. good morning. it is 11:00 a.m. eastern.

i'm jose diazdiaz-balart. u.s. and other coalitions announced retaliatory strikes in yemen. and we'll talk to mark pocan about what he says the white house must do first before launching anymore strikes. >> and this weekend will mark 100 days since hamas' shocking massacre of at least 1200 israelis. how the families of the hostages are observing that day. and in iowa, blizzard conditions force at least two republican presidential candidates to cancel campaign events. how the weather could impact turnout with just three days until the caucuses. and we begin this hour with breaking news out of the middle east. the u.s. along with a coalition of other countries carry out a

series of strikes in yemen targeting strike necessary say are being used by iranian-backed houthis. u.s. air force central command said it launched over 100 precision guided munitions across 16 locations used by the houthis. over the past several months, the houthis have launched more than two dozen attacks on vessels passing through the red sea. houthi spokesman says those attacks were in retaliation for israeli's war in gaza. just in the last hour, john kirby, white house national security council coordinator for strategic communications, addressed the timing of the decision to launch these strikes. >> in the wake of the almost unprecedented level of attacks that happened a couple days ago where multiple drones, multiple missiles fired at multiple ships in the red sea, the president determined after that attack had been defeated that now was the

time to go after houthi capabilities ashore. >> joining us now, josh lederman in southern israel and courtney kube at the pentagon and general barry mccaffrey. and so courtney, what do we know about the u.s. targeting obviously other countries were involved there, who exactly are the houthis? >> main kinetic action or the targeting of the strikes was really the u.s. and british. a couple other countries who had what is called nonoperational support. but the actual ones doing the strikes, it was the u.s. and the british. now, the new anies are an iranian-backed groups, about a decade ago they threatened the government in yemen and in an ensuing civil war which pulled in the saudi, emiratis and others over the years, they have been able to take over large parts of yemen. but the key there is they are iranian-backed with training, with intelligence, with continuing to provide them with

weapons. and they have bee -- iranians have been bacng them for some number of years now. so the u.s. the strikes british military took last night really had two intended targets. one was to try to degrade the houthis' ability to continue to attack commercial shipping, what we just heard from john kirby. there are more than two dozen strikes, primarily with drones, anti-ship cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, going after commercial and military ships in the southern red sea. the goal was to try to inhibit their ability to keep carrying automatic those strikes. but it was also by carrying out these strikes last night, the hope was that they would deter the houthis from continued action. we've already heard from the houthis saying that they will strike back. and you may remember a couple weeks ago when there was a back and forth and the u.s. navy sunk three houthi boats who were attacking a commercial ship

killing several of the fighters. the houthis vowed at to strike back and they did continue targeting ships. now at least 27 attacks against ships in that region. >> general, how do you see this attack and what do you think prompted it now? >> i think the economic consequences of closing off the suez canal traffic is so enormous. like 12% of the world's total trade goes through that route. so we were forced to respond. the thing that we should take into account though is there is already a regional war going on with iran through their proxies, dozens of attacks on u.s. forces in iraq and syria. iranians have directly seized an oil tanker in the last 24 hour, they apparently attacked a chemical-carrying cargo ship out

in the indian ocean. so it is not possible that this will deter the houthis from continues to play their role. what is possible is this very effective coalition that the biden administration pulled together, u.n. resolution, allies -- 20 some odd allies involved, that may well degrade the ability of the houthis to affect traffic. combined with the capacity to shoot down drones and ballistic missiles. and this could escalate rapidly. >> and josh, what is the reaction there to the strikes? >> reporter: israelis understandably are very released that the u.s. and uk are taking this on because they have their hands full in gaza and lebanon. houthis and iranians unsurprisingly have condemned these strikes, but what i'm watching most closely is the reaction from the arab allies. not all of whom are applauding

this. bahrain was the only country to participate in last night's strikes. and in the meantime the saudis say that they are watching this with a lot of concern. oman says that they tried to talk the u.s. out of this. i think privately all of the countries in the region would like the houthis to knock it off. for goodness sake, when the houthis launched ballistic missiles at israel where i'm at, oftentimes they are flying over saudi air space. but there are local politics in place. in a lot of countries, parts of the population are actually sympathetic to the houthis. so it is a very difficult balancing act arab allies are trying to walk. >> and general, it is interesting to watch the saudi reaction because saudi played such an important part in the middle east in so many ways. saudis have been involved in a bloody war with the houthis for ten years now.

