11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific, i'm jose diaz-balart. right now in new york city, former president donald trump inside the courtroom at closing arguments in his $250 million civil fraud trial. just hours after police responded to a bomb threat at the judge's home. meanwhile, on the campaign trail, nikki haley and ron desantis traded insults during last night's gop debate in the battle for second place. >> you're invisible in new hampshire. you're invisible in south carolina. you're in fifth place. >> she's got this problem with ballistic podiatry, shooting herself in the foot every other day. >> this as chris christie is caught on a hot mic talking about haley and desantis right before he dropped out of the race. and in california, presidential son hunter biden is due to face tax charges in court this afternoon, a day after his surprise appearance on capitol hill.

and we begin with breaking news from new york city, where cloing arguments are under way in former president donald trump's civil fraud trial, his team delivering the closing argument. trump, who is in the courtroom, asked to deliver part of the closing argument himself, but the judge said, no, because trump did not agree to certain conditions. trump, his two eldest sons and the trump organization are accused of fraudulently inflating assets to get better loans and other business deals. trumps deny anywrongdoing. new york attorney general letitia james issued a statement on closing arguments saying, quote, i'm proud of the case we presented, i'm confident that the facts and the rule of law are on our side. hours before closing arguments began, police responded to a bomb threat at judge engoron's home. this according to a source with direct knowledge of the

situation. it is not clear if he was home at the time. with us now to talk about this, msnbc national correspondent yasmin vossoughian outside the courthouse in manhattan, katie phang, host of "the katie phang show," now at noon on saturdays, catherine christian, former manhattan assistant district attorney who is now an msnbc legal analyst, and betsy woodruff swann, politico national correspondent and msnbc contributor. so, yasmin, take us to what has been happening so far right now. >> reporter: a lot happening so far this morning. i tell you, it is cold out here, but there is a lot of sparks flying inside the courtroom. it began with the attorney general making her way to the courtroom on the steps behind me. courtroom getting up and going at 10:00 a.m. despite the fact there was a bomb threat at the judge's house early this morning in nassau county, nassau county police responding to that bomb threat and leading the investigation there. and closing arguments beginning, especially after the decision by judge engoron yesterday saying the former president could not

offer remarks during closing arguments today, beginning with the former president's attorney, chris kise. before that, we got comments from outside the courtroom where we heard from him before. i'll play a bit of that for you and we'll talk on the other side. >> i want to speak, at this moment the judge is not letting me make the summation because of what he doesn't want to hear. it is a very unfair trial. i'm never seen anything like this. i'm hoping to speak and help -- all the defects of this case which should never have been brought. >> reporter: he's saying he hoping to speak. the likelihood of that happening is pretty low. i want to tell you why. because judge engoron issued parameters to the former president and his attorneys in the last couple of days saying, listen, if the former president wants to talk, this is what he's got to do. parameters that are put in place

for attorneys as well when they're offer the closing armes. let me read some of them for you as judge engoron laid them out saying this, trump would be weto speak only about evidence and application of the releva law to those facts. helso said he will notow a campaign speech or to attack the court, his staff, the judge or the attorney general letitia james as well. whether or not the former president is still going to try and speak today, that is still in question. let me talk quickly, jose, while i can, but what we're hearing from chris kise inside the courtroom, when it comes to the closing arguments. closing arguments will last for two hours from the defense, and then prosecution two hours following those closing arguments. here is part of what chris kise is talking about now. he's making the argument about the fact that this is beyond the statute of limitations. we heard this before. he's talking about the expert witnesses. in december, when we were wrapping before going to break for the holidays, ellie bartoff,

paid $900,000 for his day and a half of testimony, offered his testimony. kise talks about this testimony in his closing arguments saying this, both bartoff and accountant jason flemings' statements were unrebutted. mazar's general counsel said on the stand he was forced to write a letter under the pressure of the ag. mazars did not see any misstatements and that has been rebutted. trump has been dealing with banks for 50 years, dealing with banks in the u.s. and around the world for 50 years, they never expected deutsche bank to rely on the statement of financial condition. they do their own analysis. president trump's testimony is bolstered by the banks trump relied on accountants and companies to do that every single day. and let me just remind you, quickly, about who flemings was, arguing that trump's approach to valuing his assets gave him latitude to consider his properties' future revenue stream.

