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♪♪ so good to be back with you on this second special hour of "msnbc reports" with josé diaz-balart. it is 1:00 p.m. eastern, 10:00 a.m. pacific. it looks like former president donald trump will not be allowed to have the last word at his civil fraud hearing in new york. what the judge is now saying and what it could mean for the former president's legal case. plus, the surprise standoff on capitol hill, hunter biden visits congress sitting feet away from house republicans trying to hold him in contempt of congress. >> the witness being afraid to come in front of the committee,

that's interesting. he's here. he doesn't seem to be too afraid. >> inside that faceoff and the political impact next. and the major impeachment push playing out on capitol hill right now as republicans hold their first critical hearing tied to removing secretary of homeland security alejandro mayorkas from office over the crisis at the border. we'll talk to the ranking member of the house border security subcommittee who is in that room coming up. but we start with the fireworks on capitol hill after hunter biden unexpectedly showed up before the republican-held house oversight committee that was meeting to hold him in contempt of congress. the president's son triggered an unprecedented standoff live on tv with republicans calling for his arrest. >> you are the epitome of white privilege coming into the oversight committee, spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed, what are you afraid of?

you have no balls to come up here and -- >> mr. chairman, point of inquiry. >> mr. chairman -- >> the lady is recognized -- >> if the gentle lady want thes to hear from hunter biden, we can hear from him right now, mr. chairman, let's take a vote. >> i'm speaking. are women allowed to speak? >> hold on, hold on, order. >> hunter biden should be arrested right here, right now and go straight to jail. >> and almost as quickly as he arrived, hunter biden departed the hearing room leading to more sparks from chief biden critic marjorie taylor greene. >> i think it's clear and obvious for everyone watching this hearing today that hunter biden is terrified of strong, conservative republican women because he can't even face my words as i was about to speak to him. what a coward. >> nbc's julie tsirkin is on capitol hill, nbc's kelly o'donnell is at the white house, and matthew dowd, former chief strategist for the bush/cheney 2004 campaign and a senior

political analyst. julie, tell us more about how that scene came to pass. it seems like a lot of people were surprised. >> reporter: yeah, exactly. they were surprised that hunter biden showed up. i did talk to some democrats, though, who said they potentially prepared for this because hunter biden did come in december unbeknownst to anybody who was expecting him to show up behind closed doors and spoke in front of the capitol, but it was certainly a shock and surprise to those of us who are covering this hearing. he came inside the room. he sat there immediately. you played some of the sparring that went back and forth, republicans and democrats. democrats notably saying here he is. if you want to hear from him now, go ahead, let's do it. republicans, though, on the committee led by james comer on the oversight panel continuing to say they only want to hear from hunter biden behind closed doors. they won't accept his offer of him testifying publicly, and then you see him walking back out, as you mentioned, as quickly as he came in. my colleague ryan nobles was able to toss one question to him. look at this.

>> if they called you to testify today, would you, sir? >> yes. >> reporter: here's the thing, though. his lawyer's speaking for most of that interaction with the press continuing to say that he did nothing wrong, that this contempt, holding him in contempt, rather, in these committees is unprecedented because his client is here. he's willing to talk to the panel. really quickly here, jose, this is expected to pass both panels, this resolution, sometimes in the next couple of hours or so. they had very testy is opening statements. the oversight chairman pointed out that those took three hours in committee, so much so that it is bleeding into votes here in the house just because of the impassioned comments going back and forth. but certainly when the committees approve this resolution, it is expected to go to the full house for a vote where they do have a slim majority, but they do believe the votes are there among republicans, and then it's up to the department of justice whether they take it up or not. >> matthew, just in the last hour, liz cheney reacted to what happened there this morning. take a listen. >> i mean, i only saw clips of

