katelyn: yeah. so the importance of this flu vaccine is that it is updated with xp, which is the newest variant that has been circulating around this fall. there are other variants coming down the pipeline just because that's what viruses do and we are paying attention to them. but the latest data from the lab shows that, you know, this updated vaccine is still a great match, particularly against severe disease and death. john: a lot of interest about long covid. what are the latest statistics on long covid? katelyn: there are millions of people suffering right now, and we are working very hard in public health to try to figure out the patterns and the treatments for it. thankfully, though, that the risk of long covid is declining over time, thanks to immunity, thanks to vaccines, and thanks to also the virus just changing. american, for example, is less prevalent with long covid than delta was a few years ago. so it is still a risk and it is, i think, here to stay as long as the virus is here to st

what can you tell us about this decision, katelyn? >> john, there is a lot of meat to what secretary of state shanna bellows wrote from maine today in her ruling. one, january 6th was an insurrection. she made that finding. two, donald trump engaged in that insurrection. three, that means he's not qualified to be on the primary ballot in maine. and four, she found it is her responsibility to make these decisions. so putting that all together, this came because voters had asked her to look at this, to make a ruling under the way that the state lays out she can as the secretary of state to determine if people are eligible for the ballot there in maine. she looked at the evidence. some of that evidence was much of what the house january 6th committee found. she looked at statements by donald trump. she said, you know, it's even kind of a close call on whether trump engaged in this insurrection. it would have been easier if he had been tried already in criminal trial, either acquitted or found guilty. but she did come down on the side of

so we have crime reporter and also politics reporter kaitlan p -- katelyn polantz with us. >> we haveeen waiting for this for over a year. and so, it is with members suing donald trump, and he said that everything that i did while i was president should be immune. you can't sue me over that, and that is his argument, and in the appeals court, the federal appeals court in washington, d.c., said, no, that is not the case, these lawsuits against donald trump can go forward. i want to read some of the things that the court wrote. the president does not spend every minute of every day exercising official responsibilities, and when he acts outside of the functions of his office, he does not continue to enjoy immunity, and so they are drawing a line saying that there are things that you can do while you are president that can be held accountable in court. that is a major decision, a major evolution of what the law is. the other thing that this three-judge panel in the d.c. circuit court of appeals is writing is that they are saying that there are campaign actions, and there are president act

katelyn, tell us what happened? >> reporter: this jury has been deliberating about 3 1/2 hours. they're going to have to determine how much rudy giuliani should have to pay two women, ruby freeman and shaye moss, two georgia election workers that he spread several lies about and became part of a viral, sustained campaign, according to their attorneys, after the 2020 election, where he essentially said they switched votes. they did not do that. wolf, i should remind you of what these two women went through. that is central to what the jury is looking at now, and it could amount to giving them an award of tens of millions of dollars. what they went through was death threats, harassing phone calls, voicemails left repeatedly on their phones, calling them racist names, telling them to be afraid because of what they were doing. they felt their names were complete mud because of what had happened. ruby freeman had to change the name of her business. she was afraid to use her id, to introduce herself to people. her daughter, shaye moss, had to essentially have conversations about racis

cnn's katelyn polantz leads us off now.atelyn, ever since this stunning collapse of hunter biden's plea deal over the summer this legal peril for him has been looming. walk us through these new charges. >> fred, the legal peril has escalated significantly. that plea deal was about misdemeanors and now hunter biden faces nine charges, including three felonies. this isn't just about not paying the irs $1.4 million that the federal government said he owed them in the years 2016 through 2019, it's also the federal government, the justice department, the special counsel office of david weiss saying that hunter biden lied to the irs. that he was not forthcoming about the money that he had. they're saying that he had $7 million that was incoming to him and it wasn't going to where it should have been, his taxes. here is a quote from the prosecutors in the 56-page indictment yesterday. between 2016 and october 15th, 2020, the defendant spent this money on drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels an rental properties, exotic ca

and katelyn, while we are on the subject of president biden here, the u.s. house of representatives is on the verge of putting a vote to the floor to launch this impeachment inquiry under way, but it does not have the mandate of the full house anyway, and anything in the indictment, 56 pages at all, that in any way adjacent to joe biden. and hunter biden is not facing the impeachment inquiry here, but joe biden is. >> yes, joe biden is not in the indictment, and this is about hunter biden and the business adventures, but james comer, the chair of the oversight committee who is trying to gain steam into this inquiry of joe biden has tried to make it about the foreign business of hunter biden, and he is calling for more investigation into the president, and not just his son, but what is interesting about the indictment is that it is not just about the taxes, but it is clearly looking to trace the payments coming into hunter biden from these business associates or clients that he and his other business partners had, and they are not bringing a foreign lobbying

