was one of the most shameful days in american history. but allowing him to define what

happened that day, basically said whatever you do at this point, in the 11th hour here to criticize him, is too little, too late. if they had a different campaign, very early on they were very clear about what happened that day and why he should not be president, we may be in a different situation. the fact they let this go on forever means that he defines everything just as we have seen so many times he creates his own reality and so many voters hear it through that prism, through the way he talks about it. it is hard now to criticize him for what happened there. >> brandon buck, thank you. coming up next, no signs of slowing. the intensifying challenges cities are facing as a record number of migrants cross the southern border. and gaza looks to withdraw some troops from the battlefields in the coming days. we're in the region coming up next. days. we're in the region coming up next i want to be there for this one. i can't if i'm sick. pneumococcal pneumonia is a potentially serious bacterial lung disease. you may be at risk if you're 19 to 64

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troops in the coming days. it is coming just after the landmark ruling by the israeli supreme court overturning part of prime minister bibi netanyahu's judicial overhaul plan and putting the country on the brink of a constitutional crisis during war time. want to bring in nbc news foreign correspondent matt bradley in tel aviv for us. matt, good to talk to you. tell us more about the tensions this morning in israel and the possible withdrawal of some idf troops. >> reporter: yeah, well, yasmin, wasn't a break for the holidays for the fighting in the gaza strip. it looked like the conflict is expanding and threatens to bring the u.s. into a direct confrontation with iran. this morning, the war in the middle east spilling beyond israel's borders. tensions between the u.s. and iran escalating on the high seas. iran had supported yemeni rebels attacking ships in the red sea,

but now is deploying a warship there for first time since the latest conflict began. iran's warship entering the red sea this weekend, according to the semiofficial news agency. it comes as the u.s. navy is confronting the iran-backed militants, the yemen-based houthis. american helicopters repelling an attack, killing ten houthi fighters and sinking three of their ships. raising the stakes in a region already reeling from war. and now israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu has just taken a direct hit. the country's supreme court shot down his signature legislation, a law designed to limit the court's own power. months before the war, netanyahu's judicial overhaul bill had divided israel and inspired weeks of often violent protests. and a significant announcement from israel, pulling back thousands of troops from gaza, the biggest withdrawal since the war began after hamas' terror attacks inside israel on october 7th, which killed 1200 people

and captured more than 200 hostages. but israel still vowing to fight on through the year. in gaza, the civilian population continues to suffer, including children like ahmed who only months ago was speaking to the united states asking them to help the palestinian people. once again, he's appealing to the world for help, but this time from a hospital bed in gaza. >> i am just like half a million boys and girls are, you know, are having pain and tasting all the meaning of fear here in gaza. >> reporter: a new year for this new generation who will spend their youth pummeled by war. and israel's war in gaza has already killed just today more than 22,000 people. now, this according to the hamas-run gazan ministry of health, and just today we have been hearing that israeli authorities are considering allowing israelis who lived near

the gaza strip to finally return there after nearly three months of fighting. yasmin? >> matt bradley, thank you. appreciate it. migrant border crossings hitting a new all time high in december. two dhs officials telling nbc news approximately 300,000 migrants crossed the southern border last month and the impact felt way beyond the border. texas governor greg abbott has been busing migrants to other cities across the country for months and now many -- most of those cities imposing new limits on arrivals. and now buses full of new arrivals arriving in new jersey in an apparent run around the new rules in new york. antonia hylton is joining us from outside the roosevelt hotel, an arrival center for many new migrants. it's good to talk to you. the mainly intake for migrants, ellis island, and it's with a view of men's warehouse instead of the statue of liberty. what is happening in response to

the limitations? >> reporter: the mayor's new executive order is fully in effect now, and it's part of a larger tit for tat between the city of new york and cities like chicago and denver, and the state of texas where governors like greg abbott have been sending people by bus at all hours of the day and night and causing difficulties sometimes here in new york, and with this new executive order those buses have to give 32 hours of advanced notice before arrival. they can only arrive between 8:30 a.m. and noon and they have to go to the port authority. if they break the rules they face penalties and fines and possible seizures of the buses by the nypd. and they are dropping people in new jersey instead and leaving people to fend for themselves.

take a listen to some of the people i met here at the roosevelt hotel. >> reporter: as you can hear there, they are talking about security concerns. that family from ecuador described fearing for their lives because of the death threats from the gangs in the region, and that's what is all over the country, and it's not just a local problem for eric adams here in new york. it's a national one and a global challenge. >> i want to talk about mexico, and they announced they repatriated flights as part of an agreement made in october,

activated before the blinken meeting last week. what else is coming from that meeting? >> reporter: that's right. these flights just got started and they represented an effort to increase collaboration and all of the countries recognizing the role in the challenge of migration, and coming out of the meeting, the high-level closed door meeting with blinken and the officials in mexico, and there's a lot we are going to still find out in the coming days, but they discussed the economic and social factors for migration. they also discussed important things like how all the countries need to be involved in curbing the smuggling, something of concern to everybody in the region. the meeting took place in mexico but it involves all the countries from guatemala to honduras and ecuador and island nations like cuba where we are seeing unprecedented levels of

migration. these are ongoing conversations. >> thank you. coming up next, did the holiday season spark covid and flu cases, where numbers are rising. rising (ella) we now get more control of production, efficiencies, and greater agility. (marquis) with a custom private 5g network. our customers get what they want, when they want it. (jen) now we're even smarter and ready for what's next. (vo) achieve enterprise intelligence. it's your vision, it's your verizon.

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so sadly the holiday season is over, but lots of people across the country are bringing home unwanted guests, covid and flu and other respiratory illnesses as well, and there's a triple threat prompting lots of sick days the first week of the year. blayne alexander is joining us, and a healthy blayne out working for us. you see a rise of rsv and the flu and covid, and where do things stand?

>> this is something we expect to see this time of year talking about people returning from holiday travel and gatherings, and experts say this is going to be the new normal. typically just the flu and rsv and the common cold, but this is the first season we are beyond the pandemic, so we are talking about the fact that covid is wrapped into the list of normal recurring viruses around this time of ye, so certainly when you combine that with the fact that the numbe of vaccination are down, experts are saying we could see a more intense cold and flu season to come. let's talk about vaccination numbers, though. so far when you talk about covid the cdc says only 18% of adults received the latest covid booster, and fewer than half of americans have gotten their flu shots and that's why we are seeing a number of hospitals around the country like places in new york and massachusetts and illinois reinstituting mask

mandates, and many are just for the employees but some are restricting entry to hospitals for kids under 12, and a lot of places are already taking those precautions. first, when it comes to young children, especially rsv, we know it can be very damaging and potentially deadly in young infants, and so watch your child when you see them wheezing, seek treatment immediately. it's common to get a runny nose or cough, make sure you know what you have. get tested. is it the flu or rsv? bottom line, officials say it's not too late to get vaccinated or boosted? >> i had covid weeks ago, and i