what do you make of their comments now? >> i think the civil war in yemen was so disastrous with the saudi involvement and by the way backed up by u.s. technology well over 100,000 people killed. it was a humanitarian crisis of immense saudis have backed out of that and trying to maintain the peace. so understandable that the saudis will not welcome any of this. but at the same time, look, most of the world's traffic in oil comes out of the persian gulf or the red sea. the economic consequences of a couple of thousand ships already having been diverted, you know, 4,000 additional miles, 10 to 14 days of transit, already affecting global prices. so if iran is looking for a fight, it will come. there is no way the global economy can tolerate turning off

the suez canal traffic. interesting, where is the reaction of the egyptians in public. so you really got to get a scorecard to keep track of who is backing who is this. >> interesting also turkey and so many other countries. accordingly these strikes come as secretary austin remains in the hospital following complications from prostate cancer surgery. what do we know about his involvement in these strikes? >> he was part of the decision making process, which i should say the idea that the u.s. starting to put some of these strike options or packages, that began late 2023, so before secretary austin was even hospitalized. but as far as this week goes, once there was the final meeting which of course the president has to be the one to give the final signoff on these sorts of strikes, secretary austin according to his spokesperson, major general pat ryder, was engaged in this in providing his recommendation to the president. i think that we might normally see that happen face-to-face,

but in this case as you mentioned, he is still in the hospital at walter reed, so he had to do it over a video teleconference. and we got a tiny little update on his health this morning from general pat ryder. here is what he had to say. >> the secretary is recovering well. we don't have a date yet in terms of when he will be released from the hospital. of course we'll keep folks updated. but he's been actively engaged in overseeing and directing the strikes that we saw last night. >> secretary austin has been in the hospital for basically all of 2024 now. >> and before i wrap up our conversation, you've been so clear on just the volume of attacks that american forces have been victims of since the end of september. what does that look like? >> yeah, we're upwards of about 130 different strikes as we heard general mccaffrey referencing earlier against

bases housing americans in iraq and syria since really october 17 is when they really started toic tick up. and when we look at the houthi attacks, there have baern more than two dozen against ships in e red sea, but it is important to point out that there has been u.s. military and british mitary in the region at the time.of these strikes, it is difficult to say if they are actually targeting an individual ship because of the nature of some of the projectiles that they are firing off, but they are threatening them, they are coming close to them, the u.s. shooting many of these projectiles down. and the real concern here as it has been since october 7 is that these sorts of actions by the iranian proxy groups will only work to further draw the united states into what is concerns of this becoming a regional war. >> and general, there are some lawmakers here in the u.s. who have raised concerns over legality of these strikes.

you know this better than anybody else. what is the legal aspects of commander in chief's powers on something like this? >> well, this has gone on for decades now, the argument to what extent can the president unilaterally carry out military operations. in all practical sense he has unlimited power do just what he is doing right now. there is a growing concern that at some point if we want to deter attacks on shipping, we have to go after the iranians, not the houthis, not the shia militias, not assad's people. there is considerable u.s. air force and naval presence in the region. iran has a lot to lose if it is turned on them. but u.s. is very reluctant to see any growth in escalation of this conflict. but we're on the edge of it right now. it is a very tricky situation. >> josh lederman, court any

courtney kube, general mccaffrey, thank you for being with us. a lawmaker who has spoken out about this issue is mark pocan of wisconsin who is with us today. thank you very much for your time. you posted that the u.s. cannot risk getting entangled in to another decades long conflict without congressional authorization. what did you mean by that? >> i think what we're warning folks about, this is becoming a regional conflict. and i think the more important issue actually is what is happening in israel and gaza and the fact that benjamin netanyahu's end goal is different than the united states. that is a problem. for some of us who want to be very, very careful before any american man or woman in the military has to be put into conflict's way, we want to make sure everything else has been exhausted first and we're seeing this as potentially a broadening of that conflict and i think

