[ laughter ] he said it's un-american and shouldn't happen in the united states or as he calls it -- >> the united shates. >> this wouldn't be allowed in oh countries like namibia or thailand. >> or as he calls it, nambia. >> or. >> thighland. >> in conclusion, merry christmas, everybody or as he calls it. >> merry kismas everybody. >> thighland. >> thighland. those ears get in the way, i think. >> they do. >> don't that have a face to keep those teeth in? what do they call it? >> the dentures? >> that does it for us this morning, ana cabrera picks up the coverage right now. >> volkswagen, can lift a

volkswagen. right now on ana cabrera reports, we are on top of breaking news in new york, donald trump back in court for a multimillion dollar fraud trial. for the first time in more than a month ahead of his return to the stand on monday. we're live at the courthouse. plus, the fourth and potentially final republican debate, we'll have the big moments and the clashes on that debate stage. >> this is the fourth debate, the fourth debate that you would be voted in the first 20 minutes as the most obnoxious blow hard in america. >> also ahead, breaking news in nevada, a gunman killing three people at unlv, what we know about the attack and the search for a motive. and breaking in texas this hour, a court hearing for a woman seeking permission to have an abortion. what makes this case the first of its kind since roe was decided in 1973.

hello, and thank you so much for joining us on this busy thursday. it's 10:00 eastern. i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york and donald trump is back in that manhattan courthouse this morning, there he is just arriving earlier, and his defense team is presenting its case still in the multimillion dollar civil fraud trial. trump himself is scheduled to be back on the stand on monday. joining us from that courthouse is msnbc's yasmin vossoughian. also joining us, msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos. yasmin, trump hasn't been in the courtroom for the past month or so. >> no. >> do we know why he's there today? >> reporter: we got a couple different theories. obviously you just showed the video of the former president addressing press outside that courtroom before he walked in and using the usual things that we normally hear from the former president calling this a witch hunt, talking about the values of mar-a-lago as well.

part of it is connected to the two top stories you led with with your show, and that is he wasn't on the debate stage, his choice last night. he's running for re-election as president of the united states. this is certainly a place in which he can, quote, unquote, campaign as we're going to see throughout the year in the lead up to november. the other is the individual who's going to be testifying today and tomorrow. he's expected to testify over two days, although friday's only a half day in the courtroom. his name is eli bartof, he is an accounting professor at myu. the expectations of his testimony is that he is supposed to talk about the valuation of properties and how oftentimes in accounting practices that valuation is subjective. the former president, his defense team as well, i think eli bartov is a secret weapon. the question with governor engoron is whether or not he's going to see this testimony as repetitive. he's looking ahead to the

decision -- >> hey, yasmin, sorry for interrupting you -- >> he doesn't want to risk -- >> we have a live picture right now of donald trump insides courtroom or this i believe is actually taped video, taken moments ago after he arrived inside the courtroom, and now i'm confirming it is live. there he is sitting at the defense table in the middle of his two lawyers, you see chris kise on his right, your screen left who has been his lead lawyer in the defense case as it's been presenting their case at trial. yasmin, please continue. >> reporter: yeah, so judge engoron could look at eli bartov's testimony and say this is repetitive. however, he doesn't want to risk a reversal here, right? we're getting to the end of the road here. looking ahead to monday after eli bartov is finished testifying tomorrow, our expectation is the former president is going to be testifying on monday. we have not heard anything that that won't happen. but we'll believe it when we see it, right? the former president testifying on the stand on monday. after that we're going to get a

rebuttal from the prosecution, which will only last a couple of days, and then closing arguments, preparation for closing arguments. the former president's defense team has asked for a delay in that, so we're not going to resume court until january 11th after the holidays, in which we'll then hear closing arguments and then a decision from judge engoron in the weeks after. and let's remember here, the decision has already been made by engoron, and danny can talk more about this. this is more about the damages here, right? he has already found the former president liable. we've talked about this over and over again repeatedly on the air. this is going to be about the money. it's going to be about how trump org can move forward operating in the state of new york, ana. >> thank you so much, yasmin vossoughian. keep us posted on any major highlights that come from today's testimony and trump's appearance there in the courtroom. i want to bring in danny cevallos to discuss as we look ahead to trump's testimony next week. is there anything he can say that's going to really change this case at this point?