what that means essentially is trump saying, my apartment is worth $20 million, this property is worth $20 million, but what can that property actually produce? that was the argument being made by flemings and part of what kise is including in his closing arguments and reminding you on what attorney general letitia james is actually asking for. $370 million, jose, in fines and for the former president to never be able to work in new york city again or hold office as director of the new york city corporation, which would really hit at the heart of who the former president is and what he has based his career for the last century on, jose. >> yeah, i mean, katie, let's talk about a few things. first, what does it tell you that the judge initially seemed willing to let donald trump speak if, and the conditions that yasmin was showing us are pretty basic conditions for a courtroom, right? >> that's exactly the point. but to your first question, it

was unusual. those of us that have tried cases you normally don't have your clients when they're represented by lawyers getting up and participating in the process by delivering part of a closing argument. but i want to make sure this is something clear, jose, for people to understand, there were negotiations going back and forth between justice engoron and chris kise on behalf of donald trump. it started as early as january 4th. this was not a snap decision that was made by justice engoron. >> for him to be able to speak at closing? >> exactly. and attorney general letitia james' team said we're not in support of donald trump getting up and saying anything, but justice engoron said it is a bench trial, i have the discretion, i'm going to let donald trump say it. so people need to understand, this was six days of back and forth between lawyers for trump, and at the end, to your final point that you made, they were reasonable kind of limits. you can't get up and just talk out of turn all of the time as we know donald trump says, i was going to say something different, you cannot do that, and because you cannot do that,

it was okay for justice engorge to say i'm going to impose the restrictions on the lawyers here and any other person, your client donald trump. because he refuses to agree, we're not going to let him do it. >> is there a possibility? i don't know how it could occur, but that trump would in some way speak during these next couple of hours? >> no. that's why you're only hearing him speak out of court. justice engoron ruled and said he won't be able to speak in court today. >> period. >> period. >> and the attorneys are expected to speak for about two hours. the new york attorney general's office told the judge last week they anticipate they will only need an hour to deliver their closing arguments. should we read anything into the length of the closing arguments? >> no. this is not a jury trial. so, the ag's office are not going to do the general bells and whistles you would do in your summation. they're going to just keep it to the facts. there are three attorneys on behalf of donald trump, the trump organization that are going to be giving the summation. they have to come back, you

know, all of the overwhelming evidence that has come forward. and just to remind people, there are three causes of action, falsifying business records with the intent to defraud, issuing a false financial statement with the intent to defraud, insurance fraud, with the intent to defraud, and conspiracy for each. so, the defense has to -- they're going to argue there are experts have said reasonable minds can disagree about valuation there is no intent to defraud, and blame it on the accountants. that's the reason why they're taking more time than the ag's office. >> and, betsy, you know, it is not often that trump shows up to different cases and court cases. but it is important for him to be here and it is important -- it has been important for him to be at this specific case over and over again. >> yeah, that's right. he sees this very much as part of his presidential campaign. and he sees the politics of that

campaign as extricably linked to the legal proceedings that he's facing. i spoke a while back with a trump adviser who told me that what they're tracking closely is this high stakes testing of conventional wisdom as far as the political impact of someone facing so much legal jeopardy. for months and months and months, the conventional wisdom has essentially been that trump's legal battles would help him in the republican primary for obvious reasons. but then in the general election, they would present a huge headache for him and general election voters would shy away from supporting him because he's in so many different legal messes. with the trump campaign is closely tracking and what trump himself seems to be betting on is that that conventional wisdom is wrong, and that there, again, they're betting on the fact, on the hope, i should say that these legal fights that trump's presence at these legal fights not just in new york, of course, but also earlier this week in

washington, d.c. at an appellate hearing related to his immunity argument in a separate criminal case, they're betting that all these legal fracases he finds himself in will actually generate political benefits. and they're sending out fund-raising emails constantly highlighting even some of the most minute developments in these cases. trump's team is hoping and is acting under the assumption that these legal messes will actually help him and, of course, this year we'll find out whether or not that's true. >> yeah, and yasmin, as much discussion is under way on statements of financial conditions and so much more, michael cohen's name has just been referred to. >> reporter: yeah. it certainly has. i just keep looking down, so my apologies to that, i'm getting lots of notes coming from inside the courtroom, from our reporters inside the courtroom. let's not forget, michael cohen has been integral, on our air

