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Iowa's Republican Caucuses Less Than Two Weeks Away; Trump's Ballot Eligibility Challenged In Several States; At Least 30 Killed After Major Earthquake On Japan's West Coast; 7.5 Magnitude Quake Kills at least 30 People in Japan; Managing Threats to Election integrity in the U.S.; Cyber-Kidnapping Plot. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired January 02, 2024 - 01:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[01:00:30]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm John Vause. Coming up here on CNN Newsroom, court filing expected today by Team Trump and what it could mean for his 2024 campaign with the Iowa caucuses now just two weeks away.

Desperate search for survivors after Japan was hit by a series of powerful earthquakes.

And pulling out Israel announces a new phase of the war in Gaza and the drawdown of thousands of troops.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.

VAUSE: In the coming hours, lawyers for Donald Trump looks at to appeal decisions by Colorado and Maine. Both states have banned the former president's name from the ballot in the Republican presidential primary. The legal challenges successfully argued the 14th Amendment's insurrectionist ban, what seems to be Trump removed from the ballot, so those decisions have been paused, pending potential appeals.

Challenges in several other states have been rejected though. And now Oregon Supreme Court will decide whether to ban Trump from the ballot there over his alleged role in the January 6th insurrection. Tuesday's expected appeals are coming at the start of a busy month for Trump which includes closing arguments in the New York civil fraud trial and the start of the presidential primary season.

First test of this year's presidential election come to just two weeks, the Iowa caucuses. Trump has maintained a consistent lead in the polls there despite mounting legal troubles but his rivals Nikki Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis hoping for a strong showing. We begin our coverage with CNN's Kristen Holmes reporting in from Washington.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is officially that final sprint to Iowa we're looking at two weeks and the candidates are going to all be on the ground, or at least most of them trying to scoop up every last minute voter that they can talk to any kind of Iowan who might be on the fence and really going into it. When you look at the poll numbers, you still see that Donald Trump, according to these polls, has a very substantial lead. He is the front runner.

And their goal is to keep that margin really high between him and whoever the second place person is. Now the polls show that that would be Ron DeSantis right now and after that, Nikki Haley. Now the thing about Ron DeSantis is that Iowa is critical to the Florida governor. He has made this centrally his make or break moment put all of his cards or all of his eggs in the Iowa basket and is really focused on that.

However, we have seen some substantial rise in the polls from Nikki Haley, but still looks as though that would be the order. Now whatever happens in Iowa is really going to set the tone for the rest of the primary and caucus season. Right now, Donald Trump is leading in most states, but there is a part or there are several Republican operatives who believe that if Donald Trump has slowdown in Iowa, if that margin is not as big as those polls show, it's possible that someone else could take the lead we could see someone else surge. But right now, it's just still very early, and the big focus still remains on Iowa on the Hawkeye State.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, Washington.

VAUSE: Joining us now live from Los Angeles is Michael Genovese, a political analyst and author as well as president of the Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University. Good to see you, Michael. Happy New Year.

MICHAEL GENOVESE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Happy New Year to you, John.

VAUSE: OK. Let's start with Iowa because this is where Republicans use a caucus system. It's kind of, you know, a bit strange for many who don't know it. It means to basically they don't fill out a ballot there. But instead, they physically attend a meeting in person, and then divided up into different groups backing each candidate. They go to each different corner of the barn or something.

You know right now Trump is about 30 points ahead of Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis. So if there is a moment of truth to come here, says it all essentially come down to the level of support that Trump receives in the caucus.

GENOVESE: I think the really big drama is going to be whether DeSantis can be in second place. He's gone all in on Iowa. And if he fails there, if he finishes third behind Trump and Nikki Haley, I don't know if his campaign can go on. The other interesting thing in Iowa is how much damage might have Nikki Haley done to herself when she was throwing a softball question about slavery and completely dropped the ball and it was a humiliating response. She was given a chance to correct it. She didn't.

And so Donald Trump's got the lead. He's going to win in Iowa. The question is, who's going to be there for the if scenario, if Trump crumbles, who's going to be left behind? Right now, it's either DeSantis or Nikki Haley and I think tomorrow or next week or two weeks from now Iowa is going to have a lot to say about the answer to that question.

