lawmakers on both sides of the aisle criticizing it as well. we re going to break down what donald trump s options are now that two states have determined he s not eligible to run. and what it all means for the election year, which is quickly approaching. and more developments on this front. hours after last night s decision in maine, bellows counterpart in california announced trump would remain on the balin that state. i ll be joined by colorado s secretary of state in a moment to talk about where things stand with the supreme court, plus the latest request for the justices to speed up their review of the decision to keep trump off the ballot. we have a whole lot to cover. so let s start with the reporting. joining us now, nbc news justice reporter ryan riley, author of sedition hunters, now january 6th broke the justice system. so ryan, walk us through what happened in maine. unlike colorado, its state supreme court ruled this decision unilaterally was made by the sta
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
russian occupied crimea. local officials say at least one person was killed, and ukraine said the ship was destroyed. president zelensky wrote on telegram: the occupiers will not have a single peaceful place in ukraine. james waterhouse reports. for ukraine, this was a high value target. explosion. the novocherkassk landing ship struck by a guided missile. the blast was colossal. moscow claims it was only damaged. kyiv says destroyed. it s going to need more than a lick of paint regardless. crimea has been in russia s grasp since 2014. but sights like this have become more common with ukraine striking deeper into the peninsula. the novocherkassk would have almost certainly been loaded with either soldiers, hardware, or both. its loss will hamper russia s ability to supply troops further north, as well as further weaken its naval dominance in the black sea. what attacks like these have yet to do is apply enough pressure on moscow for it to surrender ukrainian territory it ha