>> well, so far we haven't heard a whole lot about the defense's case. that's because the witnesses haven't been as splashy. it hasn't really been the trumps, any of the children. it's been experts. it's been deutsche bank executives who took the stand and said, yeah, their numbers were a little high. we adjusted them. it's all part of really the trump defense's three pronged attack, and that attack is number one, real estate is subjective. it is not objective. it's whatever value the beholder puts on the real estate. and that's even magnified with the trump brand, which is as amorphous as real estate values are. really, the entire process is subjective. part two is going to be, hey, we relied on accountants. you're going to hear it again from trump if he takes the stand. finally, i think this is the weakest prong, is the idea that, hey, everybody was okay with what we did. that doesn't really work. you can still put a bank at risk even if they're not aware of it by deceiving them as to the

value or the information that you put on your application for a loan. that has really been the trump team's plan. they've stuck to the plan. when trump takes the stand assuming he can listen to his attorneys and stay on script, that's what he'll talk about. then again, trump has a fourth prong, which is get up on the stand and talk about anything that will get him headlines and appeal to his base, and he's done that so far. i'm sure it's against the advice of his attorney toos. >> he's in court today. he's expected to take the stand on monday. we should note that la tisha james is not in the courtroom today. is it smart to make trump the last witness if you're the defense team? and what do you make of the fact that eric trump was also supposed to testify for the defense yesterday but the defense decided not to call him? >> this kind of thing happens all the time. you have to make game time decisions on your witness list. sometimes it's as simple as availability. the court's not going to let you take a week adjournment to bring in a witness.

they are tough about that kind of thing. we've got to use the court's time efficiently, if you're not ready, you move on, or there may be a self-defense decision for strategic reasons, hey, we've already gotten this information from another witness. we don't need the risk of calling another trump. the benefit outweighs -- or excuse me, the risk outweighs the benefits. we won't call him. this is the kind of snap decision you have to make all the time. it's mostly strategic. we may never know exactly why they did it. ultimately trump as a final witness is an interesting choice because it's really pitching to a jury of one, justice engoron, the same person that donald trump has antagonized throughout the course of this case, and just my thinking would be is that the defense so far has put on these experts, the deutsche bank executives, people that have not antagonized the judge. so to end your case with someone who has sort of been a tlorn in the judge's side and the judge has decided he is the fact finder of the case.

it's an interesting choice. they must have something trump can give in terms of evidence they can't get from anywhere else. >> that leaves that last impression, like you said, could make a big impact. let's pivot to what's happening in the georgia election interference case. we have some new reporting from "the atlanta journal-constitution" that among the witss district attorney fani willis has on her list are former vice president mike pence and trump's attorney general bill barr along with other former doj officials, pennsylvania congressman scott perry, even steve bannon. what does this list tell you? >> this tells me that this is exactly what everybody does when they're submitting witness lists. when you're preparing a witness list, you are guided by fear. fear that if i don't put a name on there, i may be precluded from calling that person on trial. you err on the side of including absolutely everybody you can on that witness list, anyone you think you might want to call, and it also achieves the effect of what i call haystacking. in other words you give the

other side this giant list of witnesses. it's incumbent on them to track all these people down, maybe interview them. get infortion about them. so there's really every incentive for each side to put as many humans on that witness list as they can. it's more a wish list than who will actually see at trial. will they call everybody, will they call mike pence, will they call bill barr. people like bill barr have to get permission. they can't just waltz in and testify. justice department regulations require them to get clearance from the administration before they do that. there's also jurisdictional issues. so really at this stage, a witness list is more of like a christmas list. people i might like to call but i may not get that present. >> but bannon on that wish list? i mean, the guy who was held in contempt of congress who was convicted of that by the doj, how could he be helpful? >> i'll give you an example, let's say they're halfway through the trial and maybe one of the witnesses raises some issue, opens some door and they think, boy, maybe bannon would