[01:05:05]

VAUSE: Well at least Trump is on the ballot in Iowa at least for now not so the case in Maine and Colorado after a number of interest groups successfully sued for his removal, arguing in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution. For more in that, here's Colorado's Secretary of State.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENA GRISWOLD, COLORADO SECRETARY OF STATE: I think it's important to note that we are only here because Donald Trump incited the insurrection. He has created the situation for himself, there is clear language in the Constitution in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment for this exact situation, I believe he's a threat to democracy, the right to vote in the future stability of this nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So the Trump team now plans to appeal that decision, which is actually on hold in Colorado, they get paid to appeal that to the U.S. Supreme Court all the way to the Supreme Court in Maine, a similar decision will be appealed to the state Supreme Court. So there's a lot of arguments going on here, a lot of legal cases flying around. There's also other, you know, rulings yet to be made in about a dozen or so other states about the 14th Amendment.

So how sort of important is it at this point for the Supreme Court to make a very quick ruling on this, so there is continuity to all the states know where they're essentially heading with this?

GENOVESE: Well, as you know, we have not one rule for presidential elections, but we have 50 plus. Each state has its own rules. And that's why you're seeing each state go about it differently, that this whole case brings up the inevitable tension or conflict between law on the one hand and politics on the other. The courts will handle the law, the politics that will take place in the ballot box. And so there are a lot of important questions that are hanging. Was Trump a leader of a -- an insurrection? Probably.

But who decides that? What's the standard? What's the process? There's nothing prescribed in law that tells us that? Can he be removed from the ballot? Of course he can if he's considered to have been on insurrectionists? Should he be? That's the question. It's ideal to have the people decide. But the law has to take precedence. In the United States we're a nation of laws. And those laws protect us. And those are the things that are going to decide, at least initially, whether Donald Trump is going to be the next president.

VAUSE: Well, also on that note, from a legal point of view, the Supreme Court is also looking at the question of presidential immunity. Trump's legal team has tried to argue he's immune from prosecution for pretty much anything which happened during his four years at the White House. On Monday came Trump's latest argument for immunity. He posted this. Remember, if I don't have presidential immunity, then Crooked Joe Biden doesn't have it either. And he will be certainly prosecuted for his many actual crimes.

This is kind of an absurd argument and the Trump lawyers surely know that. But yet, you know, Trump and his team are pushing on with this.

GENOVESE: Well, they're trying to delay, delay, delay. It's important because if Donald Trump is granted by the courts, broad immunity, absolute immunity, that means that the President is above the law. Donald Trump argued against that notion, in recent case, Trump versus Vance 2019, in which Donald Trump was trying to get out of being subpoenaed in the state of New York. His lawyers argued in court, they -- and they said, well, we only want a temporary immunity. And that immunity exists while he's president, Donald Trump as president.

And it will, in their words, his lawyers expire when the President left office. So Donald Trump has already argued in court against his own position now. But Donald Trump's broad claim of immunity is laughable. It doesn't pass the smell test. Because in no way would the framers have said, yes, everybody basically is subscribes to the law. But the President if while he's -- if he's president can commit murder, can do anything. That's absurd. And so the courts are going to have a tough time broadening Trump's immunity, even if the Supreme Court wants to.

VAUSE: And also, I want you to listen to the secretary for Maine speaking over the weekend, about the threats which should be made, as into her office remove Trump from the Republican primary ballot. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHENNA BELLOWS, MAINE SECRETARY OF STATE: I certainly worry about the safety of people that I love, people around me and people who are charged with protecting me and working alongside me. We have received threatening communications. Those are unacceptable. But regardless, my considerations in this proceeding is to adhere to the process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Police in Colorado also investigating similar threats made to state officials there. Is this kind of the sort of legal chaos and the turmoil which Trump actually wanted, leading up to the election for the White House?

GENOVESE: Well, we've seen Donald Trump since he first ran for president being fast and loose about violence. He said that during the first campaign for president. Well, if anyone gets in trouble with the law I'll pay your legal bills if you beat up one of my -- one of the protesters or if you beat it in a palm (ph). And so he plays fast and loose with language about violence as if it's something frivolous, but it's not.