we start things off with katelyn polantz in washington. what's so striking here is it may seem procedural, but my goodness, the stakes here could not be higher. >> reporter: they are. i can't risk getting into the weeds on this. but it is a really big deal. that became so apparent in the way that the justice department wrote about this issue to the supreme court yesterday. they wrote that this issue of presidential immunity is so important for the country that someone needs to decide it definitively. and that would be the supreme court. that's why they should skip the intermediary court and go right to scotus. what the justice department says, an issue of great constitutional moment, that's this question of whether donald trump is immune from prosecution from sitting trial because he was the president. what the supreme court ultimately decides here is how as a country will understand the presidency, how we understand constitution. it's never been tested in this way before. there's never been a former president on trial before. but we are w

>> 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 offici

katelyn polantz, thank you very much. stay tuned to cnn, we'll have more on all of this breaking news throughout the day here on cnn. stay with us for that. in the, meantime thanks very much for joining inside politics, i'm jim acacosta. cnn n news central statarts aftr the e break.

cnn's katelyn polantz has all the details coming in early today.ruling comes eight days after colorado's supreme court ruled that trump should be removed from the ballot. tell us about what the supreme court in michigan is saying now. >> well, every state is following their own rules and their own processes for how to have candidates on the ballots and this is why we're seeing something so different in michigan today. the highest court in michigan, seven justices, determining they're not going to get involved. the lower courts in michigan said that they acknowledged that there were challenges to trump being on the primary ballot there and the lower court said, we also are not getting involved. this is not something for us to determine. and they weren't weighing in on the general election, either, at that time and so now this case goes to the michigan supreme court. they looked at it and they said, yeah, we're not going to do anything here, either. but one of the justices in michigan did write today in this ruling that michigan is very different fro

katelyn, thank you very much. fred? joining me right now for more on all of this cnn's senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor elie honig. wow, those are some big figures, i'm still stunned by that. so the judge has already found the former new york city mayor rudy giuliani liable for defamation and now it's about rendering what's going to be the penalty. a jury is going to make that decision. jury selection beginning. what are the challenges of seating a jury for one of perhaps the most -- one of the most famous politicians in this country? >> that's a great question. how do you seat a jury when everyone knows rudy giuliani? we're going to see a bigger version of this when donald trump goes to trial, a criminal case there, this is a civil case. the answer is you do not need to find a pool of jurors who have never heard of rudy giuliani. ideally you would like that, but that's impossible here. what you have to do and what they will ask the jurors starting today is do you have any pre-determined views on this

katelyn polantz has the exclusive details digging this up. what happened with this relationship and happened here? >> well, sara, this is about a person who worked at mar-a-lago for a long time, and very ingrained in that community and left his job at a crucial moment. he had witnessed quite a few things that ended up in the indictment of donald trump. he had moved boxes, overheard conversations that became part of the charges against donald trump and two others. this employee left his job a little bit after the fbi search when it was apparent that there is an ongoing criminal investigation and then shortly got a call to him on his personal cell phone which rarely happened that trump found his cell phone through one of his contacts and found out why he was leaving mar-a-lago, and then they had a pleasant conversation, and then trump got word back to him that he was a good guy. that is a blip on the radar of this person as he is leaving his job at mar-a-lago, but he had a couple of other conversations that stuck out to him that was unusual, an

katelyn polantz, cnn, washington. >>> a first on cn exclusive reporting about highly classified intelligence last seen at the end of the trump administration. the information relates to russian election interference. >> that information was deemed so sensitive, it could only be accessed at the cia, and the people working on it had to keep it locked in safes at the headquarters, yet in the final weeks of the trump administration, a binder was brought to the white house at the request of the president as part of an effort to declassified the document. >>> and in the final chaotic hours of trump's presidency, that binder kind of disappeared. no one knows where it is. >> reporter: this binder that was brought to the white house contained raw intelligence that were collected including sources and methods. what we're talking about here is the underlying intelligence that forms the basis of the u.s. government's assessment that vladimir putin sought to help trump win the 2016 election. the disappearance of this binder was so alarming to intelligence officials that they believed intelligence securit

cnn's katelyn polantz broke the story. kaitlan? >>> dana, this is something that happened very serious between the surf at mar-a-lago last summer and the time that donald trump was charged. this employee had been a long time working under trump at mar-a-lago, had quit his job around november, and at that time, just days after, got a phone call from donald trump, something he very rarely did, and trump just wanted to ask him why he was leaving his job. i also wanted to communicate to him after they had that very gracious phone call that he was a good guy. this former employee had been a witness to quite a few things that ended up making the indictment of donald trump, and ultimately, notice that not just this phone call with trump, but there are several interactions he had with others who were also accused of being conspirators with donald trump in this case. that they want to know about his legal representation, why wasn't the using a lawyer paid for by donald trump, one of his quote friends in this case also, and talked about tick

