long-range bombers launched. 8 cruise missiles. 5 mig aircraft, and 5 hypersonic missiles. anti-radar missiles were used. it was the full gamut of the high explosive ordin ordnance t russia has at its fingertips. the russians have used everything they have. and the foreign minister is accusing russia or targeting women and children. >> unsettling scale. nic, thank you for the reporting. "cnn this morning" continues right now. >> good morning, everyone. i'm phil mattingly, with erica hill in new york. and donald trump is off a ball lot. removed from a state's ballot. this time in maine. we're going to hear from the top election official how she came to that decision.

nikki haley now says ofb course the civil war was about slavery. she is in front of new hampshire voters and so will chris christie. we'll ask about haley's flub, her attempts to clean it up and calls from him for her to drop out of the race. the latest attacks that have world leaders worried about a larger conflict in the region. "cnn this morning" starts right now. first, colorado, now, maine. throwing donald trump off the ballot. just like colorado, maine's top election official, decided trump engaged in insurrection and is disqualified under the constitution. >> january 6th was an attack on the capitol, on government officials and an attack on the rule of law that it was insurrection. and the u.s. constitution does not tolerate an assault on our government.

on the foundations of government. and as maine's secretary of state, i had to act. >> it could ramp up pressure on the supreme court to take up that case in colorado. we're expecting a court ruling in oregon, where a major lawsuit is looking to disqualify trump for the same reason. >> let's bring in cnn senior legal analyst and attorney for the district of new york, elie honig. this has gotten a lot of attention after being an op-ed thing. the 14th amendment, what are we talking about? >> it's a great point. if people are concerned about how quickly this is unfolding, you're not alone. this is new territory, legally, constitutionally. there's important things. we know that they guide us. let's start, as you said, with the 14th amendment itself.

no person shall hold office who shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. it gets more complicated how does this work? section 5, the 14th amendment tells us that congress. congress shall have power to enforce by appropriate legislation, provisions of this article. this was ratified in 1868, after the civil war. the two big questions we have here. who decides? does it have to be the u.s. congress passing laws? and the only law they passed in the wake of this, was a criminal law. saying anyone who engages in insurrection is barred from holding office. who decides? the federal congress or the states? and if the states, what process? what do they have to do before reaching a decision that someone has engaged in insurrection? those are the two questions. who decides and what process? >> you look at maine, and the

secretary of state, with a different process than in colorado, what do we know? >> if we look at what secretaries of state are doing. this is what the map looked like. five secretaries of state said formally or informally, i do not have the power to throw someone off the ballot. that changed last night when the secretary of state of maine said i am throwing him off of the ballot. and hours after that, the secretary of state in california said i don't have the power to throw him off the ballot. they are interpreting state laws. it's not impossible to have different results. some of the higher profile secretaries of state, say no, not my power, like the one from michigan. rad in georgia, i don't have that power. but the secretary of state in maine, said, under my laws in maine, i have the power. they had one live witness.

she looked at documents, some of it would never come in at court. it's not a court hearing. she said i find he engaged in insurrection, and therefore, he is removed from the ballot. you see this map where different secretaries of state are doing different things in different states. >> that is not sustainable. what happens next? >> we have legal challenges happening across the country. and the map gets messier there. these states have rejected efforts to throw trump off the ballot at stages of secretary of states. some of these are in courts. in other states, there's legal challenges that were pulled back, withdrawn by challengers. those are the yellow states, about 13 of them. now, two states where trump is off the ballot, for the time being. as to what comes next, maine and colorado alone. their rulings are based on the same premise. we can decide as states. under our strait pate procedure

