the year during the all-star tribute. a cnn tradition. again, meet all the top ten heros and vote once a day every day at cnnheros.com. all ten will be honored at cnn heros an all-star tribute on december 6th. only one will be named cnn hero of the year. you can help decide that. we have breaking news we want to get to with you now. "new day" continues right now. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. and good morning. thank you so much for sharing your time with us. >> we have breaking news we want to start with. iran has issued a verdict and a sentence, we've learned, in the espionage trial of that man you see on the left-hand side there iranian-american journalist jason rezaian. he's been held for 447 days. >> yeah. and he's spending the time in an

iranian prison. he was charged with espionage. cnn is live from abu dhabi. i know, there are details not yet shared. but what do we know? >> reporter: well, in fact, victor, this came down from a spokesman in tehran in the last 30 minutes. the details are still unfolding. it came from a judiciary spokesman. it's not clear when the court put down the verdict. we know a sentence has been handed down. we don't know what the sentence is. but it comes at a critical time. as you suggested here, 447 days in custody. but at the same time we've had a fairly intense debate over the nuclear program of iran and whether the parliament has a power to let this proceed. there is a little hard line and moderate division taking place. whether to proceed with the p5+1 and on the same day we saw b

ballistic missile testing. his wife who was in custody at one point, the most important matter is there's a guilty verdict. his attorney and jason rezaian have has beup to 20 days to respon respond. >> so, john, to respond to the sentence meaning to appeal it. what do we know about iranian law and any opportunities to do so to appeal it and what that would entail >>well, candidly, we don't know the details of that at this stage. this was in the last 30 minutes coming from a judicial spokesman in tehran at a scheduled press conference. as our understanding that jason rezaian the washington post correspondent and his attorney

have up to 20 days to respond. there's a political ping to this. there's been a debate between the moderates and conservatives in iran representing the revolutionary guard whether to proceed with the discussions here. proceed with the legislation. it was passed the discussions with the p5+1 which includes the united states. the legal details at this stage we don't know. we know at the same time because of the political nature of what we're talking about in the geopolitical concerns in the broader middle east that iran went ahead with ballistic testing today as well. we'll get further details in the hours ahead. this is what we know at this hour. again, this spokesman speaking at a scheduled press conference in the last 25 to 30 minutes. >> i guess now we wait to hear something from the rezaian family. john, thank you very much. we're going to continue have more on this breaking story throughout the day as more details become available.

all right. two days now, two days until the first democratic debate right here on cnn. i have the five presidential hopefuls here on your screen. this is going to be one person's opportunity to break-away, all though hillary clinton who is at the top. >> those candidates honing their messages. we can assume they're preparing to try to stand out in front of the national audience. let's start our live coverage this week with senior cnn senior white house correspondent jim acosta. he's in las vegas. good morning, jim. >> reporter: good morning, guys. that's right. you won't see much of the candidates over the next 489 ho -- 48 hours. we want to show our viewers we're inside the debate hall where the debate will be taking place on tuesday night inside the winn hotel on the las vegas strip. you can see the podiums behind

me. the one in the middle is where hillary clinton will be standing. she's leading in the polls. bernie sanders the independent senator from vermont will be next to her. he's been surprising a lot of people in the race by doing so well in the polls and giving hillary clinton a run for her money. guys, i have to tell you, there's a lot of room up here if they want to add one more podium, hint, hint, for vice president joe biden who is in delaware this weekend. he's said to be engaged in deliberations with his advisors whether or not he should run for the presidency in 2016. stay tuned for that. we'll see if vice president joe biden joins us on tuesday night. let's look at the rest of the debate hall. very interesting to look at. across the way you can see behind me there's a giant screen. that's will don lemon helping host the debate. he'll be taking questions from the facebook users during the debate. and the table soon here behind me, you see the chairs, that's

where hosts will be asking the questions on the debate on tuesday night. as for what we're going to be seeing its course during that debate on tuesday evening, a couple of interesting things. bernie sanders, he's been going after hillary clinton in the last 48 hours on this vote on the iraq war pointing out that back in 2002 he voted against the iraq war and hillary clinton voted in favor of the iraq war. those are echoes, guys, of the 2008 race when barack obama and hillary clinton were going at each other and that was something that senator obama, at that time, was using as a way to divide himself from hillary clinton at that time. and hillary clinton, as you know, reversed herself on the tpp deal. bernie sanders is opposed to that. that's another flash point to watch on tuesday. it's going to be fascinating political television. the first democratic debate here on cnn. we're inside the debate hall. i'll be showing you this over