[01:10:13] You know how many people get death threats, their family, and Justice Kavanaugh, a Republican was threatened. Poll workers are threatened. We have become a nation that says in some respects, we can solve this through violence instead of the ballot box. That's completely unacceptable and Donald Trump is guilty of encouraging that. He encourages his supporters to fight, to fight to be tough. And rather than trying to say we need to tone down the rhetoric we need to calm people down. There's no room for violence. Donald Trump is gaining something by it because he intimidates and intimidation will probably in many respects, tamper down opposition to him in public.

VAUSE: Michael, good to have you with us, especially the start of the New Year. Thanks for being with us. Thanks very much.

GENOVESE: Thank you, John.

VAUSE: Now in South Korea, where the leader of the main opposition party has been stabbed in the neck with a knife. Lee Jae-myung is in hospital and is said to be conscious. A warning you're about to see images of the attack and some viewers may find it disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(Speaking in Foreign Language)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Let's get live now to Seoul. CNN's Marc Stewart has more details on this. What do we know about the attacker and also his condition right now?

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, let's first talk about his condition, that is the big question that we are asking. From what we understand, Mr. Lee has damage to his jugular vein. There's also concerned that he has additional bleeding, so efforts are underway to rush him from a hospital in Busan likely fly him by helicopter here to Seoul where he will get treatment.

This happened at a very open event, this happened at a tour of a construction site, unlike other parts of the world where distances between the public and politicians. Here in South Korea, this is a very open event, a very typical open event. He was touring a construction site when this man came up to him with a knife, jumped in front of him and then attacked him. As far as his attacker, according to people on the scene, he was wrestled to the ground and then restrained by several people.

In fact, I saw one photo of him earlier, where Mr. Lee is lying on the ground. Someone has a handkerchief to his neck presumably to stem the bleeding. So right now he is supposedly being transferred to a hospital in Seoul where of course there are top notch medical facilities here in this major city here in South Korea.

It is important though to give you some context too. The political atmosphere right now in South Korea is extremely divided. Lee is a liberal. Current President Yoon is a conservative. In fact, Lee lost to you in the bid for the presidency in 2022 in a very slim margin. So these politicians, you know, are both very prominent. The president of South Korea, it is notable to point out is very quick to respond to all of this, emphasizing that violence should not be tolerated under any circumstances and ordered police to investigate this swiftly.

And this is a reflection of the fragile political atmosphere that South Korea is witnessing right now. In fact, Lee's own spokesperson called on party members to remain calm and not to make any kind of political interpretations. And finally, John, this is not the first time we have seen an attack like this back in 2006. Former president Park was attacked while she was on the campaign trail.

Also in recent years, the U.S. ambassador to Korea was also attacked by someone wielding a knife. So the priority right now for us, at least here is to find out the condition of Mr. Lee. We expect him to be arriving at a hospital very shortly if he hasn't already arrived and hopefully doctors. In the hours ahead, John, we'll give us a briefing.

VAUSE: Marc, thank you. Marc Stewart live for us there with very latest reporting in from Seoul.

Now we're heading to Japan where the death toll has risen to 30 after a succession of powerful earthquakes on New Year's Day. The epicenter of the initial 7.5 magnitude quake was on Japan's west coast, causing extensive damage to many buildings including some which went up in flames.

Rescue operations continue at this hour searching for survivors who are trapped under rubble and debris. The quake hit just after 4:00 p.m. local time Monday on the Noto Peninsula on the Ishikawa prefecture. The U.S. Geological Survey has recorded more than 35 aftershocks. One, those shocks could and will likely continue for days or even months.

[01:15:15]

All tsunami advisories have been lifted but the quake did cause a number of waves just over a meter high, probably about four feet in some parts. And HK (ph) reports more than 100 homes and shops have burned down after a large fire broke out in the city of Wajima and tens of thousands of people are still without electricity. Here's a one tourists describe the moment the quake hit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN CHIA, TOURIST FROM SHANGHAI: Pretty massive, if you ask me. So the whole room was shaking. The T.V. was shaking. It is quite scary. That, you know, know when you hear about earthquakes in Japan, you wouldn't expect one to, you know, to actually experience a one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: CNN's Hanako Montgomery has been following developments and filed this report from Tokyo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Frightening scenes as Japan woke up to the New Year. Homes and businesses destroyed by the powerful impact. This woman pleading for aid as she showed the damage to the town of Matsonami (ph).

