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few for you this morning, the fbi is investigating reported threats against the state supreme court justices in colorado who recently ruled against donald trump. the disturbing trend is continuing as donald trump is unleashing a very long new rant. >> the u.s. retaliates in iraq, and air strikes after american troops are injured in a drone attack there, and a new escalation as the october 7th terror attack and the israel war on hamas and tensions heighten in the region. and now, migrants from texas are bussed by the hundreds each day as the border cities are grappling with the crisis.

john berman was working late, and sleeping n and we miss him so much. he never sleeps. this is cnn "news central." the fbi is now taking new action in the fight of disturbing rhetoric including donald trump's legal matters. federal investigators are telling cnn they are joining forces with local authorities in colorado after a series of reported threats were made against the supreme court justices who recently ruled to remove donald trump from the 2024 gop primary ballot in colorado saying he was part of the insurrection. katelyn polantz is joining us now. what are you hearing about the threats? how specific are they? what is the fbi saying about all of this? >> well, sara, an incident last thursday after the justices to remove donald trump from the primary ballot because of his

insurrection participation in 2021. that ruling came on tuesday and then thursday, the denver police did have to respond to what they said was a hoax report at one of the justice's residences. from then, there has also been generally law enforcement looking into the discussion about these justices on online forums, and particularly some general discussion among the extremist, and people who are pro trump talking about them, and no specific threats to the justices in those forums from what we understand, but a general violent discourse, and something that has been on the rise online especially through the trump years and after and especially political cases like these, and the fbi is coming in, and they say through the spokesperson that the fbi is away of the situation and working with law enforcement, and wed will vigorously pursue any threat of violence or use of violence by someone who uses

extremist views to justify their actions regardless of the motivation. this is coming just a couple of weeks or days after the justice department was out there publicly saying that there has been truly an unprecedented rise in the amount of violent rhetoric especially towards the public officials, and we have seen it many, many threats and arrests of people making arrests towards federal judges and supreme court justices and judges involved in trump cases as well as election workers and members of congress. sara? >> thank you so much, katelyn polantz, for all of your reporting on. this we will discuss it with chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst john miller. john, when you are hearing katelyn's reporting about what we know so far, what stands out to you about this and the fact that we are seeming to be seeing this sort of thing more now? >> well, we are seeing this threat stream light up with this

vitriol because of a couple of factors. one, there is what you could call the trump factor which is that he goes and makes very personal attacks against the judges who rule against him which is pouring gasoline on the fire within the chat rooms where a lot of the threatening language is being discussed. the other factor is simply the anonymity offered by internet platforms where people go by screen names or handles. one of the things that the fbi really brings to this case is their ability to take something that is under the law would be considered an illegal threat, which is more than angry talk, and it is a threat to commit violence against a public official for doing their job and tracing it back to the individual because of the bureau's technical abilities. >> i am curious how difficult that is, because there are so many people out there using the pseudonyms and this takes a lot of work, doesn't it, to get down to the brass tacks of who is

exactly making threat. >> well, it can be done. when i was in the intelligence bureau at the nypd, we had the threat assessment unit and technical people to get behind the anonymous post togs the peop -- postings to the people, and behind the ip addresses and get to real people. the real problem is making a case. if you say i want the four judges who, you know, voted against trump in this decision to die, and i want them to die soon, under the law that may not be considered a threat. it is all about context. on the other hand, if you said, i am going to the judges' houses to kill them, that is a threat under the law. so, a lot of this has to go out finding people if you can, and interviewing them and doing an assessment, and is this person dangerous, but remember what we have lived through. this is a two-way street. we had a man with weapons show up at a supreme court justice