many times obviously and he's been integral and interspersed with the president's financial dealings for quite some time, right, as the former president's fixer, attorney, however you want to put it. and in chris kise's closing arguments, talking about michael cohen saying he was the only witness for intent and conspiracy, he was right, he was their only witness. the attorney general says you have to find him credible. he's now accused of lying yet again. this is a serial liar. he comes to court and it couldn't get any better. he said trump asked allen weisselberg and me to change the statement of financial conditions and then he admits that president trump did not direct him to inflate the numbers. michael cohen told you the process using handwritten evidence and that belies the testimony from their own witness jeff mcconney, he's making up a story based on something that is convenient, he hates president trump and he makes money

trashing president trump. what better reason to come here and create lies and gin up a bunch of media attention for his -- katie sat down with michael cohen, has a lot of reporting on this as well. interesting the way they're approaching michael cohen and the defense's closing arguments here. >> yeah. and katie, thoughts on that, also, you know, this is really a case where the judge has already found trump liable for fraud, right? so what will the judge be taking into account now, and the role that michael cohen has played in all of this? >> yeah, so yasmin brings up a good point about how individual witnesses can kind of skew the way that a case goes, but i think it is important for people to know, this is a judge-based decision, right? this is a bench trial, not a jury trial. you and i talked about this a lot when we covered this particular case because normally in a jury trial, the judge is the person who handles the law and the application of the law.

but the jury, jury of our peers gets together, drawn from our community, and they sit and they determine the credibility of the witnesses. we have justice engoron on the record telling chris kise, the law doesn't require me to credit testimony if i don't find it to be credible. and that's important. because this is a bench trial, justice engoron will be the person and the only person who will decide whether people are credible, whether their testimony is trustworthy, whether it is being corroborated or not by the other evidence in this case. and then that will lead them to decide whether $370 million in disgorgement, not damages, disgorgement of property. >> what is that? >> that's important. so, trump is saying nobody was damaged, everybody was made whole. no. what the ag is trying to do is get $370 million out of trump because he improperly profited from his misrepresentations and his fraud that was perpetrated. >> catherine christian, betsy woodruff swan, thank you very much. yasmin vossoughian and katie phang, stay with us. we'll check in with you back later on this hour. up next, we'll look at the

biggest takeaways from a busy night in iowa between donald trump's town hall and the republican presidential debate. plus, does chris christie's exit change the race in the next primary state? look there's steve kornacki, my fave. he's back at the big board. we'll get a look at that and a whole lot more. we're back in 60 seconds. whole lot more we're back in 60 seconds he hits his mark —center stage—and is crushed by a baby grand piano. you're replacing me? customize and save with liberty bibberty. he doesn't even have a mustache. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ (vo) if you have graves' disease, your eye symptoms could mean something more. 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 16 past the hour. now to the latest on the 224 race for the white house. last night they clashed, traded insults during the last debate before the iowa caucuses, now just four days away. >> he has blown through $150 million, i don't know how you do that, through his campaign. he has nothing to show for it. if you can't manage a campaign, how are you going to manage a country? >> you can take the ambassador out of the united nations, but you can't take the united nations out of the ambassador. you talk about putting americans

last, that is wrong. you supported all that money going over there. so let's put -- >> you're so desperate. you're just so desperate. >> well, while that was happening, former president donald trump was counterprogramming on fox news, a few miles away, front-runner hinted about a possible running mate. >> if you are the nominee, which i know you expect to be, who would be in the running for vice president? >> well, i can't tell you that really. i mean, i know who it is going to be -- >> give us a hint. >> we'll do another show sometime. >> and just hours before the candidates took the stage, former new jersey governor chris christie exited the race, vowing he will do whatever he can to keep donald trump out of the white house. joining us now from iowa, nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard. vaughn, how is the trump campaign reacting to all of this that's been going on? >> reporter: jose, completely downplaying chris christie dropping out last night, suggesting that he is the most unpopular figure in the republican party here today. for chris christie, though, you

