new york versus donald j. trump

begins in earnest this morning. we're live with the high stakes ahead of opening statements in the history hush money trial. bipartisanship triumphs in the fight over foreign aid, the house clearing the way for billions of dollars for ukraine and israel, but will a vote cost mike johnson his speakership? clashes at columbia, the heated protests over israel's war in gaza that led to the campus rabbi issuing a warning to jewish students at the ivy league. a rescue caught on camera, good samaritans leap into action to save a driver trapped in a burning car just in the nick of time. and kevin bacon still has to cut loose. he returns to the school where he filmed foot loose 40 years later. it's monday, all 22nd, "early today" starts right now. good morning, glad you are with me, i'm frances rivera. arguments will soon begin in the historic criminal hush money trial of donald trump. within hours the jury will hear opening arguments. the lawyers will give a preview

of the facts to come in the case against the former president. nbc's brie jackson joins us now. brie, good morning. the political and personal stakes are high for mr. trump. >> reporter: they absolutely are. good morning, frances. the former president is facing 34 counts of falsifying business records. prosecutors will begin to make their case that mr. trump made a $130,000 payment to keep stormy daniels quiet about an alleged sexual encounter. prosecutors allege that this is election interference. the former president denies the allegations and has pleaded not guilty. if he is convicted, he could face up to four years in prison. mr. trump has said he is willing to take the witness stand. other witnesses we could see called are david pecker who is the former publisher of the "national enquirer," stormy daniels, michael cohen, who was mr. trump's attorney at the time, former playboy model karen

mcdougal and hope hicks who was a close aide to mr. trump. mr. trump is required to be in court every day except for wednesdays when court is not in session or he risks having a warrant issued for his arrest. now, this does limit his ability to campaign. the trump campaign was forced to cancel a rally in north carolina saturday due to weather and mr. trump's legal calendar it is very busy this week. today he also has a hearing in the new york civil fraud case, tomorrow there is a hearing related to a gag order and on thursday the supreme court is set to begin hearing arguments over his presidential immunity defense. the criminal hush money trial, it is expected to last four to six weeks. frances? >> brie jackson, thank you. and now to that massive foreign war aid package that passed in the house over the weekend. the chief beneficiaries are ukraine and israel, kyiv gets more than $60 billion and israel more than $26 billion in emergency aid. president biden is urging the

senate to also pass the bill. joining us now is nbc news foreign correspondent matt bodner. good morning, matt. what will this money do for either country? >> reporter: thank you, frances. definitely some major developments for both youk and israel over the weekend. let's start looking at ukraine which got of course the majority of this $95 billion package. ukraine as you mentioned is getting $61 billion worth of that. i think it's worth pointing out that about 80% of that $60 billion is one way or another funneling back into the u.s. defense economy for lack of a better word. these are i think so this such as to replenish u.s. stockpiles that have been given to the ukrainians, but also purchase new advanced weapon systems for the ukrainians, these would be things such as long range missiles for the himars rocket launchers that have been so effective for the ukrainians, but we're also seeing in this package a lot of very traditional weapons, if you will, things such as artillery ammunition, regular ammunition, things the ukrainians have for

months now, six months or more, been signaling very clearly they have a significant shortage of, russia has been capitalizing on those shortages. israel also a major beneficiary here, about $26 billion just to give you an idea of how that money is breaking down, about $5 billion is going to replenish ammunition stockpiles for the iron dome, rocket defense system, some other aid as well. one thing that i think is interesting about this bill as well is the number of other priorities were tacked on to it. i think chief among them being the tiktok ban, the so-called tiktok ban, this passed in the house last month with a six-month time limit for selling the u.s. assets of tiktok. this has now been extended to a year. so that's where we are at now. we are expecting this to go to the senate this week. if it passes the senate the white house should be signing pretty quickly. >> matt, thank you for the breakdown. now, to an ongoing campus controversy right here in new

york city. at columbia university protests for palestinian rights continue. the university president announcing overnight that all classes today will be remote to, quote, deescalate the rancor. our george solis has this report. >> reporter: as tensions and pro-palestinian demonstrations at columbia university in new york grow, a jewish leader at the university is now urging students to stay away over what's being described as extreme anti-semitism on campus. >> i really do believe that these protests have lost the plot so to speak and have really just turned into incitement to violence and jew hatred. >> reporter: new york mayor eric adams condemning videos such as this which shows a young woman with a sign pointing to jewish students. columbia rabbi writing to students, it pains me to say that i would strongly recommend you return home as soon as possible and remain home until the reality in and around campus

has dramatically improved. going on to say no one should have to endure this level of hatred, let alone at school. nick says while many of his peers have left he's chosen to say. >> your reaction to the letter. >> i feel disturbed but i feel it is completely indicative of the horrible disturbances that jews on campus have been feeling over the last few days. as a jaw i no longer feel welcome on campus. >> reporter: a spokesperson tells nbc news in part we are acting on concerns we are hearing from our jewish students. republican congresswoman elise stefanik who played a role during a hearing on anti-semitism at column bee is calling on the university president to resign. the white house saying in part while every american has the right to peaceful protests calls for violence and physical intimidation are against jewish students and the community are anti-semitic, con schennable and have no place on any college campus or anywhere in the united states of america.