comitted insurrection. it was likely after colorado. almost certain after maine. we need some level of uniformity. going back to the two questions. who decides this? is it up to the u.s. congress or the states or both? and if so, what do the processes have to be? the reason the supreme court is here, to deal with heavy constitutional issues like this and give some sense of uniformity so it's not so chaotic. >> trump has not appealed in colorado or maine. do we have a sense of when he will appeal? and how fast will the supreme court decide here? >> we have a sense. colorado, in its ruling, from the state supreme court, said we're going to put everything on hold until january 4th. trump's team will file an appeal by january 4th. maine will be wrapped up. how quickly will the supreme court rule? they rule as fast or slow as they want. they have to recognize, time is of the essence. we can't stay in this chaotic,

uncertain state. >> the u.s. senate, they can be fast when they want to. elie honig, thanks. in a statement after that decision from maine's secretary of state, a bipartisan group of former lawmakers who filed the challenge said she stood on the side of democracy and our constitution in her decision to bar trump from the ballot. one of the lawmakers, tom saviello. we referenced that statement that you put out with the lawmakers. in response, it means current senate republican leader, perhaps not surprisingly disagrees, saying this undermines democracy and maine voters deserve a primary process that allows each party to decide its own candidate. how do you respond to that? >> i think you have to look at -- thanks for having me on. first, you have to look at what maine state law says. the secretary of state has to determine if the individual meets the qualifications or not before they can be on the

ballot. in this particular case, thank you, secretary of state, made the decision that donald trump does not meet the qualifications because, according to the 14th amendment, section 3, he was involved in tinciting and insurrection of this country and egged the people on to do what they wanted to do to the capitol. she has made the decision he is not qualified to be on the ballot. that's the difference. she made that in a thoughtful manner. she ran a wonderful hearing. she listened to what everybody had to say and made that decision yesterday. >> do you have concerns -- this is the criticism we've heard, that it takes away the ability of maine voters to have their voices heard? >> if somebody is not qualified -- >> go ahead. >> if someone is not qualified, they shouldn't be on the ballot. if they want to write his name in, go ahead. the fact is, a man incited a riot on january 6th. that brought me to the table.

when i looked at the colorado decision that said he did create that insurrection, and secretary of state bellows said the same thing. i voted for dtrump. >> you told cnn that you felt the colorado ruling would help the case in maine. it was referenced by the secretary of state. how much of a factor do you think colorado was in this ultimate decision? >> i think it was significant. it gave us the arguments we needed to make in front of the secretary of state. it gave the secretary of state the decision she wasn't going to be all by herself. i don't know if they played at all in her decision. i know her personally. she made a thoughtful decision. she spent time doing that. she gave time for the record to be opened back up, to look at what the colorado supreme court said. i think she did this in a thoughtful and right manner. >> i'm not sure you heard or

not, one of our senior legal analysts was on, elie honig. and he said this is evidence that would never have appeared in court. this is evidence that the secretary of state used in her decision. are you concerned about how that could come into play? >> no. i'm -- i can't tell you what evidence is allowed or not allowed. the case was made. she made the decision on what was in front of us. on both sides, she took evidence that was more herese. >> all eyes are turned to the supreme court of the united states. do you believe they will take up the colorado case? >> i hope so. i said this when i was on the show with you guys. the decision lies with the court. the u.s. supreme court. that's where the decision is. and note that secretary of state

bellows stayed her own decision until the courts make a final decision. >> as we're waiting on that, i want to get your take. the trump legal team has been asking for the secretary of state to recuse herself. she did not do that. putting on your political hat for a moment, does that in any way, in your view, undermine this decision? this ruling? >> no. if you attack anything, don't attack that. senator bellows took an oath to protect the constitution. that's what she did when she made this decision. this young woman is a thoughtful and thorough person. don't attack her partisanship, the fact she is a democrat. attack what the opinion was. >> when you look at this, given the makeup of the supreme court, what is your gut on what could happen? >> you know, that's a really good question. i think justice thomas needs to recuse himself. and one of the justices made a