katelyn, thank you for the update. >>> next, we go to the u.s. border where the nonprofit centers are frustrated, overwhelmed trying to meet the resources needed for those massive surges. >>> and also, what you need to know about the fees for those returns. and why some companies are increasing charges for returning things. loving this pay bump in our allowance. wonder where mom and dad got the extra money? maybe they won the lottery? maybe they inherited a fortune? maybe buried treasure? maybe it fell off a truck? maybe they heard that xfinity customers can save hundreds when they buy one unlimted line and get one free. now i can buy that electric scooter! i'm starting a private-equity fund that specializes in midcap. you do you. visit xfinitymobile.com today. >>> two busloads of migrants were moved from texas to a chicago suburb and then into the city over the weekend. the city of chicago is reporting that it has received roughly 26,000 migrants from texas in the past 16 months. there are potentially more to come. the caravan of thousands of mi

katelyn polantz we threw a lot at everybody but that's why we have you. >> reporter: the supreme court has heard from the justice department and trump's side. there is the special counsel that is hoping that the supreme court will take the case at this time. donald trump obviously doesn't want to do that. he wants to drag things out as long as possible related to his criminal case and trial set for march, he doesn't want it to happen at that time. but jack smith, the special counsel, the justice department, they have made arguments about why the supreme court should look at the immunity question now, saying it's in the public interest and told the supreme court you're going to have to deal with this at some point or another. right now there's an intermediary, an appeals court in d.c. that is scheduling arguments, they're ready to look at the immunity question, does donald trump have immunity because he was president at the time after the election. can he go to trial because he was already tried in congress related to his impeachment, can he be tried in court too as a criminal defendant

let's get back to katelyn polantz in washington with more on this. let's start with the immunity team now that we have the trump team's response, and when could the court announce if they take it up? >> kate, any moment, the supreme court could decide they want to look at this issue, the issue of the presidential immunity before donald trump. if he has it, if he can be protected by it or if he can even go to trial because of what he did after the election and january 6th. that is all related to the criminal case. it is before the supreme court right now, because donald trump is scheduled to go to trial in march. it could affect the election, but it is about really when he can be tried and when the justice department wants him to be tried and when the court has scheduled it which is march. that date is still on the calendar, but what is happening here is that the justice department has to have somebody figure this out in the appeals courts of whether donald trump has some sort of immunity around the presidency that can protect him from a criminal pros

katelyn polantz looks at what it means for the case help. >> reporter: a long time employee of donald trump's at his mar-a-lago club in florida left his job last year after that search at mar-a-lago and it became quite clear that the justice department was investigating donald trump. and then a series of very unusual interactions took place. now, i've googathered this thro vars various sources and material that i was able to see. what happened with this particular former employee was a pattern of communication that really gives you insight into how donald trump's world works around the people in mar-a-lago and particularly people wrapped up in this criminal investigation that led to the indictment of the former president for mishandling classified documents as well as trying to ob strstruct the just department investigation. this former employee received a personal call on his cellphone from donald trump just days after he left his job there at mar-a-lago. trump was calling him to see why he was leaving and then word got back to him after that call took place that trump believed that

cnn's katelyn polantz joins us with more. kate lynne, we have a decision, not a clear understanding of an explanation of why the justices decided this. walk us through what we know, how many votes this got and so forth. >> we don't know how many votes. we just know the supreme court says, not yet, not right now, we're not going to look at this appeal that donald trump has on a question that really has to be figured out by appeals courts, very likely the supreme court, before he can sit for trial. and it's a question of whether trump has immunity because he was president that would allow him to essentially be avoiding any trial as a criminal defendant. and so what is happening now is that instead of it going di directly to the supreme court after the trial judge made the decision and said, no donald trump, you do not have muimmuni, we're not going to dismiss this case against you, you're going to go to trial. instead it's going to go to the d.c. circuit court of appeals. they are indicating they are ready to go very fast. they

katelyn polantz, thank you so much for sharing that. kate? sara, whoever? >> i'm here. >> hi. >>> let's talk about some of the cases that are facing former president donald trump with federal prosecutor and u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york daniel perry. thank you so much for being here. i want to start with actually what is happening with jack smith. he's asked the supreme court to rule on whether former president donald trump is immune from federal prosecution for crimes allegedly committed while he was in office. hois it to bypass the appellate court and say, i'm going straight to the supreme court, and for the supreme court to say, okay, we'll look at the case? >> it's unusual but not unprecedented. there's case law going back to the nixon era where the appellate court has been bypassed in the same way. it's usually with matters of national importance where there's a particularized need for urgency. and certainly both of those exist here. so what's interesting here is that jack smith won at the district court level. he got the judge to