saw consistently in recent polling, in polling at 12% in the state of new hampshire, he spent no time here in the state of iowa, no resources, but where does that 12% go? of course, a great share of it is expected to go to nikki haley. but the campaign makes a case that still, one on one matchup that they best nikki haley by 8 percentage points. i was talking with a senior adviser last night and said what if a poll in the days ahead comes out showing nikki haley beating donald trump. he said it would be a bs poll. in the state of new hampshire, independents are allowed to vote in the republican primary. he said that's not the case in most other republican primaries around the country. and that new hampshire, if something even were to happen, would not be indicative about the primary as a whole. >> vaughn hillyard in iowa, thank you so very much. just eight days after the iowa caucuses is the new hampshire primary. recent polls in the granite state show a more competitive race for first place in the second republican contest. nbc national political

correspondent steve kornacki joins us from the big board. with chris christie out, does that change anything in new hampshire? >> it certainly could, jose, because chris christie had been barely registering nationally and in most states, the one exception for christie has been new hampshire and has a lot to do with what vaughn was talking about, and that is how many independents participate in new hampshire presidential primaries. it is a lot higher in new hampshire than basically anywhere else. and so if you take a look now, we had a bunch of polls come out in the last week in new hampshire, average them together this is what -- this is before christie dropped out. but trump on average in the lead, haley, though, a strong second place, and, again, you see christie at 12% in new hampshire. that's what he was polling at on average when he dropped out. the number vastly higher than you found for christie in any other state. what is notable about christie is we find this in polling consistently, if you're just asking republican voters what their opinion of him is, it is

overwhelmingly negative, unfavorable. but among independent voters, it is a different story. independent voters could make up potentially half of the electorate, half of the republican primary electorate in new hampshire. that's why christie was polling so well here. if you ask in these polls, we have seen indications that the second choice of christie voters would overwhelmingly be haley. so, that possibly could give haley a chance here in new hampshire. the presence of independent voters, it is a secular republican electorate, relatively speaking. a lot of other states, evangelical christians play a bigger role and it is a more moderate independent minded electorate too, relative to other states. if you put iowa and new hampshire side by side and look at how the caucuses, what the republican electorates -- look at this, nearly two-thirds of the iowa caucus electorate, evangelical. in new hampshire, a quarter. independents, one fifth of the iowa caucus electorate,

republicans, independents, more than 40% in 2016 and, remember, 2016 there was a democratic race, a republican race, independents chose between the two of them. this time around, there is only a competitive republican race. i think you can expect that independent number to be higher this time. on the republican side. it is the only show in town, so to speak. moderates, twice as many moderates in the republican primary pool in new hampshire than in iowa. you add this mix together and you look at the groups that haley has been doing best with, which is independents, which is nonrepublicans, which is republicans who don't like donald trump. she's going to make up -- have a lot more fertile ground in new hampshire than she is going to have in iowa. the problem for nikki haley, though, is this mix we're looking at right here is almost unique to new hampshire. there are states that are closed republican primaries you have zero percent participants. and where independents can vote, they rarely make up this big of the electorate.

so, winning in new hampshire for haley, they would love any win they can get and let's see if they can do that. but the real challenge for her even if she does is showing that she can be competitive and win states that don't look like new hampshire that look a lot more like iowa, because nationally, a lot more republican contests are going to look like iowa than look like new hampshire. >> steve kornacki, thank you so very much. appreciate it. >> you got it. up next, hunter biden heads to court later today to face federal tax charges. what his lawyers say is the only reason he's being targeted. we're also keeping our eyes on new york city, where lawyers are giving closing arguments and donald trump's civil fraud trial. we'll get fresh reporting on what is happening inside next. hn what is happening inside next. with nurtec odt, i can treat a migraine when it strikes and prevent migraine attacks, all in one. don't take if allergic to nurtec. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. ask about nurtec odt.

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27 past the hour. this afternoon, president biden's son hunter is set to be arraigned in a los angeles federal courtroom on nine federal tax-related charges. the younger biden's appearance comes one day after he made the surprise visit to capitol hill as two house committees met over a subpoena he defied. both committees voted to formally recommend the household hunter in contempt of congress. joining us now is nbc's mike memoli outside the courthouse in los angeles, also back with us, msnbc's katie phang. mike, how are we expecting today's court appearance to unfold? >> reporter: well, jose, we