the next 48 hours. >> can you imagine if biden decides i'll show up. see what happens. >> he can pull in the hotel with the corvette in the aviator classes on. we'll be happy to include him. there's a podium just off stage we can wheel in. >> they're just waiting. jim acosta, thank you so much. let's talk about the big debate. cnn political analyst juan brownstein. we've seen over the last week and a half or so hillary clinton take a position on some of the issues she's not taken a position on. the trade deal, keystone pipeline, she's to the left of bernie sanders on gun control, some would say. should we expect more? tell us what to look forward to on tuesday night. >> it tells you about the general tenor of the race. we' seeing in both parties. and you're seeing candidates move to reassure debates.

hillary clinton has taken a series of positions that moved her to the left of where she was earlier, and that has limited, i think, the face for the other candidates to go after her on policy. this debate, i think, is fundamentally about hillary clinton. bernie sanders touched the court. he has an audience. you look at the breadth of the coalition the core issue in the race and the debate is whether hillary clinton can reassure democratic voters after the hits she's taken she's a plausible and strong potential nominee. i think that's a front and center question. it's more about her than anybody else on the stage. >> despite the huge crowds that bernie sanders is attracting across the country, many people will -- this will be an introduction for them. we know he would free college tuition, universal health care. wall street journal puts the price tag at $18 trillion. i wonder what will he need to do to get main stream america, main

stream democrats to support the self-ascribed democratic socialism. >> first of all, all five of our candidates have experience as policy makers. i hope everyone will look at all five of our candidates because i think they bring a lot to the table unlike the republican party who wants on the job training candidates, and they are all experienced and what the public i have found in iowa. i've done a lot of phone calling. people have not made up their mind despite the polls. i hope they'll look at all the candidates and listen carefully to their policies. and how they want to implement. >> chafee, o'malley, and webb who are you expecting to have a break out performance? they're all at 1% or less. >> i think martin o'malley --

>> well i -- >> go ahead, ron. >> jim webb and chafee are not really running campaigns by measures. martin o'malley is. he's out there both in the sense of campaigning and on a retail basis but also in the sense of developing a detailed agenda and having a credible record as governor of maryland. he's been overshadowed by bernie sanders and among those searching for an alternative to hillary clinton. i think o'malley has a shot to introduce himself. i do think of the way second tier candidates just scraping along at 1% o'malley is a much more serious candidate at this point than the other two. he's the one i would expect to get a little more notice after the debate. >> do you agree with that?

o'malley is the one to watch aside from sanders and clinton? >> absolutely. i've seen all five candidates at least three times. martin o'malley i've seen five times. five times in polk county and the other five around the state. he's been the most assessable of the five candidates. if you haven't seen him it's because you choice not to. >> julie see -- stewart, good to have you. we have a cnn exlosie we have a cnn exlosxclusive you. a political my motivated investigation allegedly targeting hillary clinton. also new this morning controversial reports just released to say a rookie officer's fatal shooting in cleveland of 12-year-old tamir

rice was justified. try alka-seltzer heartburn reliefchews. they work fast and don't taste chalky. mmm...amazing. i have heartburn. alka-seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief.

new this morning a cnn n exclusive. a major bradley says the republican-led panel is trying to derail her presidential bid. four americans were killed in benghazi when militants attacked

the diplomatic compound in 2012. cnn dana bash hosting "state of the union" today. what did he say? >> well, he's telling our own jake tapper who did an exclusive interview with him that he is a die hard republican, he will not vote for hillary clinton, but that he feels that the way that the committee's investigation was going was still too political. that he wants to get to the bottom of why four americans died. it turned to much more focus on hillary clinton and her e-mail issues and so forth. let's listen to some of the interview we're going to hear all on "state of the union" at 9:00. what do you say to any viewers who think you might have an ax to grind. you're only talking because you were fired? >> i have a conscience. there's wrong doing here and i think it needs to stop. and i do not want the investigation to end. i want the investigation to be

refocussed back to the original purpose. the victim's families are owed the truth. hillary clinton has a lot of explaining to do. we, however, did not need to ship resources to hyper focus on hillary clinton. we didn't need to deemphasis, sometimes drop investigations on different agencies, organizations, and individuals. >> as you can imagine, this is a got you told you so moment for the clinton campaign and for other democrats who support her saying this is exactly what we said all along. that this committee, this select committee on benghazi is purely political, purely partisan. a witch hunt. as you can imagine, the republican-led committee they say this is absolutely false. there is no truths to these allegations and that he was fired for cause and that he's nothing more than a disgruntled former employee. >> dana bash, thank you so much. "state of the union" starts at

the top of the hour. 9:00 a.m. eastern here on cnn. next the controversial decision in cleveland. two separate reports conclude the cleveland police officer was justified in shooting 12-year-old tamir rice. them. then, let the principal help you get there. join us as we celebrate eddie's retirement, and start planning your own.

