good day. it's noon eastern. i'm jose diaz-balart with you for the next two hours. former president donald trump insisting he did nothing wrong and that he deserves immunity from prosecution. a short time after his hearing at a d.c. appeals court wrapped up. when we could expect a decision in the case. new reporting on why one of trump's co-defendants in georgia's election interference case is trying to get his charges thrown out. pentagon reviewing whether

laws were broken after lloyd austin was in the icu for days without telling the president. new safety concerns. a piece of a flight blew off the plane mid-flight. it's now being found on our grounded planes. we begin with breaking news from washington, d.c. a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court heard arguments from donald trump's attorneys. they argue the former president is immune from prosecution because they say his actions questioning the 2020 election results and urging congress to block certification of joe biden's victory were official acts. trump himself was in the courtroom for today's arguments and so was jack smith. the appeals court is hearing this case on an expedited basis. we could get a decision very soon. trump spoke moments ago and said he did not nothing wrong. with us to talk more about this,

ryan reilly, who was inside the courtroom, for the arguments, joyce vance, former u.s. attorney and a law professor at the university of alabama. she's co-host of the sisters-in-law podcast and andrew weissmann and a former senior member of robert mueller's investigation. he is also co-host of the podcast prosecuting donald trump as well as an msnbc legal analyst. ryan, we know trump was in the courtroom. we were able to hear the arguments. we weren't able to see them. what was it like inside that courtroom? >> reporter: it was quite tense. jack smith is on the other side of the courtroom. he has three or four rows of his lawyers from his office. donald trump on the other hand had a smaller group. they had an extra row they weren't able to fill. donald trump walked in five minutes before this proceeding got underway. he unbuttoned his jacket, sat down, had a small talk with his lawyers here. he was quiet for most of the

argument that his lawyers were making. he got more animated and started writing notes on a yellow legal pad when it was time for the special counsel to make their arguments. he heard things he didn't like there. the thing that he got the most worked up about amidst all the legalese that probably went over his head, is when his own lawyer had said essentially that donald trump was leading in all of the polls and this was about joe biden trying to keep him out of office. a sharp political argument. when donald trump heard his lawyer make that argument, he shook his head vigorously. that was the most animated we saw him during the proceeding. >> there were the political arguments. then, of course, the legal arguments that are key. ryan, what were the main arguments from each side? >> reporter: there were tough questions coming from the judges here about whether or not -- how

far this immunity that donald trump believes he had would extend. questions about whether or not this could apply to someone who ordered someone to kill their political rivals. they danced around that as much as they could. ultimately said that unless donald trump or a theoretical president -- unless a theoretical president was actually impeached and found guilty, then they could not prosecute him. the judge was trying to narrow down donald trump's lawyers to say that -- to admit what this boils down to is their argument that only -- the only way a president can be prosecuted is if he is impeached and found guilty by the senate. the judges could decide on that. they wanted to boil it down to whether that's the argument. in the judges' view, the consensus is that there are other ways for individuals to be held accountable other than just being held -- being impeached and found guilty by the senate. >> joyce, it was interesting to

see and hear the judges. they seemed skeptical of trump's lawyers' arguments, especially that a president is immune unless he is impeached, found guilty by the senate. what did you make of those arguments? >> right. i think this panel very clearly did not buy the former president's immunity argument. the most difficult questions that they lobbed at government lawyers were, if we rule for you, what does the rule look like going forward? are presidents prosecutable for everything they do while they are in office? there's a detailed conversation where the government lawyer said, you don't have to decide that question for all time. you can carve that out. you can say there might be some immunity in specific questions. for instance, when a president relies on his lawyers' advice to launch a drone strike. here, it's clear there's no immunity. the government did something

clever, possibly an argument for the supreme court down the road. they referenced one of the amicus briefs. they said it could be decided as a matter of the executive vesting clause of the constitution, which says there's an interest -- there's a governmental interest in making sure following each election that the government is passed on, that control of the white house is passed on to the winner of that election, executive vesting. so you might say that here where a former president ierred with that specific clause, there's no immunity. that view, if adopted, i think the panel decision, frankly will be broader saying there's no immu immunity. but perhaps that will be attractive to the supreme court. >> andrew, bringing up something ryan mentioned. the judges asked trump's lawyer hypothetical questions about whether a president can be

