decision did not come down to a panel of state justices. instead just secretary of state shenna bellows upheld two of the three challenges brought by maine voters. one of whom i ll speak to in just a moment. what bellows says her reasoning was based on and what it all means for donald trump heading into super tuesday. we re also watching colorado where time is ticking on the decision to remove trump from the ballot there that the former president has yet to file his appeal with the supreme court. still voters are urging justices to speed up their review of an appeal from colorado s republican party. how and when they could act. plus which other states could throw a wrench into trump s 2024 calendar. we ve got a whole lot to cover. let s dive in. joining me msnbc news justice reporter ryan riley. bring us up to speed on what happened in maine and how donald trump is now reacting. yes. as you expect the trump campaign plans to file an appeal quickly and get this through the
battles for former president donald trump. there were two big developments last night. maine decided donald trump is constitutionally ineligible to appear on the ballot. the secretary of state citing the 14th amendment which bans from office those who engage in insurrection. on the west coast, the california secretary of state deciding to keep trump on the ballot. all this putting even more pressure on the supreme court to weigh in. we want to bring in vaughn hillyard and former rnc executive committee member jennifer horn. vaughn, start us off with maine. reporter: in the state of maine the decision of the secretary of state last night was much awaited. she had heard challenges in her role as secretary of state. this is where you get into the differences in what state law allows or puts the onus on a secretary of state to ultimately agent on. that s where the role of the maine secretary of state says it is her responsibility to determine whether a candidate is qualified to
good evening. happy holidays. welcome to the beat. i am ari melber. i ll be joining you the next two hours for a special holiday edition of the beat. donald trump has a criminal trial problem. he has several trials looming in 2024. that s where we begin tonight. we ll do it a little different for the holidays. former federal prosecutor joyce vance with me to start the show. we re looking at this legal heat coming up. i want to get into this with you, joyce, but first show you and viewers something we put together to consider tonight, historic indictments on the road donald trump has already been on. donald trump has been indicted under seal by the new york grand jury. 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. we have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone. this will now be months if not the next year of our lives. the former president was placed under arrest on charges brought by the government he once led. the guy who s running for
claudia: welcome back to a special edition of fox news live. former president donald trump asking a federal appeals court to throw out the criminal case alleging he interfered in the 2020 election. the president and his legal team claiming absolute presidential immunity protects him from prosecution. welcome to a brand-new hour of fox news live. merry christmas, i m claudia cowen. i m rich edson. trump s filing with the u.s. court of appeals in d.c. comes one day after a big setback for special counsel jack smith. the u.s. supreme court refused his request to fast track his immunity claim for trump. the case hinges on whether president trump was acting as president or a candidate. his strategy is to run out the clock and he has a lot of tools to do that. and he may be successful. the issue here i think everyone agrees that there is something called absolute immunity for your official functions, if you are performing an official function the president has immunity and
travel conditions. the storm now heading east, will it disrupt your plans? we have the forecast. the u.s. retaliates in iraq after american troops are wounded, while one former american commander says the strikes are a clear warning from the u.s. military. the newest version of the apple watch banned from being sold in america. tonight, how apple is fighting back. an important alert for parents about lead-contaminated applesauce as the number of poisonings is on the rise. she loved them. she ate them every day. it s amazing. we really loaded up. lost luggage can take many forms. unclaimed bags could end up here. and you can buy what s inside. if these bags could talk, what a story they d have to tell. jericka: good evening to our viewers in the west, and thank you for joining us on this tuesday night. i m jericka duncan, in for norah. we begin tonight with 7 million americans under threat of a massive winter storm sweeping across the central u.s. blizzard warn