similar finding in another court case that was before him before. so, does he change that decision? i think it's going to be very interesting in front of the supreme court. >> you want justice thomas to recuse himself? >> i -- justice thomas, yes. i think all the stuff that's come out about him, and his wife on january 6th, he needs to recuse himself. >> but again, just going back to the -- the criticism that came from the trump team, when it comes to secretary of state bellows, who was asked to recuse herself, because of comments she made about the former president. that's not grounds for her to recuse herself? >> it is not. what do think think january 6th was okay for him to egg the people on? that's what they're defending. >> tom saviello. >> thanks for having me. just ahead in the 8:00 hour, we're going to speak to the official that made that decision to remove donald trump from the ballot in maine. secretary of state shenna

bellows will join us. nikki haley will be back in front of voters after her answer of what caused the civil war provoked backlash. chris christie will join us live. what he makes of his opponent's comments and what's next. a new report detailing failures of israel's mission to rescue three hostages, accidentally killed by the idf. those details ahead.

of course, the civil war was about slavery. we know that. that's unquestioned, always the case. we know the civil war was about slavery. but it was also more than that. it was about the freedoms of every individual. it was about the role of government. >> that, of course, was nikki haley trying to clean up and clarify her comments in new hampshire about the start of the civil war. a voter called her out for failing to say that slavery

cau cause d it. today, she will finish campaigning in new hampshire. chris christie is also in new hampshire. here's what he had to say about the civil war comments. >> if someone asked me what the cause of the civil war was -- [ audience reacts ] -- it's easy. it's slavery. >> we bring in 2024, gop candidate, former new jersey governor, chris christie. we played your response, nikki haley's comments, as well. i want to play more of what governor haley said yesterday. take a listen. >> i'm from the south. of course you know it's about slavery. i guess if you grow up in the south it's a given it was about slavery. it was definitely a democrat plant. >> governor, you've been through your share of new hampshire town

halls. a lot of them, in fact. what did you make of the efforts to clean up yesterday? >> pretty poor, phil. look, here's the bottom line on this. nikki haley, i defended her in the fourth debate, as you remember. she is a smart woman. she knows better. look, she's been having this problem for decades, in terms of her answer about this. you go back to her running for governor in 2010, she said that the civil war was about change versus tradition. she called slavery a tradition. and change versus tradition. it's not change versus tradition. it's right versus wrong. our entire party was founded on the idea that the abolition of slavery. you know, let's stop with the comments about, well, i'm from the south, you know that. well, then she should have said that and known that the first

reason given in the succession from the south carolina government, at the time the civil war began, was because the north opposed the expansion of slavery to the western territories. nikki knows all that. she's not saying it because she is afraid to say it. she does not want to offend anyone. she won't tell the truth about donald trump. she knows that he was the cause of january 6th. she won't say it. even though she knows he regularly lies, she won't say it. and even last night, phil, she was asked by a voter again in new hampshire, would she categorically rule out being donald trump's vice president? and she won't answer the question. these are simple questions to a smart woman. when she doesn't answer them, you have to believe she is being a slippery, slick politician, who wants to be everything to everybody. and it's too late in this game to do that.

>> governor, she was asked by somebody last night, someone weighing the two of you, who to vote for in new hampshire. not an insignificant amount of people in new hampshire right now. and i want you to listen to what she responded. take a listen. >> chris is obsessed with trump. i mean, god bless him. he is a friend. he is obsessed with trump. he sleeps, eats and breathes it every day. i'm thinking bigger than that. >> how do you respond to that? >> yeah. if you call it being evasive and on both sides of an issue bigger, than i guess she is being bigger than that. it's pretty simple here. donald trump has been leading the polls in this race by 20, 25 points, for months. and she won't talk about him. she says he was the right president at the right time. she says, that for some reason, chaos and drama followed him

wherever he goes. phil, that's like the arsonist saying, for some reason, burning buildings follow me wherever i go. this is a guy that sets the fires, divides this country, lies to us on a regular basis and is under four criminal indictments. and nikki haley calls him the right president at the right time and won't preclude being his vice president. this is for people that don't want more of donald trump. she is willing to be his running mate. and until she says she isn't willing to do that, she must assume she is. if she is wondering how to answer the questions in new hampshire, i'm sure governor sununu will explain it to her. and hopefully he will over the course of the next 24 hours, for her sake. right now, i think new hampshire is seeing the slippery, slick nikki haley who won't answer questions definitively. won't say if she will be his vice president.