prosecuted for certain acts. take a listen. >> could a president who orders seal team 6 to assassination a political rival, were he be -- >> if he were impeached -- >> your answer is -- >> there's a political process that has to occur which require impeachment and conviction by the senate. >> that's interesting. the fact is that trump's lawyer is saying, yes, essentially, a president could order the assassination of somebody, a politician, but only prosecuted if he is found to be guilty in a conviction by the senate. in other words, what do you make of that answer and that question? >> like joyce, i think that there's not a single judge on

the panel who is buying that. it was notable that none of the judges really asked the government about that sort of impeachment prerequisite. that is just a very, very strained argument. if you step back outside of the legal world that joyce and i live in, and you think about what just happened today, it is really remarkable that you have a former president saying to a court that they can actually order the murder of somebody and as long as they avoid being impeached and convicted, that's fine, they can't be prosecuted for it. of course, there are many ways that somebody could avoid getting impeached and convicted. for instance, they could resign right after they committed that offense. or if the murderer was of your adversaries in the senate, you

could avoid being impeached and convicted. it's such a preposterous argument. and it really is, i think, a real sign of the world we're in where this kind of argument is seeing the light of day. but i do think that there was no judge that was thinking that that is going to be the direct argument. i'm with joyce that they are going to try to figure out how to fashion a rule that deals with what it is that the government is advocating so they can sort of do what they need to do here without totally binding future courts dealing with different factual scenarios. >> joyce, i want you to expand a little on what you were talking about. the implication or the insinuation very directly by trump's attorneys that if there's no immunity, then it would make it fair game for

other groups, other panels, other judges to go after a former president for his decisions taken while in office. >> right. this was the point that trump's lawyer returns to again and again early in his argument. he kept throwing up examples of actions democratic presidents had taken. for instance, barack obama signing off on drone strikes where civilians were killed or issues that occurred while bill clinton was in office as though he were threatening, if this is the new rule going forward, then every democratic president can expect to be prosecuted after they leave office. jose, the response to that -- it's one that the government offered -- is that presidents don't direct the criminal justice system. in fact, we live in a real rule of law world where there are a lot of procedural steps required before someone is indicted.

prosecutors behave according to ethical standards that bind them regardless of what party holds the white house. grand juries review the evidence. trial juries decide whether or not the government proves its case beyond a reasonable doubt. then there's review by t courts following a conviction. this possible list of items that trump's lawyers want to throw up really doesn't make sense. if we do what andrew suggests. if we step back out of the legal world and use our common sense to think about where there should be presidential immunity, i think we can all land where this court is clearly landing, that one place where a president shouldn't have immunity is when he tries to interfere with the outcome of an election. >> andrew, how quickly should we expect the judges to come to a decision? what are the possible decio they could come to?

>> that, to me, is the whole ball game. it's the question of clock. i think the ruling is going to be to support judge chutkan in one way or the other. i think that the data point that we have on timing is that this case was briefed and heard incredibly quickly. the briefs all went in by january 2nd. they heard the case today, a week later. i would be surprised if we did not have an opinion in a week, possibly two weeks. the issue is what kind of restrictions the court then replaces on the time frame for an appeal. donald trump can do a couple things. one, he can seek review by the whole court. he could ask the panel also that heard it to rehear it. those are ways to delay within

the d.c. circuit. but what the d.c. circuit panel today can do is say, you only have a certain amount of time to do that, or the way ty would phrase it is the mandate. this is going back to the district court in x days, like five days, if you do not seek further review. they can do things to shorten up the time frame that donald trump has. obviously, the other thing that can happen is donald trump can seek supreme court review. again, the d.c. circuit and the supreme court have the power to tighten up that time frame. that is why it was fascinating to me that at least two of the dges, possibly three, were very interested in whether this was even -- this appeal by donald trump was even properly taken. in other words, whether the court should have heard this. the normal rule, as joyce stated

