war against hamas as fears of a potential escalation in the region intensifies. plus, russia pounds ukraine s two biggest cities in a new wave of attacks. the assaults are likely to strain nuclear s defenses as the country continues to plead for more military assistance from the u.s. and donald trump is appealing the landmark ruling from maine that disqualified him from the state s primary ballot. later in the program, we ll be joined by maine s secretary of state to talk about her decision there and charlie sykes with his new piece that asks, is disqualifying trump anti-democratic? we ll get the answer along with willie and me, we have the host of way too early jonathan lemire, u.s. special correspondent to bbc news, katty kay, and founder of the conservative website, the bulwark, charlie sykes is with us. willie, we are going to start with some political snapshots of where the race stands, and then we ll get to all the big major news breaking overnight. we have a lot to
viewers joining us here in the united states and all around the world. i m rosemary church. just ahead, a u.s. official says israel was responsible for the strike in lebanon that killed a senior hamas leader. donald trump appeals the decision to remove him from maine s presidential primary ballot, accusing the state s top election official of bias. and investigators begin their search into what caused that fiery runway collision in japan. live from atlanta, this is cnn newsroom with rosemary church. thanks for joinings us. a top hamas leader has been assassinated, and a u.s. official told cnn that israel carried out the hit. senior hamas leader saleh al arouri was killed in the suburbs of lebanon on tuesday. lebanese media report the strike targeted an office belonging to hamas, and several others were also killed, including leaders from the hamas military wing. earlier, an israeli government spokesperson issued this statement about the incident. israel has not taken
on capitol hill, senators negotiating a deal on the border as house speaker mike johnson and fellow republicans are set to visit the border this afternoon. we want to begin this hour with that breaking news out of iran. more than 100 people confirmed killed. iranian officials calling the explosions a terrorist incident. want to bring in now tehran bureau chief ali arouzi who is live for us on the ground in tehran. we spoke last hour, what updates are we getting this hour as to what may have taken place and who is behind it? reporter: hey, yasmin, so we know there were two explosions about 15 minutes apart from each other at 3:00 local. the death toll keeps rising. right now saying at least 103 people have been killed, and over 210 people have now been confirmed injured at that blast, went off near a cemetery in iran where that ceremony was being held to mark the death of soleimani in 2020 by a u.s. drone attack. state media saying there was one explosion and second one du
from actual voters and caucusgoers instead of faceless polling percentages. what will they say and how much say will they have? there s so much swirling around the republican primary this year. so much that could change everything and yet so much that could change nothing. let me explain. the accepted wisdom right now is that donald trump will be the nominee. but what happens if he can t get on the ballot? there are two states, maine and colorado, saying someone who incited an insurrection can t run for federal office. will other states follow? and if they do, will the supreme court be forced to get involved? there s also the issue of the other legal cases against donald trump. the federal criminal cases. the election interference case is still technically scheduled for march 4th. will it still happen? briefs are due today at the d.c. appeals court where a three-judge panel is going to decide whether donald trump immune from prosecution. if they say no and the case does go to
plagiarism? what we are learning today from harvard insiders. plus, the deadly airport runway inferno. two lanes collide, five on one jet nearly killed, 400 escaped alive. how did the planes and up on the runway in the first place? and the senior member of hamas assassinated at an explosion in beirut. is the situation in the middle east about to get even worse? happy new year, and welcome to the lead. i m jake tapper, and we start out with raking news. harvard university s claudine gay is stepping down as president, resigning after just about six months on the job. the student journalist who broke the story of her stepping down for the harvard crimson newspaper noted that this is the shortest presidential tenure in harvard s august history. it has been quite a tumultuous month for the now former present. when asked for calling for the genocide of would violate harvard campuses code of conduct. yes or no. it can be, depending on the context. from that, to multiple allega