that is what we're warning, make sure you talk to congress as required ultimately by the war powers resolution. >> so what would you like the white house do today? >> what i would like them to do today is to have a very serious conversation with benjamin netanyahu. i think what is happening in the conflict has become a collective punishment of palestinians in gaza, 23,000 dead. look, they have every right to go after hamas who committed a horrific attack on october 7 but not the 2.3 million people, including thousands and thousands of children, who have been killed since this conflict has happened. and i think what we've been cautions about is if this broadens to hezbollah and the new houthis and iran, suddenly we're involved in a regional war that could last for a long, long time. >> and so what is it that other than speaking with netanyahu, the president you think needs to do when the houthis, and we were just hearing from courtney kube

on this, have been responsible for dozens of attacks, there have been more than 100 attacks not only the houthis but only players in the middle east against american interests in the middle east since of end of october? what is the president to do if not defend the interests of the united states specifically when they are being victimized by the houthis? >> and can he appropriately do that by coming to congress. only reason houthis is doing this is because there is not a ceasefire going on right now. and let's remember, this war has been going on for seven years. saudi arabia has bombed gnome seven years and they have not gotten the end result they wanted.gnome seven years and they have not gotten the end result they wanted. i think what is going on right now by different standards and different directives by benjamin

netanyahu, specifically the fact that he doesn't believe in a two state solution like the united states does, like president biden does, that is in direct conflict with our values. and if that broadens the conflict and puts the american men and women at risk, that is when congress really has to speak out. so we're trying to warn the president and ask him to be more engaged on this. >> congressman, i thank you very much for being with us. appreciate your time. >> thank you. and we're staying on capitol hill where we have breaking news. julie circa is joining us. the house speaker just spoke? >> reporter: that's right. good to be with you. he made a very short statement before a few of us in the press. he essentially said that he is sticking with the agreement he met with chuck schumer, this is after he met with various swathes of republicans in his congress. just this morning he again was meeting with members of the far

right freedom caucus. my colleagues were told that they are not ready to oust the new speaker. you will remember that they had many disagreements with kevin mccarthy in how he was making deals with democrats. johnson here notably saying that he is sticking with this agreement that has made many of the hardliners in his conference frustrated and angry. they are not willing to take the step to remove him yet, but this is a notable sign not only for appropriators working behind the scenes to prevent the government shutdown, but also vulnerable members who don't want to barrel into a shutdown, who don't want to put the american people at risk because of some of the policies that hardliners are demanding. so interesting dynamic to watch. but big news from johnson that he will keep the agreement and appropriators will continue working on how to fund the government for the full year. >> julie, thank you so much for us on capitol hill this morning. up next, lawyers for former

president trump will be back in a courtroom today, this time in georgia. the case they are making to get that indictment tossed. and in new york, trump's civil fraud trial is over. why our next guest says one of the judge's final questions could be a bad sign for the former president. bad sign for former president do you like that bone? i got a great price on it. did you see my tail when that chewy box showed up? oh, i saw it. sorry about the vase. can we just say vase like normal people? fine.

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. >> good morning, jose. this is a continuation of one we covered where he said that some of his conduct was covered by the first amendment. so long shot motions. trump's lawyers are also ask the judge to demand sex jack smith turnover january 6 related evidence. another motion from the former president's team seeks to determine whether fani willis has shared with the defense lawyers a video of former senior trump justice department officials richard donahue and jeffrey rosen that may be used as evidence in this case. the hearing may also delve into some scheduling matters, most if not all of the defendants are expected to appear virtually. the other thing worth watching is lawyer nathan wade likely to appear, that would be the first time we've seen him since the allegations that he and d.a. fani willis are involved in a romantic relationship. unclear if that will come up though. the judge will also hear a request from defense lawyers who want to drop the co-defendant

you mentioned as a client. she's a publicist who once worked for ye and her lawyers say she has not been paying her legal bills. >> ken dilanian, thank you so much. now to new york where a judge is deciding what penalty the former president will face. donald trump went on a five minute rant during closing arguments insisting he did nothing wrong and attacking the judge and also the attorney general. at one point judge engoron told trump's lawyers to control their client. he already found trump and his sons and organization lyleable for fraud. now the question is what is the penalty. latitia james wants a $330 million fine and banned from working in new york. and let's discuss this.

