record-low temperatures as they get ready to make their choice in the first nominating contest of 2024. chaos follows him. you can t just terminate the constitution. former president donald trump lead his rivals even as he makes some of his closing arguments from outside a courtroom. it s a witch hunt in the truest sense of the word. who will emerge as trump s biggest challenger. steve kornacki has the results of our final poll, and chuck todd will offer a guide on what to watch on caucus night. plus, smoke signals. chris christie exits the gop race, warning nikki haley will get smoked, but will he consider his own independent third party run? i am going to make sure that in no way do i enable donald trump to ever be president of the united states again. and striking back. the u.s. launches air strikes in yemen as tensions rise in the middle east. these strikes were very deliberate, very focused. while the pentagon s top official remains hospitalized and u
i m bret baier. we are just a weekend away from the first voting in the 2024 presidential election cycle. we will check in on iowa ahead of monday s caucuses. and we ll speak with iowa senator joni ernst. plus, how iran s so-called ghost armada is helping skirt sanctions as americans endure a tax from iranian taxies. and plenty of complaining from congress after uneventful briefing on ufos. but, first, breaking tonight, president biden says iran backed houthi rebels are terrorists. this goes against current u.s. policy changed by the biden administration. the houthis have already responded to yesterday s airstrikes against facilities in yemen with new attacks today. white house correspondent peter doocy starts us off tonight life from the north lawn. good evening, peter. peter: good evening, bret. pentagon officials believe there will be some sort of retaliation for last night s strikes. we know the houthi rebels have already launched at least one ballistic missile toward
bases tat island of cuba. now the white house is saying that the chinese have been in cuba for years, quote, china conducted an upgrade of its intelligence collection facilities in cuba in 2019. this is well documented in the intelligence record. this is an issue that this administration inherited. of course, the u.s. has been spying on china for years. remember rc135 in south china sea that got buzzed by the fighter jet, mike, that wasn t exactly sightseeing as used to spy in china. now back to our shores. the gop-led house oversight committee say they have fbi document that the biden family took bribe up to $10 million. the top democrat saying he found no doing. the investigation of the allegations made in that document were not closed down. as i repeatedly said, i set up a process at the beginning in 2020 to vet evidence before it went to the open-pending investigations. lucas: president biden remains under federal investigation under his handling of classified materials
the appeal that they made? well, anderson, one of the first things that the president s lawyers take on is the idea that he is an insurrectionist, which is something that the colorado supreme court had ruled. they say he is not, that the january 6th attack was not an insurrection, and that the former president did not engage in insurrection. they also say that the congress, not state courts, should be the ones that determine the eligibility for the presidency. they also say that the 14th amendment, the letter, if you read the 14th amendment, section three, it doesn t mention the office of the presidency and it doesn t apply, they say, to the former president. i will read you a little more of what they argue. they say that this colorado ruling, if allowed to stand, will mark the first time in the history of the united states the judiciary has prevented voters from casting ballots for the leading major party presidential candidate. and obviously, that is what is at stake her
months of fighting in gaza. we break that down next. plus, a series of powerful earthquakes rocking japan, leading to reports of fires and landslides, and triggering a tsunami warning. what we know right now about the damage as officials warn the after shocks could continue for up to a week. and the new year means new raises for millions of americans. the minimum wage hike happening in nearly half the country. but it is not all good news. we ll explain. we begin this afternoon with the new developments in the israel-hamas war as israeli forces expand operations in gaza. tel aviv was hit with a barrage of rockets right as the new year began. hamas is claiming responsibility, and it comes as prime minister benjamin netanyahu faces a new challenge as he navigates through the growing offensive. israel s supreme court today overturning a key component of his controversial judicial overhaul. nbc s josh lederman is joining us from tel aviv. josh, let s talk about what this rul