expected proceedings to be fairly routine and fairly brief. we will see the magistrate judge in this case ask the prosecutors to once again read through those nine charges including the felonies of tax evasion and failing to -- filing a false report, excuse me. and then ask hunter biden, the son of the president of the united states to enter in his plea, which we expect will be not guilty. we say we expect this to be routine, but, remember, this set of charges is the second to come as a result of that failed plea agreement that we saw last summer in delaware. this is an argument that we expect to hear from hunter biden's lawyers today, which is that, yes, hunter biden acknowledged his wrongdoing here, failing to pay up to $1.4 million in taxes over a period from 2016 to 2019, but he has now since paid back what he owes, he accepted responsibility. and that he's really only here now because of political pressure that is being brought on david weiss, the special counsel. expect that to be part of this and potentially some motions

that hunter's attorneys will file today as well, jose. >> so, katie, how concerning for hunter biden are these charges? how serious are they? >> you should always be concerned if you're looking at a federal indictment, that's entered by a grand jury for nine counts of tax evasion. number one, as we heard from mike, the money has been paid back. number two, what we also heard from mike, there was a prior negotiated plea agreement with the department of justice that was entered into in july of last year, that was only pending ratification or approval by a judge and in the end, that deal fell through. >> by the judge. >> exactly. the judge, a trump appointed judge, i might add that plea deal was for two counts that were misdemeanors only that dealt with taxes because, look, you know, hunter biden is right, we may not choose our friends and our family, right, but his last name is biden and that is the reason why ts is important for people to remember. the special counsel in this case, david weiss, he's been investigating hunter biden since 2018. he became special counsel after that plea deal fell through this

summer. he's had total autonomy to be able to investigate something. if there was something there that merited an investigation or impeachment of president biden, you would have seen it by now. but he is being politically prosecuted and i can say that as a former prosecutor. he's being politically prosecuted because his last name is biden. as we have seen a motion to dismiss and hunter biden's other indictment, the gun charge brought in delaware, we will expect to see a motion to dismiss that is filed by his lawyer, hunter biden's lawyer in this tax case, the government has been made whole, there is -- you have to be able to show that over the span of the time that he was willfully avoiding his tax liabilities, but, look, it is the referral perhaps to the department of justice that comes from him refusing to testify that is also an issue for hunter biden, but we saw that happen before. we saw jim jordan of the republicans not do it, it got referred to the doj, the only person that got prosecuted, peter navarro and steve bannon, bannon went to trial and was found guilty. >> the "new york times" reports that president biden and other officials were not aware of

hunter biden's decision to appear on the hill yesterday. what do we know about how the white house and hunter biden's team are approaching the situation? >> reporter: well, jose, in this case we have to distinguish between what the president's legal and political advisers may or in this case did not know about what was planned yesterday, what we saw those dramatic scenes on capitol hill and what the president, what the first lady themselves know. we know that president biden speaks to his son multiple times a week, if not multiple times a day. and he's often very well up to date on what his son is planning to do. but then we also know that his political advisers may prefer, let's say, a more restrained approach, not as antagonistic as this move provocative as it was. listen to what we heard from the first lady this morning, dr. jill biden, reflecting on this as a mother and as a grandmother. >> i think what they are doing to hunter is cruel. and i'm really proud of how

hunter has rebuilt his life after addiction, and i think, you know, i love my son, and it's hurt my grandchildren, and that's what i'm so concerned about, that it is affecting their lives as well. >> reporter: now, jose, we heard first lady as well in this interview talking about the campaign ahead as a fight, and as having covered the bidens a long time, i know that they often feel that a fight like this is something they can rally around together, something that brings the family together in this case. >> mike memoli and katie phang, thank you, both, very much. up next, thousands of protesters gather outside the hague as israel is accused of committing genocide against the palestinian people in gaza. what israel is now saying. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. ( ♪♪ )

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37 past the hour. this morning, the u.n. international court of justice began a hearing on an accusation of israel committing genocide against palestinians. south africa brought the case to the court and asked the justices to order an immediate halt to israel's offensive in gaza. israel denounced the trial and u.s. staartmt called the accusations of genocide by israel unfounded. "the new york times" reports the u.s. and its allies are contemplating retaliatory strikes against iranian-backed houthis in yemen after repeated attacks on vessels passing through the red sea. joining us now is nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel in jerusalem. richard, great seeing you. south africa may be accusing israel of genocide in gaza. israel says their only goal is to eliminate hamas. how's that going? >> reporter: so, many israelis are shocked by this accusation. a country founded largely after