sue, you were in that courtroom yesterday. what was it like? >> the whole day was something. it started in the early morning hours with a bomb threat to the judge's home in nassau county. and then we came to court obviously a lot of people were on edge because of the bomb threat. there were long lines to get in, also a trial going on involving the nra. and we finally got in, we sat through i think some fascinating and charged closing arguments. trump's side started it and you've highlighted the main show there which was at the end donald trump spoke for about five minutes. you know, he rightly is very passionate about this case. it threatens his entire business empire. he's already had a summary judgment where he is going to be liable and fines are likely going to come in well above, you know, $200 million, $300 million. but this is -- it is a shot to

the heart for him. it is a corporate death penalty. both sides used th and when he got up yesterday, he was charged up. he said that they should pay me for what i have gone through. he said this is not a consumer fraud, this is no fraud. it is a fraud on me. and his lawyers were saying that he deserves rather than a trial, he deserves a medal for the work that he has done for the city. so that was sort of the tenor. i have to say the level in the courtroom, the temperature, was lowered a bit in the afternoon when the attorney general gave their case, lawyers for the attorney general got up. it was much more orderly proceeding. but that was -- it was a long day. really fascinating. >> sue, initially the judge had said yes to the former president speaking. and then there was a no. and then at the end there was a yes. how did that end up being that way? >> i think that the judge felt -- you know, the judge

didn't want -- and there is correspondence. he didn't want a campaign speech. the judge had -- there was some email where the judge said that. and said that donald trump needs to comply with the rules of the road that any lawyer would have to comply with if they were giving a closing argument which is to stick to the facts of the case. donald trump did not agree to that in writing before the deadline that the judge had set. so we came in in the morning and donald trump's lawyers got up and gave the closing argument. and then one donald trump's lawyers asked if donald trump could get up and say something and the judge said -- repeated the same thing, i want you to stick to the facts of the case. he didn't, but the judge gave him some leeway. i think the judge is aware everybody is watching. and donald trump's future is on the line here from a business perspective and felt that he should give him some rope and he did. >> how did the new york attorney

general's office get to that $370 million line it is seeking? >>re question. they moved it up kind after the trial. it is a tal of $378 million. and $168 million will just be on interest that was saved because donald trump got fav rates. and then there is two components that are interesting. one is $139 million for diskount on all of the proceeds of the sale the old post office then another $60 million from the sale of ferry point. the argument there is tha they used fraudulent records to obtain loans for those. but i got to tell you, that is a big number. and part of the -- i thought the most interesting part of the attorney general's case yesterday was midafternoon, they got up and they went through a lot of donald trump's spending that he has done in recent years. and he has put hundreds of millions of dollars into

properties, specifically three of his properties, and the case that they made based on documents that they have seen which echos a lot of the work that the "times" has done is that donald trump doesn't hava lot of cash on hand. and tt was used to show both that he needed these favorable rates, but it also spoke to me that should there be a large judgment against donald trump, he is going to have a lot of trouble paying it. we'll see probably an asset sale. it will be down the road because this is headed to the appeals court. but i think that that is where we're headed right now based on what feels like his catch situation which is he doesn't have enough right now to write a check for $200 million or $300 million to satisfy this penalty. if that day comes. >> sue, always great speaking with you. i thank you for your time. >> thank you. up next, we're on the ground in blizzard conditions in iowa with just three days left until what could be the coldest caucus night ever. can you believe that? what new polling is showing about the race for second place

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midst of a blast of severe winter weather. florida governor ron desantis canceled some of his scheduled events and the forecast is not letting up anytime soon. subzero temperatures expected in iowa on caucus day. meanwhile the numbers give us an inside look at where caucusgoers stand going into monday's contest. a new poll shows donald trump once again leading the pack by over 30 points. but there is new movement in the race for second place with nikki haley overtaking ron desantis. we should note this polling data was collected before chris christie exited the race. joining us from iowa now -- [ inaudible ] msnbc political contributor. and haley now taking second place. what is her campaign hoping to achieve if she doesn't appear to be close to cutting into trump's lead? >> the goal in iowa for nikki haley was always to make her

best stand possible knowing full well that this is not the state that her campaign laid the mile marker in, that it would be her best shot at potentially winning. that state of course is new hampshire. but typically in a usual caucus, and this feels anything but usual as we stand here in a ball room kind of trapped by the snow and blizzard conditions right now, but typically there are three tickets out of iowa. whoever places first, second and third tends to get some kind of a bump and some enthusiasm as they ride their way into the next state. in this caucus though, what feels so strange is, a, the consistent lead and sizable lead that the former president has over the field, but, b, the fact that once ron desantis heads to new hampshire, it is not the same kind of fertile ground that it is for nikki haley. that is why we're watching her gun so hard for second place. she wants to be able to use iowa as a spring board into this second state in new hampshire