last week an unauthorized encampment on campus led to more than 100 arrests. >> i was one of the students arrested, suspended by the university. all of these students know the r risk. >> reporter: an escalating conflict growing more contentious on campus. george solis, nbc news. now to a michigan community in shock after a devastating crash. a suspected drink driver is caught on camera saturday appearing to speed toward and crash into a boat club driving about 25 feet through a child's birthday party. 15 adults and children were hit and a young brother and sister were killed. the family identifying them as lana and zane. their brother mariah and older brother jayden were also seriously injured. >> two of the victims were pronounced deceased at the scene. this includes an 8-year-old female and a 5-year-old male. >> police have only identified the suspect as a 66-year-old woman.

they say she has been arrested with driving while inn cobs dated. more charges are likely coming. the supreme court will consider whether cities can punish people for sleeping outside at a time when homelessness is on the rise across the country. the case comes from grants pass, oregon, which started finding people for sleeping in the public parks. an appeals court struck down the measure finding it was unconstitutional. the south is starting the week off on a cold note. nbc meteorologist michelle grossman is tracking freeze alerts in place this morning. >> we're ready for summer but it's cold in many spots this morning, especially from the tennessee valley, ohio valley, parts of the midwest into the northeast. we are looking at temperatures this morning into the 30s for lots of us. 72 million people impacted. we have frost advisories, that is in the lighter pink color, freeze warning in the parker pink. pittsburgh you do have a freeze warning this morning. temperatures right above the freezing mark, 35 in pittsburgh,

32 is the freezing mark. 40s in chicago, st. louis, indianapolis you are in the 30s as well, ex i think ton, charleston, west virginia. d.c. 44 degrees this morning, 44 in new york city. we will keep it on the cool side today, below normal for this time of year for most of the east, dallas 8 degrees below normal, memphis same story there, 10 degrees below normal in charlotte. look at the west, so warm, feeling like summer, phoenix 100 degrees, 11 degrees above normal for this time of year. tomorrow we are into the 90s in tucson, 93, 8 degrees above normal. we will warm it up into the midwest later on this week. chicago 60 on thursday, 64 friday and, too, in little rock, memphis, birmingham. 60s and 70s. 71 degrees today in dallas.

that's your monday forecast. >> michelle, thank you. now to a historic at-bat at dodgers stadium. >> shohei ohtani one-on-one in the third. smashes this ball. forget about t marte doesn't even move. it's gone. >> so that two-run bomb from shohei ohtani the 176th of his career. once again enshrined l.a.'s superstar in the record books. he surpassed hideki matsui for the most home runs in the mlb by a japanese born player. he broke the record in his seventh season in the majors. we are back with the auto union breakthrough in the south and the heart pounng mendiomt good samaritans raced to save a driver from a burning car. so i can keep working my magic. just one aleve. 12 hours of uninterrupted pain relief. aleve. who do you take it for? ...and for fast topical pain relief,try alevex.

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slashing price toss try to electrify sales. cnbc's arabile gumede joins us with the details. good morning. >> good morning, frances. look, one thing is for sure that demand actually for evs has dipped off considerably, even though you have byd beating out tesla globally in terms of sales, particularly in the last three months of last year you are beginning to see that slow down comb to the fore. this is why tesla decided for three out of the five models it has in its range it's decided to cut prices by at least 2,000 u.s. dollars that's for the model y, model s and model x, which means that prices will start at $42,990 for one car. that is for the model y. that will pretty much be the cheapest with regards to that range. the remainder of these, then, about $73,000 or $77,000, then, for the model x. considerable charges dropping off because they are wanting to boost sales as much as possible.

i spoke about the other side of this, the stall in the auto sector. workers in tennessee overwhelmingly voting to actually be able to join the united auto workers union. that's a big milestone there. that's the first time this has happened pretty much for the first successful organizing drive of an automaker outside of detroit's big three. now you have another one that has joined the union. it's getting a little bit -- for the auto companies. >> thank you so much. i want to bring in terrifying moments on a minnesota highway. a driver trapped and a car up in flames but thanks to the bravery of a group of good samaritans everyone survived. here is hallie jackson. >> reporter: the horrific scene off i-94 in minnesota, a car crashing into a lamppost up in flames, the driver trapped. >> people are still inside it.