as being an experienced lawyer, is the normal rule is you can appeal once there's a verdict in the case. at the end of the case. you don't get to do interim appeals. this is very much an exception. the circuit was interested in whether this was properly before the court to begin with. why is that important? because if it's not properly there, they can send it back to judge chutkan and say, you are green lit, go forward. >> ryan, andrew, thank you so very much. joyce, if you would stay with us for a moment. there's a new twist in the election interference case against donald trump in georgia. we see live pictures right there of a rainy tarmac in d.c. looks like the former president is about to emerge from one of the vehicles. i want to go back to the other case that we are talking about, the president's co-defendants,

alleged seeking to dismiss charges that district attorney willis had engaged in a romantic relationship. the filing didn't provide evidence to support that. with us more to talk about this is blayne alexander in atlanta, joyce vance back with us. what can you tell us about this filing? >> reporter: this was a filing that came out just last night within the last 24 hours or so. this was filed on behalf of michael romain, one of the lesser known co-defendants. they are alleging the d.a. and special prosecutor wade who we have seen are involved in what they are calling a clandestine, romantic relationship. they don't bring any direct evidence to support these claims. instead, citing sources with knowledge and raising questions about the which willis hired wade in the first place.

in this 39-page filing, they allege that the two travel together in a personal capacity to destinations including napa valley. they have been seen around atlanta in a personal capacity as well. basically in the filing, they are seeking to dismiss the charges all together and disqualify the d.a.'s office from prosecuting this case basically saying that because they are alleging there was a relationship that took place, that both the special prosecutor and the d.a. significantly profited from this. it's very important to note, we do expect the d.a. and her team to respond to this. i reached out to the d.a.'s office. her spokesperson tells me that there will be a response that's going to come in the form of a legal filing. we didn't get a timing on that. they did decline to comment further. we expect to see a response from them. we also spoke with the attorney who wrote this filing, who submitted it in the first place. she wrote in the filing that she didn't do so lightly. she was asked about the lack of direct evidence that she

presented. she basically said that if a hearing were to take place, some further evidence would likely come forward in the form of potential testimony. >> joyce, how just out of the norm is something like this? could this allegation have any impact on the case? >> if the allegation is that willis was involved in a clandestine relationship, then she wasn't very good at it since the lawyers say they were publically seen together. it doesn't sound like willis was trying to hide whether it was a professional or personal relationship in any regard. prosecutors are people. they get to have private lives. the real question here is whether there was an impropriety. as you understand georgia law, it says if you -- for instance in her situation, were to have a personal or financial interest in the outcome of a case, in

getting a conviction, that that would be an ethical sort of issue. it doesn't look, even if you take these allegations at face value and believe them, like they would trip the georgia stat statute. these allegations have a public impact. perhaps they're designed to prejudice potential jury members. the lawyer has played it straight up in her pleadings. she's a lawyer with a good reputation, known for her competence. it's remarkable here we don't know what the factual basis for these shocking allegations are. i think what we will have to do is agree to withhold judgement until we hear more about the basis for the allegations that she's made and willis' response. >> blayne, we don't expect any response in the immediate future. but there is a response getting

ready? >> reporter: that's right. i think that's important to note. we have been watching to see if that popped in. yesterday was the final day for any of the co-defendants to submit any motions or any filings. what we saw yesterday were a flurry of filings, including other co-defendants seeking to have the charges dismissed, including former president donald trump. his attorneys filed four motions on his behalf yesterday. we saw this come at the end of the day yesterday amid the flurry of motions of other co-defendants seeking to have their cases dismissed, seeking to have charges dismissed. that's the context in which this was filed. certainly, of course, it comes of a different nature and it will be interesting to see what judge mcafee has to say and how he treats it going forward. >> blayne alexander and joyce vance, thank you so much. appreciate it. up next, the latest on laid -- lloyd austin's secret hospitalization. we will get the latest from the