i want to bring in katelyn. what are you hearing from inside the courtroom, in terms of the reaction by the plaintiff and the jury, but rudy giuliani. whatever color you have. >> right, what we have heard from our eyes and ears in the courtroom, is there was a sense of relief, and jubilation that came over the courtroom after the verdict was read here. ruby closed her eyes and were very relieved. rudy giuliani wrote down the numbers throughout the trial he's had a laptop i-pad in front of him. another daily is that the judge apparently stumbled, and that's what happened when the numbers were read. and of course, hugs, among the legal tame, among the -- team, among the two women. they've been a motive throughout the proceedings and the trials. the attorneys would hug them . they settled for undisclosed sum, and we don't know -- the message sent to the two women, they should be able to repair the reputation. awarding what they were asked for. >> $148 million, 100 million more than they asked for. katelyn, what's a

cnn's katelyn polantz is joining us now.in, tell us more about what you're learning about these threats, what the fbi is saying. this is really chilling stuff. >> it is, and it's been going on for sometime. but then in the situation in colorado it really arose after that ruling a week ago. it was a hotly contested question of whether donald trump is an insurrectionist under the law, and can be on the ballot in the 2024 election. four of the seven justices in colorado ruled against trump. and then within two days, the denver police had to respond to what they said was a hutch report, but a threat towards one of the justices going to that justice is home in response there as line for smith. then, we also are learning that law enforcement are picking up a lot of discussion in extremist forms, pro-trump forums online. talking about these justices by name. those threats, at this time, are nonspecific, not saying i have plans to kill x, but instead, they are more generally very violent language. that is something that we have seen

katelyn polantz, cnn, washington. >>> still to come, what is supposed to be one of the happiest times of the year for the jewish faith is marked with fear and apprehension as the u.s. grapples with an uptick in anti-semitic incidents. i'm a little anxious, i'm a little excited. i'm gonna be emotional, she's gonna be emotional, but it's gonna be so worth it. i love that i can give back to one of our customers. i hope you enjoy these amazing gifts. oh my goodness. oh, you guys. i know you like wrestling, so we got you some vip tickets. you have made an impact. so have you. for you guys to be out here doing something like this, it restores a lot of faith in humanity. >>> welcome back. i'm max foster. if you are just joining us, let me bring you up-to-date. jake sullivan has wrapped up a news conference after meeting with israel's president. sullivan says israel will transition to a new phase in the war that focuses on precise targeting of hamas leadership. >>> and in brussels the eu is kicking off the final day of its summit, after a decision on thursday with the bloc announcing that it

katelyn polantz explains why the judge made this decision. >> reporter: essentially she has to. she doesn't really have another option. because in donald trump's criminal case before he goes to trial, the courts have to figure out two things. if donald trump can even be tried. he was already tried by the senate, is that double jeopardy now that he's charged again in a criminal court of law? so they have to decide that. and also they have to decide a question about presidential immunity. is donald trump protected from being charged with any crime for something that he did while he was president. something that he may argue was part of his role as the president of the united states. now, all of this is up in the air. there is a lot of wheels turning in the courts right now. what is happening at the trial level before judge tanya chutkan in washington, d.c. is trump essentially wanted her to cancel everything, pause everything. the justice department said no, we're actually doing a bunch with appeals, they are going to the supreme court, they are trying to get an order very quickly

let me start there where katelyn finished. i know you're trying to basically circumvent an automatic 30-day delay to collect the money. you want to collect it as soon as you can because you see the numbers. $57,000 in unpaid phone bills, that's not good for paying any portion of $146 million that he owes your client. how much money realistically do you sthink ruby freeman and shae moss are going to get? >> we asked for all of his records that would show exactly what he has and he never produced that information. so as you just heard, i mean, we know he has a co-op in manhattan, he is a condo in florida, it appears he may have other substantial assets. we're looking at all of those potential sources of money to go after, to make sure that mr. giuliani pays what he rightly owes. >> can you give clarity when you say other substantial assets? is there anything that you may be aware of that you're able to share of substantial assets? >> well, there are things that have been publicly reported. for instance, donald trump posted at le

let's get the latest from cnn senior crime and justice reporter, katelyn polantz. so kaitlan, give us the basis for this appeal by colorado's republican party. >> well, there are a lot of questions on the table before the supreme court at this time. colorado being the only state so far that has said in their system, through their highest court, the colorado supreme court, that trump should not be on the primary ballot because he's an insurrectionist and because they have the ability to remove him. he is not eligible for that ballot. and so, the colorado gop, when they filed with the supreme court yesterday, they essentially were saying, this isn't fair to voters. this is a violation of the first amendment. what they wrote is, by excluding president trump from the ballot, the colorado supreme court engaged in an unprecedented disregard for the first amendment right of political parties to select the candidates of their choice, with a number of challenges president trump's candidacy now pending in other states, there's a real risk that colorado supreme court majoriti