Please come help us, she says. My city is in a terrible situation. The epicenter near Anamizu on Japan's western coast, causing water levels to surge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking in Foreign Language).

MONTGOMERY (voice-over): And raising fears of a devastating tsunami potentially to come. Authorities issuing immediate warnings and evacuation orders for the areas closest to the shore. In nearby mountains, tourists rushed outside as the quake struck.

JOHNNY WU, TOURIST FROM TAIWAN (through translator): Suddenly, it gets pretty strong earthquake. You can see, all the snow from the electric wire goes down. So everybody was panic that time.

MONTGOMERY (voice-over): Monday's impact rekindling memories of the strongest quake ever recorded in Japan. The 2011 shock which unleashed deadly waves and caused a nuclear catastrophe as it impacted the Fukushima nuclear plant. More than 22,000 were killed. Authority saying this quake nothing like that one.

YOSHIMASA HAYASHI, JAPANESE CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY (through translator): Beginning with the Shika Nuclear Power Plant closest to the epicenter, there are currently no reported irregularities with nuclear power plants.

MONTGOMERY (voice-over): The full scale of Monday's powerful quake still difficult to assess, as thousands were left without water or power. And many remain trapped underneath the rubble.

Hanako Montgomery, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: When we come back, an unprecedented ruling from Israel Supreme Court that could have major implications for the war with Hamas.

Also ahead, after launching an unprecedented number of attack drones on Ukraine, Russia promises there's much worse to come. The very latest on Ukraine's war in a moment.

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[01:22:04]

VAUSE: Israel's Supreme Court has struck down a deeply divisive and controversial law passed by Benjamin Netanyahu's far right coalition government, raising fears of return to the domestic turmoil which had thrown the country into chaos for months before the October 7th Hamas attack. The court's eight to seven ruling struck down and amendment to the so called reasonableness law which stripped the judiciary all its power to overturn government decisions.

The ruling could also threaten the unity of Israel's wartime cabinet, which includes two opposition lawmakers, both prominent critics of Netanyahu's judicial reforms. It comes as Israel's military announces a drawdown of thousands of troops from Gaza this week in preparation for a new phase of the conflict. A senior U.S. official says the troop pullout indicates Israel is gradually shifting to a lower intensity military campaign, which will also mean thousands of Israelis forced to leave communities close to the Gaza border may soon return home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YOAV GALLANT, ISRAEL DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): In accordance with the recommendations given by the IDF and the defense establishment, we will soon be able to return communities home in areas within a range of four to seven kilometers north of the Gaza Strip.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: More now on the Israeli Supreme Court decision and the implications for the war with Hamas from Elliott Gotkine in Tel Aviv.

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, CNN JOURNALIST: The Supreme Court's eight to seven ruling to strike down the one part of the government's judicial overhaul that it managed to get passed was unprecedented. The Supreme Court has never previously struck down a basic law or an amendment to a basic law. These are the closest things that Israel has to a constitution. So that was unprecedented.

It's also a blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who made this judicial overhaul almost like a flagship policy of his withstanding months and months of protests, sometimes tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people out on the streets, protesting against his judicial overhaul plans, because they said it would do irreparable damage to Israel's democratic character.

Indeed, in justifying its ruling, the Supreme Court said that it did say because of the severe and unprecedented blow to the core characteristic of Israel as a democratic state. And of course, the other major implication is that this ruling threatens to reopen these very deep and severe divisions that the government's judicial overhaul plans sowed throughout Israeli society.

Now, those divisions seem like a lifetime away now that Israel is fighting this war with Hamas after the militant groups terrorist attacks of October the 7th. But there are concerns that it could reopen these divisions, and that it may be even has the potential to split the government of national unity that was formed as a result of this war.