it. i think with respect to his testimony, if the republicans on the committee were really serious about getting his testimony, they could work it out. we need to all of us recognize and understand that these are -- these aren't games. these are really important issues, and hunter biden should be held accountable for, you know, what he's done just like anybody else should, but you know, to have sort of the circus and people trying to use everything for political gain i think is really damaging. >> matthew, how did you see it? >> well, i first thought as i watched nancy mace and marjorie taylor greene, who have accused joe biden of having cognitive decline and mental acuity problems, that actually it's the pot calling the kettle black. i think it's bizarre. i think it's smart strategically smart of hunter biden to do that because he points out the hip

pock psy of the republicans who say they want to hear from him but oh, by the way, we don't want to hear from them. and nancy mace, honestly, a white woman from south carolina accusing hunter biden of white privilege is absolutely rich in my view. >> kelly, any reaction from the white house on this? >> reporter: well, jose, as you might expect there is usually some distance between the white house in terms of official government business and the matters that affect the president's son, even though the personal relationship is, of course, so close it is also a sensitive one. so typically, when you talk to the biden campaign, for example, separate from the white house, they describe how issues relating to hunter biden are things that they believe have been baked in since 2020, that these issues, new iterations, new examples, new moments like we saw unfold today but that the court issues are known to the

voters. the white house refers to the office of the legal counsel at the white house. we have not heard back from them despite reaching out to them, and so this is a sensitive issue for the president. you can certainly understand how with the president again as a candidate also wants the opportunity to focus on the issues that matter to him, whether it's his affirmative case about steps he has taken or the improvements in the economy, or what we've heard from him in recent days, dealing with attacking donald trump as a threat to democracy, talking about concerns about the rise of white supremacy and some of those impulses in the american political space where political violence has at times occurred. that's where the and the his team want to focus. the reality is hunter biden has become a part of all of this, and of course the president loves his son as white house will often say and wants to be

protective of him as a father. and they also think that loving his son and caring about his family is another piece of the puzzle for voters to evaluate. >> kelly, as you know, the white house briefing is just underway right now. we're going to of course monitor that and see if there is anything that -- there is any comment about what happened on capitol hill today from the white house. matthew, democratic congressman jared moskowitz slammed what he called republican hypocrisy holding up a number of subpoenas to gop members who defied them, including jim jordan and kevin mccarthy. then he offered to make a deal, listen to this. >> who did not comply. here is the -- you can get my vote, but i want you to show the american people that you're serious. show that you're serious and that everyone is not above the law. vote for that amendment and i'll vote for the hunter biden contempt. >> so is there a world where any of this could actually happen,

matthew? >> you mean where sanity would come to the house of representatives? i don't know if that world exists right now. i mean, there's no way that republicans are going to go along with that because they basically want the circus in their mind in the course of this. i think the congressman from new jersey was exactly right in pointing out the immense hypocrisy that exists here. the other thing i want to say is i'm going to follow up with something kelly said in the course of this, these attacks on relatives, if you look back in the last 50 years never work if they're designed to affect the nominee. they didn't work with billy carter. they didn't work with roger clinton. they didn't work with neil bush. all of those had family problems. they never bled out on the nominee, so it's a circus they're creating, but in my view, to what political end is it? i don't really get it. >> yeah, i mean, the political end and the end game is certainly one that, you know, we're very close to an election that matters.

and i'm just wondering, do you think, matthew, that what happened today on capitol hill, good or bad, at least hunter biden controls the narrative today of what happened, is this something that could bleed into the november election? >> i think the only part that can, which i think actually is a benefit, the reason why i said it was strategically smart of hunter biden, it's my guess that the biden campaign is going to run against the do nothing -- just like harry truman -- do nothing republican congress who's only interested in getting their names in the media or on the front page of the newspaper or getting clicks. and so to that end, which i think feeds into the biden campaign's effort to say this is what we're running against. it's not only donald trump, but it's the complete circus that's been created by republicans in congress, and we have important issues to discuss and deal with, and they don't want to deal with it. so with that in mind, i actually think it's helpful in the debate between democrats and republicans for biden in this

