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
political one, that it s compelled by the extraordinary unusual legal circumstances which come with donald trump s candidacy following an insurrection. former u.s. attorney joyce vance weighing in on the decision by maine s secretary of state to remove donald trump from the 2024 republican presidential primary ballot. we re going to go through that decision and what could come next. plus the latest from gaza as israeli forces strike refugee camps where it s believed hamas terrorists are hiding. it comes as the biden administration is putting more pressure on israel to protect civilians. also ahead republican presidential candidate nikki haley trying to clarify her response to the question about the cause of the civil war. we re going to show you what she said. hey, everybody. good morning to you and welcome to way too early on this friday, december 29th. i m yasmin vuceivian in for jonathan lemire. maine is now the second state to remove former president trump off the