brett kavanaugh's house with a plot to do harm to him. we had a home invasion at nancy pelosi's house. esther salas, a federal judge out of newark, new jersey, had a man come to her house to kill her and instead, killed her son and wounded her husband. so when you are getting behind all of the vitriol, and a all of the online language, there is a reality here, threats against u.s. federal judges are up 100% over the last several years, and the u.s. marshals have investigated 4500 of them last year that they have considered serious enough to merit attention. >> we are in a difficult spot, and the more vitriol, more potential danger. one day, john miller, you will invite me to that cozy nook there. >> it is all work all of the time. that is my story. >> top secret location for john miller. we are also learning this

morning about a number of air strikes carried out by the u.s. military after iran-backed militants attacked u.s. soldiers and there critically wounding at least one. president biden ordered the strikes on three locations connected to the iran-aligned militant group. iraq is now calling the u.s. strikes hostile acts. cnn's natasha bertrand has more on this. natasha, what are you learning more about these strikes? >> president biden ordered the strikes yesterday in response to the attacks of the shia militant group in iraq against irbil station, and this is increased action from this group and other groups which have led to injuries to u.s. troops, but most of them have been minor,

and the u.s. felt that it had to respond to the attack yesterday. around 8:45 eastern time last night, the u.s. did conduct these three air strikes on the three facilities in iraq that destroyed some of the infrastructure that the group was using to carry out the attacks including two launched drones against the u.s. and coalition bases in the area. and this is not the first time that we should note that the u.s. has launched air strikes against the targets inside of iraq, and i has also led previously to condemnation from the iraqi officials saying it is a violation of the sovereignty, but the u.s. is emphasizing that they will do everything that they can to try to degrade the groups so they cannot continue to launch these types of strikes on the american and coalition bases in iraq and syria. we should note here that there have been over 100 such attacks against the u.s. and coalition forces in iraq and syria just since october 17th. they have been near daily

attacks, and in a statement, the white house said last night that, quote, the president places no higher priority than the protection of american personnel serving in harm's way, and we will attack in a manner and type of our choosing. and so the u.s. has been asking the iraqi government to take more action against these groups, but clearly the u.s. felt that it needed to take action into its own hands here with the attacks of the second time in a month. >> thank you, natasha. joining with us more on this is retired army major mike lions. thank you for coming in. the defense secretary called it necessary and proportionate. what do you see in these, in this attack though from the iran-backed group in iraq? >> well, it is the first time they have admitted to a critical injury to a soldier, and that is where the situation is escalating. you have to look at the tactical

situation, and how does a air base not have defense against a suicide drone. so you first want to get defenses in there, because it was surgical, if they knew where the americans were on the base, and to flip the switch of the attacks that we made back on them, they were the facilities and the logistics and the capabilities of the attacks and they were more central iraq, and so i would argue we are playing whack a mole here and we have to go after the troops when we should go after the leadership. so this is what they are likely going to do. >> and looking at the tactical to the strategic purposes of deterrence. and what is this showing you about the deterrence, and is this threat increasing despite the deterrence? >> well, i think it is. i don't think that the deterrence is anything that has allowed the iranians to recognize that we about this, and especially with natasha saying over 100 attacks

since october 17th, and this particular group has killed service members in the past going back to 2020 and they have that on their hands already. so the deterrence is not there, and i get the proportionality piece of it, but it is escalating on the ground, and the iranians are doing just that. >> putting it together with what we have been talking about which is the attacks on the ships in the red sea now in the indian ocean where we are seeing some from the houthi, from the houthi rebels. the last week, this past week, the u.s. in the face of all of this launched what they have called "operation prosperity guardian" and so what is the impact of this and it is going to have? >> it is all connected that the

navy is not protecting maritime passageway. if the suez canal is shutdown, it is going to cause real passageway issues. >> and the power itself. >> yes, where this is all connected is the united states has to fight this war so to speak in iraq, in syria, and you saw the israelis attack inside of damascus, and inside of syria there, and it is all connected, but it does not feel that the houthis or the iranians feel that the american deterrence is enough, and they will plot along this way and threaten the forces there. >> thank you for putting it together. thank you, major. >> thank you. and it is a christmas message like none other from a former president. his words are "rot in hell" and then again, he says merry christmas. and so to the president and other foes in an angry post. we will go to a live post there

in eagle pass where they say that the migrant crisis is straining the resuources to the max and what they trying to do about it. after several anti-semitic posts, rapper kayne west is apologizing finally to the jewish community. we will talk about it.