katelyn polantz joins us now with the exclusive. what have you learned? >> anderson, this is a story about a series of communications. there's a close-knit circle of people who worked at mar-a-lago, still work at mar-a-lago, under donald trump. and in the crucial period, there was the fbi search last august. and then an employee, a longtime employee, quite close to many people at mar-a-lago, leaves mar-a-lago having been a witness to many of the things that later appeared in the indictment of the donald trump, carlos deal vera, and walt nauta. this person, this former employee, is becoming a witness. and before donald trump and these other men are charged, there's just enough things that raised his attention to make it seem a little bit different because the amount of communication he was getting from not just carlos deoel vera and walt nauta, but trump himself, was unusual for him. these are his friends and people he is working with regularly. the things i have learned through multiple sources, as well as materials that i've gotten, have been able to hav

we're joined now by cnn senior crime justice reporter katelyn polantz. is we're not mariota, a former federal prosecutor. good to have you both. kaitlan, let me start with you on this exclusive new reporting. just break down what you learned here. >> reporter: but we have a pattern of communication. i was able to learn through sources and also some material. i was able to get my hands on. and it's about a person who was at mar-a-lago for a long time, really ingrained in that community working for donald trump, and then the fbi search happens. this person had witness quite a lot of things in my office. have moved in boxes, had over heard phone calls. many leaves his job. when you leave his job just a couple months after that fbi search, this clear there's an investigation ongoing. he gets a call from trump, something that just did not happen in his life. to his personal phone. trump is actually seen him why he left their job, device conversation asked gore. it's the words get back and trump thinks that he is a good guy, and then there is more communicatio

other katelyn polantz, thank you so much. up next, one of the former president's challengers on how the attention on all the trump legal cases is making its hard to compete. also, the latest from prague, now in shock after a lone government killed d 14 at a univerersity. wewe will be r right back.k. >> we spoke before the break about the cases against the former president, and now for the first time so is his opponent around the santas. specifically, about how they're keeping the focus on trump and not the challengers, including himself. >> i would say, if i could have one thing changed, i wish trump had not been indicted on any of the stuff. honestly, i think that from alvin bragg on, i have criticize the cases. i also think it distorted the primary. -- it's both that but also just crowded out i think so much of the stuff, and it's sucked out a lot of oxygen. >> joining us now two cnn local commentators democratic strategist paul begala and with me here, republican strategist alison stewart. alice, did you speak with governo

katelyn polantz, thank you so much.will see what the courts decide. >>> a poet in his own right joining us now, cnn legal analyst joey jackson. joey, let's work through some more of the argument that's laid out in this filing made by trump's legal team just late on saturday night. in addition to being shakespearian, here is one argument that they are making, the 234-year tradition of not prosecuting presidents for official acts, despite ample motive and opportunity to do so, provides powerful evidence that the power to do so does not exist. what do you think of that argument? >> yeah, kate, good morning to you. i think of it that prosecutions are predicated upon facts and if you can't have facts that are analogous, that is, not identical, but similar to this one, then it's really a false comparison. perhaps the reason that you didn't prosecute presidents in the past is that the presidents didn't engage in conduct that would rise to this level and if or when they did there are other forums like impeachment that we've see

katelyn polantz, thank you so much.will wait for that verdict, i'm sure you will bring it to us when we get it. >> joining us with while we wait for that final stay for the jury is elie honig for more on this. you have long said it was going to be a bad idea for rudy giuliani to testify if he was going to in this. but saying that you're going to testify and then at the last minute change the plan and not, does that also hurt him? >> you're exactly right, kate. maybe the only thing worse than rudy giuliani actually taking the stand is promising the jury that they would hear from rudy giuliani and then not putting him on the stand. when you are trying a case if you make a promise to a jury, if you tell them you're going to hear from a certain witness, see a certain piece of evidence and then you don't give it to them that totally undermines your credibility. that said, had rudy giuliani taken the stand, we know it would have been a complete disaster because look at the way he has been acting outside the courthouse. he is

they reiterated that today. >> katelyn, thank you very much. >>> outfront now is an attorney for shaye moss and ruby freeman. it's not just about the money, it's about making a point. when it comes to the money, rudy giuliani's lawyer says he's broke. he says he can't pay any of his legal bills. we we know he doesn't have enough to pay all of the things do. will your clients see any of this money? >> thank you for having me, erin. we are going to work very, very hard to ensure that they see every bit of money that mr. giuliani has available to him to pay and satisfy this judgment. and i would like to add one point which is, we went and asked for the evidence about his net worth and about what his finances actually are. and guess who didn't produce that evidence? rudy giuliani. and that led to a jury instruction says you cannot assume that he is unable to satisfy a judgment. and so i would say on whether mr. giuliani can satisfy this judgment, the jury is still out. we're going to do everything in our power to makes he has to pay. >> how quickly are you going to move? what does that mea