We have heard from the Justice Minister Yariv Levin assailing the court for the timing of its ruling even though it wasn't in the courts get to decide on when it had to make this ruling. We've heard from National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, one of the most right wing members of the governing coalition saying that this decision by the Supreme Court was illegal. But we've got Benny Gantz, who's now a member of the war cabinet, saying that this verdict must be respected. And Israel must remember internalize the kind of divisions that it saw in the run up to October the 7th. And remember that Israelis are brothers and that they have a shared destiny.

[01:25:31]

Elliott Gotkine, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Right now, Ukraine's capital Kyiv remains under an air raid alert and the city's mayor reports hearing a number of explosions. Earlier the air force warned of an unspecified number of missiles entering Ukrainian airspace from Russian territory. Ukrainian officials say 35 drones were intercepted and destroyed overnight. All of this out of both sides appeared to launch attacks on New Year's Day.

Ukraine's Air Forces dozens of drones fired from Russia territory Sunday into Monday were destroyed at least one person killed in the city of Odesa. And Russian backed officials in occupied Donetsk say four people were killed after Ukraine launch attacks starting midnight January 1st. Meantime Russian President Vladimir Putin is promising to continue the pressure on Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): For our part, we're going to intensify the strikes. Of course no crime against civilians will rest on punished. That's for certain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And for the presidents of Russia and Ukraine very different New Year messages to their countries. Clare Sebastian has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: (Speaking in Foreign Language)

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One, gave a detailed account of the war.

PUTIN: (Speaking in Foreign Language)

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): The other, never directly mentioned it. In very different ways, this was two leaders calling on their conflict weary populations to stay the course.

ZELENSKYY (through translator): And just like that, December 31st, today we say we do not know for certain what the new year will bring us. But this year we can add whatever it brings, we will be stronger.

PUTIN (through translator): We have proven more than once that we can solve the most difficult problems and we'll never back down.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Vladimir Putin speech was pared back less than half the length of the previous year. And this time, no assembled company of military servicemen. Still, it was an opportunity to project strength and confidence as he positioned himself for a fifth term as Russian president.

PUTIN (through translator): We were proud of our common achievements, rejoiced at our successes, and we're firm in defending national interests, our freedom and security, our values which have been and remain an unshakable support for us.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): And yet, to Russia's security has been shaken. Increasingly brazen attacks on Russian territory have brought the war closer to home. The year closing with one of the deadliest attacks for Russian civilians yet in the border region of Belgorod. And Putin faced one of the most direct threats to his wounds yet, Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin's aborted march on Moscow in June. A plane crash two months later closing that chapter for good.

ZELENSKYY (through translator): We defeated the darkness.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Amidst a stepped up Russian aerial campaign and waning Western weapons supplies, President Zelenskyy stuck to his well-worn tactic of accentuating the positive, including Ukraine taking one small step closer to E.U. membership.

ZELENSKYY (through translator): This process will definitely have a logical conclusion full-fledged membership in strong Europe, a powerful one from Lisbon to Luhansk.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): And yet this past week has shown Ukraine enters 2024 increasingly vulnerable. That message even spelled out by Putin, in his first appearance of the new year, promising a group of wounded Russian soldiers, the strikes would intensify.

Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[01:29:15]

VAUSE: In a moment on CNN, the race to find survivors in Japan, ultra powerful and deadly earthquake on New Year's Day, more on that in a moment.

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[01:32:50]

VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone.

I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

An update now from Japan where the death toll has risen to 30 after a powerful earthquake on New Year's Day. Rescue crews continue to search rubble and debris looking for survivors.

This is the moment the 7.5 magnitude quake struck the Ishikawa prefecture. Authorities are still working to assess the full impact of the damage from the quake which has toppled buildings, damaged roads, set fires, left tens of thousands of homes without electricity.

At least 1,000 troops have been deployed to the quake zone to help with rescue and recovery.

All tsunami advisories have now been lifted but dozens of aftershocks continue to rattle Japan.

More details now from CNN's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Inside this office in Toyama City, the shaking was violent and went on for several seconds. TV monitors fell off the shelves as the entire room convulsed.

In the same city, this parking garage is shaking so hard it seemed to be on the verge of collapse. This building in Wajima did collapse. Its second floor smashing down on to the first.

These shoppers in Toyama huddled together as the supermarket they were in shook all around them.

These were the scenes in western Japan on Monday, as the 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck the region. Multiple deaths and serious injuries have been reported.