most political figures mark the holiday with message of peace and well wishes for the new year, but not donald trump, no. the former president took to social media to rant against the foes. he went hard, you guys. saying at the end, saying, quote, may his foes rot in hell. and so special counsel jack smith and nancy pelosi and even electric car owners and this the most grievances that i have ever read and it is actually well done if you are in that

christmas mood. is this a harbinger of what is to come? >> yes, this is on brand for donald trump, and these are the messages that he has issued on holidays. he has lashed out at the foes and painted himself as a victim, and no change in that here. it is really a preview of what we are likely to see in the very divisive election year particularly if donald trump is the nominee, and the personal attacks on joe biden and talking about how these legal cases are all election interference, and trying to paint it all as political. and the other point that i want to make here is that donald trump despite any public pressure on his inflamed rhetoric does not feel any political pressure to change his messaging. if you are looking at the poll numbers which is what donald trump and his allies and the campaign team are doing, as he is continuing to rant and have these aggressive anti-immigration comments and say things that normal candidates would receive an enormous amount of backlash for, instead, the poll numbers are going up. so the messaging is going to

continue. as you said, it was a particularly prolific presence on social media that the foes should rot in hell and wishing a merry christmas to make sure that the message got out there, and this is so different from the world leaders out there and calling for peace in a time of war, but this is who donald trump is. one other thing to point out, these comments are coming as we are seeing the ramp-up in the election and court cases. and we vying that at least one of the trials to begin before the 2024 election, and as donald trump thinks that he has had a series of wins particularly the january 6th interference case where the federal judge put a pause on it where the presidential immunity portion is being figured out, they are engaged in all of the various legal battles, and motions to file, and donald trump is part of it. and that is why you are seeing

so much of the increased anger as well. >> everything about that says stress to me, but that is just me. kristen holmes, thank you for all of the reporting. joining us now is political commentator and former white house communications for donald trump melissa fair griffin and also, enterprise reporter for the washington post with a christmas tree, joshua, and we will start with alyssa, and what do you see in those trump christmas day messages? >> just a merry spirit, a joyful spirit. it is vintage donald trump, and he is known for the unhinged holiday ramps and then a clip of him in "home alone ii" and shows that jack smith lives in his head in a big way, and he is concerned about the doj investigation into january 6th, and this is the driving force behind the political campaign as

much as the campaign advisers would want it to be the economy, jobs, foreign policy, and he is going back to the fact that he is honestly worried that he is going to be ended up in jail, and he has to be elected president to pardon himself, and he rants at special counsel jack smith and then puts a merry christmas bow on it. >> and so, we know where the majority of the public is with obamacare, and what does trump see that no one else does here, and continuing to attack obamacare here, do you think? >> well, it is one of the bases, and one of the failures of the first term in base, and he said that he would repeal and replace it, and you remember the john mccain thumb's down vote. and it is what in the first term he did not repeal and replace, and it is something that he is

stunned by losing that vote in the first term in office by not appealing obamacare. >> and kristen holmes said that amidst all of this, he is not feeling political pressure to change the rhetoric and you don't think so with the political polling out there, and this is ron brownstein putting it together this morning. listen to this. >> by the normalmetics met rics would say that a president with 40% approval is in trouble, and biden is in trouble, but with trump putting out a polarizing agenda with the threats of weaponizing justice department, and he is providing biden a path even if there is not an affirmative majority excited to give him four more years, there is overwhelming in '18 and '22 don't want to live in the vision