to help those in need. here to volunteer when a twinge of back pain surprises him. morning starts in high spirits but there's a growing pain in his lower back. as lines grow longer, his pain continues to linger. but after a long day of helping others, he gets some helpful advice. just two aleve have the strength to keep back pain away all day. today, jason chose aleve. aleve, all day strong. and try aleve pm, now with an easy open cap.

while you're watching this, i'm hacking your company. grabbing your data. stealing your customers' secrets. there's an army of us. relentlessly unpicking your patchwork of security. think you'll spot us? ♪ you haven't so far. the next wave of the internet requires the next wave of security. we're ready. are you? just like eddie, the first step to reaching your retirement goals is to visualize them. then, let the principal help you get there. join us as we celebrate eddie's retirement, and start planning your own.

a video was just as shocking as the event. police pulling up to 12-year-old tamir rice in a cleveland park. one officer firing within two second of arrival. someone had called 9-1-1 reporting, quote, a guy with a pistol. the tragic scene unfolding almost a year ago. no that officer's actions are being called tragic, reasonable, and justified. in two newly released expert reports about rice's death. nick is following the story. i can imagine the family doesn't agree with this. what does the report say? >> tamir rice's family is livid about the report. more of the reports released last night on prosecutor's website. th

one report was done by a former fbi agent. another done by a prosecutor in the denver area. what the reports concluded is the shooting death of 12-year-old tamir rice was justified. one of the reports says that the officer loman's belief that rice posed a threat of serious physical harm or death was objectively reasonable as was his response to the perceived threat. it was about 3 p.m. on november 22nd. a man calling in to say he saw a guy at the recreation center with a gunpointing the pistol at people. he went on to tell the ni9-1-1 dispatch officer that the gun was probably fake and the individual was probably a juvenile. once police showed up at the scene, they didn't have the information. what they believed that a man with was a gun at the park. within two seconds in pulling up on tamir rice they opened fire on him fatally killing him. as he reached for the waistband that's when the gun was fired by

the officer according to the officers. that was enough of a perceived threat to justify the shooting. former by agent writing that the weapon in question was not relevant to a constitutional review of the officer's actions. it was hindsight that revealed that 12-year-old tamir rice was a 12-year-old and the gun was an air soft pellet gun. ultimately a grand jury will decide whether or not to bring criminal charges against the officers involved. but the two reports independent from what the prosecutor has found. and independent of the findings they will bring toward the grand jury concluding that the 12-year-old was shot justifiably. >> thank you so much. now the rice family says they are not satisfy ied with t report slamming the prosecutor and calling the report a charade. i want to read a quo saying reasonable jurors in a criminal trial could find that conduct unreasonable but they'll never get the chance because the prosecutor is working diligently to ensure that there is no

indictment and no accountability. the prosecutor's office, by the way, said the family has been invited to submit their own expert report. new information on the sentencing of washington post reporter jason rezaian by an iranian court. those details after the break.

and the latest on the breaking news this morning. iran issued a verdict and sentence in the espionage trial of iranian-american journalist jason ree sky began. we don't know the details just yet. he's been held roughly 447 days in an iranian prison after being charged espionage. >> the state department said we've seen the news reports concerning jason rezaian. we're monitoring the situation closely and don't call for all charges against jason to be dropped and for him to be immediately released. >> just into cnn iraqi cnn said

air force struck a convoy carrying isis leader. his whereabout conditions are unknown. it's important to say that the iraqi military made similar claims in the past. we'll get you more when we get it. thank you for joining us this morning. >> have a good day. it's debate time for democrats. don't expect bernie sanders to play attack dog. hillary clinton moves left on several debate flash points including trade, wall street, and deportation. >> latinos make america stronger and smarter. >> the house will be in order. house republicans spiral into chaos. >> i just think it's best to have a new face. ben