cnn's katelyn polantz is watching all of this.ems like i'm talking to you a lot lately because a lot is going on here. >> there is, john. there is a lot of states where there are challenges on donald trump's eligibility to be on the ballot and now we have two states, colorado and maine, coming to the conclusion that he is not eligible because he engaged in insurrection, that's the finding of the colorado supreme court, the highest court in that kateth state and then maine's secretary of state. one of the things that is happening here is it's not over. that is quite clear. even with this definitive ruling from the secretary of state, shenna bellows, last night out of maine and from colorado's supreme court, there are going to be additional court challenges. there's already a petition before the u.s. supreme court asking the supreme court, the nine justices, to look at what colorado is doing and determine whether that is something they can even do, to remove someone from the primary ballot. one of the things in that supreme court pe

. >> katelyn polantz is following it for us. let's start in colorado. in appeal by the republican party to the supreme court. the supreme court if they are going to get involved here needs to do it quickly. where does this go? >> they do need to do it pretty quickly because the primaries are so soon and every state, well, not every state, a lot of states are looking at challenges that people have brought to challenge donald trump's ability to be on the primary ballot if not the general election ballot in 2024 as he runs for president. all of it is around the 14th amendment of the constitution which says if you are an insurrectionist you are not eligible to hold office in the united states. colorado is the only state so far that has looked at this and had their state courts say, yeah, trump can't be on the ballot because he qualifies as a -- he is ineligible on the primary ballot to be a candidate. so the republicans in colorado, the gop has gone straight to the supreme court now after getting a ruling out of the top court in colorado and asking the supr

cnn's katelyn polantz joins us now with the exclusive. what are you learning?, anderson, this is a story about a series of communications. there's a close knit circle of people who worked for at mar-a-lago, or still work at mar-a-lago, under donald trump. and in the crucial period, there was the fbi search last august, and then an employee, a longtime employee, who is quite close to many people at mar-a-lago, leaves mar-a-lago, having been a witness to many of the things that later appeared in the indictment of donald trump, -- walt nauta, his two people who worked for him. this person, this former employee, is becoming a witness and before donald trump and these two other men are charged, oh there's just enough things that raised his attention to make it seem a little bit different, because the amount of communication he was getting from not just carlos delivery and wealth not, but trump, himself, was unusual for him. so, these are his friends or people that he is working with regularly, but the things that i've learned through multiple sources -- as well as s

because that's what this is their friend and my name like they like the you know, think about some like katelyn and all the different things that come to know about her. there is an occasional shooting that is so, you know, rocks the conscience that people sort of take. no, but otherwise there's this sort of like, you know, mean effect is going on here. most people can't get their arms around the notion that their child can't go to the store because they get killed on the way there. and i don't think that the public never fully appreciates what that does to a human. we have this group, this large group, mentally, they're all look in the world is changing not for the better because they're living in this bunker. and i don't know if there's any doctor in the world in one degree that many of these children are suffering from p t. s d, because their environment they're in. there's gunfire all the time. everybody passed to everything and never know what is bodies of the bands of so we just tell me that a 2 knows how to load up on, on a, anything like that. like how we deal with caleb. know the fall

. >> and katelyn polantz is watching all of this very closely, and certainly, the supreme court can rule. >> well, if they want. to this is the next couple of weeks, is each state going to decide for themselves in the ways that each state has decided if donald trump can be there on the ballot. and the supreme court took trump off of the ballot saying it is spending review by and that he is going to be ineligible, and if that continues on, and the supreme court does not get involved, we may have a primary cycle, where each state decides what to do. several states have decided to put him on the week. and despite and this a big question before the supreme court because they are saying that once california moved this way to take wa ballot of it, and is and do these sorts of entities at the state pow level have the power to take someone off of the ballot because of the insurrectionist claude. >> and they do, and how much clarity could think breath. >> and this morning, you sgraecht and now, a look and now, a plan to get fake electors to d.c. before the 2020 election was certified and this is

katelyn polantz is outside of the courthouse in washington.on't know why, but i am not quite surprised about this. do we know why giuliani reversed course? >> we don't. although, this has been a week where giuliani has pledged that he would testify, and he would double down and explain himself, and continue talking about ruby freeman and shaye moss and backing up the lies that he told about them after the 2020 election, and this is a man who rarely misses an opportunity to speak in front of the microphone, and yet he did this morning confirm, and the lawyer confirmed and the spokesman confirmed that he is not going to testify in his own defense, and he was going to be the obl defense witness in his own defense, and the way it has played out here, they have heard deeply emotional testimony, really gripping and scary stuff from voice mails that were sent and left on the voice mails of shaye moss and ruby freeman, the two georgia workers in the days after rudy giuliani said things about them that were lies and racist comments, and things that mad