be good for this. but months ago we never put bannon on the witness list and the judge will not let us call him now. do i think bannon will offer the georgia prosecutors anything of value? maybe not at this point, but if they think there's anything that he could offer or that there's any chance they may call him in a case of this magnitude, they better put him on the witness list, even though bannon is going to be antagonistic to the fulton county prosecutor, he's going to be a hostile witness, and yet sometimes there's a witness that has only source of information that you need at trial. that witness may be hostile, but you put him on the witness list just in case. >> better safe than sorry, right? >> we're risk averse. we're guided by fear and just in case rings in our ear when we're prepping for trial. >> danny cevallos, thank you, good to have you here. we have breaking news out of nevada where we've learned the identity of the gunman who killed three people and critically wounded a fourth on the university of nevada las

vegas campus. that gunman opened fire inside the school's business building yesterday before he was killed in a shootout with university police. let's get right to nbc's dana griffin joining us live from las vegas. dana, what do we know? we now have an identity of the suspect. >> reporter: that's right. so nbc news has confirmed from two senior law enforcement officials, the suspect in the shooting at unlv has been identified as 67-year-old anthony polito. investigators say that he applied for a job here at the school. he was not hired. they still have not connected whether that was part of the motive for yesterday's shooting. we know there was a search warrant issued at a henderson apartment. it's unclear if that is the suspect's apartment, and we are waiting to learn more details. investigators have not officially named the suspect publicly. they said they were trying to

notify next of kin. >> what can you tell us about these victims, three people who were killed and a fourth who was very injured? >> reporter: yeah, we're still trying to get confirmation on who these victims are. we know three people were shot and killed, one person is still in the hospital. that person was initially listed as in critical condition. investigators say that person is now stable. the extent of his or her injuries still unknown at this time. right now the campus is closed until sunday. we've heard just a showing of support around las vegas. a lot of the resorts using the hashtag unlv strong, vegas strong showing support. we've heard from our local affiliate that some local hotels are opening up for students who may be too traumatized to return to campus. that is the big concern now. there are now counseling services being provided for these students, faculty, and

staff that witnessed the shooting yesterday and were running for their lives. right now, investigators are still on scene trying to gather more evidence the day after this shooting. ana. >> dana griffin, thank you very much for your reporting. and joining us now is nevada congresswoman dina titus. congresswoman, i wish we were talking under different circumstances. we still know very little about the shooter. we now know his identity. we don't know the weapon he used. we don't enjoy why he targeted unlv. this is your district. you taught at unlv. this is personal for you i know. what's your reaction to yet another deadly shooting, mass shooting there in las vegas? >> well, that's right. the shooting on october 1st for the music festival out of mandalay bay was also in my district. but this campus is very dear to me. i spent three decades there teaching and so my heart just goes out to the victims but to the whole campus, teachers,

faculty, staff and students, but i have to hand it to the campus cops and the metro, they had practiced unfortunately, and they handled this superbly. they were there in a hurry. they coordinated with the fire department. they locked down the area. they got students out. advised them quickly on a text what to do. it was handled as best as could be in such a tragic situation. >> and that's because it's become way too routine to have a situation like this. they've done this before. law enforcement around the country are doing this daily. as we mentioned nearly 60 people were killed at that mass shooting at the music festival in 2016. you're a member of the gun violence prevention caucus. that's the big question, what can be done to prevent this. the gun violence archive which tracks events like this in which multiple people are shot notes

there have been 632 mass shootings this year. why does this problem keep getting worse, and what is it going to take to turn it around? >> well, you wonder. you see little children shot, people in church, going to the grocery store, to the picture show on campuses, what will it take. every time the republicans refuse to even bring our bills to the floor, and we have a number of red flag bills, background check bills, ammunition bills taking weapons of war off the street. they're so tied to the nra they won't bring them up. they offer thoughts and prayers. people are tired of thoughts and prayers. even in a western state like nevada, the majority of people are thinking they need to have stronger background checks. they passed three laws last session that the governor vetoed all three of them. >> so what do you tell those republican colleagues who say guns are not the problem?