of america that trump is putting forward. >> and i think that ron is spot-on, and the lesser of two evil, because you have to energize people and turn them out, and if they don't like either option, they will forego voting. but the juxtaposition of my party, and not a single vote has been technically cast yet, and we are very much careening into running somebody who will likely lose head-to-head to joe biden only because he cannot get out of his own way, and the messaging and the rhetoric and the extremist policies, and we are not litigating a lot of what he has laid out for the second term agenda, but he is talking about internment camps, and punishing former staffers and that is un-american, and not going to be appealing to a second term. >> and now, a super pac has

canceled some ads to shift to bolstering a ground game from ron desantis, and then others say that he is at a point in the campaign to make the patient comfortable, and a phrase evoking the hospice care of the campaign and the adviser and the campaign put out that this is not said, and is this desantis campaign as much on life support as people are saying? >> well, it is a campaign of calamities. the super pac has had six or seven top officials quit, resign or be fired in the last six or seven months which is not a good sign that things are going well, and also awkward counters which indicate things are not going well. and also, top advisers say he is seen in 99 counties in iowa, and he is doing great, but none of the polls are showing that, and all of the signs that i have been talking to in the republican party and the "new

york times" and others are saying that others are sort of getting off of the boat or preparing to get off of the boat or looking for other alternatives, because it has not become anything, and other donors are looking to nikki haley or other alternatives in the republican party, and you don't see the enthusiasm forhim, and you can see that he entered the race and was doing well, and then he had a chance, but after the dinner with fuentes, it seemed that he was knocked off. but a lot of the things that happened in the last year, put trump in the leader of the gop party, and if he was ever gone, and put desantis in rough shape. >> and soon we can stop analyzing and let the voters vote, because the caucuses are days away. thank you, guys. josh with that double tree

made everything better. and now, the top diplomats are going to mexico to discuss the migrants as top officials in the border towns in america are begging for help to deal with the overwhelming wave of human beings. and also, andle is fighting back this morning after apple watches are banned as they are fighting to keep them on the store shelves. we will talk about what that is all about.

two busloads of migrants moved from texas to a chicago suburb over the weekend and in the city of chicago, it has reported it has received 26,000 migrants from texas in the past 16 months, and there are potentially more to come. the caravan of thousands of migrants is still on the move headed through mexico towards the u.s. border. secretary of state tony blinken is headed to mexico to try to hammer out new agreements to better control the flow of migrants. we go to rosa flores who is in eagle pass, texas, and you have been reporting across the southern border, rosa, and what are you seeing and hearing there now? >> well, kate, the situation has significantly improved here in eagle pass, texas. if you are looking behind me, you will see an empty field. last week when we talked there were thousands of migrants there waiting to be transported for immigration processing.

now, according to the senior cpb official, don't be fooled. this agency is not out of the woods, because the list of organizations that the smugglers are pushing migrants to cross along the u.s. southern border illegally into the united states. we have video from moments ago, and there is very small groups of migrants who are crossing into the united states right here in eagle pass, texas. those are the scenes here, but this illicit activity continues, and that is what this agency worried about, figuring out where the next large group of migrants is going to be crossing to. the federal government has been grappling with the increasing number of migrants crossing illegal ly into the united states, and the federal government has surged resources across the border and suspended operations at several ports of entry at several states to reassign the agents to process the migrants, and they are using something called the

decomp decompression, moving migrants from area of over capacity to area that has space. talking to the nonprofits along the southern border, i can tell you that from eagle pass, they are taken from the rio grande to del rio and a lot of them are being released into the american communities. now, to del rio where we have a group of these migrants celebrating christmas mass yesterday. this is an open air mass underneath the awning of a respite center, and the priest there telling us that there were 200 migrants, and when we were there yesterday, there were two dozen, and he celebrated mass with them. take a listen. >> we had a few people come to our church to celebrate with us there, and we knew that there were a lot more here, so we thought that it was best for them to have a moment of mass here. >> reporter: and kate to give you an idea of this decompression here, that derio