case. >> julie tsirkin, kelly o'donnell, and matthew dowd, thank you so very much for being with us today. in just 60 seconds, we're going to get to the other major hearing on capitol hill, which could lead to another impeachment push by house republicans. that's next. postmenopausal ostes and are at high risk for fracture, you can build new bone with evenity®. ask your doctor if you can do more than just slowing down bone loss with evenity®. want stronger bones? then build new bone; evenity® can help in just 12 months. evenity® is proven to reduce spine fracture risk by 73%. evenity® can increase risk of heart attack, stroke, or death from a cardiovascular problem. do not take evenity® if you have low blood calcium, or are allergic to it. serious allergic reactions and low blood calcium have occurred. tell your doctor about jaw bone problems, as they have been reported with evenity®. or about pain in your hip, groin, or thigh,

as unusual thigh bone fractures have occurred. don't let a break put you on a shelf. talk to your doctor about building new bone with evenity®! 12 past the hour. house republicans are moving forward on their effort to remove secretary of homeland security alejandro mayorkas from office over his handling of the crisis at the border. it's a critical step before the panel marks up the impeachment resolution and sends it to the floor for an official vote. >> our evidence makes it clear, secretary mayorkas is the architect of the devastation that we have witnessed for nearly three years. the secretary's refusal to change course on the reckless decisions facilitating this crisis have left us with no reasonable alternative than to pursue the possibility of

impeachment. the secretary's actions have brought us here today, not ours. >> nbc's is julia ainsley is following this hearing for us. julia, great seeing you. what stood out to you about these efforts to essentially remove mayorkas from office? >> it's really interesting to hear the arguments here. so republicans are saying, jose, that because under mayorkas, the biden administration does not have operational control of the border and because they're releasing 85% of migrants that that is grounds for impeachment. but what they're not pointing out is three things. one being that no one has had operational control since the department of homeland security was even brought into existence. that would be not letting a single person cross the border without immediate detention. they're also not pointing out the fact that, yes, there are 81% of releases compared to 10% under obama, but the numbers have gotten so much bigger. the key piece is they have not

given the funding -- in fact, they voted to cut funding -- to dhs that's been requested from the biden administration. when the numbers of people crossing the border are so high, as we know record highs last month, they have to keep releasing people because they don't have enough beds in i.c.e. detention. the biden administration has asked for more beds in a supplemental. right now that hasn't been given to them. we'll see what happens as negotiations continue on the hill. but we also did hear from one democrat witness who's an expert, a legal expert on impeachment, who said there are no grounds here for impeachment. there's nothing even that looks like high crimes and misdemeanors. sometimes we'll hear republicans talk about dereliction of duty, that's a military term. it's never been used in the context of an impeachment. another important piece of this to remember is that they're having this inquiry, these hearings in this committee because they couldn't get enough votes to go ahead and bring this to the floor of the house. in fact, eight republicans crossed the aisle and said it should be the committee that looks into it instead. >> thank you so very much.

i want to bring in democratic congressman from california representing the 46th district, lou correa who's been this that hearing. congressman, it's always a pleasure to see you. it's been a while since i got a chance to chat with you. i want to wish you a happy new year, and let's continue our conversation, of course, going forward. i just want your thoughts on this whole issue of the humanitarian crisis at the border and the secretary mayorkas, his responsibility in that crisis. >> and jose, you're absolutely right. this is about a humanitarian crisis, not only at the border but a worldwide phenomena. germany's addressing it. italy is addressing it, greece is addressing it. colombia right now has 3 million refugees from venezuela. you have cuban refugees. the cuban economy is decimated. same thing with honduras. this is not u.s., this is a world wide phenomena. and the fact that our colleagues