won't say donald trump is unfit to be president. won't say whether slavery is the cause of the civil war definitively. these are done to protect constituencies, phil. she won't bring up slavery because she is nervous about offending anybody who believes there was another cause for the civil war. >> she also said, governor, she would be willing to pardon former president trump if it came to that and she was in office. do you agree with that? >> no. i don't. and i've said thatdefinitively, i won't pardon donald trump. she should know this. one of the requirements to issue a pardon, is for them to take responsibility for their actions. do we ever see donald trump being willing to take responsibility for his actions on anything? and the fact is, this is another one of her resume items to be donald trump's vice president. by the way, mr. president, wink,

wink, i would pardon you. this is the worst type of cynical politics. you try to play both sides to the middle. and look, nikki has a history of doing this in her career. i was hoping it would be different in this campaign, than it had been in her campaign for governor of south carolina. but it isn't. and people in new hampshire, through the town hall process -- and i love the idea about a democratic plant. guess who is going to be a democratic plant in november. joe biden and kamala harris and chuck schumer and hakeem jeffries. they all will be coming after the republican nominee. if she can't answer and won't answer questions like that from a regular citizen in a town hall, how is she going to do up on the stage against donald trump, joe biden or any of the other democrats that will be coming after the republican nominee next november? >> governor, it's been striking this all comes literally at the same exact time -- you just dropped a new ad, that has a

message that i think tracks quite well, i think, from your campaign's perspective, in terms of your direct-to-camera ad, making it clear that you're unequivocal about trump issues. do you feel like this is an opening for you? that things are lining up at the right time in new hampshire? >> we're just going to keep working hard, phil. i'm not a political pundit. i'm a candidate for president of the united states. i think it shows two different candidates. a candidate who is willing, like me, to tell the truth, no matter the ramifications, no matter whether somebody gets upset or booed. if you're president of the united states, if you can't stand up and tell the truth to a voter in new hampshire, how are you going to tell the truth to vladimir putin or president xi? and nikki has shown an unwillingness to do that. because she is unwilling to offend or tell the truth to people when they need to hear

it. america needs to hear the truth about donald trump. you know this is true. they say it in private. they all say it in private. i'm the one saying it in public. if that turns out to be a advantageous contrast for me with voters in new hampshire, that means they're rewarding the truth. >> last night, we saw maine join colorado, the second state to kick the former president off the ballot. i know you said this should be decided at the polls. are you concerned this will have the opposite effect of boosting trump in the race, as you try and take him down? >> sure. i definitely am. it makes him a martyr. he's very good at playing poor me, poor me. he's always complaining. the poor billionaire from new york, who is spending everybody else's money to pay his legal fees. poor me. when this happens, this should be decided by the voters of the united states. it should not be decided by courts.

and the fact is, while there may be -- people may think there's a justification for doing this, it's not good in our democracy. in the end, donald trump should be defeated by the voters at the polls and defeated by someone like me, who is willing to tell the truth about him. that's the way we defeat him and we end the scourge of donald trump in our party and our country. i got into this race to tell the truth. i'm fighting for the soul of my party and the soul of this country. we don't need someone who sends out a christmas message who says anyone who disagrees with him should rot in hell. that's what he said, after his thanksgiving message, where he said he was thankful for all of the people he hated. this is not the kind of person we need behind the desk in the oval office. someone who hates, someone who tells people to rot in hell. if we say this enough -- and by the way, if nikki haley and ron desantis and vivek ramaswamy and the other candidates who have