respite center said they assisted 4,200 migrants and to give you the idea, in august, they helped 5,800 in the entire month, and so it is an idea of the number of migrants being sent to other areas to make sure they can be processed quickly, kate. >> that does show it. rosa, thank you for the continued reporting on this. appreciate it. >> this is weird. the newest apple watches are banned in the united states, and this morning the white house declined to release emergency action to keep them on the store shelves. the trade tribunal is preventing apple 9 and other series, because it violated a patent registered to another company. rahel, what is going on? >> yes, this is a flurry of statements here. fewer options for people if you are looking to buy a watch, but apple said they are appealing decision, so stay tuned, but i

will paraphrase here. apple said that we strongly disagree with the decision, and taking measures to return the items to the store shelves and this is after the trade rep said we decided not the intervene, and wed can put up the statement that after careful consideration, we have decided not to remove them. so backing up, andle and massimo is locked up in arguments for years and it is what is a light-based company, and massimo says that is our technology and technology, and apple disagrees. fast forwarding to this year, the u.s. trade organization got involved and sided with massimo and 60 days later, this is when the ruling is going to take effect. apple is saying, look, we are going to appeal this, but in the meantime, if you are going on

apple's website, it is temporary unavailable. if you are going into the physical store, it is also likely not there. and if you are looking, you can find it however at a big box retailer or think target or walmart for example, and for investors thinking, wait a minute, what does this mean for apple? i spoke to an analyst covering it for more than a decade, and he said this is a p.r. nightmare and 200 to $300 million p.r. black eye, and more of a p.r. nightmare, because who wants to be accused of stealing a patent, especially a tech company. it is not a good look. financially not as much of a hit, because of the ruling going into effect the day after christmas, and people who wanted to buy the new apple watch, they have bought it. so moving forward, he expects it to be wrapped up with the software update, but-- apple sa

not taking this. >> and 200 million to $300 million is a p.r. black eye. i want one like that. rahel solomon, thank you for explaining that. i was so confused and now i get it. >> a black eye we could all use. and now, the wake of trying to end affirmative action, should college students put their race on college admissions?

masimomasimo. months after the supreme court's decision to end affirmative action in college admissions, college students are grappling with the real-life consequences of it and if they should add their race in the admissions forms. what is the stressor of this?

>> well, sara, it is the uncertainty. the college process has been a little bit mysterious and ambiguous, but it is to another level for the students who figure out the right way to approach the application, ands a result of that, the students that i am speaking with are taking starkly different approaches. >> hello, i'm lanija and i'm a black girl in s.t.e.m. >> reporter: she is one of the millions of students applying to college six months after the supreme court struck down affirmative action in college admissions navigating how and when to include race in the pitch for admission. >> what was your pitch? >> i was a little scared and i thought that it was a little bit unfair and i doubted myself, are my numbers good enough. >> reporter: you took some schools off of the list? >> yes, i thought getting into some schools were impossible.

>> reporter: but when she sat down the write the essays she felt it was important to talk about race as part of her life experience. >> i was expressing myself black more than i would have and expressing myself through my photos and hairstyles. >> reporter: and she talked about growing up in baltimore. >> and it is the identity of who i am and race is a big part of that. >> reporter: you think that the schools are looking for that diversity? >> yes. >> do not ignore a crucial part of your identity. >> reporter: college advisers like tracy ramos are encouraging students not to shy away from the race especially in the essays. >> it is painting a holistic picture of who you are. >> reporter: without the boxes, it is more important to write about these issues? >> yes, the elite colleges are looking to identify these students, and the key piece of advice is make it easy for the colleges to know who you are. >> reporter: many schools have added questions to the

applications so students can discuss their life experience and how they would add to campus diversity. >> as a student athlete, and president of the black student union and president of the society of black engineers. >> reporter: and shawn captured his unique experience as black student in rural maryland. >> i was afraid they would not see my race and the challenges that come with it. i am proud of who i am, and very important part of why i am here. >> reporter: do you think it is going to put you in a bert spot? >> i don't know if it is or not, because we are the experiment class. >> reporter: the supreme court decision has added a new level of stress to the already stressful college application process for students like shawn and lanijah. he expects they will see higher enrollment, and more application, and some students are taking a different approach. you took race out of the essays?