>> they always have some kind of excuse. it's not the gun. it's the shooter. you know, we've put some money into mental health. we've said that if you are convicted of domestic violence, maybe you shouldn't have guns. what is it going to take, but they're just so tied to that mentality, i don't see them moving. if they weren't moved by those little grammar school children, those little sweet faces, what will it take? >> nevada congresswoman dina titus, thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. and when we're back in 60 seconds, debate stage fireworks, all the big moments from the fourth gop primary debate. did anyone emerge as a serious challenger to front runner donald trump? also ahead, israeli forces claim to surrounded home of the october 7th attack mastermind. plus, we'll get the latest on the ground amid intense fighting in southern gaza. a court hearing getting underway in texas at this hour

where a woman is seeking permission to have an abortion, her heartbreaking case and her challenge to the state's near total abortion ban. state's nea total abortion ban a few years ago, i came to saona, they told me there's no electricity on the island. we always thought that whatever we did here would be an emblem of what small communities can achieve. trying to give a better life to people that don't have the means to do it. si mi papá estuviera vivo, sé que él tuviera orgulloso también de vivir de esta viviendo una vida como la que estamos viviendo ahora. es electricidad aquí es salud.

turning now to the big moments from that fourth republican presidential debate of the 2024 race. just four candidates on the stage in alabama, and most of the fire was focused on south carolina's nikki haley, who is now leading what's effectively the race for second place. >> you have other candidates up here like nikki haley, she caves anytime the left comes after her, anytime the media comes after her. >> the only person more fascist than the biden regime now is nikki haley. >> we know from her history, nicki will cave to those big donor when is it counts. >> she said that i have a woman problem. nikki, i don't have a woman problem, you have a corruption problem, and i think that's what people need to know. nikki is corrupt.

>> governor haley, would you like to respond? >> no, it's not worth my time to respond to him. >> let's go right to tuscaloosa and nbc's ali vitali. haley took a lot of hits last night. how'd she handle it? >> reporter: that's exactly what it is when you're the front runner. and look, at this point, haley is the one who has the momentum, whether it's looking at donors who are starting to coalesce around her, some of whom are mal contented with what they've seen from governor ron desantis. others are looking at the way in the polls her work on the ground is starting to show up there. she's eclipsed desantis in some of the key early states. all of that lends to what we saw on the stage last night, which is what the haley team told me they expected, all sights trained on her, an entire night of playing defense. it wasn't just haley coming to her defense. she got a little unexpected help during this one exchange i'll play for you. >> she has no idea what the hell the names of those provinces are, but she wants to send our

sons and daughters and our troops and our military equipment to go fight it. so reject this myth that they've been selling you that somebody had a cup of coffee at the u.n. and makes 8 million bucks after has real foreign policy experience. >> i've known her for 12 years, which is longer than he's even started to vote in a republican primary. [ laughter ] and while we disagree about some issues and we disagree about who should be president of the united states, what we don't disagree on is this is a smart accomplished woman, and you should stop insulting her. >> reporter: look, ana, this was one of the headlines of the debates for a lot of reasons. all of us looked at last night, chris christie was one of the last people to qualify for the debate. the stage would have looked completely different without christie on it, in part because of the ways he took on the former president but also because of moments like this one. for haley to be the front runner, to be taking that fire, i often look at the debates through the lens of gende she didn't just have to stand up for

herself, someone else could speak to her credentials. that's critically important. >> ali vitali as always, thank you. joining us now is jim messina, campaign manager for barack obama's 2012 re-election campaign and john kasich, 2016 republican presidential candidate as well. thank you, both, for joining us. lots to talk about here. i'm going to try to do rapid fire. do you make of those attacks on haley versus trump who is clearly leading by wide margins right now? >> yeah, ana, you're exactly right. the problem with this fourth republican debate is that no one's going after the front runner. they continue to not want to go hit the king and until you go hit the king, you're not going to beat him. and so, again, they went after haley. i thought she played pretty good defense. i think it's fine, but we've had four debates and donald trump continues to be the winner in every single poll he goes up after these debates because there's no contrast, and so last night, again, we had the same