the holocaust is now finding itself accused of among the most serious war crimes imaginable. and the israelis public don't understand these charges, they think they're unfounded, they think that this is an accusation leveled at them by the united nations, which is -- they say always been against israel. but many people around the world, and you can read this in editorials and newspapers across europe, across latin america, in asia, believe that what israel is doing in the gaza strip is unjustified. that it is an overreaction, that it is collective punishment against the people of gaza who are not just under attack, but unlike other conflicts in the world, they cannot leave. and that is the key difference that makes this gaza conflict different than wars in ukraine or wars anywhere else. the people who are fleeing,

people who are attacked can't leave the country. they can't find a safe space. and now it is playing out in an international criminal court at the hague. so, we will see how it goes, but it is getting a lot of attention in this country, and there is quite a bit of shock and disbelief and a feeling of isolation among israelis who feel that people around the world don't understand their perspective, don't understand why they are going after hamas and why they believe that they need to continue going after hamas until the group is removed from power. >> richard engel in jerusalem, thank you so much, appreciate it. up next, we're going go back to our top story, closing arguments currently under way in former president trump's civil trial. plus, now that chris christie is out of the presidential race, will he consider supporting joe biden? you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. i could've waited to tell my doctor my heart was racing just making spaghetti...

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that is with the large fines, obviously asking for 370million in fines with banning him completely from operating here in new york city. the other is this idea of disgorgement which katie phang was talking about earlier, and that is essentially the damages that were done essentially to these banks. two engagements that happened that i want to read for you quickly. one was on disgorgement, engoron says let's talk about disgorgement. ill gotten gains, if you do something wrong, you're supposed to disgorge those profits. you talk about damage or harm. there does not have to be evidence of harm. and kise says, you can't just make a number. it does not have to be quantified like a damage, but they still have the burden to demonstrate that there was some harm that president trump got something that he did not deserve. so there was a lot of back and forth, obviously between judge engoron and his defense attorney

chris kise on this idea of disgorgement that katie phang was talking about. one more thing, jose, and then i'll send it back to you. and this goes to what i was speaking about earlier, how this is going to hit at the heart of who the former president is, and how he has defined himself the last half century, and talking about his assets, and chris kise brings up his assets in these closing arguments saying president trump has one of the strongest personal balance sheets you have ever seen. extensive real estate, a billion in equity, net worth of 4.2 adjusted at 2.4, that is what is material to them, not the annual financial statements. really speaking of what they see as this expansive wealth that the former president possesses. so a lot going on in this courtroom, likely to break for lunch at some point soon. but certainly a lot going on and the back and forth between the defense and the judge engoron there. >> yeah, yasmin vossoughian,

thank you very much, appreciate it. while the former president is in a new york courtroom today, the rest of the republican presidential field is in iowa, making their final pitches with four days until the caucuses there. and last night on the debate stage, two of trump's republican opponents weighed in on trump's ongoing legal woes. >> that election, trump lost it, biden won that election, i will always defend and fight the -- for the constitution. that's what we should do as americans. i think what happened on january 6th was a terrible day and i think president trump will have to answer for it. >> if trump is the nominee, it is going to be about january 6th, legal issues, criminal trials, the democrats and the media would love to run with that. i'm not running for my issues, i'm running for your issues. >> joining us now, amna nawaz, msnbc contributor and former ohio republican governor john kasich, also an msnbc political analyst. how did you see that debate last

night? it seems like they're whittled down to two in iowa for the debate, the former president doing some counterprogramming. they had different styles. >> they certainly did. those two events were an incredible split screen moment last night that really give us insight into where this republican primary race is right now. look, jose, overall last night was arguably a really good night for former president trump because in a race where he is strong and getting stronger, you have this one stage where ambassador haley and governor desantis locked in a brutal head to head in which while they did point out mr. trump's legal troubles and referenced january 6th as a potential vulnerability ahead in the election, most of the time they spent leveling attacks at each other. and they didn't really do much to weaken mr. trump as part of that debate. meanwhile, not too far away on the same night, mr. trump enjoyed a largely supportive crowd in a town hall environment where he was able to really start honing a general election