One Taiwanese tourist in Nagano spoke of the panic they experienced there.

JOHNNY WU, TAIWANESE TOURIST: Suddenly it gets pretty strong earthquake. You can see all the snow from the electricity wire goes down and also from the roof goes down. And all the cars are shaking. And everybody was panicked at that time.

TODD: The quake's epicenter was near the Noto Peninsula according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Initially, tsunami warnings were issued and people were urged to evacuate. As tsunami waves of up to four feet hit several areas along the coast. Here a tsunami wave crashes over the harbor seawall in Zuzu City.

[01:34:50]

TODD: The tsunami warnings were later canceled. But the quake and dozens of aftershocks caused fires, large figures in roads, several people were reported trapped under collapsed buildings. And tens of thousands of customers experienced power outages.

A woman in Wajima screams in panic as she surveys the damage from the upper floor of a home. Experts say the western coast of Japan has rarely experienced earthquakes this large. Instead they say, it has had smaller scale so-called swarming quakes. Not on the scale of the devastating earthquake off Japan's east coast in March of 2011, 9.1 in magnitude which triggered a horrific tsunami, damaged several nuclear reactors, and killed about 20,000 people.

Still aftershocks from Monday's event, experts say, can be dangerous.

SUSAN HOUGH, SEISMOLOGIST, U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY: It could easily have aftershocks, bigger than magnitude 6. So that's going to be a hazard in its own right.

TODD: And aftershocks could be even more dangerous because some buildings have already been structurally compromised.

JEFFREY PARK, SEISMOLOGIST & PROFESSOR, YALE UNIVERSITY: The damage that has been caused to structures in the fault zone, in basically the entire peninsula, are sometimes hidden, and can then be further damaged by smaller earthquakes and smaller amounts of shaking. So the danger of maybe collapses or for humans being inside damaged structures still quite really.

TODD: Seismologist Jeffrey Park says Japan has learned some valuable lessons from the devastating 2011 earthquake especially regarding how to deal with the tsunami threat. But he warns the aftershocks from this earthquake will continue for several days, weeks, and possibly even months or up to a year.

Brian Todd, CNN -- Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Manisha Tank is following all of this. She is live from Singapore this hour. As far as those rescue and recovery has been ongoing, there's been some issues with getting access to these parts of Japan, getting the troops in, getting the rescue services there.

With the prime minister now saying that this is a race against time to get to those people trapped under the debris. So what more do we know?

MANISHA TANK, CNN JOURNALIST: Yes, very much, John. That's right. One of the reasons why it's very difficult to get there is because the roads getting into that area have been destroyed. So even though as you mentioned, the prime minister making these statements, actually they came after disaster emergency meeting that was early in the morning in Japan and we're now getting to the late afternoon in the country.

He's actually pointed to leveraging the police, fire brigades, emergency rescue services and getting them to those disaster zones as soon as they could. But they are hampered by these aftershocks as well that we just heard about.

So actually, the U.S. Geological Survey has come out in the last hour saying that they have detected some 35 aftershocks in the 24 hours around that epicenter.

So you can imagine the kind of pressure that they are under to get to those incidents that have been reported. Now as for Wajima City, this is where local authorities have earlier said in statements, said you know, they had all of these incidences that were reported overnight.

As daylight came they were able to see the extent of the damage. They need to get to all of those reported incidents and try to get to people who might be trapped.

Now with earthquakes like this, with the kind of damage that they caused, it is often under collapsed buildings where you see the greatest worry and the loss of life. You mentioned that that death toll has gone up. We also have heard from authorities that they will and gradually likely to revise numbers, and you know, obviously they wouldn't want to see them to go up any more than they have.

But you know, like you said it is a race against time and they're doing what they can in daylight hours to get to all of the incidents that have been reported.

I just want to give it a bit of environmental context, as well. Of course Japan on that ring of fire and as we just heard in your package there, this is a flank of Japan that is not often affected by earthquakes like this. Nevertheless, it has knocked out power.

So we know that from local power companies that more than 45,000 homes have lost power. We are not entirely sure when they're all going to get power back.

But it is cold in that region. I have the checked weather reports so people will be struggling to stay safe, stay warm, but of course, a lot of work to be done, John.