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20 past the hour. the pentagon is set to hold an on-camera briefing as a growing controversy surrounds lloyd austin. right now, he is out of the icu but remains hospitalized at walter reed national medical center. the pentagon says the defense department's general counsel is reviewing whether ling whether broken when he didn't notify the president or congress after he was rushed to the hospital. lawmakers are demanding answers, including some republicans who are calling on the secretary to resign. joining us now is courtney kube. what's the latest on his condition? do we know what the procedure was in place that he had going into this? >> we have no idea what this medical procedure is.

nothing. no idea at all. we know he went in for an elective procedure on december 22nd. the only detail is that it required an overnight stay. w released from the hospital on december 23rd. ten days later, on new year's day, january 1st, he started experiencing some extreme pain. that's all we know is extreme pain. it was severe enough that he was taken to the hospital via ambulance that afternoon. we don't know any more than he was conscious in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. at some point over the next 24 hours or so, his condition worsened to the point where he felt it was necessary to transferis responsibilities and some of his authorities to his deputy secretary of defense. she was notified on january 2nd that she was assuming some of the responsibilities while on vacation in puerto rico. critically here, she was not told why she was assuming those authorities or thate had been hospitized. as you said, was in the intensive care unit untilwo

days later on january 4th, the same day senior white house officials, including jake sullivan and the president himself, were notified of secretary austin's hospitalization. at this point, we still do not know what his condition is beyond the pentagon press secretary major secretary pat ryder saying he is in good spirits and he is improving. he resumed his duties but is in the hospital, no longer in icu but still at walter reed. >> thank you so very much. joining us now is general barry mccaffrey, retired four star genera it's great seeing you. first of all, when we look at that time line of this elective procedure and then some days later on the 1st of january going in an ambulance. when you see it, what does this tell you happened or didn't happen?

>> let me begin by saying, i'm an enormous admirer of secretary lloyd austin. he is a superb soldier. he has done a great job as our secretary of defense. i hope for a speedy recovery. having said that, this is one of the more baffling situations i have ever seen in the pentagon. all the senior people in the national security chain of command are tracked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. when you go to a briefing in the situation room, their location is part of the briefing. i cannot understand how this happened. the press spokesman put out comical answers to the press, the notion that the white house chief of staff was sick with the flu and that was the reason that austin was in the icu for more than a day only because of space

availability and privacy. i've been in an icu as a patient. there's no privacy. a lot of nonsense floating around. this was a meltdown in the chain of command with the nuclear authority retaliation of the united states. no excuse. he has a three star general personal assistant. they should have called the white house, the deputy, the chairman. the chairman of the jcf by law is an advisor to the president of the united states and the national security council. he should have notified the white house also. no understanding what's going on. >> when you talk about the chain of command and the nuclear dangers, explain, what is that chain of command? the importance of the secretary's job in that. >> a lot of people aren't aware

that, for example, the chairman of the jcf, general brown, air force four star, has no command authority at all over the armed forces. they have advisory roles. they communicate with the joint commander. the combatant commander's ability to act comes from the president and the secretary of defense. the commander in chief can bypass the secretary of defense if he wishes. i have been called by the president of the united states as a combatant commander directly. it's not as if the president's authority is limited to the secretary of defense. the nuclear release authority is only legally the president of the united states. he goes through the secretary of defense to validate it's coming from the president. there's never a moment where any sailor, soldier, airman, marine

isn't under the direct command consistent of the president and secretary of defense, two civilian positions. >> general, when you talk about that all of the top ranking officials and representatives of the government are tracked 24 hours a day, does this tell you that the secretary was not being tracked 24 hours a day? >> it's a real mind-numbing conclusion. he went in for the procedure. that should have been notified of the white house. place himself in a leave status. as if there's a thing as a secretary of defense in a military facility having some personal privacy rights. the white house and the congress need to look into it. we need lloyd austin back in

office. it's a major failure. >> general, thank you very much. always a pleasure to see you. up next, why former president trump's re-election campaign thinks his appearances in court this week are actually giving him a boost. steve kornacki is here with the polling that could tell us about 2024. it's great seeing you. chat in just a minute. inute. but this is my story. ( ♪♪ ) and with once-daily trelegy, it can still be beautiful. because with 3 medicines in 1 inhaler, trelegy keeps my airways open for a full 24 hours and prevents future flare-ups. trelegy also improves lung function, so i can breathe more freely all day and night. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed.