thing, which from a political perspective is just sort of malpractice. >> governor, trump wasn't there physically. he's always a factor, though. here's how chris christie and vivek ramaswamy took that on. >> this is the problem with my three colleagues. they're afraid to offend. >> all three of them have been licking donald trump's boots for years for money and endorsements. ron desantis you've been a great governor, but you would have never been one without actually begging donald trump for that endorsement. >> same thing with chris christie. >> chris christie did go after trump, he was one of the few that had some sharp barbs, which is not surprising, right, but the bottom line is, governor, trump is 40 points ahead of the rest of the field in the most recent monmouth poll out yesterday. how is it that the other candidates haven't figured out how to gain any momentum on the former president? >> well, because they don't want

to alienate all the big trump supporters. it's kind of interesting that chris christie's this way because, you know, as you know, he endorsed trump for president in 2016, and now he says, well, i didn't know who trump was. what are you kidding me? we didn't know in 2016 who donald trump was? i didn't support him. the last thing i would have ever thought about is endorsing him. it's a weird situation when you look at that stage, and so haley and desantis, they're just trying not to alienate the trump voters. they're trying to thread that needle. does it matter? right now trump's inevitable. but inevitability has a way of disintegrating. they're thinking about who might be there if something, you know, would happen to trump, whether he got sick or whether he decided to quit and at the end, i'm not sure who would be the nominee, could be somebody else

emerging if trump were to go away. but right now it almost -- he looks almost inevitable. i do not believe that he will win the general election. the other thing we have to keep our eye on -- jim would agree on this -- >> governor, when you say you don't think he will win the general election, it's interesting you bring that up because that same monmouth poll we were just talking about show that there are now 73% of the republican voters who believe that trump is the strongest candidate or probably the strongest candidate to defeat president biden in a general election. so how do you square that with what your thoughts are about him not being, you know, electable in a general. >> because i don't believe he will win. i think that people would have to admit if they didn't vote for joe biden that they were wrong. voters are not likely to do that. i think at the end of the day that joe biden, if it's the two of them, will win that election. but there's something else that's happening out there that

we have to keep our eye on, and that's the rise of the third-party candidates, whether it's jill stein, whether it's liz cheney talking about it. the emergence of the third party indicates that people are dissatisfied with both those candidates. so that's something that's sort of the wild card in all of this. at the end of the day, i don't believe that donald trump would beat biden. i don't believe it. i don't care what republicans say. i don't agree with them. >> jim, coming back to the debate last night given trump's so far ahead right now, you wonder how much a debate like that could shake things up. there was drama, though, that's caught some fire, ramaswamy and christie really got into it. watch this. >> you do this every debate. you go out on the stump and you say something. all of us see it on video. we confront you on the debate stage. you say you didn't say it and then you back away. i'll tell you what -- >> i'm not done yet.

>> look, this is nonsense. >> spew nonsense. >> say something, this is the fourth debate, the fourth debate that you would be voted in the first 20 minutes as the most obnoxious blowhard in america. >> so jim, i want to get your reaction to that moment and also how do you think the biden campaign is looking at last night's debate? what would their top takeaways be? >> well, i think that last night that reaction was great theater, and it was super fun to watch, but no voter looks at that and is determinative. they don't look at either one of those two candidates and think they can be the republican nominee, and team biden is sitting back there saying nothing has changed, we're running against donald trump. i want to go back to something the governor said because i completely agree. the big fear here, the reason i don't sleep at night, in a head to head election, joe biden would beat donald trump, but we might not have a -- these thpts

is why i have problems sleeping. it a's real issue. none of these band of idiots we saw last night are going to be the republican nominee for president. >> the biggest threat to democracy the third-party candidates? >> yeah, because i think they could elect donald trump. i really do. i think the math could change in a way that poll jill stein and kennedy and no labels, and you're really starting to change the math on how you win a presidential election. and i really do believe and i think the governor would agree that donald trump is a threat to democracy. it's why he didn't endorse him either time, and it's why a bunch of us think we just need to do whatever we can to make sure he's not the nominee, and i think the third parties could play right into his hands. >> got to leave it there today, guys. let's continue the conversation another time. jim messina and john kasich, thank you very much for joining us. up next on "ana cabrera reports," how israel's military is thinking about knocking out