believe that this is high crimes and misdemeanors that would require an impeachment just doesn't make sense. but you know what, jose, we're for transparency. we want to see what the facts are because maybe there's something we're not seeing about impeachment that we should. so i'm happy to work with my republicans to look at the facts, but the facts are not there. jose, let me give you an example. the republicans had three witnesses today, three attorney generals from three different states. they talked about fentanyl. you know, jose, absolutely they're correct, fentanyl is hurting us on main street. but 95% of fentanyl actually comes in through our ports of entry, so again let's look at this. let's look at the facts, but this is not enough to say we're going to impeach mayorkas. >> so congressman, you know, you are in so many ways a shining example of the american dream of

what it is to live in a country with -- when so many of us have family members who have at one time or other come from somewhere else looking for that american dream. and in so many cases participating in that american dream. how is it, congressman, that we haven't had any substantial comprehensive immigration reform since 1986? why is it so difficult, congressman, for people there on capitol hill to get together and do things that can effectively help our country, our economy, our society, and our culture. >> well, jose, we need another great californian like ronald reagan to step up and take care of business. as you know, ronald reagan was the last president to actually implement immigration reform. but you're absolutely right, jose, 12 million undocumented workers in this country, all

part of the economic miracle in this country, and our scientists, our engineers are coming from india, from china, from other parts of the world. they're keeping us as the most powerful economic engine in the world, and why do we have this dichotomy with immigrants? we're all immigrants. if you're not an american native indian, you're an immigrant or descendant from one. and what i'm interested in, i'm sure you as well, jose, is keeping the economy strong. we need the workers. we need to make sure we move ahead, but today what we're doing in this country is mixing three issues, undocumented workers, the need for documented workers, the worldwide refugee crisis, and terrorism. all put together spells bad public policy. >> you know, it's so important what you just said because they are so different, and people like to put them all together in one pot. but they're so different.

i'm just wondering, congressman, for the 12 million people who have been here many of them for generations that are participants in our economy are contributors to our society and to our culture, also the dreamers, the hundreds of thousands of dreamers that are here and that see their future being essentially one huge question mark, is there something you think that can in a piecemeal breaking it up do things so that step by step the hundreds of thousands of dreamers that are in our country that know no other country can see a future past a question mark, and for those millions of people that have been here contributing and that essentially have been effectively listened to for work but not for anything else. is there something that could move on these specific people? >> jose, i'm for all of the above. you eat an elephant one bite at

a time, and if we start out with dreamers, 70% of republicans are in favor for immigration reform for dreamers, let's do it. remember also we have veterans honorably -- honorably discharged veterans that have been deported from this country because of their ptsd. this stuff we can start out, we can do it, but you know, immigration is such a third rail that you touch and politically you blow up, and i just hope as an american that democrats and republicans can come together and do what's best for this country. veterans, veterans. i met a guy who was on ten tours of duty in afghanistan, gets back, blows up because of ptsd, is convicted of a crime, and is deported. that story is repeated thousands of times. why can't we fix that? that's my question.

and the answer should be we need to fix it. veterans, dreamers, those people that have been here for 40 years, for 30 years that are now retiring, that have built this country, let's do the right thing. let's do the american thing, jose. >> congressman, always a pleasure. i thank you very much for being with us today. >> thank you, jose. coming up on "josé diaz-balart reports," the breaking news out of former president trump's civil trial in new york city, the judge's ruling on what he can and cannot do at closing arguments. we'll explain that. that news comes hours before the final debate ahead of the first caucuses. the republican presidential primary, our reporters in iowa are covering all angles right after this short break only on msnbc. hort break only on msnbc. and it's gentle on her skin. tide free & gentle is epa safer choice certified. it's got to be tide. the ladies have been doing a lot of talking recently. she looks great! what they don't know is i got inspire, a sleep apnea treatment that works inside my body.

