cnn this morning starts right now. good morning, everyone. i m phil mattingly with erika hill in new york. poppy is off today. there s a lot of news on this thursday, december 21st. starting with a new delay tactic from donald trump and his legal team. trump asking the supreme court to stay out of a key case for now as the justices face several issues that could reshape the entire race. and the political fallout continues from colorado s top court banning trump from the ballot. and hamas growing worldwide influence since the brutal attack on israel. u.s. intelligence warning hamas credibility has expanded dramatically not just in the middle east but beyond. and ten americans freed from venezuela, six who were wrongfully detained, what they had to say after arriving back on u.s. soil. cnn this morning starts right now. the u.s. supreme court could soon decide the fate of donald trump and the fate of the 2024 election. but the former president is turning to a favorite
hunt. it is thursday, december 21. 5:00 a.m. in new york. also 5:00 a.m. in washington, d.c. where donald trump is now urging the supreme court to reject a fast track review of his claim for presidential immunity after he tried to overturn the 2020 election. his legal team filed a motion wednesday and this is one week after special counsel jack smith requested that justices rule quickly on whether immunity would protect trump in prosecution so that his trial could begin on march 4. trump s legal strategy has always been to delay the proceedings as he campaigns again for the white house in 2024. meantime, president biden was asked about tuesday s unprecedented colorado supreme court ruling that trump is an insurrectionist and does not among in the state s primary ballot. is trufrmp an insurrectionis? i think it is self-evident. you saw it all. whether the 14th amendment apply, i ll let the court make that decision. but he certainly assumed an insurrection. no question abou
This report. Distant Artillery Fire the situation in Soledar Depends On who you ask. Its under control as of this morning according to this ukrainian commander. They will never break us, says his injured comrade. We are winning. But if you ask these two, wagner are clearing the city, they say. Russian, yes, but not from the regular army. Theyre from a private Military Group called wagner, a network of mercenaries who do a lot of russias fighting. Its boss, yevgeny prigozhin, has recently recruited convicts from russianjails, and theyve been spearheading the attack on soledar, claiming to now be in full control. We chat to one ukrainian soldier on the front to see if thats the case. Dont believe russian propaganda. Its not true. Bakhmut and soledar have ukrainian control. Kyiv has described the Battle For Soledar and bakhmut as the bloodiest scenario yet. And thats all we can say with real certainty. Small amounts of territory are being fiercely fought over and the human cost is huge. B
the weekend, the temperatures fall away a little bit, and as we head into sunday this is where we have the drier weather and there will be more in the way of sunshine. for saturday, still a lot of cloud coming in. some rain, especially across northern ireland, wales and southern england. this cloud coming in from the north sea could have drizzle in there and it will be called in eastern scotland and the north of england with temperatures north of england with temperatures no higher than seven or 8 degrees. elsewhere ten or ii. the second half of the weekend, we have drier air this time coming in from the north sea, the winds will be lighter and there will be more sunshine around across western areas, but we still have temperatures on the low side. typically ten or ii celsius. have temperatures on the low side. typically ten or 11 celsius. typically ten or 11 celsius. darren, thank you. typically ten or 11 celsius. darren, thank you. and typically ten or 11 celsius. darre