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32 past the hour. nearly every republican presidential candidate is in iowa today, six days before the caucuses that could shape the future of the race. noticeably missing, the frontrunner, former president donald trump who appeared in a d.c. courtroom this morning for a hearing in his federal election interference campaign. they are trying to use his legal issues to their advantage. joining us now, national political correspondent steve kornacki at the big board. in iowa, garrett haake. garrett, what's the strategy here? >> reporter: jose, they feel two things. first, they are very far in the lead here in iowa as they are nationally. spending money on rallies and keeping the candidate in the state isn't necessarily something they have to do at this stage. second, they think his message about going to war against the federal government and the doj, a two-tiered system of government, the same things he was talking about in his

comments after the court hearing today, is the same message he would give on the stump here in iowa. it gets better coverage when he does it in d.c., when he goes to court. they are doubling down on that strategy. what i found from talking to his supporters is, they very much believe that donald trump is right about this. he doesn't necessarily need to be here, and that he is fighting on their behalf on this issue. listen to some of what iowa voters have been telling me over the last couple of days. all this legal stuff with trump, the charges against him in d.c. and in florida and new york, how do you view all that? >> it's just crap. >> reporter: you don't buy it? >> i don't buy any of it. >> looking at these cases, they are all fraudulent. in our system, it's now guilty until proven innocent. >> an example i always give, i say when jesus died, he died for

us. when trump is facing all these things, he is doing it for us, in our place. >> reporter: i should add that first woman is somebody who told me she's not voting for trump, not considering voting for trump. she's looking at other republican candidates. the language he is using about the department of justice, about the criminal cases is fully baked in within the republican party at large. that's part of what makes it so effective in a context of a primary. >> steve, you have been following the latest polling. >> look at iowa in six days. in 2016, trump lost iowa. he lost it to ted cruz. he barely held off marco rubio. there was a period a couple days after iowa when folks were wondering, was it all collapsing for donald trump? he turned it around in new hampshire and ended up winning easily.

why did trump lose iowa in 2016? the main reason is this. evangelical voters. this is the exit poll from 2016. evangelical voters made up 64% of the caucus, nearly two-thirds of caucus goers were evangelicals. we expect a number similar this time around. in 2016, trump did okay but he lost by double digits. ted cruz won them by 12 points. the block is that big and you are winning by double digits, you are probably going to win the state. that's what ted cruz did. compare that to our most recent poll in iowa that had trump far ahead, why? this is the explanation. this is evangelicals. what a difference eight years makes. trump with a majority, 51% of ee ee -- evangelicals.

we saw this start to happen later in the 2016 campaign. the story has been trump cementing this bond with evangelical voters. what a huge different that makes. you can see here, evangelicals equal vehicle victory in iowa. ted cruz, rick santorum, mike huckabee, george bush, winning the evangelical vote and the caucus. this produces, they tend to be younger, less predictable. in 2016, trump won this group. it was competitive. now when we ask folks -- look at this. 63% to 12%. trump with more than a 50-point margin. this is the most recent data from iowa. it's a couple of weeks old. there hasn't been much polling lately. i can say before the caucuses next monday, we are going to have one final nbc news/des

moines register poll. we will see, if there's any late movement, any late shift before next monday, we may see it in that poll. >> steve, there are new numbers out in new hampshire. right? it's showing some positive signs for nikki haley. >> yeah. two new polls, one has haley in single digits behind donald trump in new hampshire. the other one that has her further back but clearly in second. you can see here, this is the cnn poll, university of new hampshire, trump 39, haley 32. this is the challenge for nikki haley. this is encouraging news, but new hampshire is extremely different from iowa. it's very different from almost every other republican primary or caucus state. stats here, in new hampshire, independent voters are probably going to make up half of the republican electorate, half probably. in iowa, the number is 19% last time around.