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26 past the hour, more on that breaking news tied to former president trump. he will not be allowed to give his own closing arguments at his civil fraud trial. nbc's vaughn hillyard and dasha burns are both reporting from des moines, iowa, today, and vaughn, the judge filed this decision in a letter. it comes hours before the former president will be taking the stage in iowa for a prime time town hall. what more can you tell us? >> reporter: this all played out going back and forth between trump's legal team and judge engoron here over the last several days. we are finding out that 11:40

a.m. is when donald trump's lawyer chris kise responded to judge engoron and said that donald trump did not agree to the preconditions that the judge was demanding be placed on trump if, in fact, he wanted to help deliver his closing argument tomorrow in lower manhattan. now, as part of those preconditions, donald trump would have to stick to only talking about the evidence presented at trial and not veering off course and this is not -- i should say that this is normal, not just for donald trump but for any lawyer in closing arguments, they must stick to the evidence that was presented at trial, donald trump and his legal team not agreeing to those preconditions set by the judge here. now, it may be no surprise that donald trump will still be going to lower manhattan for those closing arguments tomorrow, despite not speaking on his own behalf because there is, frankly, jose, a heck of a lot on the line, not only a $370 million fine that is being sought by new york attorney

general letitia james, but she is also seeking to ensure donald trump can never do business in the state of new york as well. he is staring at the fate of his trump family organization and the business and its future in the state of new york, jose. >> vaughn hillyard, thank you very much. so dasha, let's kind of focus in on those four days left before the iowa caucuses. what's on the line for nikki haley and ron desantis tonight during the debate? it's also going to be the same time that trump is holding a town hall. >> reporter: right, well, jose, this battle for second place has gone on far too long. that is what i'm hearing from the candidates, from the voters, from donors, from pundits, and it's time to put it to an end, and tonight could be a step towards that. the two have really ramped up the heat, ramped up their rhetoric against one another in campaign ads. look, the air waves have been full of attack ads between nikki haley and ron desantis.

every time i turn on my tv i see one of them. they've also ramped up their rhetoric in interviews. they really went after one another. they haven't been face to face in a while, and now they're going to be face to face on that stage just the two of them. none of the other candidates have made that stage. they'll be up close and personal. they'll get to really make that final pitch to voters, and they'll get to make that contrast between one another as they're neck in neck in polling here in iowa, nikki haley really running away with it right now in new hampshire, and what happens in iowa as we talked about about really sets the narrative, sets moment for new hampshire, for south carolina and for super tuesday. and because desantis has really gone all in on iowa, he's done all of the right things, he's gotten the right endorsements here. he's put all of his resources here, he's got to have a strong showing. the final days here at iowa are absolutely critical. tonight will be kind of a make or break night on that debate

stage for the two of them, and it's going to be an important night for voters finally really tuning in in these last days as they're making those decisions, the voters that are looking for an alternative to the former president, jose. >> dasha burns in des moines, iowa, thank you so very much. new jersey senator bob menendez has just filed a motion to dismiss the indictment filed against him. nbc's tom winter is following this story. tom, what exactly is going on? >> reporter: sure, jose, a couple of different things. one, they're asking for a hearing on the subject, and two, they filed a memo associated with this motion to dismiss and calling for this hearing laying out the reasons why senator menendez's legal team believes this indictment should be dismissed prior to trial. a couple of the arguments that they're making and still going through the over 50 plus pages contained within these filings, jose, one, they say that the indictment violates the speech or debate clause. in other words, a member of congress, a u.s. senator of which obviously robert menendez is has the ability to, according

to the constitution, to argue for or present issues on behalf of their constituents without interference from other branchs of government, and they say that the indictment -- and as you may remember, obviously -- the senator is alleged to have been involved in a couple of different schemes where he took actions for individuals that may have benefitted in some way, foreign governments, or may have benefitted them through his work with foreign governments, that they say that this indictment violates that. they also say they have an explanation for the cash that was found in the indictment, the cash that we've seen in imagery that was contained within those filings, you're looking at them right there, that they match up with withdrawals from the senator's bank accounts. those gold bars that you're looking at there, there's a reason for him to have those as well, and it's not tied to any specific crime. so more details on this as we go through it, obviously we expect this to be brought before the court and certainly federal prosecutors will have the ability to respond to this. sometimes these motions to dismiss can be powerful and