where not only is chris christie one less person for voters to have to choose between, but also if you look at the break down of christie voters, they are more likely to go towards nikki haley. not to say this is a perfect science. i know shaq brewster met a lot of voters who said they didn't know where they were going to turn next and it was not a sure fire thing that they would go to nikki haley. and christie himself did not endorse her and had some pretty pointed comments about her on that hot mic saying that she was going to get smoked in the granite state. but still the haley team pointing to new hampshire where they feel the most confident and they are hoping that iowa can be a stepping stone to getting them there or at least putting them within the striking distance of the former president in new hampshire to sort of pierce his veil of inevitability here. >> and brianne, you've been in iowa for those cold days. sometimes we talk about the horrible cold fronts. but many times in iowa, a friday

cold in iowa is just a friday. but they are calling for subzero temperatures on monday. how do you see this impacting turnout? >> that is exactly right. cold weather in january is not always news here in iowa, but today it is. we're seeing the cancellation of campaign events as candidates are trying to be safe. this is historically bad weather for a caucus day. it is on track to be the coldest in the 50 year history. but what is interesting is what it does to turnout. one thin i'm looking at is just how depressed is turnout. there will certainly be an effect. iowa caucusgoers tend to be a little bit older. this weather is tough to go out in especially if you are older. so if we see widespread depression of turnout, which candidates are overindexing with

those caucusgoer, people who tend to draw the older support could see an impact. especially those who draw from more rural areas. it will be harder to get to the caucus site from rural areas. maybe you are driving on a gravel path and your truck drives on diesel. so a lot of impacts we might see. but it is not totally clear yet. >> and what is the ad world been like there? >> well, you can't turn on a tv right now without seeing a campaign ad. and i think iowans are ready for that part of it to move on. we're seeing them from nikki haley, for ron desantis. i was sitting at a restaurant the other day and saw a tv ad for ryan binkley who is still running. so we're getting them across the board, a lot of different messages from the candidates. a lot are attack ads which

iowans are certainly hearing these messages, but a lot of times they say it is a big turnoff to hear those attack ads. but we're seeing the candidates have to answer for them on the trail sometimes. we're seeing that for nikki haley and ron desantis in some of the things that they are saying. >> yeah, thisaffected both campaigns, and it is how they turn out to meet the voters in a place, iowa, where the 99 counties feel it is important to see and listen to and talk to the candidates. >> that is absolutely always been true in iowa. and there is something so fascinating about the way we're watching this particular caucus seem to unfold before us, which is that in theory someone like ron desantis or vivek ramaswamy is playing the iowa game right in the traditional sense. they are making the rounds, hitting the so-called full grassley tour of all the 9 -- 99 counties. for ramaswamy, i think twice over. the snow makes that hard for all

the candidates who have people showing up in person to see them. for someone like nikki haley and ron desantis, they both had to change their schedules today. nikki haley for example taking what would have been in-person events and making them telephone town halls. we'll be logging on to those to see what the impact of that is. but certainly the snow will be a factor and the thing that i think about too is over the course of the last few days, as iowa caucusgoers have started to tune in more and the candidates have all sort of staked their ground here, at the beginning of each nikki haley event, someone asks is if your first time seeing nikki haley in person. the number of hands that go up in some cases is almost the entire room. so there is the potential for someone who might have wanted to kick the tires in person and see these candidates in real life, they might not get that opportunity. and it is entirely possible that they might not be enthusiastic enough to actually get to a caucus site. and i'll a even myself, hard motivator to get out in these

kinds of temperatures. and i love my politics. but this is really the moment where it tests the enthusiasm and excitement. and voters i've spoken to, there is this presumed notion because of the consistency and large gap in polling trump to the rest of the field, there is almost this presumption that it is trump's state and no matter what happens, it will be his to win. i think that that is also a factor here that could both benefit trump because we know the enthusiasm and excitement of his base, but then also could be something that adds to the depression factor votesing for anyone else. so we're waiting to see if any of the pieces mixed with the snow change the turnout. >> and you are both indoors, happy to see that. thank you both for being with us today. coming up, more on the u.s. and coalition strikes on houthi rebels in yemen. we'll go to israel which is set to mark 100 days of the war with