>> yes. >> reporter: harmony wrote about being black in a mostly white school. >> reporter: why did you do that? >> because i did not want the admissions officers to allow me into the school to push my race on that, and i stand out on my own with my extracurriculars and the honors and i don't want the same story as hundreds of other black students. >> reporter: another student said she is looking at each college individually and only writing about her racial identity for the schools that she believes are more progressive, which, sarah, is speaking to the calculations that the students are making right now, and it is going to be interesting to see how this is going to impact the admissions numbers, and we won't know that for months, but already a lot of concern on the wake of the supreme court decision of what will diversity on college campuses look like in the next few years. >> gabe cohen, that is illuminating.

well done on that story. appreciate it. and coming up, he has a long history of making anti-semitic remarks, but now kayne west is issuing an apology to the jewish community. whwhy he is putting g this out we w will be rigight back.

kayne west has issued an apology today to the jewish community and the timing is a good question and the apology is for any unintended outbursts that were caused by his quote outbursts and actions and he says that he did not quote intend to hurt or disrespect.

he posted the message in hebrew in instagram, and he has long history of anti-semitic statements including tweeting that he would go def-conn 3 on jewish people. elizabeth is joining us and i am confused by this, and the anti-defamation league put out a statement on. this and bring us up po speed. >> yes, good morning. a lot of confusion with the reaction to the kayne west apology. it is worth noting that he has and a album coming out next month and i don't know if a lot of people know that, but he has an album coming out, and he has been promoting and listening parties for the album, and one of the lyrics in one of the songs from this upcoming album was perceived as highly anti-semitic and misogynistic and for him to be coming out with this is in stark contrast to much of what he has said in the past.

now we have obtained a statement from the adl and i want to read it. after causing untold damage by using vast platform to poison countless minds with the vicious anti-semitism and hate, an apology in hebrew may be the first step in a long journey to making amends to the jewish community and those who he has hurt, and ultimately the actions are speaking louder than word, but this act of contrition is welcomed. >> actions for sure, but when you are in the business of words, that is part of it. really appreciate it. >> all right. just ahead, the u.s. is striking back. president biden orders rare strikes inside of iraq after an attack on u.s. troops. what is next in the middle east as fighting intensifies. is there worry that a regional war will break out? stay with us.

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this morning the u.s. military carrying out air strikes in iraq. what we know about the retaliatory attacks ordered by president biden. and the fbi is getting involved investigating violent threats against the colorado supreme court justices, the very same justices who just ruled that donald trump is disqualified from appearing on the state's primary ballot. and thinking of returning a holiday gift? watch out. it could cost you. we will explain. sara sidner with kate bolduan, and john berman is working the late night shift, but he will be back next week. this is cnn "news central." the u.s. striking back and carrying out retaliatory strikes in iraq after american troops are attack and wounded. in israel, prime minister is now

laying out more detail of the plan to wipe out hamas as one of the top adviser is in washington today for some tough meetings likely with the top biden administration officials. starting in iraq this hour where we are learning that president biden ordered a series of air strikes targeting three facilities used by the iranian-backed hezbollah group kataib. this happened at the erbil air base. one of the troops was injured critically, and the u.s. government is calling the strikes hostile acts. we have oren liebermann joining us from the pentagon. oren, what are you learning from the strikes? >> you are getting a sense of the sensitive decisions of the united states to carry out strikes inside of iraq, but we will get to that in a second. this is beginning monday morning according to the u.s. when the u.s. forces inn erbil