opted out, and did not say i will support him if he is a convicted felon, we would have had him down in the polls and maybe out of the race if all of us told the truth. i don't care that i'm the only one. i'm going to keep doing it. >> a busy couple weeks ahead, in new hampshire and across the primary structure. chris christie, we appreciate your time as always. thank you. >> phil, thanks for the time this morning. happy new year. speaking of busy, today is expected to be the busiest travel day of the holiday season. if you're headed to the airport, you may want to pause a minute as we tell you how packed it can be there. siurveillance video showinga massive wave sweeping away a group of people in california. this is not the end of the waves. where more big waves are headed.

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a live look for you at l.a.x. in los angeles. that's a fair amount of traffic at 4:30 a.m. spafk time. why? today is expected to be one of the busiest days nationwide. americans returning home.

or maybe they are going on a fabulous trip for the new year. could be that, too. >> your enthusiasm for this part of the show, i'm living for it right now. >> maybe because i'm jealous and i wish i was traveling somewhere. >> i think it's because you know who is next. >> guilty, i love pete, as pete knows. live at his real home. not his real home but his real home, which is outside of reagan national. on a busy day, pete, give me the goods. >> you have it right. >> it's people returning home and the people leaving town. look at the line earlier. the 7:00 a.m. rush at reagan national airport. the good news is, people are getting through security relatively quickly. tsa tells us today is going to be one of the biggest days of the holiday rush. 2.6 million people expected at airports nationwide. the faa, air traffic controllers, handling 48,000

flights. what is interesting about the numbers is they're only 5% off from the all-time air travel record, we saw the sunday after this past thanksgiving. want you to look at the cancellations and delays. airports have 187 l,000 flights. they delayed 36,000 of them. and according to transportation director pete buttigieg says that's a little high. but the cancellations are relatively low. only 1% of all flights canceled over the last week. we're talking 1,300 flights in total. i spoke to faa administrator mike whitaker about this saying, the agency is prepared and airlines are prepared and in constant communication. >> we're prepared. we've been through it before.

we have a command center in virginia that says when there's delays. we communicate with the airlines and make sure we're running as smoothly as possible. >> a lot of people are going to be driving in this last weekend of the holiday rush. and aaa says the worst times to go are today between 2:00 and 8:00 p.m. that's when many major metro areas, including here in d.c., could see traffic twice the norm. the mix of people leaving and coming for the holiday. combined with the norm al traffc because not everybody has this week off. >> that's true. >> he makes a great point, since we're sitting at work right your. and so is pete. pete, can i ask you a quick, personal, probing question? >> oh. >> sure. >> are you a clear guy or a precheck guy? >> this is good. >> good question. i am a precheck guy. although, i did go to the west coast over the holidays and it has me questioning my choices. it seems like the clear folks

get there much quicker. i have to say, and sometimes the standard line at some airports is now faster than the precheck and clear line. that was exactly my experience when i was flying on tuesday. >> i think it's always -- i have both. it's a gametime decision. >> you need to be agile. i feel like people aren't. they are locked in. i feel like we could have lots of conversations about this, like deep thoughts. and now, i feel i'm more informed. >> jack handey is with us, deep thoughts. ukraine hit by what it is calling the biggest air attack since the war started. civilian targets hit. and calls growing for help from the west.

russia launched its big assault since the war began. president zelensky saying russia used every type of weapon. the attacks hit the east, the west, kyiv and targeted civilian infrastructure including apartment buildings and a maternity hospital. ukraine says the attacks show it needs the world's support. u.s. ambassador to ukraine today renewed the call for additional military aid. the state department announced an aid package of $215 million. congress, of course, did go home for the holiday break without reaching a deal on more funding. we're learning about an israeli report on the three hostages that were accidentally killed earlier this month by idf soldiers. in the report, the army chiefs said the troops failed in their mission to rescue the three men. and that, quote, it could have