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we're back with breaking news overseas this morning, israel says it is now operating in the heart of the second largest city in gaza and has completely encircled the home of the leader of hamas. israel says this man sinwar was the mastermind behind that horrific october 7th attack. he is now thought to be hiding underground, and a u.s. official tells nbc news israel is considering using pumps to potentially flood hamas tunnels with sea water. that news was first reported by "the wall street journal," but there's major concern about the hostages who may still be held captive in those tunnels. joining us now is nbc's raf sanchez from tel aviv and retired u.s. army general peter zwak. raf, what's the latest? >> reporter: israel's been very clear since the early hours of october 7th that sinwar is their number one target, that they are

determined to find him and determined to kill him. gaza city was the main base for hamas, israeli forces obviously now mostly encircled it. they say sinwar, other senior leaders fled south. they believe he is now in tunnels underneath the southern city of khan yunis. he is originally from khan yunis. israeli troops yesterday encircled his home in the city. that's a kind of symbolic gesture. nobody has seen him since october 7th. benjamin netanyahu is pointing to that as evidence, they say is only a matter of time before they get to sinwar. i can tell you, i've actually met sinwar, it was back in 2018. there were these very large protests, in some cases riots happening on the gaza border. sinwar was organizing a lot of them trying to put pressure on

israel to ease the blockades. he is a very intense man. he is a fighter. he's not a politician. he was supposed to spend the rest of his life in israeli prisons, but he was release instead 2011 as part of this massive prisoner swap, and that is part of the reason that he is so committed to taking israeli hostages and exchanging them f the prisoners who were left behind in israeli jails. ana. >> raf, really interesting. thank you very much. general, the other day israel released this picture showing what they say are senior hamas leaders and claiming that they've now eliminated five of them. it's been exactly two months since october 7th. do you have a sense of just how much of a dent israel has made against the hamas leadership? >> israel has significantly the hamas leadership, but other

ones, young ones will grow into their places, as usual happens in terrorist organizations. so, yes, they've had success in that, but there is -- there are a lot more out there. they are also new fighters and getting sinwar, would be a big deal. he's sort of the bin laden for that area, if you will, symbolically, and so they're going to go to every resort. remember, from an israeli perspective, sinwar is at total war with israel, ergo israel is at total war with sinwar and hamas, which leads to the ferocity of this fight. >> if they were to get to sinwar and take him out, do you feel like hamas would fall apart?

i mean, is he that kind of a mastermind? is he that kind of a strong leader with this group, this, you know, group of terrorists? >> i think that -- i think that he -- they would not fall apart. he would be -- it would be a significant dent because he's a charismatic leader, and others would step up in his place, but he clearly is a mastermind and a symbolic warrior leader unlike some of the hamas leaders that are political leaders outside of gaza. no, it would be a big deal, but it would not, i believe, end the conflict. for the israelis to have done that, maybe that opens the aperture. maybe we'll find a way to talk more now that we've gotten enemy number one. >> i hope we can talk more, got to keep it tight today, brigadier general, peter zwack, thank you so much for joining us and offering your insights and

expertise. >> as always. meanwhile, in washington, the one-time leader of the house is calling it quits. kevin mccarthy announcing he will leave congress at the end of this year. it's been a rocky road for the former speaker who was ousted from his role by a far right revolt within his own party less than a year into the job. and with only a three seat majority in the house, republicans could barely afford to lose any votes already. so what happens now? joining us from capitol hill is "punchbowl news" cofounder and msnbc political contributor jake sherman. good to see you, mccarthy wrote an op-ed announcing this news writing i'm leaving the house but not the fight. mccarthy was a massive fundraiser for republicans. do you have an idea of what he plans to do now? is he seeking revenge? >> he's going to make a lot of money is what he really wants to do. mccarthy has been in public office for 20 years, and i think he's going to dive head first into the private sector. the interesting thing to me is