persuade a judge. sometimes they provide an opening of a door for prosecutors to kind of fire back with more evidence. so we'll just have to see how all of this plays out. of course, jose, the senator has pleaded not guilty every single time to the prior superseding indictments. he hasn't had his arraignments on the most recent ones including those allegations involving qatar and member of qatari family who runs an investment fund there. that hasn't been officially scheduled yet, and on top of that, the senator took to the floor yesterday and said that he was being persecuted in a long, fiery speech. this might be the file video of that yesterday, talking about the allegations against him. this is just another kind of round in the legal battle here for a trial that may occur in may. >> tom winter, thank you very much. still to come, deadly storms have left a trail of tornado damage and widespread flooding across the entire east coast. now our meteorologist is standing by to tell us exactly

what we don't want to hear. there's more to come. but first, an update on ralph yarl, the black teenager shot in the head while trying to pick up his brothers. yarl has just been named second chair in the all state band for bass clarinet. just nine months after the shooting that garnered national outrage and left him with lingering brain fog and trouble concentrating. what an extraordinary young man. we'll be right back. how many people did you tell? only pay for what you need. jingle: ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ baby: ♪ liberty. ♪

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38 past the hour, today millions are picking up the pieces after a violent winter storm system barreled across the country leaving more than 350,000 households without power from florida to maine. in des moines, iowa, a foot of snow led to whiteout conditions and a massive highway pileup. in the southeast at least five people have been killed after more than 20 reported tornados tore up the coast toppling trees, flipping cars and completely ripping these homes that you're going to see right now off their foundations. look at that. in the northeast, torrential downpours and high winds have caused massive flooding leaving places like downtown annapolis, maryland, completely under water. nbc's maggie vespa is on the ground for us in cold, des

moines, iowa, also with us is msnbc meteorologist bill karins. maggie, what's the latest aftermath of the storm there? >> reporter: i mean, the aftermath here, jose, is that it is bone chillingly cold right now. we woke up this morning to temperatures in the teens, windchills in the single-digits, it's supposed to get even colder as i know bill is going to talk about going into early next week. in the meantime, people are still just kind of thrown and sort of getting their bearings after it feels like their mild winter completely fell by the wayside overnight and their worlds were turned upside down. 12 inches or close to it in roughly 24 hours in the des moines area, enough to throw even people who -- thank you, tour bus, that was helpful, even people who are from iowa and used to weather like this. take a listen to what we heard. >> how fast did this hit, this snow? >> literally overnight. >> literally overnight. >> yes. like it was snowing pretty bad in the evening, but we woke up this evening and just all the trees and the streets are just

completely covered, and i'm from the midwest, but i haven't experienced snow like this in a really long time. >> reporter: yeah, so as we said, even those who are from the area thrown by this. but basically we are now kind of in this lull, which people are thankful for. we had highways closed yesterday amid whites you conditions. those have since reopened. we have airports issuing ground stops, including o'hare, and in the northeast, laguardia and jfk, those have since been lifted. they're in cleanup mode in the northeast after all that torrential rain, and still with flood watches in effect, cleanup mode in the south after the tornados as well. so everybody just kind of enjoying this relative break knowing that we do have more severe winter weather coming. jose. >> maggie vespa, thank you very much. so bill, there is more severe weather coming down the pike? >> yeah, there is, maggie can just stay right there, by the way. they're going to get another 4 to 8 inches of snow in another 48 hours. so the forecast is going to play out like this. the storm is now moving into the

