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
his death now raising fears of a potential escalation in the region which could expand into a wider war israel has eso far avoided. plus, three years after rioters stormed the capitol, donald trump further cements his dominance over republicans. what brand new polling is revealing about the gop s increasing loyalty to trump and their thoughts about the legitimacy of president joe biden s election win. and also ahead hours from now house speaker mike johnson and 60 republicans will head to the southern border as senate negotiations resume. we llbri you the latest on where those talks now stand. good morning, and welcome to way too early on this wednesday, january 3rd. i m jonathan lemire. thanks for starting your day with us. we ve got a lot of news to get to this morning. we ll begin overseas where hamas is now blaming israel for the death of one of its leaders, who was killed in an explosion in lebanon yesterday. what appeared to be a drone strike happened in a densely p
colder. i will have the details shortly. good morning. it s six o clock on 6 january. our main story: the metropolitan police has confirmed it s investigating potential fraud offences, in relation to the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of sub postmasters by the post office. around 700 people were blamed for accounting mistakes caused by faulty it software, which made it look like money was missing. some were wrongfully imprisoned, in a scandal which was dramatised on itv. our reporter vincent mcaviney has more. mr bates vs the post office has brought to light a story for years those in power wouldn t believe. for the post office branch managers across the country over two decades, it s been a nightmare they couldn t escape. i haven t got that money. and i don t know where it s gone. noel tomas, a former sub postmaster in anglesey, was one of those wrongly sent to prison in 2006. this week has offered some catharsis after years of torment. the rest of the country knows how th
to try to knock trump out of the race are counter productive. they backfire. as you know he feeds on grievance just like a fire feeds on oxygen. and this is going to end up as a grievance that helps him. did colorado just hand donald trump a political gift by barring him from the ballot? why some say the effort to rue the former president could actually help his campaign. plus how president biden is responding. this as nbc news has learned the colorado supreme court justices who ruled in the case are now facing a flood of threats after their historic decision. also ahead, we ll bring you the latest out of the israel-hamas war as israel defense forces uncover hamas extensive tunnel network in gaza city. and the blunt warning from chinese president xi jinping to president biden about beijing s intentions with taiwan. all right, good morning. welcome to way too early on this thursday, december 21st. i am not jonathan lemire. i m sam stein in for jonathan lemire. now, th