>> reporter: then one after the other good samaritans, pulling over, racing to help. you can see them desperately trying to pull the car door open as it jammed up against the guardrail. >> there was a moment where we thought we lost him. >> reporter: but the flames erupting, chasing the bystanders away, undeterred they rushed back in, a highway worker smashing the window open, the group pulling the man to safety as the fire burst into the front seat. >> something that i will never forget. it's a good feeling to know that you saved somebody's life. >> and our thanks to hallie for that report. still to come the rock & roll hall of fame asks can i kick it? a new group of rock, pop and hip hop icons are set to be enshrined in music immortality. we have a list right after this.

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love ♪ ♪ someone to set my heart free ♪ the rock & roll hall of fame admitted that it can't be without mary j. blige an r & b legend is one of the eight artists making up the class of 2024. the list also includes ozzy osbourne, a tribe called quest and cher. this year's induction ceremony will take place in october. you also have foreigner and the dave matthews band. i love the campaign here for foreigner because the band leader, mick jones, his stepson is mark ronson, the big producer, huge name behind the "barbie" sound track. he even got paul mccartney dropping "f" bombs saying foreigner needs to be inducted, it's finally happening. >> it's the gate of who should be in, who has to wait. it's exciting. other music news, to the country music's biggest star breaking his silence on the incident that got him arrested, in a post to x on friday morgan wallen says he accepts

responsibility after he was taken in on felony charges in nashville on april 7th. police say that he threw a chair from a roof of a nashville bar chiefs that night which landed close to two officers. in the post wallen added he is not proud of his behavior and declared his respect for law enforcement. >> there he goes. >> once again hot water again and again. >> and the apologies that come afterwards. hopefully he will learn from this one, too. now to the five pop icons proving that friendship never ends. the internet erupted saturday night when victoria beckham aka posh spice posted a quick video of his unexpected spice girls reunion taken by her husband david beckham at her birthday party. the video shows the group dancing to the group's 1998 hit "stop." the post has sparked renewed hopes for a spice girls reunion tour. beckham said the group's last go around in 2019 due to business commitments. every time they seem to get together which rare but it happened recently they always do

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with olay body wash. pain means pause on the things you love, but... green... means... go! ♪♪ cool the pain with biofreeze. and keep on going. biofreeze. green means go. here is what's making headlines this morning. the faa is increasing the required rest time for air traffic controllers from nine hours between shifts to ten and 12 hours before an overnight shift. the changes are in response to concerns over fatigue amid a staffing shortage. the san francisco zoo will welcome two popular visitors as china continues its so-called panda policies. so they will be back. it will be the first time the city will house pandas long-term. in los angeles the homelessness prevention program is using ai to identify people who are at risk of becoming

homeless and allocate aid. since launching in 2021 its helped nearly 800 individuals and families with 86% of participants keeping permanent housing. and a 24's "civil war" remained at the top of the box office for a second week since its release. the thriller brought in $11.1 million in ticket sales over the weekend. "early today" will be right back. how'd they get so much flavor in these skittles littles? 'twas i who shrunk the skittles and packed them with a rush of flavor! did you accidentally shrink yourself too? yeah. huh. shrink the rainbow! taste the rainbow! pain means pause on the things you love, but... green... means... go! ♪♪ cool the pain with biofreeze. and keep on going. biofreeze. green means go. when you smell the amazing scent of gain flings...

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twist. the students are fighting for the right to get kevin bacon to the dance. here is hallie jackson. >> let's dance! >> reporter: an iconic movie with an iconic star. ♪ "footloose" ♪ >> reporter: putting the basin high school on the map. these scenes shot there 40 years ago, but you know who has been working so hard? the current students who weren't even born when "footloose" came out. and now after a year's long bacon to pason online campaign kevin bacon is back. >> it's been a long time. it's amazing the power that this movie has had to just kind of bring people together. >> reporter: just ahead of the prom night and just before the school's torn down next year, bacon telling "today's" kaylee

hartung what it means. >> all the effort they put in, what finally put you over the edge? >> i think seeing the commitment to turn it into a day of giving and fundraising and good positive energy. you just can't turn that down. >> reporter: like wren bacon is on a mission, uniting the community, filling care bags for his 6 degrees charity and then, yes, at prom the students who worked to get bacon to the building, following his "footloose" footsteps. ♪ >> everyone danced to "footloose" at the prom. it was a party. >> oh, yeah, it was cool. >> reporter: for ruby and nick, it's more than just a movie, it's the memory of a lifetime. >> i think that was the coolest part was just to see how he used his celebrity power, per se, to bring everyone together and that was the reason that it all worked. >> what did it feel like for you when you got to see and meet

kevin bacon? >> seeing him in-person was like surreal. like he walked out and they played "footloose" and i immediately just started crying. that just made it all worthwhile to know that he's proud of us and he's happy that he came. >> there is a life lesson in that moment, too. >> yeah, for sure. like if you put your mind to something, you can accomplish it. >> even more reason to love kevin bacon and those goat share nads he does, too. on sunday olympic gold medalist peres jepchirchir won the london marathon crossing the finish line 2in

house conservatives fuming at speaker mike johnson this morning after the passage of four foreign aid bills over the weekend,