VAUSE: Manisha, thank you. Manisha Tank there with the very latest from Japan reporting in from Singapore. Thank you.

With that, we'll take a short break. When we come back, how to secure a U.S. presidential election facing threats not just from Russia, around China, and North Korea, but also under attack at home.

[01:39:18]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: 2024 is seen as potentially a life-or-death year for democracy with crucial elections being held worldwide. None more so than U.S. presidential election in November.

The key to election credibility is a secure voting process and in the U.S. officials are working to avoid a repeat of the problems experienced in 2020. Issues like safety at polling places and for election workers, preventing cyberattacks on voting systems, also managing misinformation, the use of A.I., and false claims of election fraud from the former U.S. president Donald Trump and his many supporters.

Michael Waldman is a constitutional lawyer and president of the non- partisan Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. Thank you for being with us.

MICHAEL WALDMAN, CONSTITUTIONAL LAWYER: It's great to be with you.

VAUSE: Well, I want you to listen to Donald Trump. Back in August he is campaigning for a second term. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They rigged the presidential election in 2020 and we are not going to allow them to rig the presidential election in 2024.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: It's not a great starting point for 2024 when the norms and traditions, in particular, the most fundamental element of democracy, which is the peaceful transfer of power, have been under attack by a very vocal minority for the past four years.

WALDMAN: It really is quite an extraordinary thing that in 2024 we are going to see the very elements of democracy tested in the United States in a way we have not seen in a long, long time.

You're exactly right that tens of millions of people have rallied behind Donald Trump's false claims of a stolen election in 2020 and his insistence that he might suspend the constitution, that the next election is going to be rigged, and so on.

We've got a probable or certainly possible candidate of one of the major parties over and over again trying to cast doubt on the legitimacy of American democracy. We've not had that in a long, long time

VAUSE: Also last November a threat assessment from Microsoft warned Russia, China, and Iran are unlikely to sit out next year's contest. The stakes are simply too high. So there is that threat.

There are also the internal threat like the ones we have been talking about. Here he is again, Donald Trump.

[01:44:47]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Joe Biden is a threat to democracy. They are weaponizing law enforcement for high level election interference because we are beating them so badly in the polls.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: You know, Donald Trump and his never-ending lies to discredit institutions of government. Also many conservative legislatures around the country, around the United States have made voting harder for some groups.

So out of all of these three things, which poses the biggest danger? And what is the impact having all three at once? WALDMAN: Well you're right that they all do kind of combine both as

threats and as threats to people's trust in the election. The good news is that we have a track record now over the last few years of how to strengthen our democratic systems so they withstand this kind of thing.

If you recall in 2016, Russia interfered in the American election with hacked emails and got involved in that way. There've been a lot of improvements in the cybersecurity and other kinds of security of election systems all over the country.

Though there is more to do, and as you said we have every reason to think that not just Russia but China and Iran and North Korea, who else knows, will have a reason to kind of get involved.

We do have a new risk though of artificial intelligence, A.I. and the kinds of deepfakes that have been used to try to influence elections in other countries. We need to be ready for that. We need to stand by the election officials who are getting lots of threats of violence and harassment. And to make sure they have the resources they need, the money they need, the law enforcement protection they need.

If we do all of these kinds of things then we'll have a smooth election that people can trust.

VAUSE: Having a smooth election, and election which is secure, is essential to having an outcome which has credibility. And most Americans don't believe democracy is under threat. And AP/NORC poll finds 87 percent of Democrats believe a second Trump term will negatively impact democracy. While 82 percent of Republicans have the same believe should Biden win.

There was another poll from the Public Religion Research Institution which found nearly a quarter of Americans, 23 percent, agree that because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country, according to this survey. This is up from 15 percent in 2021.

Is it too simplistic to look at these polls and say right now the country is moving close to some kind of outbreak of violence as we head toward these elections? We just don't really know what that would look like?

WALDMAN: Well, of course we had an outbreak of violence in 2020 when the candidate who lost the election, Trump egged on a violent mob to storm the U.S. Capitol. We haven't seen anything like that since the beginning of the U.S. Civil War, if that.