far more independent voters take part in this republican primary in new hampshire. haley does best we see with independents. there's basically twice the number of moderate voters on the republican side in new hampshire. another group haley has been doing better with. 64% of the iowa electorate, evangelical christian. in new hampshire, barely 20%. other republican primary and caucus state look more like iowa than new hampshire. haley has to show that she can expand her support outside of the groups i was talking about. that's her big challenge, if you can build on something like that in new hampshire. >> garrett, is the trump campaign reacting to haley's rise in some polls? >> reporter: jose, very much so. the trump campaign has spent most of the last year attacking ron desantis across the country and especially in iowa. they are attacking nikki haley. they believe desantis is in the

review -- in the rearview mirror. i expect to see more from the campaign and from donald trump on the stump when he returns to iowa this weekend. >> steve and garrett, thank you both so very much. new safety concerns about the boeing max 9 after an almost catastrophic event midair. what the airline says it found overnight on other planes. day blocks heartburn for a full 24 hours. for one and done heartburn relief, prilosec otc. one pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn.

43 past the hour. lawmakers are back on capitol hill today and they return with a hefty to-do list, including border security, aid to ukraine,

keeping the government running amid a looming deadline. joining us now, jake sherman. great seeing you. you wrote this morning that speaker johnson's hell week begun. isn't every week for him hell week? why is this more hellish? >> every week is a hell week for every speaker in modern day. let me lay this out for you. we are -- today is the 9th. we are ten days away from a government shutdown. speaker johnson has said that he will not pass any short-term stopgap legislation. he needs to get four appropriations bills, usually the work of negotiated between two chambers, work that would take a long time, done by next week. something new that happened today is in the senate, they are talking about a stopgap for all funding until march. punting the january 19th deadline, the february 2nd

deadline, all until march in order to get all of this work done. i'm not sure that will fly in the house of representatives. here is the deal, there's a big movement in the house republican conference that speaker mike johnson got taken to the cleaners on this budget deal. i'm not sure i would agree with that. it was cut between speaker kevin mccarthy -- former speaker kevin mccarthy and joe biden, the president. johnson has to live with it, because it's the law of the land. conservatives are angry with johnson. i'm not saying his days are numbered. we didn't say that this morning. it's important to watch out for the angst in the house republican conference. they have tossed one speaker. could they do it again? i'm not sure. it's certainly reaching a point where it's notable, some of the anxiety and anger. >> jake, if the speaker says there will be no baby crs, and in the senate they are talking about essentially another version of baby crs, where is

the possible gap and where is the possible bridge? >> there is none. someone will have to fold here. it would appear that speaker johnson will have to fold to the reality he cannot get the work he needs it get done done by january 19th, period, the end. that's a fact he will have to become more and more comfortable with over the next couple of weeks. i would say maybe march isn't the deadline they go for. maybe the end of february. they are not going to fund the government by january 19th, i feel pretty confident about that, unless something very drastic and unforeseen happens in the next couple of days. >> you mentioned the bipartisan talks on a border agreement. doesn't look good. >> no. the reality is this. the house republicans in impeaching mayorkas, the dhs secretary. they are beginning that this week. on the senate side, they are

saying, we should do a border and immigration deal that would give dhs new tools. those are not reconcilable. mike johnson said primarily on a call with house republican freshmen next week -- last week, rather, that he wants to negotiate with the white house himself, because he doesn't believe the senate negotiations can be -- can produce something that can pass the house. caught up in this, as we have talked about many times, is ukraine funding, israel funding, and taiwan funding, something that shouldn't go unnoticed. >> maybe hell week will go more than seven weeks. >> yes. >> eight days a week times four. jake sherman, good to see you. new developments in the investigation into the scare on a flight that left a hole on the side of the plane shortly after takeoff. both alaska and united say technicians found loose bolts on some of the other 737 max jets

