attorney general s office making their closing arguments. an eventful morning. the trump team presented their closing arguments to the judge. closing arguments are a chance for lawyers to summarize their case. after two hours of summarizing their defense trump used five minutes to attack the district attorney the judge to declare himself an innocent man. paula reed live outside the courthouse in new york. thanks so much. let s expand the conversation with a peer of legal experts. seth waxman and legal analyst norm ison. thank you both for being with us. if you are the prosecutor in that trial taking in the trump defense argument how do you feel about your case? s very strong. i don t think donald trump s lawyers were really trying to fight back against this particular allegation. i think this was more about political theater.
insurrection could be removed from office, but the president of the united states, the highest officer, is somehow excluded from that analysis just because the word president isn t used in the 14th amendment? many legal scholars look at what does the text of the constitution state. it says officer. if anyone was to ask in a plane, everyday conversation, do you think the president is an officer of the united states, i think everyone would readily say yes. but, of course, this decision hasn t been rendered before and the supreme court may use this to avoid the question of insurrection and could use this to avoid removing donald trump from the election ballot. fascinating. seth waxman, thank you so much. in the next hour, the colorado secretary of state will be joining me live. coming up, we re tracking a major winter storm system right now in the northeast that could dump up to a foot t of snow in
he s set to be released from the hospital. of course, everyone wishes him a full and speedy recovery. donald trump s political future now rests with the highest court in the land. the u.s. supreme court said friday it will review colorado s unprecedented decision to remove the former president from the state ballot, claiming he should be disqualified under the 14th amendment s insurrection clause. it s a decision that could significantly impact this year s presidential election and puts the nine justices squarely in the middle weeks before voting starts in the early primary voting contest. i want to bring in seth waxman, a criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor. great to see you and happy new year. happy new year. can you explain the significance of what the u.s. supreme court is taking on? yes, sure. them jumping into this fray is
statements he made in 2019. and that was based on a jury, a separate jury s decision back in may about related false statements that he made. so in that jury trial back in may, the jury found that he was liable for $5 million in damages. and so the judge now that is presiding over this case that is coming up has said look, that issue has been decided. he is liable for defamation. so the only question that will be handled by this new jury here in january is just how much donald trump has to pay in damages for his misconduct. so it is really a much more narrow trial that is focused just on damages. all right. seth waxman for us this morning, thank you very much for being here. thank you. up next here, a key hamas figure taken out in beirut. new cnn reporting from tel aviv on how that went, next. plus new year, new indictment, embattled new jersey
here is bellows late last night on cnn. i think it is important to note my sole obligation is the oath i swore to up hold the constitution and follow maine election laws. i was duty bound by maine election laws which require this process of holding a hearing and issuing a decision to ensure that every candidate on the primary ballot meets the qualifications of the office they seek. i did my duty. now it goes to the court. that is why i stayed, success pen pebded the effect pending the appeal. so trump also expencted to appeal also in colorado supreme court that sets up a potential showdown in the u.s. supreme court over his eligibility. let s bring in seth waxman. good morning. wonderful to have you on the show. let s start with what is going on up in maine as well as what is happening out in colorado.