message. you heard him talking about moderating some of his comments he's made before, some really worrying concerning comments about acting like a dictator once he's president or even using the office of the presidency for retribution, he pulled back on some of that language. and let's remember, this is a guy going into the first presidential race or first time people are casting ballots in the iowa caucuses days from now, he is still 30 points up in iowa. doesn't seem like much was done in the last 24 hours to change that dramatically. >> yeah. i'm thinking, john, is it a case of now trump simply focused on the general election, even though there hasn't been one vote deposited yet in the primaries? and the other two candidates fighting it out to see if they can candidates fighting it out to see if they can get through the primaries? is this a situation where trump is in his own ambience and environment and doesn't focus on what the political season calls

for? >> first of all, she did an excellent job of being able to sum up what happened last night. that was impressive. secondly, jose, you know about sports. when you start thinking about the second game from now, you could lose the first game. the idea that he can just kind of call it in or phone it in is a big mistake. you know that's not the case, because you take a look at the amount of negative advertising he is lobbing at haley. it is about momentum. if haley can have a second place finish, she takes momentum into new hampshire. if she can do well there and with chris christie dropping out, do exceedingly well, then she has momentum into south carolina where trump has a big lead. that momentum can make a difference there. then on to super tuesday.

i don't think -- he may be honing some general election message and trying to moderate himself. maybe he is doing that to a degree to communicate also to people in new hampshire who tend to be more moderate. at the end of the day, if he looks too far ahead, he is making a mistake. i don't think they are doing that. >> i want to play for you part of what we heard last night in that debate on the issue of immigration specifically. take a listen to this. >> there are more than 10 million undocumented immigrants living in the united states according to pugh research. will any be able to stay in the united states under your administration? >> the number is zero. we cannot do amnesty in this country. you have to enforce the law. it has to be consistent. people have to know it's there. >> the discussion on the republican side is who can be tougher on the border, on immigration. yesterday for the first time i

think in a long time, they were asked about the 10 to 12 million people who have lived here, many of them for decades, have u.s.-born children and who aren't the ones who are coming across asking for asylum but have been participating here. is the issue of immigration so difficult to pinpoint and discern? is the only republican point that you just have to be a zero sum game on everything? >> you know, when i follow this issue, i think it's fair to say a lot of the nuance and detail goes out the window, in particular during a heated election campaign. the trouble with what we are seeing on the gop primary side right now in particular is that the entire incentive structure is built around who can be toughest. when you have the former president and current frontrunner for the gop

nomination calling an increase in migrant arrivals at the border an invasion, echoing language used by hitler, talking about the poisoning of the blood of the country, what should candidates do who are looking to unseat him to not appear weak? in the primary race and in politics right now, i would say immigration has gone from a policy discussion to a social and cultural and often arguably a racial one. you have these two major influences. you have a heated presidential election and the heated primary race on the gop side, and you have this incredible increase of people arriving at the u.s. southern border that we are seeing as part of a global pattern of people on the move. more people moving from where they are right now than at any other point in modern history because of insecurity and climate change and all these things we cover. this is getting wrapped up in a political debate.

that's where there's no room for nuance in terms of what the candidates are saying. >> thank you both so much for being with us this morning. i appreciate it. we will break down the latest inflation report and what that means for the prices you and i have to pay. you are watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. t.

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57 past the hour. this morning, more signs inflation is taking a toll on our economy and our wallets. a new report from the labor department shows consumer prices rose 0.3% in december. prices are up 3.4% from last december. dominic chu is with us. what do the numbers mean? >> even though experts declared mission accomplished on inflation, it's a present and possible threat down the line. one of the reasons why

policymakers like those at the federal reserve are keeping a close eye on how things are developing over the more medium term before they really think about cutting interest rates at some point. in the case of this morning's data, we saw a hotter than expected increase in consumer prices which did drive the year-over-year consumer price numbers. if you strip out food and energy, that so-called core level rose .3% as well. was in line with estimates and brought the year-over-year core reading to 3.9%. what you see right there are the real affects. we see big moves in terms of egg prices, other things. gasoline prices still down around at least a level where it is palatable. a big driver was in housing. shelter costs gained a half a

percent month over month, which accounted for more than half of the rise in core consumer prices. it's more pronounced on a year-over-year basis where shelter costs were 6.2% higher overall. good news possibly, we did see that wage gains adjusted for inflation did outpace some of the estimates out there. we will see if that happens on a better basis. >> thank you so very much. appreciate it. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. reach me on social media @jdbalart. thank you for the privilege of your time. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," former president trump is back in court watching closing arguments in a case that could end the trump organization in the place that made it.