Even as she gave a nugget to the Trump Defense team of not defining everything as sensitive materials, she took it away by making clear that anything that the government was concerned about in terms of both impairing the jury pool and also going after witnesses, would violate the order anyways. Judge chutkan also warned trumps lawyers that continued inflammatory statements from their client would only increase the need for a speedy trial. Also, in washington, attorney general Merrick Garland called a surprise Press Conference to announce the appointment of a Special Counsel in the hunter biden probe. Tuesday of this week, mr. Weiss advised me that, in his judgment, his investigation had reached a stage at which he should continue his work as a Special Counsel. And he asked to be so appointed. Upon considering his request, as well as the extraordinary circumstances relating to this matter, i have concluded that it is in the Public Interest to appoint him as Special Counsel. The white ho
good morning. welcome to morning joe. that s a look at times square. we re a heart of hours the ball the will drop and we ll turn the page to 2024. good morning. joe and mika have the morning off. a lot to get to this morning, including another state remove donald trump from the republican presidential ballot. we will have expert legal and political analysis on that big decision from maine s secretary of state. plus nikki haley s attempt at cleaning up her highly criticized answer on the cause of the civil war. also forces continue to strike refugee camps where it believes hamas terrorists are hiding. this comes as the biden administration is putting more pressure to protect civilians. plus we ll take a look at the stories that dominated 2023 from two wars overseas to chaos on capitol hill, as well as the former president s many legal battles as he enters the presidential election. a lot to go through. with us for all of us is nbc news national affairs analyst john heilem
with christmas eventually cancelled in bethlehem, we ll get a live report from that region coming up. former president donald trump releasing a new ad in states where primaries are set to begin in weeks. could he be worrying about his opponent s gaining ground? plus, 2023 was a year of weather extremes. record heat across the country, with phoenix sweltering for 31 days with temperatures over 100 degrees. and from blue ivy to barbie, some of the moments that blew up on social media this year. all that coming up. we begin with the escalation in the israel-hamas war. right now, the israelis are fighting on multiple fronts. first in gaza, where idf forces are taking casualties as ground and air operations killed dozens of palestinians, including civilians caught in the cross fire. israeli troops are also taking fire to the north in fresh exchanges with hezbollah forces while iran-backed militants in yemen ramp up attacks on u.s. military and commercial ships, all signs
At this hour, the big story is a long awaited holiday morning. Well take you to West Palm Beach where one family has turned their own christmas tradition into one that impacts an entire community. Also this morning, the message on war in The Middle East as the fighting continues inside gaza. Hostages remain and terrorist captivity, and israels Prime Minister vows to finish the job of ending hamass reign. Former president Donald Trumps top challengers are scrambling for socalled hail mary as we officially hit three weeks until the iowa caucuses. New polls leave little to the imagination. The verdict is it on the most popular, most widely watched viral videos of 2023. The stories that caught just about everyones attention. But we begin with the forecast that is disappointing parts of the country this morning, and worrying manys. Lets get right to meteorologist who has been tracking the weather ahead. Michelle, tell us who has a White Christmas and who has more snow than they need right n
why this $24 million performance in dubai has landed beyonce in hot water with some fans. onze, douze, treize. .. we meet the four year old, who s become the uk s youngest member of mensa, and can count to a hundred in seven languages. two days after 11 people were shot dead by a gunman near los angeles, there s been a new deadly gun attack in california. seven people have been killed at two farms near half moon bay south of san francisco. pictures show the suspect being pinned to the ground and taken into custody without further incident after he was found in his car. he s been identified as zhao chunli, a 67 year old man who worked at one of the locations where the shootings took place. his victims are thought to be chinese american farm workers. the state governor, gavin newsom, called it tragedy upon tragedy. our north america correspondent david willis sent this report. this is an area known as half moon bay, it s about 30 miles to the south of san francisco, largely agr