mccarthy now is not a federal official, could go out and raise unlimited sums of money and start a super pac and try to take out some of the people who voted against him. all he would need is a couple of big donors to give him some cash and he could run an operation to elect republicans or get republicans out of congress. i think he'll remain politically active when it comes to the house, ana, but i don't think he's going to be as politically active as he thinks. i think he's going to be in a new world, a new role, and i think he thinks now he's going to miss congress and miss the camaraderie and the job. i honestly don't think he will as much as he thinks he will. >> bigger impact here, what does his leaving mean for the upcoming funding fight? can republicans afford to lose one more vote? >> yeah, i actually think it's completely feasible that there will be no money for ukraine or israel this calendar year. it will probably happen next year, and next year you're right, with george santos

expelled and kevin mccarthy leaving, the house republican majority goes down to a couple seat majority, and then you could have bill johnson of ohio, who has recently accepted the presidency of youngstown state university, you could have him leaving, which could further narrow this majority. it's going to be hard to get anything done on a republican vote only, period, no matter how you look at it. it's going to be incredibly hard. it's already been incredibly hard. >> the house is preparing to vote this morning, i think, to censure congressman jamal bowman for pulling that fire alarm in september. what can we expect? >> that's a good question. there's been a movement, i would say in the last couple of weengs weeks where a bunch of republicans vote against some of these punishment motion because they're sick of them. this is a simple majority vote. it's going to happen a couple feet away from me any minute now. it wouldn't be surprising if he was censured but the votes may

not be there on the republican side. >> i always value your reporting. thank you very much for being here and sharing with us. >> andrea mitchell will be interviewing shalanda young, the director of the white house budget office right here on msnbc at noon eastern. all right, up next for us, the first case where a pregnant woman is asking a court for an emergency abortion since roe was decided in 1973. happening right now in texas, we'll have the latest from that texas courtroom. exas, we'll have the latest from that texas courtroom. one purchased equals one donated. visit bombas.com and get 20% off your first order. whenever you're hungry, there's a deal on the subway app. buy one footlong, get one 50% off in the subway app today. now that's a deal worth celebrating. man, what are you doing?! get it before it's gone on the subway app. ♪♪ [deep exhale] ♪ trumpet music plays ♪

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and we're following this breaking news from texas where right now a state court is hearing a pregnant woman's request for an emergency abortion. this is the first hearing of its kind since roe was decided in 1973, and here is the woman at the center of this case. this is kate cox, a 31-year-old mother of two who is about 20 weeks pregnant right now, but last week doctors told cox that her fetus will likely be stillborn or live for a week at most. they say the state's abortion ban means their hands are tied. they can't perform any procedures, so cox has already been to the emergency room three times. her doctors also say carrying this pregnancy to term could impact her fertility in the future. marissa parra is joining us now. what more are we learning about cox's story as this hearing gets underway, and could a ruling have impact on other texas

women? >> hey, ana, good morning. yeah, kate cox as you mentioned, she's 20 weeks pregnant. she's actually already had two c-sections, she's a mother of two already. that does put her further at risk. she's carrying a baby who has trisomy 18, roughly 90% of babies with trisomy 18 do not survive past their first year. her future fertility as well as her own life is at risk if she carries out this pregnancy. as you mentioned, doctors told her she's required to continue with her pregnancy because of the texas law. and this is why her lawyers argue that this is an example of why and how the medical exception is not clearly stated and defined according to texas law. they filed a lawsuit on tuesday arguing that this abortion that they are asking for i considered medical care. i want to take you to a statement by kate cox, she said, quote, i do not want to continue the pain and suffering, i do not want my baby to arrive in the

world only to watch her suffer. i need to end my pregnancy now so i have the best chance for my health and a future pregnancy. her legal team is asking for a temporary halt to current abortion ban in texas to allow her ob/gyn to perform an abortion and, ana, clearly, yes, depending on the ruling and the outcome of this, this certainly would have an impact on other women in texas seeking similar care who otherwise have to travel out of state to find that, ana. >> and this is just one more ple of some of the perhaps untended, unexpected consequences of the dobbs decision, and now we're learning, according to a new study in the journal of medical ethics, that 77% of future doctors say state abortion policies are now going to influence where they apply for residency. talk to us about the kind of toll this abortion access issue is taking on physicians. >> well, it's worth noting that the ob/gyn in this case is part of another texas lawsuit