. >> so katelyn, walk us through what's next. what happens now?> now everybody in this case an the trump legal team, they prepare for their arguments at the d.c. circuit. so when those happen on january 9th, they will go before three judges. on that panel, those thee judges will determine what they want to do, and then donald trump has more options to drug things out. he can ask for a or asking many more judges to hear things, or got straight to the supreme court. he might want to try to take every step he can to drag things out, but we do have to get some sort of decision on this to see what happens next after that, and the special counsel, nobody can really do much to prepare for trial until this gets resolved. >> trump's team wants to delay as much as possible. guys, thank you very, very much. >>> just ahead, reaction from a human rights advocat a cnn investigation. it finds israel has dropped hundreds of bombs in the first month, cable of killing people 1,000 feet away. >>> tonight, after days of negotiation and delay, the united states securi

katelyn polantz is joining us.u tell us about be filing and where things stand right now? >> donald trump lost this attempt he made to toss the charges against him in federal court related to the 2020 election whenever the question was before the trial judge. now everyone is getting your legal arguments on paper for an appeals court that will consider whether there is immunity around the presidency. whether he can be tried for his alleged crimes after the 2020 election. what his lawyers argued in the filing is that trump should not be prosecuted for things he was doing while he was president and what he says is what was happening after the election as he was spreading disinformation and wanting to block the transfer of power, that was all part of his official duties as president. the special counsel's office has pushed back very strongly and courts have found that what was happening after the 2020 election was campaigning and not something part of the presidency. but this question has to be answered by the appeals

katelyn polantz is following all of this, and the big shift overnight, and expected, but the colorado republican party appealing to the supreme court, john. >> that is all they had to do to put on hold that colorado supreme court decision removing trump from the ballot, but that decision is still on the books in colorado, and it is a really big one. it is going into a lot of depth about donald trump being an insurrectionist according to the colorado supreme court, the highest court in that state, and also their decision that they have the ability to remove him from the primary ballot as the court, as the state, and so, all of those questions are going to be very likely before the supreme court quite soon. the colorado gop is asking for the supreme court to weigh in on this idea that anyone in a position of power like a court or a secretary of state could be removing a candidate from the ballot, and they write in the petition that was filed with the supreme court that the colorado supreme court has removed the leading candidate from the primary and general ballot changing course of ame

katelyn polantz is live outside the courtroom today. we heard rudy giuliani outside the courtroom again spewing lies, what can we expect today in court? >> today the question is does rudy giuliani take the stand in his own defense, take the oath and say the things he was saying about these two women, the georgia election workers. he's saying that he intends to take the stand and testify his lawyer told me as he was exiting court yesterday that is the plan. giuliani is planning on testifying. what is happening here in court, though, is this is a trial of emotional appeal. and a lot of emotional weight. so if giuliani is taking the stand, it's about him convincing the jury that they shouldn't saddle him with millions of dollars in payments to owe to these women for the emotional distress, the reputational damage they felt. but yesterday ruby freeman, one of the women, a volunteer in georgia, she created a scene in the courtroom that was so intense you could hear a pin drop. it was so emotional. she was wailing at times how she had lost he

cnn's katelyn polantz reports. >> reporter: $148 million.hat's the amount a federal jury in this courthouse on friday decided rudy giuliani should have to pay. so the former mayor of new york, the former lawyer to donald trump in the 2020 election, he was on trial because he defamed two women repeatedly after the 2020 election. those women are shay moss and ruby freeman, a mother and daughter. they were absentee ballot counters in the state of georgia after the election, counting those ballots that were mailed in for the vote. and giuliani and others accused them of switching votes or stealing votes. those are absolute lies that have been determined by this court. so the trial this entire week in washington, d.c., was about how much in damages rudy giuliani should be facing because of the repeated lies that he made. the jury's ultimate conclusion was a very astounding number in a lot of ways. that's quite a significant number. $148 million for any defamation case against an individual. he's not a company. it is a sizeable amount for the form

cnn's katelyn polantz is with us this morning with the latest on colorado, the constitution and the reek court. >> reporter: welcome back. this 14th amendment that says that insurrectionists are not eligible for office. the question is does that apply to donald trump because of what he did in 2020 related to the capitol riot. many states that have looked at this have said our courts are not getting involved or trump can stay on the ballot in some way. colorado is the one state that has not said that. where their state courts have determined that he is not eligible and they have the ability to take him off the primary ballot. that's what's before the supreme court right now because the colorado republican party has filed a petition yesterday saying, please, supreme court, settle this. everybody is doing different things here. and we don't think what colorado did is fair to donald trump or voters. here's what they write, by excludeing president trump from the ballot, the colorado supreme court engaged in an unprecedented disregard for the first amendment right of political parties to selec