It is of course, unnerving, that Democrats and Republicans in some ways for different reasons are concerned about the future of American democracy.

I think there's also potentially a silver lining in that. We have thought for a long time that the health of our democracy ought to be a central public issue as it has been at other times in American history. People really care about this. Voters at the polls, for example, in 2022 punished election deniers.

People who claimed the election had been stolen, they actually did considerably worse than other Republican candidates when they were running for statewide offices that could control, could have a big impact on the elections like governor or secretary of state.

It turns out there's a big -- sort of exhausted majority, I wouldn't call it a silent majority, that cares about American democracy and kind of resents people, extremist people who would try to undermine it.

I'm hoping this is kind of a bipartisan coming together around first principles.

VAUSE: From your lips to God's ear. Michael Waldman, thank so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

WALDMAN: Thank you so much.

VAUSE: Still to come, police say he was kidnapped but never actually met his kidnappers. How online extortion became a missing persons case, just ahead.

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VAUSE: Now to college football playoffs here in the U.S. The Michigan Wolverines have booked their ticket to the championship game with a thrilling win over the Alabama Crimson Tide. Michigan scored just minutes into overtime, the Wolverines defense kept Alabama at bay. The final score Michigan 27, Alabama 20.

They will face the Washington Huskies who beat the Texas Longhorns 37 to 31. The (INAUDIBLE) championship game is set for Monday January 8th, a week away.

Major League Baseball player Wander Franco has been arrested in the Dominican Republic. Tampa Bay Rays' shortstop is accused of a relationship with a minor. Franco has been on administrative leave from the Rays since the allegations were made back in August. At the time he posted a video statement on Instagram where he seemed to deflect the accusations, and talked about his own self-efforts -- own efforts rather at self-improvement.

Also in the United States, a victim of cyber kidnapping, a foreign exchange student from China has been found safe in the Utah mountains. Neither the student nor his parents in China actually met with the kidnappers. They just dealt with him over the phone.

Details now from CNN's Nick Watt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Authorities in Utah say they found a 17- year-old Chinese national, a student at a high school in Utah. They found him alone in a tent halfway off a remote mountain side in Utah. He had no heat source in that tenth, limited supplies of food and water, and they described him as very cold and scared.

Now, apparently he had been kidnapped but not in the traditional sense that we know it, cyber kidnapped. So he never actually came face to face with his kidnappers. He was just coerced over his phone and over the Internet.

[01:54:48]

WATT: So what appears to have happened is that he was contacted by these kidnappers and told it that unless he did exactly what he was told his family back home in China would be in danger.

They asked him for a photograph which they then sent to his family in China with a ransom demand. And they told 17-year-old Kai Zhuang to isolate himself. That is why he was in this tent in the middle of nowhere.

The family, they say that they paid around $80,000 into Chinese bank accounts. They also contacted the high school in Utah. The high school contacted the police and the police by looking at this 17-year-old's spending patterns what he bought, they worked out that he was camping. So search parties were sent out and eventually he was found in his tent.

Apparently the cyber, kidnapping is an increasingly common occurrence targeting foreign exchange students, particularly Chinese foreign exchange students.

Now this story ended well in that the student was found alive and well. He asked to speak to his family. He asked for a warm cheeseburger, he is safe.

But as I say this is apparently an increasingly common trend seen in this country of cyber kidnappers targeting these young vulnerable kids far from home. They never come face to face, all done online.

Nick Watt, CNN -- Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: So with just two words, the slightest of changes to the lyrics by Green Day during a live performance on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve seemed to cause some upset among supporters of Donald Trump. See if you can spot the change.

(MUSIC)

VAUSE: In case you don't know it, the song is "American Idiot. And the words a "redneck agenda" were replaced with "MAGA agenda", a reference to Donald Trump's legion of supporters.

They've done this before in 2019 at the iHeart -Radio Music Festival in Las Vegas and three years before that, spoke out against Trump, at the American Music Awards yelling, "no Trump, no KKK, no fascist U.S.A."

"American Idiot" was released in 2004 inspired by then-president George W. Bush.

Thank you for being with us these last few hours on CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm John Vause.

Please stay with us, the news continues with my friend and colleague Rosemary Church after a very short break.

See you right back here tomorrow.

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