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43 past the hour. this morning we're following breaking news as the u.s. and several allies have carried out missile strikes on houthi targets inside yemen. iraqi ministry of foreign affairs raising concerns that

the strikes could expand the scope of the war. this comes as sunday marks 100 days since hamas' brutal attack on israel. richard engel spoke to a mother whose daughter was on the phone with her daughter when hamas killed -- i should say kidnapped her at the music festival. >> when you were shouting out her name, do you believe she could hear you? >> yes, yes. she could either hear me or feel that i'm talking to her. i know she does. >> richard engel is joining us now from jerusalem. what is the late snes. >> reporter: so there is a feeling here that israel is on thin ice. the military campaign this gaza is continuing, but each day there seems to be a new front that is opening. a couple of days ago, it was the north with israeli officials warning that if hezbollah

continued to fire rockets into northern israel and israel has been continuing to kill hezbollah leaders, that there could be a massive explosion and expansion of the war there. then just in the last 24 hours, we've seen a new front with the united states and the uk backed by at least four other countries carrying out strikes against houthi targets. and the houthis say that the reason they are doing a blockade in the red sea is in solidarity with gaza. there is the case of -- at the hague in which judges are potentially going to convict -- certainly accusing israel of genocide, allegations that israeli denies. so there is a feeling here that things change dramatically 100 days ago and they are not nearly out of it yet, that the dangers

are still all around. and of course still the situation of the hostages. according to the israeli government, more than 100 still believed to be alive inside gaza. you played that clip a moment ago and that was from one of the tributes. and they are having tributes planned all weekend culminaing on sunday which is the actual 100th day since the october 7 attacks. and in that event people went -- family members of hostages went down to the border with gaza to shout out the names of their loved ones hoping that they could hear them while in captivity. >> richard engel, thank you very much. turning now to ecuador where the president of that country has declared a 60 day state of emergency amid a surge of violent attacks. this unhe had video shows the moments men stormed the newsroom

holding people hostage. telemundo has more from ecuador. >> reporter: yes, we're here in the largest city in ecuador and it is one of the most dangerous places in south america. violence spiral has increased in the past few days. as you well reported and as we well know, criminals really went into a tv station and delivered some of the most brutal images of this war against crime in ecuador. and today we have an exclusive interview with the president noboa declared war against the criminal groups. and he is calling them criminal organizations and also terrorists and deploying the army, the army is out on the streets trying to fight this

criminal organizations or terrorists according to the government. we cannot show you what is on my right hand because authorities have asked us not to point the camera that way. but right next to us is the building where president noboa has his apartment right in front of the ocean. and the securities here is really outstanding. the army is here, police is here. and of course the reason for that is that the president right now is here. and he has offered an interview to telemundo, an exclusive interview that we're having with him and we'll be able to show you what he says at 6:30 p.m., 5:30 in the central of the united states. and there are many questions to ask him of course. how is he going to solve violent crisis that his country is going through right now. is he going to have enough time do that since the next elections are going to be around 18 months. is he going to be able to really

change things in ecuador. and does he fear for his own life. we have to remember just a couple months ago, a political candidate here was murdered during the summer. so it is an important conversation with president noboa and i hope that you will join us. >> we always do and we always will. thank you very much for that report. and we also have breaking news about president biden's son hunter. mike memoli is joining us. what do we know? >> reporter: so we have breaking news as it relates to a letter that has been sent to the house oversight committee from attorneys for hunter biden. opening a potential new door for him to testify before the panel and maybe avoid that contempt issue that we know the house was proceeding with. in this new letter, abbe lowell, attorney for the son of the president, argues that the initial subpoena by which the committee sought hunter biden's