been prevented. the report concluded that military command did have information about hostage presence in the area. but troops were not aware they could or would be approached. >> israel's military, meantime, says that hezbollah has continued to launch rockets from lebanon at israel, as the threat of more violence rises. benny gantz is a member of israel's war cabinet saying, quote, if the world and the government do not act to push hezbollah away from the border, the idf will do so. the spokesperson for the mission to the giants, and the commanding officer of "uss cole." it's good to have both of you with us. benny gantz said this week, that the time is running out to reach a diplomatic solution between israel and hezbollah. there's so many eyes watching what is playing out along the northern border. how concerned are you about expanding war in the middle east?

>> i think you may see an expanding war, only because hezbollah is very much entrenched into lebanon. they've been there literally for decades. they are in the government. they are throughout society. they have had the opportunity over that time period to build up military forces, to watch how the israelis operate in the northern border area. consequently, they are well prepared to begin to attack israel from the north and target all the way to the southern end of the country. they have weapons that can reach that far and they know exactly what they would want to aim for, to try to disrupt israel capability. so, while israel may rely on the lebanese government to get them back, hezbollah is going to drive their own agenda, at the beheast of iran, to do what it takes to prevent israel from destroying hamas. >> so much of what we've seen from the biden administration, since october 7th or since israel launched the

counteroffensive to the terror attacks, has been to prevent what we're dogg talking about r now. what can the administration do to maintain keeping this just a hamas/israel conflict? >> right, phil. as you said, one of the number one priorities is to prevent this from expanding into a broader military war, why they beefed up in the mediterranean and the red sea and the gulf. you're seeing the u.s. strike back on the iran-backed militant groups and in syria, to push back on them when they have struck u.s. bases. in my own opinion, they could be more forceful in those responses. those military groups are not going to launch a big war. they are unable to. they don't have the capacity to beat the united states at this war. the u.s. does have room there, in an effort to prevent something wider scale, to pursue more forceful attacks in a message these militants

understand. these militants only understand the language of military engagement. you respond more forcefully, but not to the point that you ignite a massive war with iran. it sends a message of, you're not allowed to do these attacks or strikes because we're going to come for you, too, on behalf of israel or in defense of preventing a destabilized middle east. >> i was struck, as well, this week, as what we saw. iran's revolutionary guard saying the hamas terror attack of october 7th, was revenge for the u.s. killing of amani in 2020. hamas denied that claim. but the timing, nearly three months after the terror attacks. what do you make of that timing? not to mention the discrepancy and hamas coming out and saying, no, no, no, this was a terror attack, we were worried about other things in israel, not about that? >> they are really grasping for straws here. when he was assassinated by the trump administration, iran

quickly came out and said, we're going to take revenge. you're going to see -- we are going to vindicate for the killing of this leader. we saw attempts. there were attempts to assassinate mike pompeo, former secretary of state and former leaders of the trump administration. they haven't been able to carry anything out. now, you have an assassination of a leader in syria, that israel has neither confirmed nor deni denied. that leader in syria is in charge of arming hezbollah and sending missiles to hezbollah. that might be why iran came out and said, this is revenge of soleimani's death. and maybe they need to make up for it. first, hamas is denying that. we already knew that this was not an attack that was deeply

executed by iran. their support of hamas made the attack possible. but iran is not the one that made this happen. >> before we let you guys go, what we've seen in ukraine, a different war. but no less complicated in the moment in time. particularly as u.s. -- the u.s. congress has left without being able to approve more aid for ukraine. what does that tell you the scale of the russian attacks overnight that we saw in ukraine? >> i think what you're seeing russia do is to set the groundwork for what they're going to do during what they're going to have as a winter offensive. they are going to continue to push ukraine. as you can see, they're targeting the civilian infrastructure that's going to try to make life miserable for the ukrainian people. once again, russia is demonstrating they have no respect for international law, in the targeting they are doing. similar to hamas. they do not care about the conventions that are out there that prohibit targeting civilians, civilian infrastructure.