surrounding abortion. you may remember that one filed in march by 20 different women. punishment can be a felony, it can be thousands of dollars, prison time, and that extends to anyone who's considered helping with an illegal abortion. so a lot of physicians say that they're facing a lot of anxiety between having to choose between their ethical duty, their livelihoods, they say they're at odds with one another, especially when they claim the law is unclear. they're arguing that is the case in texas. >> all right, marissa parra, thank you. >> the medical exceptions to all of the abortion bans across the country are written in language physicians simply do not understand and with life in prison and their medical licenses on the line, they can't take the risk. and so ms. cox has come to court with her husband and her doctor and said we need protection so that my doctor can provide me with pretty routine medical care that would have been provided but two years ago in texas. >> that is an attorney with the center for reproductive rights and that is who is representing kate cox. i will mention that lawsuit

filed in march, no decision has been made on that, that is expected later next year. but this emergency hearing underway as we speak, so we'll be keeping a close eye on that. >> keep us posted, thank you. up next on "ana cabrera reports,," we're getting short on time to mail our presents, and in the mad rush, how will they get to their destinations safely. our cameras have been allowed inside a fedex facility to see how they drop, squeeze, and shake packages to test how to keep those fragile items intact. keep those fragile items intact.

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are ready to weather any storm. >> reporter: about 82 million packages per day will zigzag across the country this holiday season with the major shipping companies finding new and faster ways to get items to your door. including a.i. and autonomous vehicles to help move packages. at fedex's 33,000 square foot packaging lab right outside of memphis, tennessee, experts work with companies like walmart and wayfair to figure out the best ways to keep things undamaged in transit. shaking, rattling, and rolling them. i'm trying to think of what to gift my mom for the holidays and decided to test out some options that might get to her in tact with the help of edmund edwards and tyler kennedy. >> we have a poster of her favorite artist, harry styles, some barbecue.

>> reporter: first the wine glasses. there is steps to make sure these are all going to arrive in one piece. >> yeah. it all depends on the fragility of the product. >> reporter: for our poster, making sure our oddly shaped item doesn't crinkle or bend. we go with a tube in another tube. >> we're trying to make sure this thing isn't moving around too much. so that will give us just an extra layer of safety and security. >> reporter: and for perishable items, our ribs, packed in a cooler with ice. with everything wrapped up, it is time to put the packages to the test. first, the drop test. >> three, two, one. >> this package may be coming down a slide, coming down a belt, with a heavier package behind it, that may bump into it. i didn't hear any broken glass. >> i didn't either. >> reporter: then we applied some pressure. >> today we're going to try to compress this package to 283 pounds. >> reporter: bearing a load of other packages on top, simulating that much weight on

top of it. >> absolutely. >> reporter: and then tested for the bumps and bruises of a little turbulence. >> so it can be anything from hitting potholes, hitting the brakes hard, it could be turbulence in the back of your aircraft, when the package is being shipped. >> reporter: finally, for the ribs, fedex puts packages in a chamber that can simulate a really hot or really cold day to test the items can keep in transit. even if this box is in 100 degree weather -- >> that's right. we have the climate chamber set up to typical hot memphis summer day. >> reporter: now, time to assess the damage. first, our ribs stayed chilled. yeah. no, this is cold to the touch. she will be devastated if this isn't in one piece. the poster held up. one piece. >> that's right. >> reporter: finally, the fragile wine glasses. cheers. >> i think your mother would be happy. >> reporter: i think so too. when tests aren't successful like ours were, fedex will rethink or redesign its packaging and help businesses do

the same. brian cheung, nbc news. looks like fun. until it doesn't work, right? until you have a problem. brian cheung, thanks for being here. and that's going to do it for us today. we'll see you back here tomorrow, same time, same place. until then, i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage right after this. k. jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage right after this. so when minds grow, opportunities follow. ♪ always feeling like you "gotta go"? tired of pads?

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good morning. 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart at n