intermountain west. we have some really high winds that are going to head through southern california. blizzard conditions in some of the mountainous areas in the northwest. all of the mountains in the west are getting a good deal of snow. after a miserable start to the ski season, all of a sudden it's starting to look really good. tomorrow afternoon, storm coming into the middle of the country, snow breaking out through areas of nebraska and kansas. all of a sudden we tap the moisture from the gulf just like the last storm, another chance of severe weather, maybe a few strong tornados. this is like a rinse and repeat. this is ridiculous to have two big storms back-to-back almost hitting the exact same area. the severe weather as we start friday morning, east texas into areas of arkansas and louisiana. friday is the peak of the storm. this is when we're going to see blizzard conditions possible from, you know, missouri, illinois, up into areas of southern wisconsin, possibly through michigan, severe storms through the carolinas, and if we get those strong tornados, they would likely be friday night heading into the evening hours, more nocturnal storms too. watch out our friends in the

carolina, especially central and southern georgia and right down towards southern portions of alabama. then it's just a big old rainstorm through the northeast, sound familiar? and that snow continues on saturday in michigan. what does this all mean? as far as winter weather goes, we're going to start to see these watches. a new one up for omaha, later today watches will be issued for like chicago and milwaukee up to green bay in madison, and also much of michigan. our snow forecast for this area right now, roughly 6 to 12 inches. we'll fine tune this tomorrow. a significant snowstorm from chicago north wards and also through iowa once again i mentioned a possibility of 4 to 8 inches more snow. this is not a snowstorm for the northeast i-95 corridor. northern new england is going to get rain from this friday and saturday. it's really all our friends in the great lakes, those are the ones who are going to have a storm to talk about. blizzard like winds, that could be dangerous if you get stranded on the roads. coming up on "josé

diaz-balart reports" with rising covid cases across the country, your at-home tests might not be as reliable as they've been in the past. we have a doctor standing by to explain that and a whole lot more next. that and a whole lot more next. is. it can help you get clearer skin. don't use otezla if you're allergic to it. serious allergic reactions can happen. otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. some people taking otezla had depression, suicidal thoughts, or weight loss. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. live in the moment. ask your doctor about otezla. (vo) if you have graves' disease, your eye symptoms could mean something more. live in the moment. that gritty feeling can't be brushed away. even a little blurry vision can distort things. and something serious may be behind those itchy eyes. up to 50% of people with graves' could develop a different condition called thyroid eye disease, which should be treated by a different doctor. see an expert. find a t-e-d eye specialist at isitted.com

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the attack happened as escalating gang violence occurs throughout ecuador. the president declared yesterday an internal armed conflict in the country after the nation's most notorious gang leader escaped from prison. moments ago john kirby addressed the turmoil saying of now the u.s. is not considering reducing a diplomatic footprint in the country. nbc's guad venegas joins us this afternoon. guad. some of these gangs in ecuador are linked with the mexican cartels and they are very violent and very bloody. >> reporter: jose, the man that disappeared from his cell on sunday known as el fito has been linked to the sinaloa sinaloa c. that candidate that was assassinated before he was murdered, he said he had been threatened by this man and then of course now we have a new president that has declared a

state of emergency after the gang leader wasn't found in his cell. when he was set to be transported to another prison, a high security prison, and now we see this -- these men entering the television station, jose, something we had never seen before. surreal images as people saw it all across the country because they were streaming live. we are now hearing from some of the people that were inside of the building and also colleagues, some who were able to leave just before the masked men entered. one of them spoke to our colleagues at telemundo. this is him talking about what it was like when they entered the building. [ speaking in a global language ] [ speaking in a global language ] [ speaking in global language ] >> reporter: and jose, now the

president is sharing videos on social media essentially backing up his plan to fight the cartels with this new emergency declaration and also naming these organizations now as terrorist organizations. he's given a lot more power to the military and police to take control of the country and the prisons where a lot of the criminals that are running the gangs, they are in prison, but they have been operating inside of those prisons without anyone being able to control them, jose. >> guad venegas, thank you so very much for that update. the cdc is testing waste water, and says covid cases are going up across the country, and you're likely probably know somebody that has some sort of cough, cold, covid. we're now learning those at-home tests people have been relying on to know whether they have covid or not may take longer to turn up positive. doctors are warning it could take up to four days after