but nonetheless, russia is trying to make sure that they put the conditions into place, that may drive ukraine to have to come to the bargaining table. if the united states, in a leadership role, doesn't work with our european partners to ensure that ukraine gets the weapons they need, at the time they need it, to do what they need to do, to not only defend against russian attacks but also push russia back to the prewar borders, including crimea. >> we appreciate it, as always. thank you. >> thank you. gypsy rose blanchard, the woman who admitted to helping her boyfriend kill her abusive mother, has just been released from prison. just ahead, we look at thehe li that lauaunched thisis case inte spototlight.

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♪ gypsy rose blanchard on parole this morning after killing her mother. >> that was until investigators uncovered the abuse she experienced at the hands of her mother. gary tuchman has more. >> gypsy rose blanchard, her mother didi known as a loving parent of a profoundly disabled child. >> we are moving. >> i remember my mom gave me

this little glass house and said one day this will be real. now it finally is. >> reporter: gypsy and her mother moved into a habitat for humanity home in missouri after their house was devastated by hurricane katrine a it appeared to be a feel-good story for the child whose mother said she had brain damage, leukemia, muscular dystrophy, was not able to walk. it was all a lie. she had fabricated it all. gypsy was victimized by her mother's münchhausen syndrome by proxy. >> it proves that happy endings are not just in fairy tales. they are real and true in real life also. >> reporter: the elaborate scheme got her sympathy, like at a charity function.

>> you're the reason i was born, to be your mama. >> gypsy blanchard. >> reporter: in 2015 gypsy and a long distance boyfriend charged with murdering dee dee. they came up with a plan to cull her mother and he was accused of stabbing her to death in a missouri home. police reportedly found out about the killing from this violent post on a facebook page that gypsy shared with her mother. >> do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give will be the truth? >> yes, sir. >> woo state your name for the record, please? >> gypsy blanchard. >> how old are you? >> i am going to be 25 years old. >> reporter: her boyfriend was found guilty and is serving a life sentence. prosecutors felt gypsy need to be held accountable.

because of the abounce she experienced, they blagreed to pa bargain. while in prison she talked with tv personality dr. phil about how her mother lied to doctors and handled her medical appointments. >> told me i couldn't speak during a doctor's appointment. she would tell me sit in the wheelchair, play with your barbie dolls, and let me talk and don't interrupt. my mother told the doctors that i was mentally incompetent. >> reporter: she said her mother tried to convince her how helpless she was. >> she would use the medical term for everything that was wrong that i had, microcephaly, small head, that my brain didn't develop right, and i'll never mature past a 6-year-old level. >> reporter: after sentenced to ten years in prison, gypsy was told this. >> she will have to do 85% of her sentence before she is eligible for parole.

>> reporter: and today that 85% is now over. gypsy rose got married behind bars to a louisiana schoolteacher. a relationship that reportedly began as pen pals. she is now free to be with him to live as normal a life as possible while she and we remember the things she was once forced to say, like this about her new house. >> it's beautiful! and it's happy. and it's full of love. >> reporter: gary tuck man, cnn, new york. ahead in our 8:00 hour one-on-one with the election official who removed donald trump from maine's ballot.

. ythe u.s. constitution

doesn't tolerate an assault on our government on the foundations of our government and maine election law and the constitution required indeed obligated me to act. these are decisions that are part of my obligations and part of my duty and that is what i'm compelled to do by the constitution. >> compelled by the constitution. maine removed government from the gop primary. now he faces two legal challenges to his 2024 campaign. what that means for this election as the supreme court faces another consequential case. breaking overnight, russia launching what ukraine calls the largest aerial assault. the east, the west, the capital all hit. nearly a dozen killed. ukraine renewing this morning its calls for international help. and the battle at the border pitting democrats against general motors. local leaders stepping up pleas for federal help over the wave of migrants seekin