in the same area as the plug door that blew out of that plane. tom costello joins us. is this a sign of a larger problem here? >> could be. that's exactly what the ntsb is looking at. the point is that these were preliminary inspections. alaska airlines did it and united airlines did it. this is not even yet the formal faa required inspection of the door plugs you mentioned. this is just a cursory look. both airlines say they have seen loose parts around that door plug on other planes, on other max 9s. that becomes a bigger question. right? do we have a bigger problem than just one plane? do we have a fleet problem with the 737 max 9? there are 171 in the united states, flown by united and alaska airlines. the fleet is grounded right now. that means neither airline can fly the plane. that means they don't have enough planes. they have been cancelling

flights, hundreds canceled today. we are at 18% of flights canceled on alaska airlines and 8% of cancellations on united airlines. the bottom line is, this continues to be a big problem with a lot of customers inconvenienced and concern about a bigger, broader safety issue involving a critical plane. >> tom, so far, it's just the max 9 they are focusing on? >> that's right. we are only talking about the 9. if you are on a max 7 or 8, they are not involved. the max 8 doesn't even have door plugs. it's only the max 9. by the way, this is like one of the best selling planes ever for boeing. this plane has been flying off the assembly line. there are orders all world for it and among the other carriers to fly it include copa out of panama and out of mexico. this is a well known and well flown plane. >> indeed it is. tom costello, great seeing you. thank you so much. >> you bet.

up next, secretary of state antony blinken set to speak from israel any moment now after meeting with president netanyahu. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. for the chance at clear or almost clear skin. it's like the feeling of finding that outfit psoriasis tried to hide from you. or finding your swimsuit is ready for primetime. ♪♪ dad! once—daily sotyktu was proven better, getting more people clearer skin than the leading pill. don't take if you're allergic to sotyktu; serious reactions can occur. sotyktu can lower your ability to fight infections including tb. serious infections, cancers including lymphoma, muscle problems, and changes in certain labs have occurred. tell your doctor if you have an infection, liver or kidney problems, high triglycerides, or had a vaccine or plan to. sotyktu is a tyk2 inhibitor. tyk2 is part of the jak family. it's not known if sotyktu has the same risks as jak inhibitors.

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deliver a press conference in tel aviv, israel, as he says he's trying to prevent the israel hamas war from expanding. earlier he met with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and other top officials. joining us from tel aviv is nbc's josh lederman. what do we know about the secretary's meetings with the prime minister and other officials? >> reporter: the secretary spent nearly an hour with prime minister netanyahu before joining a meeting of the war cabinet. and the state department says that in these meetings, blinken has been emphasizing the need for israel to do a better job working with the u.n. and aid organizations that are trying to get food and medicine into the gaza strip. those groups have been saying they have been unable to really deliver aid effectively because frankly israel hasn't given assurances that those aid convoys won't get bombed. we also know that the secretary's been pushing for israel to move into a lower intensity phase of this war. and in the last 24 hours or so, israel's government has actually changed its tune on this. they say they now are moving into a different phase of this

war with fewer ground troops, fewer air strikes, particularly in northern gaza, even as they say they will continue to try to achieve their goals of defeating hamas and in fact may intensify strikes in the southern part of gaza. the secretary also came with an interesting proposition for the israelis, said the arab nations are willing to step up with reconstruction in gaza, if it is part of the vision for a future palestinian state, something that still remains a point of contention between the united states and israel, jose. >> josh lederman in tel aviv, thank you so much. a programming note, tomorrow our own andrea mitchell sits down with secretary blinken in tel aviv for an exclusive interview about his latest trip to the middle east. watch "andrea mitchell reports" tomorrow 12:00 p.m. eastern, 9:00 a.m. pacific right here on msnbc. there is still much more ahead. we're waiting an update from the pentagon about the controversy surrounding defense secretary lloyd austin and his secret hospitalization. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. e diaz-balart reports" on msnbc.

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