symptoms start showing a positive result. dr. vin gupta is here to explain. doctor, it's always a pleasure to see you. you're an affiliate assistant professor for the institute at health metrics and msnbc medical contributor. doctor, so what's this thing about these tests now? it could take days before you know whether you're positive or not through them? >> well, jose, happy new year, my friend. >> like wise, thanks. >> it's true, as we as a society have developed more immunity through national infection, vaccination, a combination, even if we get exposed and infected with this virus as it changes, we need more of that virus in our body for one of these rapid tests to turn positive. it's always been the case, we need a certain level of virus to test positive. we have as a society at the individual level, the population level more immunity. it's taking more of the virus to build up for the tests to turn

positive. we have a graphic, to provide some guidance on what you should do, if you're symptomatic, you have covid-like symptoms, cough, shortness of brea, gh fever, test immediately with one of these free at home tests from the government. that's negative. test in three to four days, assuming your symom aren't going to get worse. that repeat test is negative, what i would like you to do is speak to your medical provider. we should see if you have flu. there's an overlap between covid symptoms and flu symptoms. you want to make sure, especially if one o those tests is negative. you're still symptomatic, tal to your medical provider, try to t flu test. if all of that fails or you can't get in with your medical over, go to testtotreat.g, and subsidized fully by the government. maybe treatment if appropriate. and last but not least, if you're exposed but not symptomatic, test about 72 hours

after this exposure. >> those flu tests, they're available everywhere. how does that work? >> you know, unfortunately, there's only one flu test available, it's a covid flu test, marketed by pfizer, $50 a pop, no guarantee. it's inaccessible to nearly everybody. you have to get it in a clinic still. the covid still at home test. >> anddoctor, i'll ask you about the shocking new findings on plastic in our water. aew paper released in the national academy of science found about 240,000 particles in the average liter of bottled water. we have been hearing a lot about micro plastic over the last year. what is this nano plastic? >> well, jose, they're even smaller versions of plastic that are sloughing off the plastics around us that exist in the world. i have visuals few your viewers. we should all be drinking two

liters a day to stay hydrated. try to do it in a glass bottle, they're reusable, put them in the dishwasher. glass is safe. it's not going to slough off chemicals. if you're going stainless steel, make sure you don't see plastic inside. often there's plastic inside these supposedly stainless steel water bottles. look for stain let steel water bottle or glass. nano particles dissolving from plastic are getting into the drinking water supply, getting into our food. what bottle associations of america will tell you or the plastic bottle association of america will say, gosh, there's no evidence to say this is going to negatively impact health. in 50 years, we're going to say, of course foreign particles aren't good for us. protect yourself, drink water from glass. >> dr. vin gupta, always a pleasure to see you, i thank you so much. good to see you, my friend.

>> that does it for me in this edition of msnbc reports. i'm jose diaz-balart, thank you for the privilege of your time. katy tur picks up our coverage right here on msnbc in just a bit. and it's natural. treat it that way with aveeno® daily moisture. formulated with nourishing, prebiotic oat. it's clinically proven to moisturize dry skin for 24 hours. aveeno® ♪♪ we come from a long line of cowboys. ♪♪ when i see all of us out here on this ranch, i see how far our legacy can go. now on sale at ancestry. (dad) it's our phone bill... we pay for things that we don't need. (mom) that's a bit dramatic. (dad) we must tighten our belts! (mom) a better plan to save is verizon! (vo) that's right! plans start at $25 per line guaranteed for 3 years. only on verizon. ♪♪ here's to...

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♪ ♪ good to be with you, i'm katy tur in for chris jansing, hunter biden shows up unannounced to his contempt hearing. what happened when one lawmaker called for his immediate arrest. donald trump cannot give a closing argument in his new york civil fraud trial. what the judge said when he rejected the request over what donald trump refused not to say. and tornados, floods and piling snow, the dramatic images from across the united states after another monster storm. let us start today,