system was in his view invalid. legallien veil lid. -- invalid. the reason behind that, the house had not yet had the vote to authorize and impeachment inquiry. what abbe lowell is saying because the house has since conducted such a vote, that if new subpoenas were issued, that hunter biden would be willing to appear before the committee. we should make it clear and we saw the spectacle on capitol hill earlier this week, abbe lowell on behalf of his client has made it clear that hunter biden was willing to testify before these committees as well, judiciary well, the judiciary ce in addition to the oversight committee, as long as it was conducted in public. as part of the letter, they include a footnote presenting a new option, potentially a hybrid form of testimony, some of which would be in public, some of which would be in private. this is significant because as we know, the house is -- the full house is going to vote on whether to hold hunter biden in contempt of congress. if it were to happen, that would

set up a potential tough decision for the justice department, which has been balancing these difficult issues revolving around the fact that the president of the united states oversees the justice department and this is involving his son. if hunter biden were willing to testify before the committee and the committee agrees to this potential new hybrid system, that would take this issue off the table. maybe even take the vote the full house was going to conduct next week off the table. the key now is whether the committees take hunter biden up on this, whether they would go through the process of issuing new subpoenas. a lot of ifs after what has been a busy week as it related to hunter biden and a number of lee woes he faces. >> indeed. mike memoli, thank you very much. turning now to new reporting on race in america. tonight nbc news will air a national day of racial healing special exploring the progress the nation has made on race and the challenges that persist. joining us now, one of the reporters behind this special,

nbc's antonia hylton. great seeing you. i know you focused among other places on rural kentucky. what did you find? >> that's right. we wanted to do this special at a time when so many americans feel divided. we wanted to focus on the people who are actually doing the work to build bridges and to imagine a better future. i went to rural kentucky to spend time with a group that's using housing and tenants' rights to bring people of different backgrounds, different socioeconomic experiences to one table to find solutions. take a look. nestled on the eastern kentucky border between ohio and west virginia sits ashland, a town of more than 21,000. a quarter of residents live in poverty. some in dire and dangerous conditions. >> it's in bad shape. >> nbc news was allowed inside

this apartment where tenants say the landlord has all but abandoned them. >> i have nowhere else to go. >> how does that make you feel? you are paying hundreds of dollars a month to live here? >> it doesn't make me feel good. >> the kentucky people's union in conjunction with showing up for racial justice is working to bring together people like jerry and others to rally around a shared goal of guaranteed safe and affordable housing for everyone. beth howard is a lead organizer and co-founder of kpu. she believes highlighting common interests like housing can be a first step toward racial healing. is your concern if you don't reach these folks, someone else will? >> absolutely. we know if people are not talking to white people about their suffering, we know someone else is. that someone else is the far right. they know that there are so many of us working class people, white, black and brown, that if

we came together, we would outnumber them. >> kathy johnson was among the first recruits. >> it has opened up my eyes. i'm proud to say that i have friends that are different than me. >> why do you think this work is rare? >> because it doesn't serve those who empower to have white people recognizing whiteness and having us talk to other white people about racism. >> volunteers wear red bandannas and call themselves rednecks, in what organizers say is a nod to the history of the working class. a 1921 labor uprising in which white, black and immigrant coal miners joined together to fight for better wages and working conditions. >> the miners wore red bandannas around their neck to signify they were union. >> you used the term redneck.

some people see that as a disrespectful term. what does it mean to you? >> that label has been distorted to mean racist or trash. our history that shows the different story, the different way of being a white person, is hidden. those truths are dangerous to those in power. >> jose, they believe that this is the kind of work that could make all the difference in 2024 and beyond as different communities try to solve the great challenges around housing, the cost of living and all the suffering so many are feeling. they believe if you foster these conversations on common ground, you could get people who wouldn't want to be in the room together or come up with solutions together to make a real difference. >> antonia hylton, thank you so very much. appreciate it. don't miss the national day of racial healing, an nbc news now

special, tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern on nbc news now. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. you can reach me on social media @jdbalart. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news next. to running my bu? (tina) her. (christina) being all over, all at once. (tina) all the time. (christina) but my old network wasn't cutting it. and that's not good for baking. or judging. or writing. so, we switched to verizon, the network businesses rely on. with verizon business unlimited, i get 5g, truly unlimited data, and unlimited hotspot data. so, no matter what, i'm running this kitchen. (vo) make the switch. it's your business. it's your verizon. (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.

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right now on "andrea mitchell reports," the iran-back iran-backed houthis threaten to counter back. >> 14 nations and the united states all issued a warning to the houthis that this type of illegal and reckless activity needed to stop or there would