. >> reporter: cnn's katelyn polantz has done extensive reporting on rudy giuliani's financial propertieshe owes more than $1 million to defense attorneys who helped him on other matters, prompting them to sue him. he was behind on nearly $60,000 for unpaid phone bills. this summer, he traveled to mar-a-lago to make a personal appeal to donald trump to help him pay his legal bills. >> the amount of money it costs to fight a lawsuit, let alone almost a dozen lawsuits over the last two years, couple years, is -- it is really mind-boggling, those numbers. >> reporter: in court, giuliani's attorneys said he is facing 11 lawsuits and investigations. he's also been criminally indicted in georgia related to the efforts by him, donald trump, and others to overturn the 2020 election results in that state. he could face criminal charges in the special counsel's federal election interference case. he's faced disbarment in new york and washington. >> attacked both in his professional arena, the civil court, and now the criminal court, as well, and that is a heavy load to carry. >> reporter: giuliani

. >> we start this morning with senior crime and justice reporter katelyn polantz, i want to start with the immunity filing, trump's lawyers weighing in on that. do we have any sense trump's lawyers will announce. >> they could announce at any time. it's what you would say is fully briefed. everybody said their piece. the justice department and trump are looking e the supreme court court and whether they're going to look at the immunity issue now. this is the criminal case against donald trump set to go to trial in march and a question because trump was president because he was tried after his impeachment in the senate can he have a criminal trial for something that happened during his presidency. and that question, it has to be figured out by someone in an appeals court. right now there are two appeals court that could weigh in, the supreme court or the appeals court, the d.c. circuit court of appeals, they're ready to go. they have arguments scheduled at the beginning of january to say their piece on this, to take up this issue. but the supreme court, that's who the justice, they want

and here in washington, we have senior crime and justice reporter katelyn polantz and local legal analyst carey co cordaro. what are we hearing from trump's attorneys? >> reporter: he's a high profile criminal defense attorney here. what he's arguing is that when president trump started peddling conspiracy theories and making plame clinton campaigns of voter fraud after his 2020 presidential election loss, at their core, it was political speech and protected by the first amendment. in a legal filing on monday, he said that this kind of speech should not be countered by a prosecution from the district attorney's office here. the state responded saying while it sounds good to allege this is a political persecution, this is at a its core about laws that were broken and crimes that were committed. a judge has indicated that he's not going to issue a ruling from the bench. he's not issued a ruling so we should expect a written ruling in the coming days. >> nick, thank you so much. >> it strike mess in this case that the judge already ruled against that first amendment for two of trump's co-def

. >> katelyn polantz has more on this story and what happens next. >> reporter: the secretary of state in maine has decided that donald trump is not eligible to be on the primary ballot for the 2024 election in that state. so the secretary of state there is named sheena bellows, she is an elected democrat and she is the person who gets to make this decision. she looked at evidence, she had petitions before her from voters in maine, and she ultimately decided that, yes, january 6 was an insurrection, donald trump did engage in that insurrection, though she did say that was a bit of a closer call than determining that it was an insurrection but with the rioters alone, and then she said that because of his engagement, he is not qualified to be on the primary ballot for mainers going to vote in the primary election that is upcoming in a few months. the other thing that she noted is that it is her responsibility to do that, that is a crucial finding from a secretary of state saying that, yes, she does have this ability to remove a presidential candidate. she notes in her ruling, i am mindfu

a line from the reporting, a crucial line from katelyn's reporting. chesebro has maintained, then and now, that the plan was a lawful move to preserve trump's legal rights. if he says that, and that apparently is his view, he's poison to prosecutors. he will be what we call a brady witness. a witness that's helpful to the defense, based on an old case called brady. he's useful investigatively. but anybody who thinks he will be the next john dean or the smoking gun witness, absolutely not. no prosecutor will call him to the stand. >> john dean called me last night. he doesn't think jack smith needs him. >> take it from january dean him john dean. there's only one. >> it was interesting to see who was on the e-mails. who was responding. who was deeply involved. and the lawmakers. ron johnson, the senator from wisconsin and scott perry, the congressman from pennsylvania, had roles. listen to what chesebro says. >> he finds representative perry, whoever, pennsylvania, and he gets a staffer to agree to meet us at 3:45 p.m. i don't know why we did that. mik